James Cryer (OS 1963)
James is the fourth generation of his family to work in the print industry in Australia, his great-grandfather having established a small printery in Sydney in 1903.
After leaving Sydney Grammar School, James joined the family business, WJ Cryer & Co Ltd, a public company which became the first to produce self-adhesive labels under the “Avery” brand, back in the 1960s. After the business was sold, he set up his own packaging consultancy, Project Packaging, and later became the CEO of one of Australia’s leading label printing companies, Pemara Labels.
Almost 30 years ago he set up a recruitment business, focussing on the print and packaging industries, JDA Print Recruitment, which is still flourishing with offices in Sydney and Melbourne.
James has been married now for over 50 years, and he has three children and six grandchildren. He is still a keen jogger (having trained with former headmaster, Colin Healey), and is actively involved in a number of print associations, including the Penrith Museum of Printing (PMOP).
In 2014 he discovered a diary, written in 1913 by his grandfather, whom he had never met. This lavish coffee-table book is the result. It is printed in Australia, and available online by simply googling the title, The Romance of Letterpress.
Ken McMahon (OS 1976)
Ken McMahon (OS 1976) studied chemical engineering at the University of Sydney. He moved to Switzerland in the 1980’s and worked for most of his career for a Swiss chemicals company called Lonza. Ken now has his own consulting business and lives with his family in Zürich.
Since his early experiences with the Endeavour Club, Ken has been a keen rock climber, mountaineer and skier. In the early 1990’s, Ken undertook the very challenging Mountain Guides course and qualified as the first non-Swiss Mountain UIAGM Guide there. He is also the first Australian to gain this qualification and still takes clients on ski mountaineering trips in the Alps.
More recently, he took up swimming after a break of over 40 years and has gradually progressed to the elite levels in Masters competitions. After winning the European Championships in open water swimming in Madeira 2023, he entered the 2024 World Masters Aquatics Championships in Doha in February. He gained the following results in the 65 – 69 age category: Gold medal in the 3km open water race, silver medal in the 800m, 400m and 100m freestyle and bronze medal in the 50m freestyle.
Keeping the sporting family tradition, Ken has two daughters who row internationally for Switzerland.
Remembering the School Swapshop
Here is an extract from the short history of the SGS Swapshop (1963-mid1970s), compiled by Doug Walker (OS 1965), with help from Andrew Jakubowicz (OS 1965) and Tim Rogers (OS 1967).
The idea of the Swapshop appears to have originated from Andrew Jakubowicz’s mother, who noticed the increasing costs of fitting out a growing boy. She suggested that there should be a mechanism through which school suits and perhaps other items of clothing in good condition which boys had outgrown could be made available to younger (or at any rate smaller) boys.
As a result, a proposal for a “swap shop”, where boys might buy and sell used textbooks and articles of clothing, was first formulated in April 1963. The Headmaster Colin Healey agreed and in June 1963 the Swapshop – Clothing Division opened in what was then the annex to the Science Room 11. The inaugural Swapshop Committee comprised of Form IV boys - Andrew (now Professor) Jakubowicz, Paul Weaver, Paul Frisby, Doug Walker and Martin Williams (who was also an Assistant Master at Grammar for a period in the early 1970s but is sadly now deceased). The Modern Languages master Don Carr, who also looked after Tutor Group 8 next door, held a watching brief over the operation.
Items were accepted for sale on a consignment basis, with the Swapshop taking a commission, generally in the range of 12 to 20% of the asking price. All items of uniform, including sports clothes, were accepted for sale (except shoes). At the beginning of Term 3, September 1963, business was extended to textbooks, and the shop was open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:25pm to 1:00pm. By 1965 Swapshop hours had been extended to before school (8:40am to 8:55am) and every day at lunchtime.
In 1964 it was reported that £160 was paid to boys who had sold items through the Swapshop. Profits were spent on upgraded facilities, and donations were made to the Headmaster’s Fund and Service Committee, while some items of used clothing were donated to the Smith Family. From early 1964 the Swapshop started to sell a range of new stationery items at competitive prices, an innovation which proved very popular.
While demand for textbooks remained strong, interest in used clothing (which had been the Swapshop’s first business focus) declined significantly. Possibly the concept of young teenage boys selecting suits in the absence of parental guidance effectively thwarted Mrs Jakubowicz’s vision and from 1965 the Clothing Section was converted to a Sports Gear Section, trading in football gear, gym gear, running shoes and the like.
Two years after its commencement the Swapshop had a staff of around 25. It was reported that staff turnover had been high, but was improving, and students were being lured into Swapshop service with discounts (presumably on new stationery).
With the pressure on space across the school, in 1966 the Swapshop moved to a small less prominent location at the bottom of the stairwell between the original science block and the extension. With this change, there was a substantial drop in turnover.
After a disappointing year, however, 1967 proved a comeback with stationery as the backbone of the turnover with sales and stock levels. The value of stock rose by 1500% between May 1966 and February 1967. By June 1968 the Swapshop was receiving better support from the School than ever before and had just registered the 500th customer to sell his goods through the shop. The Swapshop continued to operate for over a decade until the mid-1970s, when it apparently ceased trading.
If anyone is interested in providing information based on their experiences in the Swapshop, please email Doug Walker at mrdoug614x@gmail.com
