MCOBA in 2022

Through 2022, College Old Boys delivered.

Solar – R2,5m donated!

  • R1m donated from Old Boys with a further R1,5m donated from the Old Boys Memorial Trust to the R100m appeal that is being applied to installing Solar energy that is powering the entire College campus.
    • Both the Memorial Trust and Old Boys will be given “Legacy Donor” status along with bursary naming rights.

This is just such a significant event, not only does it ensure College can now operate 24/7/365, with the endless load shedding now addressed, the environmental impacts are enormous and, in this day, and age, it’s of fundamental importance we do everything to help our planet.

  • Assets leveraged via the Old Boys memorial Trust have assisted College to deliver significant infrastructure this year:
    • A multi-purpose car park on the terraces in front of Clark House with seating for 1500 boys and staff for outdoor events. The total cost was R 1.6m and the loan from the trust to assist was R 1.3m.
    • A new food court and increased media centre facilities​ above the food court.

Our Central Business team, College Business, under the management of Kevin Smith (OC 1985) and our ultra-amazingly efficient Operations Manager, Sue Buchanan-Clarke, supported by Zinhle, Sally, Jenny and Chantal have been exceptional through 2022 as a significant amount of change took place.

  • New, fully integrated website launched – have a look MCOBA
  • New technology, branded “CollegeConnect” launched and is live Maritzburg CollegeConnect with over 1000 users.
    • This is a game changer for our College Community that has a vision to make Old Boys far more relevant in so many ways by:
      • Empowering career development,
      • Wealth creation via business-to-business opportunities,
      • Skills and resource sharing, and
      • Relationship building: networking and support
    • Old Boys have committed R300k to CollegeConnect in 2023
    • Event booking platform within College Connect including an online payment platform
    • The delivery of a new WhatsApp solution to revolutionise how we communicate and create groups and communities, is launched. What’s App Groups.
    • A revived newsletter returned through 2021 and continued to be refined in 2022 to meet the needs of Old Boys.
    • Well attended AGM with a clean audit for the 31 Dec 2021 year end hosted on 10th May 2022
    • Electronic debit order system implemented and run successfully.

Through 2022 we have hosted numerous events including but not limited to:

  • Hosting and awesome Reunion for the first time in 3 years!
  • Veteran’s Open Day including a tour of the school and a 3-course meal in Vic Hall
  • Branch events across the country and abroad including: Zululand, Durban, Midlands, Highway, North Coast, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg, United States (Texas) United Kingdom ( London) , Australia and New Zealand
  • Remembrance Day Service
  • A matric Old Boys’ induction with a record number of 278 boys, being 100% of the 2022 matrics, inducted into Old Boys.
  • Meeting and presenting into the Boarder community
  • Old Boys Strategy Session hosted at the Victoria Country Club
  • 100th Birthday visit to Mr. Pieter Swanepoel to recognise our oldest old boy’s milestone achievement / Birthday.
  • Class of 1961 60th-year Reunion lunch hosted at the Hilton Hotel.
  • Book launch of “25 Great South Africa Rugby Schools” in which Maritzburg College features; a chapter written by our own Matthew Marwick (Class of 1988)

As always, our Old Boys office remains open to all our old boys and we look forward to serving you in all things College Old Boys related.

Pro Aris et Focus
Andrew Clayton

President MCOBA
andrew@collegeoldboys.com