Retirees urged to 'start a new chapter'

“There is no constant but change,” registrar Hugh Amoore recently told retirees at an annual dinner in Smuts Hall to fete 2015’s cohort of 84 retiring staff, 28 of whom have clocked up 30 years or more at UCT.

Amoore, who will retire at the end of the year after 42 years on UCT’s staff, responded to Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price’s toast to the retirees.

Upbeat and dispelling any angst, after a year characterised by student and staff protests on this and other campuses around the country, Amoore said that after a “rollercoaster” year, UCT “can and must” emerge as a better place.

In his address, Price alluded to the contribution the retirees had made, and how they’d witnessed an extraordinary period in UCT’s history.

He also paid tribute to the PASS staff, vaults of institutional knowledge and experience, and to the academics, who had shaped the minds of thousands of students and contributed to the university’s growing knowledge base.

Referring to trends in longevity, Price encouraged the cohort to start a new chapter.

“You should retire to something.”

These endeavours would, of course, be free from the spectre of performance appraisals.

“And keep in touch,” Price urged.

Story by Helen Swingler. Photo by Rodger Sedres.