PBHSOB ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

HALL OPENING INVITATION

Dear Old Boy

You are cordially invited to a celebration of the new Abernethy Hall on the evening of 30th July 2015 at 7:30pm. Please join the school for this momentous occasion, a special moment in the long history of Pretoria Boys High School.

Kindly RSVP by 19 June with details of names of people attending to pr@boyshigh.com

Dress – Smart

Refreshments will be served in the new courtyards after the formalities.

THE BUILDING PROJECT AT PRETORIA BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL

The first phase of the building project that started in August 2014 is scheduled for completion at the end of June 2015. This encompasses the extensive modification of the school hall and the adjacent courtyards, better known as the Hendry Quad and the Memorial Quad. The seating capacity of the hall has been greatly expanded through the extension of the main gallery and the building of two new wings, each of which has its own gallery and a ground floor area. New lighting and sound systems
will be installed and all of the ground floor seating will be made up of new chairs.

The entire cost of this project was funded from donations from the Old Boys community across South Africa and the world, making it probably the biggest project of its kind in a South African state school ever funded entirely from the contributions of its alumni. The completed hall and quads will, on completion, represent a magnificent monument to the generosity of past pupils and will provide a very fine facility for the school for decades to come. All donors to the project will be acknowledged on four donors’ boards which will be displayed on either side of the new hall, listing around 1600 names, arranged in year groups.

The official opening of the hall will take place on Friday 24th July 2015 and will take the form of an academic procession and special assembly for all pupils and staff. The foundation stone will be unveiled by Thomas Rundle, current chairman of the Pretoria Boys High School Old Boys Association in recognition of the financial contribution of Old Boys, whose financial contributions collectively made the construction possible. A celebratory function for Old Boys, donors and parents will be held on the evening of 30th July. Both of these promise to be very special occasions in the history of the school.

The second phase of the building project will commence immediately after the completion of the first and will involve the construction of a new library and music centre just behind the hall. Demolition of the existing library block is scheduled for the July school holidays and construction will start in the Third Term. This brand new building is a double storey structure that will house a new library and computer rooms on the ground floor and a music department facility on the upper floor.
A full orchestra rehearsal room and several instrument tutoring rooms will make up the latter area. Two skywalks will connect the music centre to the music teaching room that has been built above the hall stage as part of Phase 1. Once the music department moves into its new facilities in 2016, the rooms that are vacated will be turned over to other uses, with the current music teaching room likely to become a mini auditorium.

Part of the funding for phase 2 of the project will come from money raised in the campaign directed at Old Boys of the school. The balance will be derived from a loan secured by the school. It is not intended to launch another fund raising campaign, although the Parents’ Association of the school will be undertaking an initiative to sell face bricks from the old hall which will be built into a wall in the atrium at the entrance of the new library with donors’ names being acknowledged on plaques on each brick. Income from this project as well as any other donations will be offset against the cost of the second phase.The second phase is scheduled for completion by April 2016 and will represent a major upgrade of the school’s facilities.

Images & Text: PBHS