Tony Ayerbe, following his retirement from the army, joined a group of OWs and immediately became one of our most enthusiastic members. No doubt they told the same old stories each year and laughed at them just as hard, but it didn’t matter, they all enjoyed themselves and soaked up the camaraderie, nobody more so than Tony.
In fact, it was Tony who first moved the group to a larger venue, namely the officers' mess at the St Kilda Road Army Barracks. Through the good graces of Field Rickards, they later progressed to the Faculty Club at Melbourne University and then, the reception rooms upstairs at Roger’s favourite restaurant, Quaff in Toorak Village.
Sadly, after a long illness and only days before one of the group's lunches, Tony passed away. His brother Jack attended the lunch on his behalf and gave a heart-warming speech about Tony and his love of Wesley, the group of old boys and especially his love of the lunches. He concluded by holding up a $100 note that Tony had given to him the day before he died, with instructions to put it on the bar for the ‘boys to have a drink’.
There weren’t too many dry eyes in the room, and it wasn’t long after that the lunch became known as the ‘Tony Ayerbe Lunch’.
The informal committee of Roger Mendelson, David Crow, David Kennedy and Graeme Johnson discussed their shared love of Wesley and their experiences while at the College. They pondered this for a while and decided to establish the Tony Ayerbe Bursary whereby they would, subject to all of the modern protocols, assist a student to complete their schooling at Wesley.
Through the generous financial contributions of many in the group, the Bursary has enjoyed some success and continues to grow so that it may be provided to students through the College’s annual program.
We are all so grateful for the lifelong friendships made at Wesley and we encourage other year groups to consider building a network that might similarly establish support for future students to attend this wonderful College.
David Kennedy (OW1966)
