Bernie's Bulletin

Due to the impact of ongoing construction works at our Essendon campus, reunion tours of the College have now been cancelled. The reunions will still go ahead at the designated date and time at our external venues (either the Ascot Vale Hotel or Moonee Ponds Club), see below for details. Opportunities to tour the College will be available to all in 2026. Thank you for your understanding!

Event Calendar

Reunion Calendar

Save the Date for your class reunion! Registration will open closer to the date so we can track numbers. Each year level will receive emails with more information closer to the date as well.

With more than 40 years of experience in wealth management, Tony Hodges has made his name in a range of high-level finance and leadership positions since graduating St Bernard’s in 1972. Tony has extensive and current knowledge of the Australian financial sector and funds management industry, including superannuation. 

He is an investment management specialist with extensive experience and understanding of strategic investment principles. He’s developed and utilised this skillset at a range of roles, including senior roles within the IOOF Funds Management Group from 1985 – 2010, and as director of Bendigo Bank Superannuation. 

Tony has also kindly given back to the College as a generous donor to our Foundation over the years.

We congratulate Tony and wish him all the best for the future!

If you know any old collegians who have been successful lately, let us know at development@sbc.vic.edu.au - we'd love to celebrate them!

We're very excited to announce our third Business Lunch of the year will be taking place on Friday, 5 September, at 12:30pm in the Michael Perrett Pavilion. It will be hosted by Patrick Saundry (class of 1986) and feature old collegians Agostino Giramondo, Tony Kofkin, and Kyle Tyrrell, all from the class of 1986 (a good group that year!)

While they come from different fields, all four men have invaluable leadership experience and have insightful points to share. Come along and hear from the panel while enjoying a delicious lunch and the chance to network with like-minded alumni.

Tickets are $60 per person, book here: https://www.trybooking.com/DDMSZ or contact Erin Mepham at emepham@sbc.vic.edu.au. 

The St Bernard's Old Collegians Association are excited to announce that spots are once again available for the SBOCA Grant program!

The Global Gateway Grant is available for Old Collegians planning international study, and the Leadership in Community Grant to help fund those who are making a positive difference. 

We encourage you to apply for these grants as they can make a real difference!

For application details or more information please contact Alumni Coordinator Ben Lamaro at blamaro@sbc.vic.edu.au. 

We're pleased to announce all our reunions are now open for registration! Links to register are available in the event calendar above, You can also access the updated calendar any time on our SBOCA Events page.

Don't forget our Golden Years Reunion on Friday 22 August - a special event consisting of a whole-school mass and lunch to celebrate the classes of 1974 and earlier. Bookings can be made here: https://www.trybooking.com/DCXEV 

A reminder to sign up to our new old collegian platform Alumnly, which can be done at this link https://sbc.alumnly.com/alumnilogin. 

The Old Collegians Association has invested significantly in the building of this wonderful database, but it will only be effective if as many alumni as possible sign up. We'd strongly encourage you to join, as the bigger the network is, the greater the reward is for everyone involved. 

Alumnly is the place to be for exciting news, the latest events, and special offers for our alumni community. 

Among the many things you can do with Alumnly include accessing photos from events like our Foundation Gala Dinner and SBOCA Golf Day, search by industry to connect with fellow old collegians, and register your interest to offer career advice to the next generation of our students.

Thank you to all who have signed up so far, let's use this network and lift each other up!

This week we have Bernie, the namesake of our newsletter, reminding everyone who the star is in a photo from 1982 alongside the College Captain and Vice-Captain.

Honouring our esteemed old collegians is deeply important to the College. If you wish to submit Vale notices for inclusion in The Strand magazine, please send them via email to development@sbc.vic.edu.au. Your contributions allow us to respectfully remember and celebrate the remarkable individuals who have been part of our community and have sadly passed away since our last publication in late 2024 and throughout 2025.

We greatly appreciate your support in helping us honour their memories.