Two Big Announcements!

Yes... bigger announcements than "Bud Spencer is cool" - a bit obvious Damio.

2011 will be the last year that Glenn Roff will be Principal of Woodlawn. He announced his retirement to the head of the Catholic Education Office a few weeks ago, and to the staff on monday. He will have been the Principal of St. Johns College for 11 years - The first lay Principal in it's 79 year history, and credited for the successful transition from boys boarding school to in-demand and well respected co-ed day school.

One of the staff, early in my tenure, gushed about Glenn being the singular saviour of the school - My understandable, filial response was "..really, how much can one man do?". I must admit that after 4 years, I now comprehend more of where this woman was coming from. He is the leader of a school in which the staff are happy, and the kids talk about how much they like going to school. Enrolments are at record levels, and the big problem each year is that he has to find ways to tell good families that there isn't any room for their kids. He has maintained Marist values and mission, held fast to traditions and forged a new school identity.

Obviously I find this hard to say to his face, but as he rarely turns the computer on I may get away with this one.

Now, for those single cousins out there who do not have domestic responsibilities and still believe that life is actually all about them... How does it affect you? (and everyone else).

It looks like 2010 may be the last year of Woodlawn Roff Christmas as we know it.

As such, we're keen to make it a memorable one. Obviously the Harry/Vicky Wedding (with Karaoke reception) and Kate/Joe Blessing will make this an 'especially special' time, but on top of that, the plan is to have a Christmas Concert to end all Christmas Concerts in the school hall, utilising all the media we have available to us. We can show Rick's DVD presentation from one of the earlier gatherings on the big movie screen, along with early video and photo footage in between the usual quality acts. I would like to think that with the P.A. and musical instruments at our disposal in the music department, that we could encourage people to perform their 'go to' acts - Like Amanda's 'Ukelady Ladies', Grant's 'Railway hotel', my dodgey 'Backyard Cricket' song (I'll save Medium Pace for Neil's bar), an acoustic 'Rafting Kids' track, Andrew's 'Louis Burdett', 'Business Time', 'Kath and Kim', 'The obligatory Brendon song' etc. etc. - Even a combined Cousin on-stage 'Rock'n'Roll Jam'. Forget Speigeltent - This is where it will be at, and at no cost to you the punter..

Once all of this has sunk in, let me know what your plans are for the concert, so (as stage manager) I can get all of the equipment organised. Also, stay tuned on the Roff Report for a preliminary schedule of events this Christmas.