Sad to see in the front page article of today's Daily News that old boy Sean McCarvill has lost everything in a house fire over the weekend. 

Sean, who left FDMC in 2005, was fortunate to escape the blaze and that his young daughter was staying with Nana that night.  The following quote from the paper sums up what is a very a tough situation, and we are sure old boys will rally around any way they can.

Thanks to modern aerial photography, digital publishing and the financial support of our PTA, we now have a large and instructive map of the school on the wall outside the college office. If it has been some time since you visited the college this should prove a help in finding your way around.

While the 1st XI came second on Sunday in the Taranaki Men's T20 Final it was a great occasion and they did themselves and their school proud. 

One of the key features of the day was the level of support that our 1st XI enjoyed, and as the photos above attest we can always count on a team of supporters along with our team itself.

A great day was had by all with Solomon maintaining their recent dominance. They can be seen above celebrating in their usual humble and understated way.

For the record the results were as follows. 

Overall House Points:

Solomon: 1679
Loreto: 1259
La Salle: 1142
Benildus: 1135

Year 7 Championship:

1st - Ethan Seed
2nd - Jonty Hughs
3rd= Joshua Hopkins
3rd= Jamie Kestle

Year 8 Championship:

1st - Matthew Meuli
2nd - Ollie O'Connor
3rd - Jack Spicer

Junior Championship:

1st - Oisin Quinn
2nd - Zac Reid
3rd - Riley Barrett

Intermediate B:

1st - Eliot Lundon-Moore
2nd - Cameron Tofts
3rd= Andew Stevens
3rd= Reuben King

Intermediate A:

1st - Michael McKillop
2nd - Lachlan Stevens
3rd - Jack Earp

Senior Championship:

1st - Dylan Finnigan
2nd - Troy Adamson
3rd - Nick Tipler

The day has dawned bright and clear as we prepare ourselves for the first big house event of the year, The Swimming Sports. We will have details of winners, and photos of swimmers, for you next week.

Just a reminder that we put the college newsletters up on this site on the News and Happenings page. The first newsletter of the year is now available to be read or downloaded - a great way to keep your finger on the pulse.  

Late yesterday afternoon the 1st XI cricket side had a very solid win over the Marist United senior team to book their place in the final of the Taranaki men's T20 competition. 

The college side scored 120 in their 20 overs with a key innings coming from Daniel Bernet (son of old boy Paul). They were then able to restrict their opponents to a score of 108. Marist United are a strong team with at least half of their number being old boys of FDMC, so it was very much a college occasion.

The final of the T20 competition will be held on Sunday 2 pm on the main field at Pukekura Park. The opposition will be Woodleigh and we encourage as many past and present students as possible to get along and show their support.

News today that three of our students from last year were successful in earning scholarship passes in last year's exams. The results were as follows

Alastair Murray  -  English
                         -  Media Studies

Jonathan Ritchie  -  Maths With Calculus
                           -  Chemistry

Sam Fastier  -  PE Studies
                    -  Geography
                    -  Accounting 

Well done and all the best for your academic careers!

Today saw the second day of our annual cricket exchange with St Pat's Silverstream. 

The boys from Wellington arrived on Sunday and played a 20/20 match in which they were the victors by 3 runs. Today was the 50 over encounter where Silverstream were dismissed early for 108  and our boys got to 110 with the loss of only 2 wickets. 

As the photo above suggests it was a very hot day and not too many were concerned over the game not going the full distance.

Today we had our Investiture Mass where our new school leaders were recognised. It was great that Br Declan and Br Michael Carroll, pictured above, were in attendance for the big occasion. Both Brothers are currently living in the De La Salle Mangere community and are in good health and fine form.

The picture above was taken today at our first evacuation drill for the year. It highlights several features of our start to 2013. Firstly, the weather has been great and looks like staying that way for some time. 

The second thing is there are a lot of us, with this year's roll currently over the 760 mark and therefore less than 30 students under our maximum roll. This has meant that classroom space is tight, but as you can see above there is still plenty of room on the fields.