Reunions and Get Togethers
Official Reunions attended by either the Vice-Chancellor or his representative will be held in the following centres. If you have moved recently or have not received correspondence/invitations from us in the last year, please ensure that you update your contact details.
To complete an update your record form, please click here, alternatively your may just send an e-mail to alumniupdate@ru.ac.za
2012 Reunions
11 May - 1980s Decade Reunion to be held on campus - contact toby@gamelife.co.za
28 September - Cape Town Reunion - venue to be confirmed
12 October - Durban Reunion - venue to be confirmed
2 November - Johannesburg Reunion - venue to be confirmed
2011 Reunions
Zimbabwe
A very successful reunion was held on Wednesday 23 March 2011 - click here for photos and more info.
UK London Reunion
Held on Friday 17 June at The Hellenic Centre, London - Please click here for photos and more info.
College House Reunion
The Gentlemen of College House, from the period 1980 to 1984, organised a 30 year reunion in June 2011 in Cape Town. Click here for more.
Knocking On Heavens Door (1960s /1970s)
A group of Old Rhodians from the 1960s/1970s held a reunion in 2010 in Port Alfred, and on 31 August this year, held another successful reunion at the Kelvin Grove Club for the Old Rhodians living in Cape Town and the surrounding areas.
R3730.00 was raised this year and donated to Rhodes University for the Annual Fund to be split between the Pocket Money Fund and Old Rhodian Bursaries.
Visit our Gallery for the Knocking On Heavens Door 2010 Photographs
Visit our Gallery for the Knocking On Heavens Door 2011 photographs
East London, Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth
This year we invited all Old Rhodians from these areas to help celebrate the Old Rhodian Union's Centenary by attending our Convocation and Founders Week-end from the 26 August to the 28 August. See Photographs of Convocation and Old Rhodian Awards and photographs of the Founders Ball.
Cape Town
Our Cape Town reunion was held on Friday 23 September at The Commodore Hotel on the V&A Waterfront. Click here for more.
Toronto
The first Toronto Rhodes Alumni Dinner/Dance was held on Sept 22nd, 2011 and it attracted 38 Old Rhodians and their guests. Attendees praised the venue, ambience ,excellent 3 course meal and DJ music at Otello’s (a choice Wedding Events destination in Oakville ), as well as the popular “Reminiscing From The Podium”. A theme that emerges from the Podium each time we host an Alumni Event is that the Campus life at Rhodes was some of their best times of their lives. The Art of drinking (cheap wine and beer) at University was also a popular topic amongst Old Rhodians and their guests. The information supplied by the LEAP Guest Speaker was an interesting subject and if you have an interest see www.leapschool.org.za
In looking at future events, attendees thought we should continue to host the Alumni Dinners, preferably on a Friday evening but keep the Dancing for special occasions, maybe once every 3 years. This year, because of the smaller attendance by Old Rhodians , we decided not to do formal Fund Raising for Rhodes. However if anybody is interested in donating to the University ,please see www.ru.ac.za and click on Annual Fund.
All told another annual “Fall “Alumni Dinner has come and gone; sadly we all a year older and the cooler Canadian weather is fast-approaching. A special thanks to all the guests who were able to attend and a big thank you to Eunice Son Kee for co-ordinating the Event, almost single-handedly.
If you have any suggestions to improve future Alumni events – we would like to hear from you. Take care and please stay in touch.
Regards
Gerry
Rhodes Alumni Co-ordinator for Toronto.
Perth
A successful Reunion for Perth was held on the 30 Setember 2011. Click here for all the information and pictures.
Melbourne
Professor David Sewry, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Mrs Joyce Sewry were in Melbourne on the 27 September. Old Rhodians were invited to join them at Young and Jacksons Main bar, corner of Swanston & Flinders Street, Melbourne at 18:30 for an informal Rhodes Get Together. Purple was worn to identify each other as Rhodents and all who attended had a splendid and entertaining evening reminiscing and catching up on the latest news of Rhodes today. Please click on the gallery to view the photographs.
Sydney
Professor Owen Skae, Director of the Rhodes Business School was in Sydney on the 24th October 2011. Fellow Old Rhodians joined him at the Holiday Inn, Darling Harbour for an informal Rhodes Get Together. A very successful evening was held with Old Rhodians chatting to Prof Skae and finding out all the news about Rhodes today.
Auckland
Professor Owen Skae, Director of the Rhodes Business School was in Auckland on the 31st October. Approximately 30 Alumni met him at Mama Loco's and had a wonderful evening catching up with the news of Rhodes University. Please click here for the gallery.
Windhoek
Thank you to our Sponsors:
Hollard Insurance: Deloitte & Touche (Namibia) and Namibia Breweries Limited
Old Rhodian Simeon Shaanika (2004) volunteered to organise the Reunion at the Hilton Hotel in Windhoek this year. This was a first for many of our Namibian Rhodes Alumni and the event proved to be as exciting as it promised to be, thanks to Simeon's hard work.
Prof Schafer, who holds the First Rand Foundation Mathematics Education Chair, represented Rhodes University and gave an update on Rhodes as it is today. Motivational Speaker, Cynthia Martin was invited to give an inspirational speech to our Old Rhodians.
With a turnout of over 80 very elegantly dressed Rhodents (with the prominent colour being purple of course!) the evening was very special indeed. Many of our Namibian Alumni had been out of touch with Rhodes University and with each other and the reunion proved to remind them once again that their alma mater tugs at the heart strings and forms a common bond between Old Rhodians forever. Please keep in touch and notify us of any postal or contact changes by e-mailing us at alumni@ru.ac.za to ensure that you are invited to all functions in Namibia.
Once again thank you to our sponsors as without you we could not have had the reunion!
Please view the Gallery for the photographs.
Johannesburg
A luncheon was held on the 4th November at the Johannian and was hosted by Dr Badat and Ms Shireen Badat. We had a wonderful turnout of 60 Old Rhodians who spent a most enjoyable afternoon chatting and sharing memories. Gallery
Dr Badat and Ms Shireen Badat hosted the reunion at the Old Eds on the 4th November. Over 180 elegantly dressed Alumni ( with purple being the predominate colour) attended, and had a wonderful evening meeting old friends and catching up with all the news. Gallery
Durban
The Durban reunion, hosted by Dr Badat and Ms Shireen Badat at the Elangeni Hotel on the 18th November had a turnout of approximately 100 Alumni. The MC for the event was Professor Anthony (Ticky) Forbes. Colin Burnett and Ticky had put the call out before the reunion to all the Knocking On Heavens Door Alumni to attend and make the reunion a special occasion. The Knocking On Heavens Door reunions were started by Roger Roderick McCleod (Wanless) and John Green (Jonno) who met every few weeks for a breakfast and were often joined by other Rhodies from their era. Wanless suggested that they should round up a few of their friends and get together and have a drink "before we all die". They decide that "before we die" was a bit morbid and so it became Knocking On Heavens Door and the dates are roughly from 1965 to 1975. The first reunion was then held at the Kowie in 2010, with over 150 attendees who came from all over the world. Another reunion was held in Cape Town in 2011 and the Durban reunion had over 25 of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Knocking On Heavens Door Alumni attending with the remainder alumni consisting of the "younger generation". All had a great time sharing stories and laughter and the mix of the various generations definately left all with a shared pride in their alma mater. Gallery
