Hello Old Dalians and Friends of Dale,
We’ve seen incredible growth in all the branches around South Africa and are so proud what these branches have been doing. We have set goals, put plans into action and have been slowly achieving these goals we have set out.
The Simple-to-give initiative has been wonderful, our new website is in the process of being sorted and we have picked up our communication and membership drastically. Well done to Darren Ogden and his Jo’burg Committee for their amazing time and effort that they have put into the project, it is never gone unnoticed.
In saying this, we still need to work on quite a few things; some of the most important being, holding ourselves accountable and taking responsibility for things that we say and promise to do. We have had a few times, where the branch chairs have asked people to partake in events and the response has been overwhelming, only for the turnout to be dismal.
The result is that the gents that do keep their word and turn up are put under an immense amount of pressure because they were planning for more participants or more support, they must do twice or three times the amount of work than if it was shared among the group that all said yes.
Everyone can agree that it is massively unfair that the guys that do turn up and put the effort in are the ones that suffer the most.
As a Union, remember you are invited to be a part of this wonderful, 126 year old institution, it is not a right. With this privilege comes some responsibility. As the President, I have spoken to the different branches and we feel it’s time to be harder on each other and learn to expect more from each other.
As a member of the Union, we expect you to promote the following values in our ethos;
1. We Are Old Dalians and Friends of Dale: Enjoy the time spent with your old school mates as well as the new ones you make though the Union. This is the main reason why we are here today.
2. We Help Where We Can: Promote the well been of the College and Junior Schools to the best of our ability. It’s not all about the money giving time is often the most valuable commodity we can give.
3. We Are Accountable: Our word is our honour. We do the things that we say we will do, with conviction, pride and enthusiasm.
4. We Pay Our Subs: It’s a minimum of R 20 a month and the Simple-to-give platform makes it inexcusable to say we don’t know how to.
If we are struggling for the minimum payment, and we all do at some point in our lives, speak to your branch chairman. We have many gents that are already helping fellow Old Boys and even or that are willing to cover our minimum subs for an Old Dalian in need. We hope to pay it forward one day as well.
If you can afford it we ask that you sign up for The 100s Club where your subs are paid and we are able to assist the College and new headmaster Garth in their battle to keep the school up to a standard these young Dalians and community deserve. – https://simpletogive.org.za/dale-college/
Before each gathering, meeting or event, I ask or rather insist, that the Chairman of the Branch or the next most senior member read out these 4 values. We must not forget what we are about and why we are here.
I know it sometimes feels that you want to be part of things and haven’t thought things through. Remember, saying no, even if you’re 95% sure you’ will be there, is better than saying yes and not turning up.
Under – promise, and over-deliver. We would rather Old Boys turn up when they weren’t expected than leave the ones that did in the lurch.
Per Ardua, Ad Astra!
Sinethemba Tsipa
“You are an Old Dalian; keep to our values, otherwise you are just a past pupil of Dale College.”