Falcon Old Boys

Archive for the ‘From College’ Category

• To date the Falcon area has had 680 mls of rain, which is well over the mean of 625 ml.
• As a result, the Park is looking magnificent, with both Longden’s Dam and Mbonisa Weir spilling.
• We appear to have had a good crop of Impala lambs born in December. There are also newly born Bushbuck, Duiker, Klipspringer and Warthog. At least three of the Zebra mares look fairly heavily pregnant and should give birth in the next month or so.
• The bird life is wonderful with waterfowl on the dam and weir. Africa jacana (Lily trotters) have been seen on the upper reaches of Mbonisa, while Oxpeckers have been seen clambering over the Giraffe, looking for ticks. The Guinea fowl and the Francolin have bred especially well with chicks all over the place.
• During the Christmas holidays, our large male Giraffe broke through the game fence into the Wilderness area. I suspect that he may have been ‘spooked’ by a Leopard. He disappeared for a short while, but was soon back patrolling the fence line on the wrong side. The call of his ‘harem of eight wives’ was too strong and just after Christmas, he crossed the cattle grid at the entrance gate and back into the park – clever boy!
• For the last three weekends the five chalets in the campsite have been full, which has brought in much-needed funds. It is already booked up for Founders’ weekend.
• After the mid-term exeat, I will be starting lessons leading to the Zimbabwe Hunters’ and Guides’ Learners’ Licence. The exam will take place in November this year and there are about ten boys interested in doing it. Obviously, Quiet Waters will be used for practical lessons on trees, grass, bird and mammal identity – also for tracking and spoor identification.
• It is hoped that in the last weekend of this term, a Mountain bike rally will take place, with an interesting and challenging course running through Quiet Waters, the Wilderness area and the Southern Paddocks. This is subject to the approval of the Head. A fun event such as this would not only do much to promote Falcon and Quiet Waters, but will also help generate much needed funds.
• On the downside, we have had a large female Giraffe die and a Bushbuck ram, in the last two weeks. The Giraffe was one which was introduced into Quiet Waters in 1991, so it could have been because of old age. The Bushbuck unfortunately got caught up in a fence.

Posted on behalf of Gordon Macdonald

Falcon Old Boys,

Very tragically we have lost another member of staff in what appears to have been a suicide, and this not long after the deaths of Ron Hartley and Mike Cumming.

Our housekeeper Alice Bryan, wife of John Bryan, our groundsman for many years, was found dead in her car parked close to the Ncema dam on Monday night.

She simply had too great a burden to bear. The situation in the country is impacting on everyone. On top of that she had been unable to move on following the loss of their only son Adam (Falcon school boy) in a tragic accident (electrocuted) in Harare four years ago, the loss of their farm in Esigodini, and a long battle with cancer as well as other problems.

There is an almost tangible depression hanging over Falcon right now and any messages of support to the Head or to John Bryan personally (via the Head) would be much appreciated. (Head@falconcollege.com).

Thank you.

Andy Laing

Zimbabwe is a wonderful country and we are not going to let it go. We have real hope. We just have to ride out the storm. Wheels turn, people come and go.

Zimbabweans are on the whole fine and resilient people, there is huge goodwill between the races, and we are all looking forward to a brighter future not too far away. The negative events life throws at us represent only a fraction of what happens every day in Zimbabwe, and no matter how damaging it may seem, such events cannot prevail for ever. Believe it or not we live a happy and good life, stressful yes, but nothing compared to the victims of tsunamis, wars in Lebanon, droughts in Ethiopia, murders in South Africa, even flooding in New Orleans and the weather in UK ! Don’t even mention Iraq, Sudan, the DRC or Afghanistan.

You should have come with us to Hwange (Wankie) last weekend. 5 star luxury private lodge in the park, prides of up to 16 lions, night drives witnessing lions on a hunt – it just couldn’t be better. And the camp was full of foreign tourists – French, American, German. Mid winter, but no jerseys needed.

We are blessed with an abundance of good things which far exceed the bad. That is why we are here, we have hope for the future, and we are looking forward to it.

Falcon in particular is a beacon of hope, an oasis of excellence, and continues to thrive. We have a full intake booked for next year, Cambridge exam results last year were vastly improved, and our boys went on several tours including to the World Sevens in Dubai (where they excelled, and will be returning this December). This year alone, cricket to the Cape, tennis to Natal, hockey to South Africa, junior adventure course to Drakensberg, cultural group to Grahamstown and rugby to Dubai. More tours than ever before. Beating Peterhouse (previously unbeaten this season) at rugby and hockey on Saturday capped a wonderful 2nd term, and the social interaction with dozens of Peterhouse/Falcon parents after the game was better than ever.

This is the other side of the story. Come and see us.

Andy Laing, Falcon Board of Governors