To encourage much-needed additional financial support, Lesley Mellor formed the Patrons’ Association in 1926 as a fundraising foundation. As an influential parent and School Council member, his respected position within the school community meant that he was one of the best people to try to establish such a group. Its formation was toasted with orange juice by sixty Baptists who attended dinner at the Rivoli to approve the constitution and elect office bearers. Membership cost merely one guinea a year, yet the association struggled even to reach a membership of 75 despite having a target of 400. ‘Finance is taboo these days, or perhaps most of us wish it were so’, lamented the association’s secretary, Gordon Sprigg, as the Great Depression gripped Melbourne in 1931. Nevertheless, the association was able to provide money for one scholarship, first awarded in 1930. Despite the hard work of Lesley Mellor, George Doery, Gordon Sprigg and others, the OCGA took over the Patrons’ Association scholarship fund in 1936 when the latter was wound up.