Interview with Christopher Emmanuel - 1994
Chris feels that school was the best and worst time of his life. He left St David’s as rather
insecure. The one thing that St David’s did not do is discover his singing talent - he is about to
release his first disc. He feels the brothers did well in introducing children of colour into the
school. He enjoyed having black children in his class from grade 0.
St David’s has helped him to where he is today and he feels that the boys leaving school now
are far more emancipated, more free, than his class was when they left St David’s. He feels that
the reunions are an excellent idea and it is a good way of integrating the older old boys with
those who have just left.
Chris was a prefect and head of The Bishops in Matric. On teachers through the years:
Mr Kotze – very strict and used to use the ruler often.
Mrs Schaafsma – he will never forget her
Ms Henning – she was inspirational and a wonderful person
Mr Rankin – Maths corporal
Mr Girdwood – was a brilliant English teacher
Mr Lambe – The Bishops housemaster
Mrs Marais – a lovely person
Mr Norton – the best teacher he had at school
Interview: 13 October 2010 GA

Interview with Mike Beaumont – 1966
Mike was a day boy from grade 0 to matric. His class had a large proportion of boys who went
right through and are still friendly to this day. The bulk of the boys in 1966, including the head
prefect were day boys. Mike walked to school and absolutely loved it including times spent there
during the holidays.
He remembers his first day at school and being introduced to Mike Smith who had an older
brother. His teacher was Mrs Brick who looked ancient but who was a kind and nurturing figure.
There are not many old boys of his era who sent their sons to St David’s. Brother Benedict who
took over from Brother Edwin, was eventually fired and Brother Anthony became headmaster.
He was a good head but there was an academic blight during Brother Benedict’s time and in
1958 three quarters of the matric group failed. St David’s has improved enormously and with
hindsight he perhaps should have sent his son to St David’s and not to St Stithians in the mid
90’s .
Mike was swimming captain, was selected for Transvall schools swimming and played most
sport. He was disappointed as he played 1st team rugby until standard 9 when he was replaced
by a bigger boy and was relegated to the 2nd team. In 1966 the school became a swimming
force behind KES beating Parktown and Jeppe. They actually beat KES in 1965 as their team
was weakened as the main swimmers went instead to see “My Fair Lady”. Leigh McGregor was
a strong swimmer and became a triple Springbok.
Mike and Eric Ambrosioni started the cadets and were first officers. He was a soldality
committee member together with Mike Smith. Their applications were initially turned down and
they were told to improve their act!
Academically the boys were taught using fear tactics and were streamed into clever and dumb
classes. Mike was in the clever class for Maths, Add Maths, Chemistry and Physics however he
is much more of a people person and History and Geography would have been better subject
choices for him. In his year all of them passed with university entrance passes but his matric
results were dreadful. The best teacher was Brother Vincent, his class teacher in standard 5, a
lovely guy who eventually left the Brotherhood. Mike Dunleavy who now lives in Durban was
well liked by all the boys. Inspectors used to some from time to time and sit in on lessons. On
one such occasion, in a Chemistry lesson with Brother Bosco (now Mario) Mike had to conduct
an experiment, pouring some liquid into a receptacle, he was so nervous his hands shook.
He organised a matric dance which was spectacular with an underwater-neptune theme. The
band “Staccatos” were the main band in Johannesburg at the time.
In 1966 the head prefect was John Buckley-Jones who was awarded his provincial blazer, he is
now living in Zimbali. Johan Steyn had seven scrolls.
Theatre productions were unsophisticated and in about standard 4 Mike participated in a play
with three witches. He was a witch but he main witch was Chris Parker, nicknamed miniature.
The props were only available on the first night, one prop being a throne for the main witch. The
throne was too high and Chris had to jump and try to sit on it. There were talent contests and
Clive Bergman had a great band. Mike played guitar and sang a duet with Mike Ford and during
their performance the mikes kept going on and off.
School was his life and living next door he spent most of his holidays playing bicycle polo on the
fields. He enjoyed it and the friends he made. They had their fair share of peculiar brothers and
one at least who was sadistic, some were borderline abusive but the boys dealt with that and he
was very involved with the school as were his parents.
The boys generally had a developed sense of social conscience and were conservative rather
than liberal in their thinking. They were unaware of what was happening politically and of
apartheid. Even the brothers weren’t aware until the mid 60’s when anti SA sentiment became
more prevalent. Mike was called up into the army after leaving school and eventually became
an officer, they were very much fed the belief in the communist onslaught. He remembers Patric
Noble questioning the status quo,he is now living in the USA. Robert Amato (MOB) Rhodes
scholar came and talked to the boys about the situation in the country. Mike’s father used to get
translations of the Afrikaans press reports and said that most of what they were saying was
untrue.
Mike’s parents served on the PTA.
His last day he recalls as being rather an anticlimax, they had a matric picnic at Little Falls, John
Mulaneu from Gaborones took photos and made a super 8 film of the event. After school he
went into the army, then onto university and studied for a BA Psychology at UCT, he then went
to PE and joined Ford Motor Company, then SAB, Sperry Univac, was a director of an IT
company and has been consulting in the HR field for the last 20 years.
He would be interested in supporting the publication of the book and in fact he and Kevin Peel
have been considering for sometime the possibility of getting old boys from their year to set up a
bursary.
The last time Mike was at St David’s was in 2006 for the 40th anniversary but when in
Johannesburg on business often drives past.
JE October 2011

Interview with Harry Distin Curtis, Matric 1972 (Last year of Boarders)
Harry was born in 1954 in the town of Ndola in the former British colony of Northern
Rhodesia. Concerned about the quality of education in Zambia his parents sent him in 1967,
grade 7 to St David’s. Having bought uniforms etc he and his father had a brief look at the
school over the weekend. On the sunday afternoon they arrived at the school and met the
headmaster, Brother Anthony after which he went to the dormitory and locker room where he
would spend the next 6 years boarding. This would be his second home and the Marist
Brothers his foster parents, his first evening boarding was 23 January 1967.
Harry did not enjoy boarding from day one but had the comfort of knowing he would be
seeing his father the coming weekend. He was however a keen cricketer and athlete in his
early years and really only started playing rugby from grade 11. In his matric year he played
for the 1st rugby and cricket teams, and shared the athletic Victor Laudorum having excelled
in shot-put, discus and high jump. He was awarded his honours blazer in 1972 on receiving
his prefect, merit and athletic scrolls. Being appointed prefect and then the awarding of an
honours blazer were his most memorable achievements.
He only had grade 11 and 12 in which to learn Afrikaans for matric, he wasn’t required to
have it as a subject before.
Although the camaraderie and friendships that were built as a boarder were valuable, he
would have preferred to have been a day boy in Zambia enjoying life with his parents. He
was only able to be with them for a total of 2 ½ months a year during the mid year and year
end holidays. His father was only able to watch one of the games of sport he played during
his entire 6 years, a cricket match in grade 11. He had very fond memories of his holidays.
Harry felt that boarding school was harsh, not easy to adjust to coming from a loving
environment and experiencing the freedom of farm life. There was no longer any love,
privacy and freedom to dream. Bullying was rife and the Marist Brothers were certainly not
the caring people you would expect of those having received the religious habit.
In the St David’s Review Album, 1967 he found a photograph of the school choir. There he
was, the only picture relating to his past singing ability. The school also had a brass band
that performed at numerous functions. Sadly the choir and band activities came to an end.
As boarders the boys had no cultural activities, sport was the only release for their energy.
Harry felt that his musical talents were repressed at St David’s. The education was good
although, in those days, learning was mainly by rote. 1972 was a bad year academically but
conversely a very good sporting year and many records made then, he believes are still
unbroken.
Some memories:
In standard 5 he had Br. Patrick who was wonderful. Mrs Kempster was a dragon and lethal
with the cane – Kenisovitch.
The boarding was closed in 1972 as the Brothers could not control the boys anymore.
He loved matron Buckley-Jones who was a surrogate mother to him.
Br Michael ran the horse riding.
He remembers the dorm and Brother but not his name but he had a beautiful voice and was
only there for a year (not after 1968).
The last musical event was in 1968.
He had a good relationship with Br Aidan who loved playing table tennis.
Br Timothy he liked, he took them once to a soccer match as a special outing and they
regularly went to Wanderers.
Br Mario (Bosco) was a star, even though he gave him 6 of the best, caning in his last year.
He loathed Br Andrew – Dracula who nearly got him expelled after an incident with Br
Bernard.
Peter Stringer, cricket coach, not very good, rather lazy but a nice guy.
He enjoyed Br Anthony and recalled an incident when a group of boys went to the local
restaurant , Beefeaters now Giovanni’s. One of the boys had two gorgeous sisters
(Madeleine became Wickens) who worked there. They got their beers and burgers and
afterwards started the trek back to school. Jamie Curtis lay in the road trying to hitch a lift
when round the corner comes a white VW Beetle – Br Anthony’s car! Unaware that it was Br
Anthony one of the boys went up to the window, cigarette in hand. Needless to say
cigarettes were extinguished rapidly! Br Anthony got them all in his car, took them back and
all he said was he didn’t mind them having a good time but “Why in St David’s tracksuits?”.
The favourite smoking place was by the scoreboard.He enjoyed the cricket tours especially
to St Stithians and was there when the Oval was opened. He alsoenjoyed the swimming
galas.
Boys he remembers:
John Jacobs, Charles Rolandson, Hugh Flynn – has been in touch with them.
Terence van Heerden (best friend) vice head boy.
Terry Lavery (Springbok) in his first year athletics.
Mc Gregor swimmer also a Springbok.
Head Boy was Alf Ghodes.
Nigel Mayer rewrote matric and organised a couple of ladies for his matric dance which was
held in the dining room.
Iglier, Spalding, Simon and Hamish Gilbert (twins)
Strong in CT – Lavery, Agianos, McGurk, Patrick’s brother is a priest.
JLE October 2010

Nigel Sloane Gr 1 1969 to matric 1980
Nigel began his school career in 1969 at St David’s in Mrs Schaafsma’s grade 1 class of 36 boys. He admits
that he was petrified of his teacher as well as the headmistress, Mrs Kempster. Other teachers who Nigel
remembers are Mrs Hildyard in standard 1, Mrs Napier in standard 2, Mrs Geddes in standard 3, Mrs
Barenbrug in standard 4 and finally Mrs Knezovich in standard 5 to complete his prep school teachers.
Nigel enjoyed his prep school years mainly because of the sport which he loved. When he was in grade 2 he
was selected to play for the U/10 cricket team. This was unheard of, a 7/8 year old playing with boys turning
10! One aspect which he did not like was when incense was used as this made him faint. He fondly
remembers Matron Buckley-Jones looking after him when he was not feeling well.
Nigel continued to enjoy his sport in the high school and in matric he was appointed captain of the 1st cricket
team. Here Nigel clashed with Br Timothy, the headmaster, as he asked if the 1st cricket team’s gear could be
blessed as was done for the 1st rugby team. Br Timothy refused. Just before the matric exams Br Timothy
would not allow Nigel to captain or play in the cricket team stating that he should be at home studying for the
exams. Br Timothy finally relented as Mrs Sloane intimated that there might be no tea provided for the match!!
Mrs Sloane as the captain’s mother was in charge of the teas.
Nigel did not enjoy high school as he was continually compared to his older brother, Christopher, who was
academically minded and achieved excellent results. Most of the staff thought that Nigel should follow in his
brother’s footsteps. This has left a lasting impression on Nigel and he is always very conscious of not
comparing the siblings he teaches.
While Mrs Sloane was very active with the catering committee, Mr Sloane sat on the PTA for a number of
years and was very involved in the design and building of the swimming pool as he was an engineer. Nigel
remembers Brs Anthony and Aquinas coming to the house for dinner.
Nigel wrote matric in 1980 and went off to the army. He returned for the prize giving in March 1981 to receive
the cricketer of the year award. Once the army was behind him he went to Rhodes where he achieved a BA
honours and teaching diploma. His first teaching post was at Redhill for one term before leaving for England
where he was head of sport at Downs School near Bristol. On his return to South Africa he decided to try the
corporate world. He worked for Woolworths for a short period but loathed the corporate life and decided to
return to teaching, his first love.
He taught at St David’s from 1994 to 1997. Here he taught Zulu, of which he knew very little, amongst a
variety of subjects. He was promoted to head of department senior primary by Mr Spence in 1996. Nigel was
introduced to his future wife Monica by Pat Milne who also taught at St David’s. Nigel and Monica left for
Uplands Prep where Nigel was deputy head for 7 years from 1998 to 2004.
Nigel then moved to Thomas More College as headmaster of the prep school from 2005 to 2008. In 2009
Nigel took up the post as prep headmaster of St Peter’s Prep with Greg Royce as the rector.
Nigel is still in contact with Brian Muller who lives in Australia and he, Monica and the children are happy living
at Pecanwood primary where Nigel is the current headmaster.
January 2011

Interview with John Mills – 1959
John attended St David’s from standard 1 until matric. He was a day boy as he lived nearby in
Jellico Road, Rosebank and rode his bicycle to school. Due to being disabled by polio, John
didn’t participate in sport and on the academic front he failed matric with dismal marks for
Maths. He went to Damelin the following year and passed with flying colours. One of the
reasons for this may have been that he went overseas for 3 months in 1957 to represent the
boy scout troop and missed a lot of schooling. He recalls that they wrote matric together with the
girls from Redhill, it wasn’t very well organised with boys talking and copying and the Brother on
duty wasn’t very vigilant.
He remembers Brother Anthony – “Oranges” and Brother Benedict – “Beak”, all the teachers
were Brothers with the exception of the prep school where there were lay teachers. He had
great respect for Brother Edwin “Jack” the principal. A teacher that stood out in the prep was
Mrs Kempster, she was strict but fair and got good results. Mr Bishop, standard 5 rather weak,
Mrs Brophy grade 1, Mrs Keen standard 1 and Mrs Batten was a battleaxe. The boys used to
get caned or rapped over the knuckles and John’s older brother used to have the blackboard
rubber thrown at him by Brother Gerald. He was outspoken and not popular with Brother
Anthony.
John does not have much contact with old boys but he remembers that the head boy in his
matric year was Brian Nicol, an unexpected choice but he was Brother Edwin’s nephew. He
recalled Bill Bolsdon who lives opposite the college, George Poole an attorney living in Kenton,
Dennis Adams who is in Flo Bird’s office, Clive Knobbs, a director of Rand Mines, Ugo Riviera
whose brother Francisco had just died’ Max Liepoldt living in Hermanus, David Jacobsen who
was a director of Altech living in Boksburg, Leon Kadish who he thinks lives in Australia and
Basil Dakes whose father ran a hotel in the middle of town.
On completing his matric, John wrote his articles for accountancy but didn’t qualify but went into
business soon afterwards. He ran a Mercedes dealership on the East Rand, then Bill Lynch
approached him and he then sold his business to the Imperial Group. He started another
business and volunteered his services to the diocese.
John’s son Alan was a pupil of St David’s all his school life and matriculated in 2000. He recalls
that the classes expanded form one to two classes as the school roll increased. The main
sports were rugby and soccer, the latter brought parents together. The boys would go by train
and the parents would then fly down. It was good teambuilding.
John was a member of the board in the mid 90’s, his role being fundraising for the pavilion at
the time. Paul Edey approached him with regard to the Foundation and he was on the board at
the outset. Brother Anthony and Brother Jude were also involved. He currently runs the finances
for the Catholic Schools Office and diocese. He belongs to the Victory Park parish and is also
involved the Hope Home and Girls and Boys Town.
JE September 2011

Interview with Harry Rosmarin – 1960
Harry’s family attended Marist Brothers from 1912 until 1964 when his cousin left, both Harry,
his brother and cousin John were all at Inanda. He remembers Piet the cook who also cooked
for his father at Marist Brothers, Koch Street.
Harry started at St David’s in 1952 as a boarder. There were 44 boys in the dormitories; it was
an open house with absolutely no privacy. There was great discipline and lights were out by
9.00pm each evening. Being a boarder was quite an adventure at times, if you needed to go to
the doctor or dentist or to go into town, you first had to walk to Oxford Road or Corlett Drive and
get a bus to get into town. Transport to sporting events was on the back of the school truck and
all the boys got soaked when it rained.
He enjoyed it, found it to be great fun and is still in contact a number of old boys from that time –
Dave Phillips, Chris Bischoff who now lives in London and is the Ruperts financial advisor, Mike
Lakovsky. All the boys in the matric photo of that year have done well individually.There is no
photo on display in the hall as with all the other matric classes as they didn’t have an official
photo. There were 26 boys in matric and 180 boarders. There were no vacancies and there
were waiting lists for the school, 40% of which were boarders.
In 1957, Harry’s father’s farm in Standerton went downhill and the family had to move to
Johannesburg. Parents didn’t discuss such issues with their children and Harry only found out
when he and his father had an appointment with Br Edwin. Harry was surprised to hear that the
family farm was in liquidation and that his father could no longer afford to keep him at Marist
Brothers. Br Edwin’s response to this was that the farm was Mr Rosmarin’s business but Harry
was his and therefore Harry would continue as a pupil at St David’s.
Harry was involved with sport, played cricket continuing until he was 50. In matric he captained
the cricket team, he also played 1st team tennis, 1st team rugby and started a hockey section.
He used to play tennis on fridays at Ellis Park and a pupil from King David’s asked why they
didn’t play hockey which is how it all started. The Marist Cricket week began whilst he was at
Inanda. He remembers the boarders were often taken out over a weekend, sometimes to
Wanderers to watch rugby and cricket at the old Maristonian Club which was in the Eastgate
area of Wynberg.
Harry did well academically in the high school, was in the debating team, gained top spot in his
matric year and was the dux for 1960 narrowly beating Les Berman. There were seven Jewish
boys in matric that year, the only contenders for head boy being two Jewish boys. Harry was
eventually appointed head boy.
He recalled the matric dance, all the boys were in uniform and it was held in the dining room.
His date was Carol Dakes who’s brother Basil matriculated in 1959. He is still in touch with her
today.
Brother Anthony was a teacher at Inanda in 1958, left for PE and returned as principal in 1960.
He saw him again at the memorial service for Robert Amato.
Br Dennis was the best English and History teacher, he was young and outstanding; Br
Benedict was a disciplinarian; Br Lawrence his standard 6 class teacher and he had a great
respect for Br Edwin.
Robert Bailey matriculated in 1961 and he believes he became a priest.
Harry thought that his school years were the best of his life although he was sometimes a bit
homesick but he was always happy to be back at school and made life-long friends with a group
that gets together regularly. At one of their get-togethers in 1999 he managed to get Br Anthony
to join them, unaware that it was an informal reunion. They lunched at La Rustica and he joked
with Br Anthony saying that he seemed to work in places so dry that the dogs ran after the
trees. Br Anthony was an absolute gentleman with a wicked sense of humour which failed him
sometimes.
Late one morning when everyone was tired and sleepy, Norman Schwab was holding a fire
cracker which accidentally exploded in his hand, entirely an accident, none the less Br Anthony
was furious and from then on Norman became the scapegoat.
On leaving school, the final day being tinged with sadness with a party at David Butler’s home,
he went on to Wits to study accountancy. At university he joined Highlands North Old Boys
playing cricket and hockey as Marist old boys ceased to exist. He is a CA by profession but only
practised for a year after qualifying and then went into the family steel business.
He didn’t send his two sons to St David’s, society was different and they went to Highlands
North. He also has a daughter, a doctor working in London.
Currently semi-retired Harry has a business together with his eldest son selling food hampers,
corporate gifts, and clothing.
JE January 2012

Interview with Charles Rowlinson – 1972
Charles was a day boy and one of four children, his two younger brothers attending Marist and an elder sister
attending Parktown Convent, with a mother who was involved with catholics all her life. Charles’ mother joined
the Holy Convent Sisters as a young graduate teacher and ended up as headmistress of Parktown Convent.
Charles actually attended grade 1 and 2 at Parktown Convent before starting standard 1 at St David’s, Marist
Inanda.
Some teachers he recalled from prep school days were Mrs Scaafsma - standard 2, Mrs Janusch -standard 4,
Mrs Kenesovitch – standard 5 and high school, Andre Malan – Afrikaans in standard 7 -8, Bob Blyth – Maths,
Mr. Zach from Eastern Europe who taught History and was a great character and Mauve Hartman who taught
English.
Charles got on well with the Brothers – Anthony, Mario, Aidan, Andrew, Vincent, and Timothy, most of whom
also taught him at some stage in his 10 years at Inanda.
Charles recalls how he and his younger brothers, Greg and Anthony cycled to school from Craighall Park. He
states that many of the boys cycled to school and Charles remembered the bicycle shed which housed around
500 bicycles. Parents didn’t play such a big role in the school in those days and the boys were in fact very
independent and self-reliant. Charles and his brothers got to school very early each day playing soccer before
school. He recalls always busy with some sport or other during breaks. There was a very good and healthy
school ethic.
Charles thoroughly enjoyed Inanda and participated in most sports, rugby, playing in the 2nd and 3rd team,
tennis – 2nd’s and athletics he ran the 800m and long distance events. He recalled that 1972, his matric year
was actually a great year for the school, it was a top rugby school winning every game but one when they drew
with KES. He recalls the game very well, as the sun was setting. George Nichas, an outstanding rugby player
missed a rather simple kick to put Marist in the lead and win this game. The school also did very well in
swimming, athletics and tennis. Besides being well recognised as a very strong sporting school in this era, it
also produced outstanding academic results.
Having a boarding school meant than many boys came from the far reaches of South Africa and from
neighbouring countries.
Charles said it was great watching the 1st team rugby play and other special events. Nolan Springer was a
great sprinter, one of the greatest in Marist history. He was outstanding and broke every record.
Academically Charles was usually in the top ten. Charles feels that he was very privileged to have attended
such a school and is pleased that it is still today such a great school.
After acquiring a JMB matric, Charles went to Wits University on a part-time basis while doing his articles at
Ernst & Young, to study accountancy and after qualifying as a chartered accountant, undertook an MBA.
Charles’ own children 3 sons and a daughter didn’t attend St David’s as the school was going through a tough
patch at the time his eldest son was ready for school in the post Br Anthony period, so his sons went to St
John’s, Hilton and St Stithian’s. Charles was a long serving member of the St.Stithian’s council and became
chairman of the inaugural St Stithian’s foundation. He was very close to David Wilde the schools headmaster
and later school rector. He had contact with Paul Edey when he was setting up the St David’s foundation.
Charles has a background as an entrepreneur and is currently executive chairman of WIZZIT Bank, banking
for the unbanked which led to the creation of the globally recognised WIZZIT model which utilises cell phone
banking in reaching unbanked markets. Formerly he built up his own group from the age of 29, Renwick
Group, which became part of the listed group EDUCOR, where Charles was CEO and chairman. When
Charles left, after the group delisted in the early 2000’s he felt that he wanted to put something back and
wearing a social entrepreneurs hat, together with his partner, formed WIZZIT. He has also been C
chairman of the Rosebank Catholic church finance committee for the past 32 years and a member of the
archdiocese finance committee advising the Archbishop on financial, administrative and property matters for
the past 20 years.
Charles is a member of MOBS but is not as involved as he would have been had he been a parent at the
school, however he has been actively involved in organising reunions for 10, 20, 25, 30 years and now 40
years. He is pleased that 30 boys will be attending with 6 coming from overseas.
JLE October 2012

Interview with Ian Rogers 1967 – 73
Ian came from Observatory in standard 6 when his parents moved to Athol. Ian didn’t find it too
difficult to integrate because he enjoyed the sport so much. He remembers there being a lot of
jewish boys in his class.
Ian played a lot of sport including cricket and rugby. He played 1st team rugby until he broke his
shoulder and played 1st team cricket from standard 8.He played in the Wilf Isaac’s elevens
playing against an England team with Pete Stringer, Geoff Boycott who lived on the school
property and coached the boys others included Ashley Harvey Walker and Don Wilson. The
boys played against them at the beginning of the season. Peter Stringer organised the match
with top English players who were in SA playing for different clubs. Ian also played Transvaal
provincial golf and is still a keen golfer.
Ian recalled declining his honours blazer which was only offered to him in the September of his
matric year, however he was awarded a scroll for both golf and cricket.
Brothers he remembers include Brother Anthony, Headmaster, Br Bosco who taught Science,
Br Andrew – Maths, Br Timothy.
The matric dance was held in the school hall which was also the boarders’ dining room and the
boys had to wear their school uniforms.
Ian did well academically and was accepted into Dental School at Wits University.
Ian’s son and daughter both attended St Stithians and the last time he had occasion to visit St
David’s was when his son competed at St David’s about 10 years ago.
Some of his contemporaries he remembered were Vince O’Mahoney, Peter Ruzzini, Mike
MacFarlan, Patrick Quarmby, Desmond Schatz – paediatrician in the US, Costa John – head
boy now living in the US, Mike Saad – deputy head boy and rugby captain a pharmacist,
Marshall Walford – dentist, Les Kourie.
JE September 2012

Interview with Ronnie van’t Hof 1969
Ronnie spent 12 years at St David’s, starting in grade 1 in 1958. He was a day boarder and only
boarded for a short time whilst his parents were overseas and hated it. He lived in Inanda and
cycled to school every day. Br Benedict was headmaster and Br Anthony a teacher at the
school when he started. Br Anthony was transferred to Walmer in 1959 and returned as
headmaster in 1960.
His first day at school was difficult to say the least as he didn’t speak any English, Dutch being
his home language. He was befriended by Glynn O’Leary and Victor Hamilton (now living in
Texas) and he is still in contact with them. In standard 3 he experienced a really hard time as he
was a left hander using a fountain pen was difficult as he had to push rather then pull the pen,
causing far too many ink splashes which messed up his work much to the displeasure of Mrs
Janusch.
Mrs Brick was his first teacher and he remembers she used to smack all the boys with a ruler. In
grade 2, Mrs Brophy, standard 1, Mrs Legatt, standard 2 Mrs Clay, standard 3 , Mrs Janusch
who was a tyrant and used a strap nicknamed “Oom Jaapie”, standard 4 Mrs Kempster,
standard 5, Mrs Kenesovitch.
In high school he remembered Br Bosco (Br Mario) Science, Br Patrick English, Br Michael
Maths, Br Andrew (Drac) who was also a tyrant, so much so that no-one ever fell asleep in his
class!
Academically he did very well in the prep school but his performance petered out in the high
school. On reflection he feels much of this was to do with the streaming that took place in those
days. Because of his good academic record, he received the trophy for being top of the class in
standard 8, he was placed in the so called “A” stream and studied Physics, Chemistry and
Maths instead of choosing languages and History. The wrong criteria were used in his case, he
lost interest and became demotivated, in addition he broke his leg in matric and was out of
school for 6 months.
His sport was tennis and he participated in the Cramer cup against Observatory at the old
Maristonian club near the Johannesburg drive in near the Lebanese Catholic church.
He remembers receiving a medal in 1961 commemorating the occasion of SA becoming a
republic. Andy Morris’s father was then mayor of Johannesburg and presented all the boys with
a medal and made a short presentation to celebrate.
On his last day at school, he was a prefect but missed out on a lot after breaking his leg in the
May and only returning to school in the September, he was unable to attend the matric dance
and many other events. Ronnie has very good and happy memories of the school and his son
was a pupil until the family relocated to Knysna. He recently met up with the head boy for his
year, Keith Shaw in Cape Town at a tennis tournament. Keith is involved with film-making.
Antoine Simaan was also in his matric year.
On leaving St David’s, he studied law and after completing his degree decided to go into
accounting with Deloittes.
He played the tennis circuit after completing his Law degree, qualified for Wimbledon in 1976
and is currently chairman of SA Vets, was ranked number 1 and played for SA in some events.
He was in New Zealand representing SA in the seniors event at the time of the earthquake.
Some players were actually on court at the time and had a very bad experience.
Ronnie was actively involved with MOBS for a number of years before moving to Knysna, and
organised debates with invited speakers. The main organiser was Stephen Miles who
subsequently moved to the UK. Thierry Dalais who was then an accountant at Deloittes was
instrumental in resurrecting MOBS.
Currently he is involved with his financial services company AQB – a question of balance, the
name of which has Marist origins, he was been involved in tennis development in the 80’s, is on
the board of the SA Tennis Association, is involved with SA Tennis Vets, wants to regenerate
tennis in the townships and feels strongly that sport should be compulsory in all schools.
JE February 2012

Interview with Gabriel Ally – 2010
Gabriel came to St David’s from Sacred Heart in grade 8. He felt that his years from grade 0
to grade7 at Sacred Heart laid the foundation for his success at St David’s and in general.
The emphasis at Sacred Heart was on the Marist education with brothers still living on the
property at the time. Brother Anthony was his headmaster in grade 1 1968 – 9 and he had
an older brother and sister at the school. The primary school went up to grade 6 with a
middle school approach in grade 7 which prepared him for high school. Tony Williams was at
Sacred Heart during this time, was the prep headmaster and also coached soccer
Gabriel initially looked at St John’s and Michaelhouse but eventually decided that St David’s
was the high school for him after meeting Mr Williams. Initially he was rebellious but went
onto the straight and narrow from grade 10. He remembered John Edward Ferreira asking
him who was going to be head boy, and laughing incredulously when Gabriel replied “Me”.
When he first arrived he came with an open shirt and had to borrow a tie from lost property
as Sacred Heart boys didn’t wear ties in summer. After one week at school all the grade 8’s
went on camp with Mr Busscheau, Mr Dugmore, Mr Smith and Mr Williams.
All the boys lobbied for the prefects to also attend the camp and in matric Gabriel organised
that and the prefects went along, got to know the boys and were therefore better able to
profile them selecting appropriate mentors. This was the big success of his year as head
prefect and improved the mentoring system. In his first year all the naughty boys were given
prefects as their mentors and Gabriel’s mentor was Kunda Nyatsaambo, deputy head
prefect 2006 and head of house, College.
Gabriel played 1st team rugby, cricket, some soccer, participated in athletics and inter-house
swimming. He was also a member of the book quiz team in grade 12. He participated in
SMILE and was involved with some projects facilitated by Mr Martins. He enjoyed interhouse
music but didn’t get involved with drama as he didn’t have the courage. However
once he got to university he developed a passion for drama and was involved in two
university productions.
Teachers who made an impact on him were Mrs Roman, his tutor from grade 8 to matric, Mr
Williams especially in his matric year and his favourite teacher was Mrs Khanyile who taught
Zulu.
Gabriel was mayor of the junior city council from 2009 – 2010, this was then the private
organisation separate from the city council. As Mayor he endeavoured to contribute to
society in the areas of environment and welfare as much as possible and worked with other
NPO’s to achieve that goal. Mrs D Webb was the co-ordinator at St David’s and other boys
that participated before him were Sean Jamieson and Antimo Osato.
As head prefect Gabriel instituted a new punishment for boys who failed the new boys test –
they had to write an essay about why they loved St David’s. The results were interesting with
the feeling of brotherhood, brother’s keeper and involvement which emerged. Gabriel
wanted to instil a sense of tradition, discipline and spirit, setting goals in matric.
Gabriel also spoke at Mr Selima’s farewell where all the support staff were invited, saying a
few words in Zulu. He got chatting to Richard Lubisi and became friendly with him and
stayed in contact whilst he was at UCT. When Gabriel started doing some consultancy work
for his brother and needed to go and visit squatter camps, Richard took him to ivory Park
which is the reason that Gabriel now has the job he has. Richard is also now working for
Gabriel’s brother.
Steve Bailey died during Gabriel’s matric year. His death affected every boy in matric and he
was sorely missed.
Gabriel was awarded full colours for academics, service, leadership and general honours. a
Marcellin Champagnat medal and a special award, the Rotary Club Award for service
beyond self. Gabriel recalls the good feeling when Tyson Sithole was awarded an honours
blazer and how supportive all the other boys were.
The matric dance was very special and he remembers the opening song was “Kiss of a
Rose”. Mrs Greensill taught Gabriel and Chad White, deputy head how to waltz.
On leaving school Gabriel went to UCT to study philosophy and economics on an Allan Gray
Orbis Foundation Scholarship for Entrepreneurship and Leadership. After two years he
decided to take a break from his studies and return to Johannesburg to pursue his goal of
becoming a social entrepreneur. He was an apprentice in a small business and gained
valuable experience and knowledge on how to start and run a business in 2013. This
opportunity gave him the courage to start his own recycling and advertising venture. He is
currently working to support this initiative and plans to launch his own in 2014.
Gabriel is still involved with St David’s and is assisting Mrs Voorendyck in Life Orientation in
term three with the matrics and will be guest speaking at the prize giving in January 2014.
JLE September 2013
The Challenge – Final Address – Gabriel Ally - 2010
Good Evening.
“Gabriel enjoys taking part in group activities, he is popular and a leader amongst his peers.
Occasionally he acts impulsively and upsets someone, but these incidents are few and far
between. It has been a pleasure to teach Gabriel, I wish him luck for grade One and I know
he will enjoy the challenge.” ….In 12 years, not much has changed has it?
I still find myself leading and, on occasion, being impulsive. I sure hope I’m still popular and
a pleasure to teach, and I’m sure there are a few people sitting here tonight whom I have
upset along the way. Of all these words however, the biggest truism lies in the observation
that “he will enjoy the challenge”; a challenge that has been riddled with dreams,
responsibility, tears, elation and honour; a challenge that is still in its infancy and one that will
continue unto death. This challenge is life. A challenge that I have had the esteem of sharing
with a brotherhood, a challenge that has been blessed by the presence of family and one
that has been made easier by its path through St David’s.
A year ago I embarked on a challenge set forth by you; the challenge of following in the
footsteps of St Marchelin Champagnat, Michael Carey, Graeme Gallow, Kylo Molefe and
James Rawson. In doing so, I have been humbled by the opportunity to represent this
amazing band of brothers, this family, this way of life that represents far more than an
education. I stand before you today as a product of St David’s, as a man, as a disciple of an
institution that is far greater than any one individual.
As I look out at the boys sitting before me, I am comforted by the knowledge that what we
have achieved as the matric class of 2010 will be forever ingrained in their character. It is
true that it takes a village to raise a child and a community to spawn a man, and I can say
with confidence that when you leave St David’s you can say, “I have the courage to be that
man.” Until that day however, never shy away from the challenge of Confortare-Esto-Vir.
As some of you may have seen, the Marist flag is flying at half-mast today in remembrance
of Brother Anthony who passed away this week. Brother Anthony bid farewell to St David’s
long before our time here, but his affiliation to the Marist Brotherhood never faltered. This is
true of all Marist boys. This is true of our brother Steve Bailey. Tonight we are graced with
his spirit and I know each one of you sitting here, particularly the matrics, will understand the
severity of my words when I say that: “life is too short, to say life is too short”. I thank Mr and
Mrs Bailey for joining us this evening and for blessing the Marist family with a man whose
impact and maturity extended far beyond his 18 years of life. Steve, we miss you and we
love you.
Every oak tree was once an acorn. Now I’m aware that I am well over 6 feet tall, a massive
acorn, but I still have a lot of growth to do, as do we all. There is a common trend that when
Marist boys find their niche in the world, they tend to tower over forests of men with humility,
simplicity and modesty. When I think of a Marist boy who is defined by these traits, I think of
my brother and companion Chaid White. Chaidy, it has been an honour to have served
alongside you. You were never afraid to step aside when I needed to lead, or to step in when
I needed to follow. That applies to the entire prefect group. To Brad, Matt, Trist and Bazza,
our friendships has been cemented by the trials we have overcome on the sports fields and
in the corridors, thank you.
The best part of being able to stand up here tonight is that I have an opportunity to publicly
express my appreciation to the staff of St David’s. I won’t miss Shakespeare or pythagoras,
but I am certain I will miss our loving and supportive teachers. Not only are we blessed with
an exceptional education, but we are blessed with role models and friends. To Mr Van den
Berg, Mr Williams and Mrs Roman, I thank you for your undying support and guidance
throughout my life at St David’s and I applaud you for the work you do behind the scenes to
ensure that every boy sitting here has an opportunity to flourish.
The motherly urge, alongside hunger and thirst, is known to be one of the strongest natural
urges of human beings. Every son and husband sitting here will know that mom is always
right. We are here tonight not only as products of St David’s, but as products of our parents.
I have been blessed with a father who has never faltered in wanting the absolute best for his
son and a mother who has successfully seen three children through matric. Tonight marks
the end of my mother’s 21 year stint of packing lunches, labelling school books, answering
matron’s phone calls and buying enough raffle tickets for 10 people. Mom and Dad, thank
you for guiding me through this challenge with such love and care. We must all acknowledge
that without the support of our parents and the greater St David’s community, our lives would
not be as blessed as they are.
A young lad was auditioning with his classmates for the annual school play. His mother knew
that he had set his heart on being in the play – just like all the other children hoped to - and
she feared how he would react if he wasn’t chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, the
young lad’s mother went to the school gates to collect her son. He rushed up to her, eyes
gleaming with pride and excitement. “Guess what mum!” he shouted, “I have been chosen to
clap and cheer.”
These words provide a lesson to us all. To my successor and his men, who will take on the
challenge of leading this school: Do not be fooled into thinking that leadership is position?
Each one of you has a role to fulfil, a role that will be defined by your attitude and goals for
St David’s. Being a Marist boy is an honour, but beyond that it is a responsibility. You have a
responsibility to maintain the standard set by the generations of men who hang on these
walls, a responsibility to build on the foundation laid before you and a responsibility to
become a solid platform for the boys who will clap and cheer for you along the way.
It has been an honour and a blessing. I thank you all for this challenge.
Gabriel Ally
Head prefect
2010

Interview with Louis Cabri – 1951
Louis came to St David’s in 1950 a few months after having emigrated from the USA. The principal was Br
Edwin and the class master was Br Werner who also taught tennis. Because he had studied a different
school curriculum he was absolved from taking Afrikaans and Latin and took Biology via correspondence
through Unisa instead and French with private lessons.
He remembers being told by one of the brothers that he wouldn’t pass but that only spurred him on to
succeed. He found the hardest class to adapt to was History as he had first attended a British preparatory
school, as it happens the same as Andrew Freyman, then 3 years high school in New York. This was not
only because completely different aspects of History were taught eg. early British History under the
Romans followed by the US explorers of the west and the American Revolution to the Kaffir wars, but
because of the different cultural contexts, as for example he had never heard before of the Kaffir wars or of
the Boers.
Louis went onto Wits University taking a BSc in Geology and Chemistry in 1954 and then a first class
Honours in Geology in 1955. After geological field work in several Africa countries he began his graduate
studies at McGill University (Montreal) in 1959 where he received several scholarships. He also received
some professional awards and is working for himself as a consulting mineralogist at Cabri Consulting, in
Ottawa Canada.
Louis remembers some of his classmates – Peter Kaye who took accounting, Peter Rosmarin took a
BCom, Al Zylstra did engineering – civil?, Mike Clarke, BA and became a school teacher in Natal, Carl
Vermeulen became a lawyer, Roland Berger took engineering – mechanical?, Andrew Freymnan took
mining and engineering, eventually getting an MSC at McGill and a PHD is now living in Toronto, Angelo
Lasich took Medicine, Cedric Evans a BA eventually went to graduate school and ended up teaching
college or university in USA, Denis Richardson too accounting.
In the photo of his graduating Matric class Peter Rosmarin is erroneously listed as being in the back row
and Louis as being in the front row making matters worse Louis’s initial is given as A not L and P. Berger
should be R Berger.
JLE May 2013
Louis J. Cabri class of 1951
Louis arrived at St. David’s as a day student for the 1951 Matric year, after spending a couple
months in 1950 at Marist Brothers (Observatory), while the family lived in the Rosebank Hotel.
They had immigrated from the USA, arriving by ship in Cape Town in August 1950, and prior to
buying a house on West Street, Sandown, then a dirt road leading to some fields and a local
butcher. The Balalaika was near the intersection of West Street and Rivonia Road.
This was Louis’ third school in three countries with very different pedagogies and cultural
backgrounds. He began school at the Gezira Preparatory School in Zamalek (Cairo), a nondenominational
private school for boys and girls run by an English couple using a British
curriculum. He remembers the war years when there were exciting (to him) air raids with
everyone filing down the stairs to a basement shelter and then exploring outside for shrapnel in
the early morning. Also meeting many Commonwealth officers (many from SA) that his parents
entertained or in the park who would give souvenir badges and so on. Things were very tense
until the British beat back Rommel’s army at El Alamein (Oct-Nov 1942). He was a sickly child
(asthma) and often missed school so did not excel at sports (soccer and cricket) but he did box
and won the school’s boxing trophy in 1946 as a featherweight.
The family left Egypt in July 1946 as the political instability made things unpredictable, first
going to Rio de Janeiro and then at the end of December 1946 arriving by air in New York.
Since it was mid-year for school Louis briefly attended the last grade before high school at a
catholic school in Brooklyn run by brothers. He then started high school in September 1947
(Scarsdale), a non-denomination co-ed public school. The curriculum was also very different to
the British system, notably American history and culture, and the sports were different
(basketball, American football, and baseball); only sport he could play was softball, an easier
form of baseball. Thus after completing three years of high school the family left again, this time
for South Africa.
Louis began the 1951 school year at St. David’s, which was such a contrast to the co-ed
American high school in many ways. First, because he was going to be there only a year he
was allowed to take French instead of Afrikaans and Biology instead of Latin. Though they
spoke French at home, Louis needed to take weekly private French lessons downtown (Mme.
Mingeau) and biology via a correspondence course from the University of South Africa. The
only teaching brothers Louis recalls were the principal (Brother Edwin) who had a stiff neck or
something that made him hold his head at a bit of an angle and Brother Werner. He does not
recall being caned, probably because being a day student he did not have the same
opportunities to be naughty. One of the brothers (maybe brother Edwin) told Louis sometime
during that year that he would fail the matric, which is maybe why he ended up with a first class
(four A’s and 3 B’s). Louis remembers that the matric exams were held in a “temporary” long
(and hot) wooden hut, probably dating from the war, where the boys sat in long rows separated
by girls from other schools so that they could not be seated next to school friends. The most
memorable exam was the one when the girl in front of Louis (from Red Hill) fainted and was
taken away – we thought because she did not want to take the exam. Louis’ most difficult
subject was history because he had never even heard of South Africa, and of course made
2
more difficult as he did not have the cultural background to help understand and recall names
and events.
Swimming, rugby, athletics, and cricket were important sports at the school but Louis was not
good at any of these. Brother Werner taught tennis after school, which was new to Louis, but
which he enjoyed playing for many decades (with squash) until his knee gave out in his late 60s.
However, there was also boxing, and Louis’ ego was so large that he thought he could take on
anyone. One Saturday, with no preparation or training, he went into the ring against a younger
but well-built strong boy, who gave him a thrashing and nearly knocked him out. The walk back
home was slow and painful with ringing ears, and that was end of boxing! Louis made many
friends there in that short period and append the class photograph from the Maristonian, but
with the legend corrected as there were numerous errors. Prefects were Peter Kaye, Peter
Rosmarin, Alf Zylstra, Mike Clarke, and Carl Vermuelen, all of which became school and
university friends and invited to our house. Louis also had as friends Denis Richardson, Andrew
Freyman, Cedric Evans, and Roland Berger, but he remembers the others. As Louis recalls,
Carl and Mike were champion swimmers and Peter Rosmarin and Alf were outstanding
cricketers; Alf, also having a very low golf handicap.
After St. David’s Louis went to Wits where he took a B.Sc. (geology & chemistry) followed by a
B.Sc. Hons (geology). Following Wits Louis worked as an exploration geologist is the Gold
Coast (Ghana), Sierra Leone, and the north-west Cape, before getting married to Mimi De
Meillon in 1959 and leaving for graduate school at McGill University in Montreal. After studying
for M.Sc. (Appld) and Ph.D. degrees, while working summers as a geologist in northern Ontario
and Quebec, Louis took a research position in 1964 with the federal government in Ottawa,
retiring in 1999 as principal scientist. Louis and Mimi raised three children in Ottawa: one a
university professor, one a ballet dancer and choreographer and one an artist who now has a
little restaurant in Paris (France). They have two grandchildren. Upon retirement, Louis
immediately opened a consulting business, specializing in precious and base metal mineralogy
and metallurgy, with clients world-wide. His incorporated business is still active, but he
considers himself semi-retired and hopes to hear from his former St. David’s school chums.
Ottawa,
2017-12-06

Interview with Patrick Quarmby – 1971
Patrick joined St David’s in 1961, standard 2 and rode to school every day from Craighall Park . His first
teacher was Mrs Michael who was a lovely person and was especially kind to the new boys. Mrs Scaafsma
was also teaching at the time. There was the notorious trio of Mrs Janusch, Kempster and Kenesovitch. If
you survived them you could survive anything, they were good teachers but fierce. Patrick recalled that Mrs
Janusch had a pekinese dog as a pet and the boys had to take it for walks and on one occasion, when it
was attacked by another dog, its eyes literally popped out. Mrs Janusch used a strap to reprimand the boys
and they were terrified of her.
The brothers had a significant influence on the boys. Brother Anthony was headmaster and Br Andrew
(Drac) was a great character and passionate about sport, Br Bosco (Mario), Br Aidan – the bursar, Br
Michael, Br Sean and Br Bernard who took all the rugby photos, were on the staff. The boys used to swoon
over Mrs Heyns /Rudiger and Miss Hartmann. Other lay teachers he remembers are Mrs Pruiss, Peter
Greenaway – Maths, was a good friend to the boys, Mr Kalifi – Add Maths, Mrs Richardson and Mr Done –
Latin. Some of the teachers were not world class but Br Bosco was a very good Science teacher.
The boys used to like playing tricks on Mr Done, who was a good teacher, and would move his desk to the
edge of the teacher’s platform. When he sat down, the desk naturally fell forward. Patrick remembered an
incident when he and Mark Agar, expecting Peter Greenaway, held the classroom door closed to prevent
him coming in. Eventually they let go and to their horror, in walked “Drac” who threatened to cane the whole
class unless the offenders owned up which of course they did and suffered a severe caning.
During the period Patrick was at the school, when there were still boarders in 1970 to 1972, the sport was
very strong especially in his age group. Patrick personally played 1st team cricket for three years from the
end of standard 7 and 1st team rugby for two years.
Patrick swam in the primary and high school and, whilst he was in the primary school, the swimming team
beat KES, perhaps the team was so good as the training was tough, starting at 7am with Br Andrew
keeping the boys attention with a chain on their wet skin if they didn’t perform. Patrick also swam Transvaal
schools U14, together with Geoff Harrison and Keith Shaw.
Nassey Simaan coached rugby and encouraged the standard 5 boys to start playing before they went into
high school. They were a strong team with members such as Mark Agar, George Nichas, Ivan Bensimon,
Michael Richardson, Ross Hunter, Spiro Trupos and Ken Fraser, an American who had never played rugby
in his life but proved to be a great prop together with Kim Small. It was the best era for St David’s sport with
the rugby team only losing two games beating Jeppe and Parktown and in 1972 they lost one game against
KES. Observatory also had a very strong team in 1970 and 71 but we managed to beat them both years.
He remembered that during one match James Harrywyn gave one of the players of the opposing team a
karate chop and the boy’s mother ran onto the field and hit him with an umbrella.
During this time the school employed professional cricketers as coaches including Ken Palmer, Don Wilson
and Peter Stringer and cricket really blossomed. Patrick played U15 Nuffeld cricket, and together with Ivan
Bensimon made Transvaal schools cricket team in 1970. Johnny Williamson also made the Transvaal
schools cricket team in 1970. He recalled the Marist cricket week in standard 8 where he was selected for
SA Marist which was the last time it was held. Patrick also attended the opening of the cricket oval in 1970
and still has the programme.
Sadly Patrick only went on three sports tours whilst he was at St David’s and MOBS didn’t exist. The boys
at St David’s didn’t believe in themselves, they were very good sportsmen with a lot of talent but they never
reached the heights they should have. They only played against local competition and were rather insular.
St David’s was a small school but with the opening of the oval they were the school to beat – KES being
the biggest rival. One tour Patrick went on was to St Joseph’s, Cape Town by bus to celebrate the Marist
Brother’s Centenary.
A’s for academics were a distinctly scarce commodity unlike today, however many of the boys earned 1st
class passes for matric, 9 distinctions for the whole class and Patrick was always in the top 5.
Patrick was vice head boy and was awarded the provincial blazer in his final year and scrolls for prefect,
merit, cricket, rugby and studies.
Patrick firmly believes that a strong old boys makes a school. He is still in touch with Ivan Bensimon who
lives in Sydney and Mike Richardson living in London.
After leaving St David’s, Patrick went into the army and then onto Stellenbosch University where he studied
for a BComm. He then studied for a post graduate qualification through Unisa and Wits University. Patrick
wrote the board exams and was placed first in the exams in South Africa becoming a CA in 1979. He then
did a post graduate course at UCT and lectured there whilst doing an honours in taxation.
Patrick joined Ernst and Young and became a partner at 28 and in 1987 went overseas working for
Schroder’s Merchant Bank in London, in 1989 he started up Standard Bank in London and then Standard
Bank in Hong Kong in 1992. In 1996 he came back to South Africa and joined Dimension Data.
Patrick met his wife in Hong Kong and is the father of triplets, two boys and a girl who attended St Peter’s
and are currently at St Andrew’s and DSG in Grahamstown.
Patrick believes it would be a good idea to target a year, trace former pupils and contact them. 2016 would
be the 45th anniversary for his year. He would like to get involved but because of pressures of work could
only do so towards the end of 2014.
JE October 2013

Interview with Peter Stringer – 1966 – 74 - staff cricket coach
Peter played professional cricket for Yorkshire and was brought out to South Africa by the Wanderer’s club
who paid for his airfare and he had free accommodation at St David’s. He travelled here by sea on the
Union Castle line. The first stop was Southampton to Las Palmas and Cape Town, then with the “Blue
Train” to Johannesburg. The return fare was R480 then when the Rand was two to one Pound. He coached
from September until the end of March each year until he moved to SA permanently in 1971.
Br Anthony was the headmaster and Br Andrew, who was Spanish, was in charge of the grounds and had
never even seen cricket played until he came to South Africa. Br Timothy was on the staff and Br Bosco.
Willy Castle was a pupil at the time. When Peter first arrived at the school, the dining room was full of about
16 brothers but by the time he left there were only about 4. A young brother came out and had never seen
cricket played before. After watching a practice one day he asked that the stumps be left and grabbed a
ball, kept on trying to bowl and then run after the ball. After about 10 minutes of this activity he brought the
stumps back declaring that this was a tough game!
Willem Van der Merwe was working at the school then and Peter remembers him seeing some renovations
of Rosebank where paving was being ripped up and replaced. He enquired where it was going and how
much they were paying for dumping it and arranged for it to be “dumped” at St David’s where he used
them. Willem also converted the dormitories into classrooms after the boarding closed and saved the
school a significant amount of money when he built the swimming pool stands.
Peter recalled a cocktail party at the school to welcome the new headmaster, Mr Murphy who claimed to
have played rugby for Lancashire. Peter used a facility next to the Lancashire rugby grounds and knew
many of the players and found it interesting that when Murphy heard this he quickly moved away and didn’t
wish to chat to him any further.
The initial fields were where the prep school playing fields are now. Lee McGregor who became a
Springbok swimmer was a pupil at the school. His father owned an earthmoving equipment company and
when the school purchased the Love farm, he purchased two old bulldozers which he serviced and, under
his supervision, were used to create the cricket oval. Peter recalled that Br Anthony asked how big the
Wanderer’s cricket oval was and made sure that St David’s was bigger. Wanderers enjoyed playing on the
St David’s oval.
At the opening of the oval in 1970 a professional cricket team was put together and played against the
school team. As it was so dry and Br Anthony being a perfectionist, he organised that the pitch was painted
green for the opening. The day was overcast and rain threatened but after the Bishop blessed the oval, the
sun came out and a wonderful day was had by all. Dicken Bird, the famous umpire was a member of the
professional team.
Peter saw the ghost rumoured to haunt the Love farmhouse. Peter was sleeping in the house before
leaving early for the Kruger Park with Don Wilson and Barry Leadbeater. He woke up sensing someone
was in the room, sat up and saw an old lady who just faded away. Chris Clifford who coached cricket and
taught Maths slept in the same room with his wife one night and she woke up screaming claiming someone
was in the room but she didn’t see the ghost.
Peter was Wanderers cricket coach for 42 years. He was also the convener for SA universities cricket and
coached the likes of Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes and Andrew Hudson. At Wanderers he also coached
Brian Macmillan, who went on to play for South Africa. On another occasion he was asked by the MD of
Whitbread if he would coach the Wits university team 2 days a week in exchange for a few free beers.
Peter remembers a large beer truck drawing up at the school with 30 dozen beers. Needless to say a
certain amount of partying was done and Br Anthony and Br Andrew also joined in.
The cricket at St David’s was good in Peter’s day and he remembers bowling St Stithians out for 17.
Harry Curtis was the fast bowler but had to play in tackies as he couldn’t get cricket shoes to fit him, size

15. Peter had some shoes made for him in Northampton, England and remembers paying R7 for them.
    John Peel, Terry Lavery, Chris Stanle, Glyn O’Leary, Peter Moni, Patrick Quarmby Frank Cattich, Greg
    Boys Varley, Mike Stanley and Alan Reeves were some of the school’s cricketers. Peter coached Alan’s
    son.
    Peter remembered the Marist cricket week. Joe Stravino was selected for Transvaal, became captain and
    was vice captain for the A side Nuffield cricket. Mike Smith who came from an Italian family was also a
    keen cricketer.
    Peter started the rugby in the primary school and coached the Peel brothers for 3 years. The team played
    U13, U14 and U15’s and they didn’t lose a game until grade 6.
    Peter often looked after the boarders and played indoor soccer with them in the old tuckshop.
    When Peter first came to St David’s, it was considered really far out, there was no Sandton and Rivonia
    was a village. The chapel was upstairs and the swimming pool was where the after care is now. Piet the
    school cook was the “Boss” who ran the school kitchen. He used to take the pumpkin and butternuts seeds
    and send them down to his family in Natal. He was a big man and if he lost his temper all the staff scattered
    and ran out of the kitchen.
    Peter finally left St David’s because he clashed with Br Timothy the then headmaster, swimming and rugby
    were his sports. Peter went on to King David’s, Victory Park for 20 years and has been coach at Trinity
    College for the past 12 years. He left SA in 1980 after his mother died and opened up a butcher’s shop with
    his brother which is where he met his wife Maureen and they married in 1985.
    Ronnie Carr was also a cricket coach at St David’s for a number of years. He owned a butcher’s shop in
    Darrenwood but got tired of it and asked Peter to help him become a coach.
    JLE October 2013

Interview with Peter Scott- 1970
Peter came to St David’s in 1969 as a day boy having moved up from Durban where he had
attended Northlands Boys’ High and had been streamed to study Maths.
Peter had an interview with Br Anthony who made a place for him. Peter’s father was employed
by Barclays Bank as was Angus Band’s father and Peter spent a week’s holiday with Angus
before starting at Marist Inanda. It was quite a change coming from a government school into a
private one, he was no longer just a number, everyone knew you and Peter enjoyed the
friendship and the smaller classes; for Biology there only 8 of them in a class.
Peter recalled that Br Anthony was a wonderful man whom he respected, he was strict but fair.
He had a saying that all roads lead to Damelin and as a form of discipline every time a boy
committed a misdemeanour he would first add their name to a transfer card. Next would come
the address and so on until the card was complete and the boy was then out of St David’s.
Br Timothy taught Biology in a didactic manner; Br Bosco (Mario) Science, he was a great
teacher who gave classes after school for the more advanced pupils. Br Patrick – English; Br
Andrew (Drac) who was very strict; Br Michael – Maths and Mr Kalifi, an electrical engineer
turned teacher who taught Maths and Applied Maths. Lex Fernhead was the Biology teacher in
standard 9 and taught the boys as if they were at university level. He gained a Phd, ran the
Durban aquarium and then started the Two Oceans in Cape Town.
Fellow pupils were Kevin McPherson who became an architect, was very good at drawing
caricatures and drew one of Br Mario on the blackboard. Peter Elliot, Alec Chemaly (both
cyclists); Keith Shaw who was head boy, now living in Cape Town and involved in tv work
having done an excellent series for the BBC on Mandela. Kim Small, a good ruby player is now
farming in KwaZulu Natal. Peter often works together with another MOB, Greg Boyes-Varley
and Francis Gibbons and he were best man at each other’s wedding and still keep in touch
today.
Peter wore his hair as long as he could, the maximum allowed, which led Br Anthony to
comment at a prize giving – “grow it, you might lose it one day!” In those days the prize giving
was held under the trees on the south side of the school.
Socially the boys would meet up with the girls from Rosebank Convent and Parktown Convent
with the girls coming to the rugby matches. There was also a coffee club on Friday nights at the
Rosebank Catholic church for teenagers aged 14 to 16 with dancing and socialising but no
alcohol. Peter got quite involved with this and used to organise the music until he was in his
second year at university.
On the sporting front Peter was a runner together with John Williams, his best being the 400m,
however Willy Castle was a better runner. He was a member of the 5th team rugby in standard 9
and in the 3rd team in matric. There was a good spirit and Peter enjoyed the rugby, playing
against CBC Boksburg and CBC Springs which was quite a journey taking two or more hours in
the school buses. Peter remembered a controversial match against St John’s, where everyone
believed that the referee was biased and the Marist boys chased the St John’s team up to the
bell tower. St David’s didn’t play against St John’s for a number of years after that incident.
Peter was also a student officer in the cadets. The drill team came second in the
championships. Mrs Moni organised all the uniforms and the boys had to travel standing up so
as not to crease them before the competition.
Peter recalled a weekend in Henley on Klip for school leavers prior to their matric study week.
They were allowed to drink beer and John Moni was rather bleary eyed on the bus trip home.
There was a three week marine biology trip to Chidenguele, Mozambique where the boys had
an amazing time.
Peter participated in the “Business Game” with his team doing well coming second that year
when Michaelhouse won. Other members of the team Kevin Ryan and Richard Collier went to
do well in business.
The matric dance had the theme of Venice and was catered by Fattis and Monis with the after
party held at John Moni’s home.
Academically, Peter did well and achieved 3 distinctions for his JMB matric. He walked away
with all the prizes with the exception of Afrikaans.
After matriculating Peter went to Wits university to study Medicine, delaying his stint in the army
when he did his two years military service as a doctor on the Angolan border and in mission
hospitals in Natal. He studied Medicine and a BSc Hons in Bio Chemistry simultaneously,
graduating in 1978 doing his housemanship at the Johannesburg hospital. He lectured in
Anatomy for a year with Philip Tobias then started his career and did 6 months as a senior
house officer in plastic surgery and then specialised in general surgery and plastic surgery up
until 1986 when he graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He then
underwent 2 years as a consultant at the Johannesburg hospital and began his own private
practice in 1988. He is still heavily involved with teaching and is on the executive committee of
the Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of South Africa and is a member of the
world body of plastic surgeons which involves a lot of travelling and teaching.
On a personal level he is interested in archaeology as a result of his friendship with Philip
Tobias and is a keen cyclist. Peter is married with three children, two daughters and a son who
went to St John’s – his wife, who is a teacher chose the schools and Peter selected the doctors!
One of his daughters is likely to follow him into the field of Medicine.
JLE April 2013

Interview with Nick Mavrodaris – 1970
Nick was born in Springs and was enrolled as a pupil at St David’s, as a boarder in 1965.
Springs High School was in decline; also Nick’s father had brought 35 children to South
Africa from Greece and wanted a better education for his son.
He remembers his first day arriving and his parents helping him unpack. The pranks the
other boys played on their first day telling the new boys to go to one of the brothers and ask
where the crows were – unbeknown to them the brothers were nicknamed the “Crows”.
Nick was a boarder and loved it; he enjoyed the sport and joined in all the school activities.
The discipline was good and it was only years afterwards he appreciated that aspect of
school life and the influence it had on him. The discipline involved getting up early to study,
then school work, then sport and homework periods at the end of the day. Nick did however
regret missing out on family life especially as his father died when Nick was only 3 years into
adulthood.
He was a member of the U13, U14,U15 A and B rugby teams, in standard 9 was a member
of the 3rd team and in matric the 1st team until he injured his knee and required surgery. He
participated in cricket, tennis although he wasn’t that good, volleyball and diving. He also
went to Cape Town to St Joseph’s to celebrate the Marist’s 100 year anniversary.
The brothers he remembers are Br Anthony, Br Andrew “Drac”, whom he visited when he
went to Barcelona for the soccer world cup in 1982. Br Andrew taught Geography and at his
first lesson he told the boys to study the map of the Transvaal. The next day he brought a
very large map into the classroom and asked the boys the location of various towns etc
which of course they hadn’t learnt. In standard 9 he had a Jewish Maths teacher and James
Harrywyn took advantage of the fact that he didn’t understand what was to happen when the
Angelus bell rang and carried on praying and saying Hail Mary’s for 15 minutes until Br
Anthony walked past the classroom and saw everyone laughing. There was Br Patrick, an
Irishman who said “what do you expect from a pig but a grunt”, he taught English and Nick
remembers the opening lines of “The Tale of Two Cities” “it was the best of times and the
worst of times”. Br Aidan the bursar, Br Bosco “Boeing” who taught matric Science and
finished the syllabus by April. There was another brother from Mexico who didn’t understand
English. The boys nicknamed him “Gringo” and took advantage of him during study periods.
He remembers pupils such as Jonny Stavros, a Greek from Zambia, John Williamson, Alec
Chemaly, Patrick Quarmby, Lee McGregor, a Springbok swimmer and Keith Shaw, head
boy.
The boys were always playing jokes on one another and Nick remembered an occasion
when the priest didn’t turn up for confession and James Harrywyn took it upon himself to
stand in for him. He listened to all the confessions and sent the boys to the chapel to pray for
their sins – all evening!
Mickey Joseph was a walking pantry and carried all sorts of sauces in his blazers’ inside
pockets. The food was monotonous and Nick recalls one evening when the boys were
served spinach. Nick got hold of some olive oil and lemon juice and soon everyone was
tucking in.
The boys were not allowed to have radios at school but, in 1966 Nick acquired a mini radio
which he hid in his blazer and ran the wires for the earphones up his sleeve so that he could
listen to the soccer world cup scores.
Nick also remembers planting grass for the school rugby and cricket fields.
Nick’s father had a grocery store and worked long hours. When Nick went home for the
holidays he had to help as a packer which he hated at the time. His father trained them so
well that he went away on holiday and left his sons to run the business.
Nick recalled that for his matric dance he took a Greek girl from Germiston as his partner as
he really didn’t know many girls at that time.
When Nick left St David’s he joined the commandoes which entailed basic training in the
January and July 1971 and being called up to camps for 3 weeks over 16 years. Nick did 3
months border duty but didn’t see any action. He studied law at Wits University but realised
after 3 ½ years he wasn’t going anywhere. He had been regularly helping out at the grocery
store then got a job with the nearby Elegance Jewellers working every Saturday and during
varsity holidays for R2.50 per day. He had to travel by train to Johannesburg leaving home
at 6.10am to catch the 6.20 train arriving in Johannesburg at 7.30am. In all that time he only
missed 3 lectures. In 1974 he joined Elegance full time and eventually bought a half share
then the full, shares in the business. He had one shop in Springs then expanded further.
This year Nick consolidated the business from 5 stores to 2 and now enjoys some more
quality time with his family.
Nick’s sons didn’t attend St David’s as it was too far to travel from Benoni which has an
excellent high school. Also if they had become boarders they would have missed out on
family life which is very important.
JLE August 2013

Interview with Neville Dent – 1961
Memories of Boarding School, 1952 to 1961 by Neville (Tommy) Dent
Pupils travelled from far and wide to board and attend school at St Davids. Some of my best pals came
from the copper mines in Northern Rhodesia and the Congo. Most of us came from middle class families
and although most of the boys were Catholics a fair number were Protestants and Jews. I recall that
travelling home by train for Brian (Congo) Roberts took up to a week. He went “on hols” only once a year in
July. The rest of the time he was obliged to stay at school.
Initiation into the school was tough: “We use the cane here and if need be your boy will get a caning”.
Some tough words spoken by Brother Edwin to my father. In the 10 years I was at St Davids I never recall
him using the cane. However I did get canings from my teachers for a variety of reasons. In those days it
was fashionable. As a protestant in a catholic school I had special privileges like going to “St Martin’s in the
Veld” anglican church on Sunday mornings when the other lads were at mass. An added incentive to go to
church was the freshly baked sausage rolls we got after the service and helped fortify us for the 1 1/2 mile
walk back to the school for breakfast. With the blessing of the brothers I was confirmed by the Bishop of
Johannesburg on November 7, 1956.
Routine as a boarder meant getting up at 6.00 o’clock followed by prep while the catholics went to mass.
Breakfast was at 8.00. After school it was playing sport followed by prep, dinner, more prep and then in
bed by 9.00pm. Sometimes we got to listen to the radio in bed until 9.30pm. Sunday nights were special
because we were allowed to listen to the “LM Hit Parades” presented by David Davies being broadcast
from Mozambique.
My first memory of the class room was of Mrs Batten our Std 3 teacher and her dreaded cabbage juice
which was administered as punishment. I hated the cabbage juice but failure to drink it meant a visit to the
principal’s office which was worse. Std 5 had many happy memories foremost of which was our
introduction to literature by Mr Bishop. In his distinct clear voice he read to us from “Chaka Zulu” for half an
hour every day. During the reading there wasn’t a murmur in the class as we all sat spell bound and I
became determined to read more books. Mr Bishop was forced to re-read the book twice. He also took
charge of the scripture reading class for the Protestants and Jews who were barred from attending
catechism. It was endless reading the bible from cover-to-cover for 10 years and to this day I’m unsure it
strengthened my christian faith. Arguably the best teacher in the school was Brother Lewis who in our junior
cert year moulded us into a sharp academic unit. His methods might have been harsh but we all
appreciated him when we ended up with the most distinctions and 1st class passes in the Joint Matriculation
exam in South Africa.
In the late 50’s the school played host to homeless refugee children from Hungary and I remember them as
being talented acrobats and musicians. The school was thoroughly entertained by these strange people
who couldn’t speak English. One 12 year old lad could play Liszt on the piano like a concert pianist and I
was able to get my first delightful taste of the piano.
My most embarrassing moment at school was in my junior cert year when at assembly one day Br.
Anthony, who was then principal, told me to report to his office for a caning because of a misdemeanour
and then changed his mind and still at assembly in front of my mates told me not to bother as I looked
scared. This was the one and only time I ever craved for a caning.
My happiest memories were Saturday mornings when it would be up early and down to the tennis courts for
a game before breakfast. After breakfast it would be cricket or rugby followed by lunch and then the
freedom to go to the Wanderers Club to watch sport. I have many fond memories of watching great players
like Peter May, Dennis Compton, Neil Adcock, Don Bradman and our own Graham Pollack and Hugh
Tayfield play cricket. Occasionally we were also allowed to go to Ellis Park and I recall attending the test
between the Springboks and the All Blacks in the late 50’s with my school pal and 110 000 other rugby fans
which I think was a record attendance. We were ecstatic to see Hennie van Zyl (handsome Hennie as he
was known) score South Africa’s one and only try.
2
Saturday evenings would be movie time and Brother Dennis would set up the 16mm projector in the dining
hall. One of the boarders father was a big shot in African Consolidated Theatres and he made sure we got
nothing but the best movies to watch. The boarder mentioned was John Stodel a Jewish student also in my
class.
Talking of Ellis Park it would be amiss not to tell how my name was changed from Neville to Tommy. Going
to the grounds meant catching a double-decker bus outside the school into the centre of Johannesburg and
then walking to the stadium. On this particular Saturday afternoon a pal and I were walking back from a
game towards the bus terminal off Commissioner street when we walked past a man waving at an empty
bus shouting:”Hello Tommy, Hello Tommy” over and over again. We could see he wasn’t too steady on his
feet and mimicking him back at school became the joke of the year. Whenever we greeted each other it
became “Hello Tommy”. It was this that the led to the name catching on.
Sundays were different from Saturdays. After church and breakfast we would go to prep at 11.00 am to
carry out parental letter writing until lunch time. As we filed out we had to hand our letters in for posting.
Many parents found excuses not to reply to letters and for many of us letter writing became distasteful.
Many afternoons were devoted to walks, the old Maristonian club being the favourite. It meant crossing the
Klein Jukskei bridge and walking up the steep hill to the Pretoria road by which time we were famished. I
remember the meat pies being amongst the most delicious I had ever tasted.
The Sunday night meal would be cold meats and salads as most of the kitchen staff were off.
I didn’t shape too well in sport but managed the 1st hockey team in my senior year. In the inter-schools
league we would come midway in the rankings. Likewise with rugby and cricket, St Stithians and
Observatory were considered Derby marches and were must-wins. Here again it was 50/50. Home games
for the 1st XV rugby team were big occasions and would draw large crowds. Not to be outdone I became
school cheer-leader in my senior year and donned my top hat and tails. We had a good repertoire of songs
to sing and being a small school got time off during classes to practice. I had many happy memories
cheering not only the rugby team but the athletic teams as well. Observatory matches were a little different
in that they would try to “borrow” my top hat and therefore a couple of the bigger lads would stay close by
to scare off the would- be culprits.
Brother Dennis was one of our sports masters and he would think nothing of tucking the hem of his cassock
into his belt and playing rugby with us. He loved playing in the back line as a centre and we loved tackling
him as hard as we could but he was always very gentle. It was great fun and we loved playing with him. He
must have been a good hurler when he was young and after much deliberation agreed to show the hockey
lads how to play hurling. The uninhibited rules of hurling were refreshing after hockey but my participation
ended prematurely when I got a crack above the eye with a hockey stick. The school matron and doctor
were summoned and I had to have stitches.
Like the brothers many boarders considered the school to be their home. For some of us it was home to
home so it was natural that we looked to the brothers as family figures. The head-masters throughout my
schooling took the job seriously and ensured we weren’t bullied. We were also taught social decorum. One
Sunday night I recall Brother Edwin laying a table place in the prep room and showing us how to eat as
gentlemen and the difference between spooning soup and desserts. On another occasion he ordered an
older student to give me his tuck box full of sweets and chocolates as punishment for bullying me. I also
remember the night when we refused to eat the cabbage because of worms. Brother Edwin promptly had a
place set in the dining room and proceeded to eat a full plate of cabbage and then standing up said: “If I
can eat it so can you” and walked out.
My saddest day at school was the day of the Sharpeville massacre on March 21, 1960. I was in Std 9 and
was troubled for many months by the events of that day.
Final year was full of surprises. We spent a lot of time doing past papers as preparation for the JMB exams
and were left pretty well alone. Then came the matric Farewell. To prepare us for this Parktown Convent
girls were invited over for combined dancing lessons. This was my first experience of dancing. My poor
partner must have been put off dancing for life. This was followed by a “Beano”, a traditional end of year
feast for boarders in the dining hall.
3
The last day of school was full of mixed emotions. I was saying goodbye to my beloved family probably for
the last time and I was also starting a new journey. My schooling had been an ideal preparation for me. I
had become resourceful, academically qualified and had learnt the art of getting on with people. On the
other hand I had lived for10 years in an environment where I was denied the right to make my own
decisions. This posed a new challenge for me and one which I knew I was going to enjoy.
In 1995, 34 years later, we had a class re-union at the Balalaika hotel with our wives and partners and it
was amazing to see old faces and hear how my old friends had progressed in life. My class had done very
well and amongst us were medical doctors and specialists, business owners, academics, engineers and
directors of companies. I became sure then that my parents had sent me to the right school.
After leaving St David’s, Neville earned a B.SC (Hons) degree at Rhodes University. For a short time
afterwards he worked at the CSIR as a scientist until leaving for a more challenging position in industry. In
1986 he graduated with an MBA from Wits Business School. In 1990 after spending 21 years mostly in
senior managerial positions with Boart International, an AMIC subsidiary, he moved into small business
becoming a director of companies. In 2000 Neville moved to Ireland with his wife and youngest daughter
working as a business mentor.
He finally retired in February 2013. He also has daughters in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Dubai and
one grandson.
JLE January 2014

Interview with Craig Roman – 2004
Craig first came to St David’s from the Arthur Matthews primary school in Maraisburg into grade 6 in 1998
when his mother Julie was appointed as a teacher here. His brother Rodney also joined the school and
matriculated in 1999.
His recalled that his first impressions were one of awe in terms of the facilities and in the ways things were
run and organised. There were similarities with his previous school but expressed in an entirely different
way.
When Craig arrived the new hall was being built and the ablution blocks were still in what is now the main
quadrangle and Strevino Park was still in existence.
Craig fitted in easily as everyone was very caring and friendly. His first room teacher was Bev Geldenhuys
who assigned Richard Ramsden as his mentor. Craig already knew Bradley Marais as they had grown up
together. He recalled Mr Castle as being awesome and in spite of him, he survived the prep!. He relished
the sport and found the staff to be very involved and soccer in the prep school was always fun and
competitive. He went on some school tours and remembered one with Mr Midgely in grade 7. The general
camaraderie was good and the boys all worked together. Craig participated in cricket, soccer and athletics
and was involved with club soccer after school.
When Craig moved up to the high school, rugby took over as his main sport, a change which he enjoyed.
standard 6 or grade 8 was awesome but scarey with the matrics towering over one like giants. The
transition from the prep to the high school went academically well but, after being the cream of the crop and
now finding oneself at the bottom of the ladder was a rude awakening.
Craig went on the annual grade 8 camp to Glenmore led by Rod Smith which was great fun with all the
team building exercises. Craig played 2nd team cricket, was rugby captain of the U14 team in standard 6
and 7 and for the U15 and U16 teams. He also enjoyed mostly field sports in athletics. He also participated
in other extra murals such as SMILE, debating for a short time and inter-house plays.
Of his teachers, Mrs Marias was always a second mother to him; Mrs Nagy made Maths fun; Ms Nolan was
very supportive; Ms Voorendyk was always there when he needed someone to talk to , she was very
supportive, but realistic with her advice. He learnt a lot from Mr Ireland; Mr R Smith; Mr Macmillan, Mr
Thompson and Mr Buys especially with regard to rugby. Craig played provincial rugby for the Gauteng
Lions U16 and U18 and also in the primary section U10, U11 and Johannesburg 11.
Being appointed head boy was an auspicious occasion and presented new challenges for Craig. The
position itself, which he regarded with awe, the expectations everyone had of him plus the fact that he was
a year younger than his peers. He found it to be his most challenging year and in spite of personal
problems, he found he could focus on his role as head boy and it allowed him to concentrate on the small
daily victories. He was obliged to attend numerous functions including sporting events representing St
David’s and enjoyed the interaction with pupils and staff. There were some very pleasant aspects attached
to his position and he attended a number of matric dances and was involved with the prefect exchange with
St Teresa’s and Kingsmead.
Craig was awarded general honours and his honours blazer, and won the Buckley-Jones Trophy for
Afrikaans.
Mr Edey was headmaster and Craig enjoyed a good relationship with him. Mr Edey gave an amazing input
into his life which Craig can’t put a value to. Everyone had a tremendous respect for Mr Edey, for his
enthusiasm, support and caring, he motivated everybody.
After matriculating, Craig went on to study for a BSc Mech. Eng which was a very different time in his life.
He admits to losing focus during his first year and during his third year he was excluded and went to work in
the business environment. He was involved with ER24 services for schools and also in the manufacture of
smart carbon. He learnt a lot from this experience and initiation into the world of business. He dealt with
various individuals such as leading businessmen and government officials. Unfortunately at a year-end
function there was an accident with a gas explosion and Craig injured his leg which led to him to go back to
university to complete his degree. After finishing his degree, he went on to start up a pest control company,
“Bugs Away “with a friend and his father. The company is still going strong but again personal circumstance
led Craig to rethink his life strategy. Envestpro offered him a position as a financial advisor in the company,
he hasn’t looked back since and enjoys his new role.
Reflecting on his life so far, Craig has realised that throughout his entire childhood he led a very busy,
structured existence, learning life lessons along the way. How to lose but keep his dignity, it opened his
eyes to different aspects of life, gave him confidence and affirmed his personal values. Craig is grateful for
the time he spent at St David’s and would like to send his sons to the school.
Craig is now married, has two sons and is keen to become an active member of MOBS. JLE March 2014

Interview with Nicolas Harding – 2003
Nicolas came to St David’s in standard 6 – grade 8 . He and his brother had attended Rosebank Primary
School, originally coming from Belgium. Nicolas’s mother is French and met her Welsh husband in
Belgium. Nicolas recalls being quite apprehensive on his first day with the transition from a small coeducational
environment to a large monastic one. It was a big eye opener and a huge step up for him.
At the grade 8 camp he got to know some of the other boys including Gianluca Tucci, Danilo Giacovazzi,
Ciro De Siena, Anthony Koury, Kyle Biller and Chris Marsay. Nicolas wasn’t particularly good at sport but
enjoyed cricket and still plays at Zoo Lake in 8 a side T20, LMS cricket together with Carl Van Zyl. He
wasn’t in the 1st cricket team, didn’t enjoy rugby and played hockey instead.
Academically Nicolas did well being listed in the top ten a couple of times, was awarded academic ties and
a prize for Business Economics. He participated in the Smile programme but wasn’t involved with any
cultural extra murals.
The teachers he remembers are Mrs Nagy, Miss Nolan, Mrs Shumyn, Mr Buys, Mr Fry, Mr Smith and Mrs
Marais who helped him with Afrikaans which he found very difficult only encountering the language on his
arrival in South Africa.
Of his matric dance he has memories mainly of the after party. On his last day he remembers feeling rather
sad that he wouldn’t be seeing some of the guys again but also happy to be embarking on the next stage of
his life. He joined some of the other boys for a drink at a local pub.
After matriculating with distinction in French (his mother taught both himself and his brother) Nicolas went
on to study for a degree in Mathematics and Finance at Wits University. Six months after graduating he
was employed by Standard Bank to work on the “Calypso System”. From that he gained a good knowledge
of business and is now working on market risk mainly in Africa and has visited Swaziland, Lesotho,
Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, the DRC, Uganda, Ghana and Mauritius. He enjoys his job, the
economic rationale and involvement with other african countries.
Nicolas loves Africa and the bush visiting the Kruger Park at least once a year. He joined in the 2003
reunion weekend last year and enjoyed meeting up with some of his contemporaries but isn’t really in close
contact with anyone from his year. He is a member of MOBS and is looking forward to a tour of the school
when he returns from an overseas holiday in May.
JLE April 2014

Interview with Belinda Marais – Staff – 1989
Belinda began her teaching career working in government schools but after 8 years she took a break, saw
an advert for the position at St David’s and applied. She was interviewed by Brother Brendan and Trudy
Elliott and was appointed as head of the Afrikaans department commencing employment in January 1989.
The first task she was given was to mark the grade 11 Afrikaans exam paper. As it was literature, Belinda
had to first read the book and set the memo before she could begin marking. The previous head of
department had left and she had no-one to consult with. It was a difficult time for the school with a new
headmaster, Paul Davies and prep headmaster, Greg Royce and numerous newly appointed members of
staff including Leon Benade (deputy head of the prep school), Gary Norton, Biology, and new Maths and
Geography teachers. Having never taught at a TED school before, it was quite a challenge for Belinda and
initially she liaised with a teacher from Sandown High.
Sifiso Ngwenya, the first black headboy and junior city major, was in her class and distinguished himself by
achieving an A for Afrikaans in his matric. The discipline was poor and Belinda was the only black on the
staff, teaching a subject which the boys hated, but she held her own. Other boys she taught then were
Frederick Barnard and his brother Chris was also at St David’s. She remembers Cedric de Trevou whose
son is in grade 9 and Earl Morais whose son is now in the prep school.
Paul Davies was instrumental in restructuring the house system which became more established and
Champagnat medals were introduced for the first time. Paul Davies left in 1994 and Gary Norton was
acting headmaster until Paul Edey was appointed and took up the position in 1995. Belinda has seen a lot
of changes at St David’s however many things remain the same and the heart of the place is very much the
same.
A highlight for Belinda was the pilgrimage in which she participated in 2001 when she visited Rome and the
Hermitage. Belinda felt that the pilgrimage made everything so much more real; opening up a whole new
world and things became more tangible. Belinda grew up as a Catholic although she is a non-practising
one.
Belinda has always been very involved with the SMILE programme which was initiated in 1993 by Robin
Henderson, an English teacher. She was contacted by an NGO and began to implement the programme
started by St Mary’s in Kloof – St Mary’s Interactive Learning Experience. Robin left the following year and
Belinda took over. The value of the programme was in teaching English oral skills but the interaction of the
boys with younger children from poorer communities was mutually beneficial. Belinda also feels that it is a
very practical programme and has a definite purpose. She currently liaises with two schools in Tembisa –
Ebony Park Primary and Drake Koka Primary School whose staff are willing to accompany the children. Mr
Edey was always very supportive and helped out during the holidays participating as a SMILE guide and
other teachers took the classes. The holidays are no longer covered with St David’s having three terms
and the government schools having four. However, thirty Wednesdays per year are covered, with Ebony
Park’s grade 5’s coming for the first half of the year and Drake Kaka‘s children coming for the second half.
The children benefit from the help and enjoy the food and drink they are given.
Belinda has always been very instrumental in the success of Champagnat day which originally was a mass
followed by soccer matches between the staff, prefects and pupils, the boys were given a cool drink and a
doughnut and everything finished around 11am. In 1994 the staff bursary fund was established and Belinda
suggested raising funds by selling, food etc. on Champagnat day. It started off in the prep school pavilion
with Belinda buying sweets and cool drinks on special and asking mothers to help making some food to
sell. In 2013 the more extensive and established Champagnat day festivities raised R113 000.00 for the
bursary fund.
As Belinda was employed at St David’s her two sons became pupils. Terry went into grade 0 in 1989
followed later by Bradley. Terry matriculated in 2001 and Bradley in 2005. St David’s played a significant
role in her sons’ lives, they were very happy at St David’s and Belinda would not have been able to afford
the school fees had she not been a teacher. Terry is currently a teacher of Music in London, a pianist giving
recitals and Bradley is training to be a lawyer and is doing his articles with Lowndes and Dlamini.
Belinda believes that St David’s is an authentic community with the brothers, colleagues, boys and parents
and this is what she loves and appreciates about St David’s. St David’s has had a great influence on her
life, she feels valued.
Belinda is very much a people’s person, various individuals have impacted on her life, but as staff change
she feels they bring a renewed energy and value with them. Children are children and if you treat them
fairly and as fellow human beings they will respect you and do what you want. Belinda has enjoyed the
rapport, with the occasional hiccup; she has had with the boys over the past 25 years and has observed
that they carry with them a special conscience when they leave. St David’s has done something right.
Belinda still enjoys teaching and wouldn’t want to do anything else and feels that it has, on the whole been
a pleasant experience. JLE Feb’2014

Interview with Tyson Sithole 2007
Tyson came to St David’s from Norwood Primary School into grade 8 in 2003. This followed
a visit to Norwood Primary by Mr Edey and Mr Williams when they were showcasing St
David’s and Tyson had a brief interaction with them. Tyson was subsequently awarded an
academic bursary which enabled him to attend St David’s.
Tyson recalls his first day as being so very different to his former co-ed school, with 100
boys in grade 8 and found the first month quite nerve wracking. However once he started
making friends he settled in and refers to it as a life changing experience. Tyson never felt
discriminated against and today many of his friends are former St David’s pupils. He
concentrated on his academics and consistently made it into the top ten academics for five
years. His family unfortunately didn’t get involved during his time at St David’s, however, his
mom and Dad were very supportive of his academic endeavours.
He participated in some sport just for the fun of it but his main focus was on maintaining a
high academic performance. He was involved with SMILE on Wednesdays for four years
which he thoroughly enjoyed and found it to be good fun and very rewarding and his way of
giving back. He played chess for five years, and helped out in the library as a media
assistant. Together with Mrs Voorendyk he made visits to an orphanage in Yeoville and in
his matric year was involved in the school spirit as a cheerleader.
Tyson suffers from an eye disorder known as Keratoconus, which was first picked up during
his time at St David’s
The highlights of his school career were receiving honours in 2007 for academics and
general: academics, leadership and service, being elected as a prefect and when St David’s
rugby team beat St Stithians on Champagnat day. Graham Gallow was the first team
captain. In his grade 8 year, he recalls that the 1st rugby team beat both Kes and Jeppe
which was awesome for such a small school as St David’s was then. Tyson was also deputy
head prefect of College house.
Tyson was initially resistant to some of the school’s traditions especially when he
accidentally put a foot on the matric grass! There was an element of bullying but the school
is being more proactive in that regard.
Teachers that had a huge influence on him especially in the way that the message was
delivered were Mrs Russell, Mr Fry, Mrs Pillay, Mrs King, and Mr Van Den Berg who was his
housemaster. Mrs Marais, Mrs Egenrieder and Mrs Voorendyk were members of staff he
could talk to and relate to on a more personal level.
Tyson believes that the overall perception of the high school has changed. The other week
he attended a rugby match and met up with several of his former colleagues, testament to
the current spirit of many of the old boys.
Tyson said that the five years he spent at St David’s were life changing, developing a
mindset which helped prepare him for his university career, he was awarded a scholarship at
UCT where he studied Bachelor of Business Science, graduating with Honours in Finance.
He is currently employed by Standard Bank in the investment banking division at their
headquarters in Rosebank.
Tyson also said that if he ever has a son he would not hesitate to enrol him at St David’s and
said that many of his colleagues would really like to send their sons too.
Tyson is a member of Marist old boys (MOBS) and also a member of the Temba Bavuma
Foundation which focuses on changing cricket development in South Africa and assisting
boys with talent. Tyson is currently a trustee of the St David’s Foundation and would like to
make a meaningful contribution to his Alma Mater.
JLE March 2018

Interview with Glynn O’Leary 1969 1960 – 1969 Standard 1 to Matric
Glynn did not enjoy the first few days of each school year as the family always went to the coast
for the long holidays and he hated leaving the sea behind (living in Glencairn now he sees the
sea all the time!)
He was a day boy and clearly remembers Mrs Januscz, Mrs Knezovich and Mrs Kempster. His
parents separated when he was in standard 4 and finally divorced in standard 6. His academics
took a dip as a result. Br Anthony sent for him and asked him if he was happy at St David’s to
which he answered yes. His father had contacted the school to withdraw Glynn from the school
stating that he could not afford to keep him at St David’s due to financial reasons. From that day
on his mother never had to pay school fees and he received all his books and school uniform
from the Brothers.
Glynn played 1st Team cricket and played in the 13th Marist cricket week held at St David’s as
wicket keeper. On the very first day of the competition a ball split his lip open while keeping
wicket which put paid to him playing again in the event. He also played 2nd Team rugby.
Brothers were strict and one evening Br Andrew (Dracula) caught the boys painting the other
boys with black boot polish as part of the initiation of new boys. Errol McCawley was caught and
was told to go back and fetch all the other boys who were involved. Errol did not enjoy this as Br
Andrew gave the boys cuts with a chain.
Glynn’s father never watched him play sport at school and that is why he and his wife Gill have
made sure that they have been there to support their 3 children as far as humanly possible.
The Marist Brothers have always played an important part in his life and he was made an
honorary Marist Brother in 2009 which was a great honour for him.
He has been involved with the Marist Brothers since 1957 and was chairman of the Marist old
boys in 1983 and served on the St David’s board of governors from 1985 to 1986. He has been
a member of the Marist School’s Council since 1997 and is chairman of St Joseph’s Marist
College in Rondebosch at present.
While at school Glynn was friendly with Dave Bergman and his brother Clive (better known as
Clive Bruce).
As regards Br Mario – we need to find out from him what happened when Br went horse
racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Interview: 13 October 2010

Interview with Dave Lyons – 1965
Dave was a boarder and his headmaster was Brother Anthony. Brother Aidan, the only South
African brother was the bursar and 50% of the teachers were lay teachers. Dave came from a
farming community in White River with Middleburg High being the only high school in the area.
He initially went to a primary school in White River and then came to Marist Inanda. His father
had been a pupil at Observatory and his grandfather, Koch Street.
There was only one other local boy, John Davis and he was aged 12 when he became a
boarder. He arrived not quite knowing what to expect of boarding school, he was confronted by
city boys who were street-wise and the discipline was quite extraordinary and extreme. In his
first year, Std 6, Brother Conrad was a very good teacher and empathic man but most of the
other brothers were quite hard and mean. He had Brother Vincent the following year,he recalls
Brother Liam and Brother Andrew was his boarding housemaster and Geography teacher. All
the brothers carried canes, some were quite vindictive and could victimise a pupil, and
remembers being caned in his pyjamas holding onto some taps. The biggest thing you could get
caught for was smoking a texan by the change rooms, aids, drugs were not around. There was
alcohol but none of them were really interested, the boarders made their own entertainment and
fun.
The study routine was very heavy and the programme was as follows: up at 6.00am; study 6.30
– 8.00; breakfast 8.00 – 8.30 followed by school and sport and then more study.
All the boarders used to latch onto day boys for sandwiches at break time and Peter Foden had
particularly nice sandwiches! Boarding school food was the norm and it was great to go home
for some good home cooking. There were 80 – 90 senior boarders and some juniors. They used
to sit 6 - 8 per table for army style food. A big thing was the pat of fresh butter in the mornings
and each boy took it in turn to cut it into equal amounts. The one who cut the butter was last in
line so he didn’t cheat. There was rice pudding and bread and butter pudding and on special
occasions (sports day, rugby match) they had a “beano” with roast beef, roast spuds and cool
drinks.
He participated in rugby but due to chronic back problems he had to stop and then played
cricket, hockey and squash. He joined the debating society which he eventually headed up.
Naturally they chose only to debate against girl’s schools such as St Mary’s and Rosebank
Convent.
A highlight in Std 8 was M’Frau Pretorius who was very well endowed and, needless to say he
loved Afrikaans and a glimpse of a genuine female figure. They had lay teachers for most
subjects but the boarding masters were all brothers, 13 – 14 of them and they all lived on site.
He recalls that the school had taken ownership of the property next door the year he left and
Dennis Tomacelli, head boy lived in a house with a swimming pool on the school boundary.
Dave failed matric but passed Latin, Geography and English, he was not an academic. He has
an indifferent memory of Brother Anthony although he thought he managed the school with a
vision.
He has no fond memories of the school and regards those years as an episode in his life which
he got through quite well. It was a type of schooling he didn’t respond well to, it was too
disciplined and regimental and the only real benefit was being taught to be self-disciplined.
Being at boarding school, meant that you grew away from home and were forced to become
independent. He finished his matric and moved on and is not involved with the school at all. He
was a small chap when he left but grew after leaving school.
Dave didn’t qualify for university and there were no jobs in White River or on the farm. He did
military training after school in 1966 and was a member of the Citizen Force until 1976, serving
in Angola where he became an officer and eventually finished in 1980 as a major. A
contemporary of his from St David’s,Fred Klippen servbd in the same regiment. They used to do
3 months camps and 3 months development training and he only started to become aware of
politics after P.W. Botha once came and addressed the troops and was unaware of apartheid
until in business in the 80’s.
He sold Callguard Security 10 years ago and is now known as Group 4. In the final years Rand
Merchant Bank had 20% stake in the company and only two people had degrees in the entire
company, being the financial director and the HR director. He employed 6000 staff and all his
managers and directors benefited from the sale of the company. He is now involved with Lupo
Bakery providing specialist bread to companies such as Mugg & Bean, Spur, Spar and Burger
King. He found in the mid 2000’s that he had a very quick and easy adaption to business, and
still enjoys sharing and mentoring staff believing that you should empower people on every
level. Recognition,respect and reward being his motto. Although Dave and his wife Janet are
not involved in any charity they do actively support a number of child orientated charities such
as the St Joseph’s Home and SOS Village. He and his wife travel extensively and his most
recent trip was motoring through Europe with his E-type Jaguar. His passion is motor sport and
he probably has one of the biggest specialist car collections in the world.
JLE October 2011

Interview with Norman Lazarus 1944 - 1952
Norman’s parents lived in the Free State so he was sent as a boarder to St David’s in 1944 in
grade 2. Mrs Litson was his first teacher.The boarders had very little to do with the day scholars
except when they were given sandwiches which supplemented the boarding school food. When
Norman started at St David’s the war was still on and he can remember listening to the
announcement of the death of general Pienaar on the wireless with his family.
When he arrived at the school in 1944, the school was still in its infancy. The bus ran as far as
Rosebank and the school was in the ‘country’ surrounded by small holdings. The Polliack Estate
was situated to the West. South of the school the field was in two tiers and at the Northern
boundary was a farm and the rumor went around the that the lady who owned the farm would
bequeath it to the school (this was partly true as the school bought the farm at a good price in
the 1960’s).
Norman did not enjoy his school days as he likened the school to an aloe – the nearer you got
the more you were pricked. The school was run by brothers – that word usually means loving
and within a family- the brothers showed no love for the boys and were punitive in the
punishment. There were 4 dormitories- A to D. There were very strict rules – talking after lights
out and untidy lockers- were very serious offences. Prefects were in charge and they were very
cruel. They had to write home every Sunday and were allowed to listen to LM radio, to the hit
parade – he can remember Frankie Laine being at the top of the charts.
The boarders showered in the evening.There were only 2 baths.They were woken at 6am and
the Catholics went to mass. While he was at St David’s there were mostly Catholics with 2 or 3
Jewish children of which he was one. While the Catholics went to mass the non Catholics had
study period. Breakfast after mass was in the present college library where they sat at round
tables of 6. There was no shortage of food but the helpings were small and the meals were
rotated so you knew what you were having each week. Sago pudding was often served.
There were 2 breaks in the school day where they played hopscotch, marbles and bok-bok.
There was an infirmary and he enjoyed his time there when he had chicken pox as it was a very
caring place. Sport was compulsory and he played hockey, soccer, cricket and rugby – at this
stage there were no tennis courts. He played for the 1st fifteen in rugby and the team travelled
down to Durban by train to play against St Henry’s. The train journey was eventful and the boys
suffered defeat the next day after a sleepless night!
Punishment was metered out before dinner in front of the whole school. You had the whole day
to think about the impending punishment and the caning took place in front of everyone.
Norman’s experience was that the longer one was at school the less you were punished
because you became more adept. Boys were expelled for talking to girls over the fence and for
stealing fruit from the nearby orchards.
The brothers decided that the boys should learn how to dance and a dancing instructor from
Arthur Murray Studios came to school. They were taught without partners so, when in the end
girls from Parktown Convent (accompanied by the nuns) were selected to be their partners it
proved to be very unsuccessful as the boys just weren’t used to the girls and they didn’t know
what to say to each other!
The brothers took the boys to the nearest cinema on the corner of Tyrwhitt Ave and Jan Smuts.
The boys walked in a crocodile.This, however, did not last long as shopkeepers, who had fruit
displayed on the pavements, complained that there was no fruit left once the boys had walked
past!
Norman was a day scholar in his matric year (1952). He got into trouble because the bus route
ended in Dunkeld and he and another boy accepted a lift from a motorist. The brothers got to
hear of this and it was said that they had brought the school into disrepute for ‘hitch hiking’. His
merit badge was taken away but this was reinstated after the brothers asked his fellow pupils to
vote on whether his badge should be handed back to him.
Norman did not find the teachers to be caring but in some cases quite eccentric. Mr Hoare
taught the non Catholics Scripture and he was always teaching them about George Elliott. He
also made them learn the psalms off by heart. The cleverest boys were always made to sit in
the front and the less bright ones at the back.
On obtaining a first class matric, Norman studied medicine at the University of the
Witwatersrand where he joined up with his school friend Peter Leigh, son of the school doctor.
Norman left South Africa for America after Sharpville and Peter emigrated to Australia.
Interview: Monday 1 February 2010

Interview with Kevin Ryan – 1970
Kevin joined St David’s in 1961 and was a boarder. He enjoyed the boarding as there was good
camaraderie amongst the boarders and less time was spent travelling however the downside
was not spending as much time with family.
The teachers who made a lasting impression were Mrs Kemspter, Mr Summers and Br Bosco,
He also enjoyed photography with Br Bernard.
He enjoyed the sport and participated in swimming, water polo and 3rd team rugby.
His friends were Peter Daniels, Ken Sprenger, Peter Scott and Peter Elliott who he occasionally
sees and Peter Daniels is overseas.
The worst moments at school were when someone didn’t own up and he didn’t enjoy cadets.
He enjoyed the matric dance and remembers the boys skipping with their ties in the road in front
of the office on their last day.
On leaving St David’s he studied BSc Eng (Elec) and MSc Eng (Elec) at Wits University and an
MBL at Unisa.
His son William was also a pupil at St David’s and Kevin has visited the school for the fireworks
display and also played water polo at the school 2010

Interview with Thabo Hermanus – 1992
When Thabo matriculated from St David’s, Paul Davies was headmaster, he had come from St
Albans. He remembers that he didn’t resonate with him and his parents only picked this up after
a while. People were pulling out of the school and a lot of black pupils left during Thabo’s high
school years. From standard 7 until his final year he was the only black boy in his class with
another joining in his matric year. One could see the degradation in the high school’s reputation
and what an impact a head has on a school and its teaching staff.
Thabo started school in Alexandra, passed top of the class in each year. When he completed
standard 2 at M.C. Weiller, instead of going to standard 3 remaining in Alexandra, he started at
St David’s going backwards to standard 1 and did marginally well. While at the time this was
difficult for him as he thought he would get left behind by his peers from Alexandra, over time
and, looking back he realised that most of the boys he was at school with in Alex didn’t even
make it to matric. It was a real sacrifice for his parents but it was so far sighted of them. His
mother was a teacher in Alex and his brothers also started at St David’s, although they
completed their matric at Wendywood High. His mother had said to him that if he failed one year
he would be out of St David’s. He worked hard and came third in standard 1 during his first year.
He felt being older helped with his confidence considering the jump in the standard of education
he had to contend with and he mentioned Gladwell’s: The Outliers in this context.. After a year
he had got used to the school and it exposed him to a whole new world. He wasn’t envious or
jealous of the lifestyle he saw that the white children had but it created ambition in terms of
defining what success was, the picture was bigger now and it was no longer necessarily out of
reach.
On his first day he was very nervous, he remembers his cap and thinking that all the boys
looked the same. Miss Keating was his teacher.
There were the odd incidents of naive questions and observations. His father drove an old
beetle and he recalls visiting Mark Pardini’s home and Mark’s little brother asking him why his
father drove a beetle. It was not malicious, just a boy who could not have been older than seven
years old being curious and noticing differences in material wealth. Bullying was normal and
part of the package. On one occasion he went to the tuck shop and bought a toasted sandwich,
another boy told him to give him a bite; he was a large boy, rugby type. Thabo broke a piece off,
gave him the smaller piece. The boy insisted on having the bigger piece and instinctively Thabo
stuffed the bigger piece into his own mouth. The boy punched Thabo for the “offence” which
Thabo could do nothing about given the David and Goliath scenario. He remembers thinking,
“Wait until I get to be your size”.
Even canings hurt but was what they all knew, so it was acceptable. Words can scar a lot more
as far as Thabo is concerned. The worst caning that Thabo remembers was with Mr Webster
and he knew rather to stand at the front of the queue and get it over and done with.
One of the most memorable classroom incidents he remembers involved seeing current in
action. There was a funny incident in the Science lab. Stuart Dickey had a pen set and he stuck
a pen in one plug and then the pencil, mistakenly creating a current, there was a loud bang,
Stuart got the fright of his life and his pen and pencil were welded together. Thabo chirped that
the bang made him feel at home coming from Alex and everyone packed up laughing which
calmed the air a bit from the shock.
He played rugby, basketball and was in the athletics squad in the high school while in the prep
he played soccer. He gained half colours for rugby and basketball.
He is still in touch with Justin van Linden, Yoav van der Heyden, Jeetesh Kathawaroo, Rowan
Brewer to name a few from his year and has contact with pupils from below and above and
recently got in touch with Mike von Guillaeume (2 -3 years behind him).
The teachers he remembers are Willy Castle – “Mr Fruitcake”. In the last soccer season in
standard 5, in a good team playing against a school who went on to win the championship that
year, they lost 1.0 by a silly mistake by Jeffrey Tsatsane. They played defence together and he
can still remember Willy Castle mumbling his disapproval calling out “Tsatsane”. In the high
school he recalled Mr Girdwood – an awesome English teacher, Mr Howarth – History, Mr
Finlayson – Sport and house master and Miss Von Guillaeume whom he is still in touch with
today. There wasn’t a teacher he disliked and he was taught how to think and not just
regurgitate answers, especially by Mr Howarth who spoke to them about the other side of the
story, not written in the matric History books.
He recalled a significant teacher in the prep, Mrs Hurley and a high impact moment whilst in her
class when she had a “throwing her toys” moment with him. He had got 60% for a spot History
test but she still kept him behind after school with boys who had failed. He was supposed to
have read something the day before but hadn’t and it showed. She reprimanded him in front of
his father, saying that his parents were spending all this money on him and he wasn’t working.
He never messed around after that, it was a turning point for him.
Academically he did well, receiving prizes in the prep school. It was a bit different in the high
school. In standard 5 Mr Kotze was the disciplinarian. In standard 6 he messed around a bit and
then in standard 7 he started working hard again.
He feels that a sense of worth helps but most of this comes from the home and parents should
not abdicate responsibility. He believes that boys coming from St David’s are more grounded,
humble.
His last day at school he remembers as being crazy, with everyone signing shirts and letting off
water balloons.
He struggled to get a bursary as he wanted to go to university away from Johannesburg. Justin
van Linden’s father was MD of Customs Plastics, a division of Nampak, had kept an eye on him
through the years unbeknown to him and offered him a bursary. He then went on to UCT, did a
BCom majoring in Accountancy and Economics. He planned to be a CA but hated auditing,
however he went to Nampak where he was a Management Accountant, helped his brothers
through school and university in terms of paying tuition. They are now both CA’s. He left
Nampak and went to Experiaen SA, primarily know as a credit bureau but he wanted to get into
the services industry. In 2008 he was co-founder of Nimble Collection Services and after setting
up the company they sold it. He has been in Cape Town for 4 years now and subsequent to
Nimble, together with his partner Suzanne Capper set up Find Inspired Talent (F.I.T.
Recruitment). Thabo is good with numbers but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what he
enjoys doing the most. People development and leadership are his strengths.
He is the father of two daughters aged 10 and 7, who attend the Waldorf School in Constantia,
he is on the school board and is also involved in setting up a trust to enable young black girls to
attend varsity (funding young girls from previously disadvantaged backgrounds).
He would like to keep in touch and would pledge or make a donation to the book. He would love
to participate in any celebration for the 75th. He owes a lot to his experience at the school.
JE October 2011

Interview with Grant Napier – 1960
Grant initially attended Parkview Junior School but was a boarder at St David’s in standard 2
when Brother Edwin was principal in 1952. He came together with his brother who was younger.
He was in the classroom near the chapel. Mrs King was a good teacher and is now friendly with
his son.
Discipline was strict in those days and one was expelled for any misdemeanour. Brother Edwin
did inspections of the boarders, nails, hair, shoes etc and he rewarded some of the boys as an
incentive to be neat and tidy. The boys would get caned on the hand or behind, corporal
punishment was the norm. He recalls that when he was in standard 3, he returned a ball at
tennis practise which hit the coach, Mrs Owen in the eye. He was sent to Brother Edwin and
received two cuts on the behind.
He remembers the big old farm and how everyone thought it would be part of the school one
day. It was often very cold and there was a line of pine trees demarcating the boundary of the
school next to the dormitories, the wind used to whistle through them. There was ice on the
swimming pool one very cold winter.
The food was good and they also had tuck and Mrs Batten, standard 3, used to make the day
boys bring extra sandwiches for the boarders. She lived at Tara. At supper there were 6 boys
around a table and only at night, one square of butter which was divided equally amongst them.
There were movies every Saturday evening in the dining room and in matric in the study hall.
Sometimes the Brothers would let them go to town to the Coliseum where he saw “South
Pacific”. Sunday was special as they used to get cool drinks with lunch and roast chicken was
the order of the day. They used to walk to the old boys club on Louis Botha past the old
Balalaika Hotel. In the field where the tennis courts are now, they used to play soccer and
cricket and, on the embankment all the boys from standard 3 upwards had claims mining for
fool’s gold.
In 1954 he had Mrs Kempster as a teacher and he remembers writing reasonably well and has
styled his writing on that of Mrs Kempster’s. In the second term his family moved to PE and he
went to the junior school in Bird Street and the principal was Brother Anthony. In standard 5 he
went to Marist Brothers Walmer, quite a distance away.
He returned to St David’s in standard 10, 1960 when his family moved back to Johannesburg.
Brother Anthony was then in his first year as principal. He says that they had no TV,
newspapers, or radio in the dorm at night and were completely out of touch with the outside
world and were not aware of Sharpville. However on sundays there were allowed to listen to the
LM hit parade!
There were 28 boys in his matric class and all the teachers were Brothers. There was one class
to each standard. He was made a prefect but only through Brother Anthony.
The top rugby side was Obs and the school was known as Marist Inanda not St David’s. Grant
played 1st team rugby,it was an average team and they never got beaten too badly. Coaching
and training was very different in those days. They went on a rugby tour together with Obs by
train down to St Charles, Natal. They used “Gertie” the old school bus to get to other schools.
He was also in the soccer and tennis teams, participated in athletics, swimming which he did a
lot of. He got his colours whilst in PE but had to give it up as he had bad sinus and was unable
to swim in chlorinated water. However he was able to swim in the sea and became a life saver.
His house was “The Bishops” and he wore a yellow rosette.
Academically he did OK and achieved a second class JMB matric with university entrance. He
wrote 7 subjects including Latin, English, Afrikaans, Physical Science, Maths, History and
Geography. There was no major send off and most of the class just met for an after school
party. There was no matric dance or matric holiday and it was a fairly nonchalant ending.
When Grant left, as he enjoyed Maths and Science, he went to Wits to do civil engineering.
Fortunately he didn’t have to do national service but was quite disappointed as it sounded such
fun. At Wits every couple of weeks, engineers would come in and talk about their job and show
them what they would be doing once qualified. It wasn’t his cup of tea and after one term he
decided to leave and ended up in the insurance industry joining a company for 20 years, 1961
until 1982 – the South British Insurance Company which, in spite of its name was a New
Zealand company. He and another colleague then started an insurance broking business of
which he is still a director.
He has a son and daughter, the son born in 1967. Very few of the matric class kept in touch and
St David’s no longer had a boarding facility when his son started school, so he didn’t come to St
David’s. He also has 4 grandchildren, all boys living in Johannesburg.
He enjoyed his time at St David’s and is still in touch with some of his former classmates, Harry
Rosmarin, Norman Schwab and Michael Lakofsky. They had a get together 2 years ago and 4
years ago Brother Anthony joined them for lunch. He also remembers a black tie dinner in the
Champganat hall about 7 or 8 years ago, there were 10 of them and they noticed that there was
no photo of the 1960 Matric class. He came to Brother Anthony’s funeral. Les Berman who was
in his class became a doctor, went to Canada and sadly committed suicide
****Derek Witte Vermeulen was with Grant and had an older brother, Carl. He would have been
one of the early matriculants and was a partner at Werksmans.
JE October 2011

Interview with Richard Kelly – 2004
Richard has good memories of his time at St David’s and the ethics and good manners taught.
There was a huge bond between the boys in their matric year. He wasn’t an academic, an
average student and was quite lazy. He played rugby until the opens, B team soccer and would
have preferred to play soccer, and backed out when he was not allowed to play unless he
attended rugby practise, as rugby was compulsory. He remembers Graeme McMillan hauling
him off the field for Gauteng trials, as he hadn’t attended rugby training. He was a member of
the choir in primary school but dropped out in the high school as it was rather frowned upon in
those days and virtually non-existent.
He remembers the East London soccer tour when he was in the prep school. They went by train
and stayed a week with Willy Castle. Mr Spencer punished the boys by making them eat a raw
onion.
He went from the prep to the high school with a break of one year in standard 6 when he left
and went to Sandown High but returned to St David’s in standard 7. On his first day in high
school he met new boys with whom he is still in contact – Nick Rasenti (Espresso), Chris
Phillips now in the US, Scot Grant, Matt Rose, David Schneider, Ricky Forleo whose father
owns a restaurant in Parkview. Jean Mark Du Casse is operations manager for Primi Piatti in
Cape Town, Johnathan Meyer and Chris Smith (who is now in London) went to the International
Hotel School. Craig Roman – head prefect runs an environmentally friendly company called
“Bugs Away”.
Richard coached soccer at St David’s working together with Willy Castle.
The last day at school was the best day of his life and it seems like a lifetime ago running into
different classes. Paul Edey became the executive head. He received the Eiletsen Trophy for
Computer Science which was a joke as there were only two boys doing the subject. He loved
Champagnat day with the soccer, inter-house athletics and thought the Guy Fawkes functions
were great. He participated in the first Shavathon at Nedcor and the first one held at St David’s.
He was involved with SMILE and really enjoyed that. He used to help out at the SPCA when he
was in the prep school. The prefects used to rule the high school but that hierarchy all fell away
by the time he got to matric
He remembers the Formula 1 event held in Sandton City, when he and some other boys ducked
and went in Richard’s car, with Malcolm Williams in hot pursuit.
Many of the teachers were fantastic – Julie Roman, Belinda Marais, Janet Skeen, Coleen
Kennedy, Sylvia Crichton, and of course Willy Castle. Father Brewer was amazing, kind hearted
and helpful.
Greg Royce, was a very good head of the prep school, always approachable and helpful.
His worst memories were any form of public speaking with Teresa Voorendyck, he hated cross
country.
When he left school he took a gap year and did some waitering, he then went on to study at the
Hotel School and graduated from there. He did his prac.at Full Stop Café and from junior
manager was promoted to senior manager. He is in the process of buying the restaurant and
paying it off. He is absolutely passionate about the job.
Richard enquired whether there was any preferential treatment for sons of old boys regarding
their admittance to the school.
JE September 2011

Interview with Daniel Shepherd – 2005
Daniel came to St David’s from Craighall primary and admits to finding it quite scary at first,
seeing all the new faces and finding himself in a much larger better equipped school
environment. He came together with Kelsey Stewart and Ryan King so wasn’t entirely alone. He
really enjoyed the Glenmore orientation camp in grade 8 led by Rod Smith and made new
friends.
Daniel recalled that his class of 22 pupils was quite extraordinary and they gained 88 out of 112
distinctions in their matric year.
He enjoyed sport and played hockey for which he received half colours, played tennis and did
some recreational swimming. Daniel believes that his life was much richer for the experience of
meeting different people, through the sport which was compulsory he was forced to mix with
people he otherwise would never have known giving him a different perspective of life.
Daniel enjoyed assisting with the Science programme tutoring pupils from Alex high school and
also participated in the Smile programme.
He just missed being awarded an honours blazer for academics but was awarded half colours
for hockey and service.
The teachers he remembers are Reyno Reichert who really motivated all the boys to do well in
Maths and in fact many of them eventually took 3 Maths subjects. Deanne King also helped him
to do well in matric.
He achieved 5 distinctions in matric, writing 8 subjects and then went on to Wits Medical School.
He is currently doing a two year internship at Baragwanath Hospital. It’s hard work and very
long hours but he is gaining experience in many disciplines which is invaluable. There are other
St David’s boys with him such as Jonty Kourie, Matthew Barendse and Warren Meir. Kelsey
Stewart (deputy head boy for 2005) is doing his internship in Pietermaritzburg.
Daniel’s brother Michael is currently in grade 10 at St David’s. Daniel believes that if he has a
son he would send him to St David’s or another Marist school.
JE August 2012

Interview with Mike von Guilleaume – 1995
Mike followed in his father’s footsteps beginning his career at St David’s in grade 0 and his
brother Terence was also a pupil finishing in 1990. Mike’s father matriculated in 1954. Mike’s
father’s parents moved to South Africa from Germany and his father matriculated in 1954. As
his mother was a staunch catholic Mike was enrolled as a pupil at St David’s, however when he
reached high school his father took him to Hilton as he wanted to anglicise him. On the second
day he ran away spending two nights in the forest and eventually phoned his parents and
refused to divulge his whereabouts until they promised him he could go back to St David’s.
Mike’s mother was in charge of the catering at the school until 2001. Mike’s father was heavily
involved with MOBS which meant that Mike spent a great deal of time at St David’s socialising
with Marist boys such as Doug Wickins, Alec Quail, Darko Vidas and Vito Rugani.
Mike first teacher was Mrs Kerstofen and his class is where the after care is now. Mike recalls
that the soccer clinics in the primary school were legendary with Willy Castle in charge showing
an 8mm movie at the end of the festivals. Mike remembered playing soccer in Germiston, where
the boys lost badly as they were all too busy watching the planes flying overhead. Willy
organised a soccer tour for the standard 5’s travelling to Belgium and Mike’s brother was lucky
enough to be part of the team.
George the tractor driver used to give the boys lifts and Mr Freilich gave them super C’s when
they went to his office. The boys all watched Mrs Carlisle, their grade 1 teacher on TV when she
crossed the finishing line completing the Comrades marathon. In grade 2 Mrs Schaafsma had
a punishment mat and administered hidings with her wooden ruler. Mike also remembered
teachers such as Glenda Anderson; Debby Hurley; Mrs Orford who gave recorder lessons, Bev
Geldenhuys and Mrs Morkel, standard 5.
Mike’s first holy communion was held in the old hall followed by a meal. He remembers going to
the Bunny Park, to the Good Shepherd camp at Hartbeespoort. There were Malawian twins who
attended the school Lester and Bester, sadly their mother died after stepping on a garden rake
and the wound became septic.
In standard 7 Mike together with Michael Ward and Richard Pin went on a cricket tour to
Zimbabwe organised by Father Brewer and Cedric Finlayson. They played against Plumtree,
Falcon House, and CBC Bulawayo drawing 4 of the matches which were played against teams
consisting of some members of the Zimbabwe rugby team. The boys took cricket gear with them
for the boys there and some of the boys suffered from food poisoning after eating the dormitory
food.
In high school, one of the boys, David Salmon put his scissors in a plug socket in the science
lab and caused a mighty bang but fortunately didn’t kill himself.
At the beginning of standard 9, in abstentia, Mike was voted in as chairman of the MDC - matric
dance committee. Mike played in various age group teams and was at one time captain of the
rugby and cricket teams.
Mike was involved in a number of high school pranks and from standard 8, whilst his mother ran
the tuck shop, Mike managed to sell beers from her catering stock. Mike participated in the
rugby tour to Australia in 1995 and as head boy was part of the disciplinary committee together
with the tour captain and staff. Mike and the tour captain were caught breaking curfew and were
hauled in front of the disciplinary committee and then told to design their own punishment. They
decided not to have any more social rights for the remainder of the tour and offered to sign in
the other boys relieving Graeme McMillan, Greg Lambe and Andrew Brownlee the coaching
staff. Their proposal was accepted and Father Brewer checked up on them for the first two
nights but over the remaining 14 nights they went out after curfew without getting caught. He
remembers how naive they were walking into gay bars and strip clubs. The black guys got most
of the attention from the girls being so rare. One of the boys, Merryman was particularly naughty
and nearly missed the flight back home.
Matric was challenging as Mike was in a position of authority but he was fortunate in having
Paul Edey as headmaster, He was a great leader, not at all autocratic and worked together with
the boys. There were 44 boys in the matric class that year. The school had a strong rugby team
losing one game out of 26 so it was easy to generate a good spirit amongst the boys and it
wasn’t difficult to get the school to get things done. Mike had a good relationship with the
teachers, helping with sports practices thereby taking some pressure off the teaching staff.
The staff Mike remembers are Richard Girdwood who taught matric English but never once
spoke about the set work as the boys were very adept at encouraging him to stray off the
subject. He taught them about life and used a sawn off hockey stick “Jemma” to discipline them.
Gary Norton used to make the boys do push ups. Cedric Finlayson was the sports coach with a
temper. There were the ground staffs at the time Julius, Enoch and Victor. Mike Midgley swotted
him with a cricket bat for being cheeky.
Mike enjoyed school, had fun and got involved with school plays doing the sets. He and Jeremy
Wickens had been together since grade 1 and he remembered that Jeremy was awarded a
Marist provincial blazer. Anthony Bayne came to St David’s from Jan Cilliers and found it to be
quite a culture shock. It must also have been quite an adjustment for Sidney Ngwenya who was
the Lubner’s maid’s son. Together with the co-workers Mike went on a trip to Slough and was
also involve with the SMILE programme.
Mike achieved a very average matric as his focus was on getting the most out of life but he
enjoyed History with Simon Fry. After leaving St David’s, Mike went to Pamona College in
Claremont, California. Pamona was a liberal arts college built on the Oxford/Cambridge model,
it was small and very academic. He studied PPE - politics, philosophy and economics majoring
in economics and lived in the States for 4 years. He then worked in management consulting and
is now in the media industry working for Random House/Struik.
Mike joined MOBS in 2004 and is always grateful that he received an old boy’s bursary in 1978.
Mike is still in touch with many of his class mates even though many of them no longer live in
South Africa.
Warren Mandy – warren.mandey@bytes.co.uk
Anthony Bayne – Anthony_bayne@ml.com
John Tilley – jonjontilley@yahoo.com
Korabo Denalane – 084 777 5122
Brad Latilla Campbell is Mike’s nephew, his sister Celeste’s son. Callum Latilla-Campbell is now
at St Albans. Jack Latilla-Campbell, is in Gr 0
Warren Yoko is also a nephew
Greg Lambe taught at St David’s
Antoinette Lambe, Mike’s sister also taught at St David’s and sons Tristan is in Gr 00 and
Keegan now in Gr 3
Mike’s brother Terence is living in the States with 2 sons and also has another sister living there
with 2 daughters and 1 son.
JLE May 2012

Interview with Jerome Kourie – 1977
Jerome attended St David’s at the time it was going through a bad patch. Br Anthony was the
headmaster until 1975 when Br Timothy took over. The boarding which was the backbone of the
school was closed at the end of 1972 which had a great impact on the ethos, camaraderie and
not least the sport. After Br Timothy left in 1981 there followed a series of headmasters until
Paul Edey took up the post in 1995.
Jerome began his school career in grade 2, having moved from St Paul’s, Maryvale. He was
part of the new intake of the first grade 1’s and 2’s. Prior to this the school had started with
standard 1. The head of the primary school was Mrs Kempster, and Mrs Marsay taught grade 1.
He remembers Mrs Kenezovitch- standard 5 who was legendary and a great teacher.
At the time the bottom field was basic veldt and Aggie Simaan did all the landscaping of the
school including the new rugby fields and cricket pitch. The main oval was opened in 1970.He
lived in Chislehurston, a small suburb adjoining the north east border of the school and used to
walk across those fields and see her driving the blue tractor down to where the Inandas are
now. There were no fences around the school and everything was completely open. He recalls
that he and a group of boys who lived nearby used to play on the fields after school and made a
clubhouse in a cave in the ground where it had eroded. Some of the boys were Nigel Harding,
James Duthey, Colin Tomaselli – Chislehurston was originally a farm owned by the Tomaselli
family and was eventually sub-divided around 1973.
Standard 2 and 3 were taught in the “House Block” which was the magnificent old Herbert Baker
building overlooking the main cricket oval. The classrooms were huge with wonderful pressed
ceilings, wooden floors and fireplaces which were lit in winter. Across from the house block
where the current grades block is situated were the stables with Br Ronald in charge of horse
riding at the school.
On his first day at school he remembers his good friend Raymond John as their fathers were
good friends. Many of the parents were running around with 8mm cameras recording the big
day, a major event with the opening of the new grades. Where the fountain still stands is where
the grades block was originally located.
In standard 5, 1972, the Science block was built and many parents had raised funds for the
stained glass windows. The Science labs were the best in the country and were the pride and
joy of Br Bosco (Mario). Br Bosco was an absolute genius and had a strong but healthy rivalry
with the Science teacher at Observatory who also had a new laboratory.
Champagne Day was a big event in the school diary and all the boys went in buses to the
Cathedral, he remembers the hymn “Great Man of God” and all the school singing with zeal and
fervour. During the late seventies the school celebrated Champagne Day at the Rosebank
Catholic Church and the boys were given donuts and a cool drink.
The first SA school to allow black pupils was Rosebank Convent followed by St David’s a year
or two later.
The Christian life group (CLG) was formed by Br Mario who organised trips for the boys
involved. They went into Soweto in 1972/3 to a school which was quite an eye-opener and
which was quite daunting for young children who had been brainwashed into believing that
Soweto was a hostile environment. They raised funds for the school and later in 1975 or 76, Br
Mario said he would get a guest speaker for the boys. A black minister came to the school and
addressed them, he spoke about the plight of blacks and talked about things that the boys were
quite unaware of and what was actually going on in the townships. He remembers vividly him
saying that South Africans were living in a pressure cooker and when the lid burst there would
be mayhem, tragedy and bloodshed in SA. He pleaded and prayed with the boys to help change
the course of history. Many parents were very unhappy about this and felt it scared their sons.
The black minister was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Any sporting event against Observatory was a derby day and taken quite seriously. The rugby
team in 1972 was the best the school ever had, coached by Nassey Simaan. George Nichas
who was a brilliant player unfortunately missed an easy penalty in the dying minutes of the
game that year and the school lost to KES by 2 points but won every other game. Nassey
started coaching abd moved up with the same group of players until they were in matric (1972).
Nassey was an unbelievable asset to the school’s rugby programme and brought in Cas De
Bruin who was an international referee teaching at Fakkelle Hoerskool. The opening practise
game for every rugby season for many years was the one against Fakkelle Hoerskool. Nassey
was absolutely passionate about the rugby and ran along the touch line during team matches
often running faster than the wings in spite of being a heavy smoker. He instituted a star grading
system after each match and then put the grading up on the school notice board every Monday
rating each player with stars and comments.
There was fierce rivalry between Marist Inanda and Observatory and often there would be
between 2 and 4 000 people watching the 1st team rugby game between the two schools. At
one match Inanda ran onto the field in their black and gold colours and Obs in red, a hearse
was driven onto the pitch and the back door opened to reveal a coffin in which was a dummy
dressed in the Inanda colours. On another occasion at a swimming gala Obs again had a
dummy dressed in an Inanda swimming costume hanging by a noose around its neck from the
diving board. In spite of this it was a healthy rivalry and many of the boys were friends outside of
school. There was also rivalry between the Marist Brothers of both schools.
Jerome played 1st team rugby in standard 9 and 10, was the tennis captain and played 1st team
tennis from standard 6 until matric. In athletics he threw the discus and shot put. He was a
member of 1st cricket team, became a prefect and awarded his honours blazer.
Photograph not transfered.
The photograph above shows all the Kourie brothers wearing their honours blazers on the day
that their youngest brother (Dr Jeffrey Kourie) was awarded his honours blazer. L – R
Lawrence, Joel, Jerome, Jeffrey, Leslie Kourie
There were a lot of big families present at the school – Marsay, Kenezsovitch, Deeb,
Schoombie, Saad, Simaan - a percentage of the fees was reduced with every child and the 5th
brother paid no fees. There were many Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Portuguese boys at the
school mainly because of the boarding facility.
When Jerome’s son Daniel went to grade 00 there were 3 or 4 boys in the class whose fathers
had been pupils in the same class nearly 20 years earlier at St David’s at the

same time Anthony Rowlingson, Sabatino Mienucchi and Jerome Kourie -
Both Jerome’s sons studied at St David’s until matric attaining their honours blazers and 7
distinctions each in matric. Jonathan graduated from Wits as a Medical Doctor in 2011 and
Daniel is in his 3rd year Accounting Science.
Jerome doesn’t remember much about his last day other than it was a bit of an anticlimax. His
class got up to some mischief, some boys got fire hoses and flooded some classrooms and
some even painted statues which didn’t go down too well at all.
Academically Jerome was awarded his studies scroll and on leaving school studied 1 year of
dentistry, changed to finance and studied towards a BCom at Wits University. This was followed
by 2 years military service leaving as a captain and then he went into Acacia Finance where he
has been employed for 30 years.
Jerome still feels very passionate about the school. He has a good relationship with St David’s
sister school St Teresa’s and has been on the board since it’s inception. He is a trustee of
Catholic Education Trust. He isn’t currently a member of MOBS but receives the newsletter. He
regularly visits the school to watch the 1st rugby team matches. He receives the school
magazine and always reads through it keeping in touch with the community.
JE February 2012

Interview with Br Sean Quinn – 1963 – 1968
Br Sean first came to St David’s in 1963 and initially taught a primary school class. He thinks that Patrick
Quarmby was in that class, also Ivan Bensimon and Ian Skinner who is now married to Patrick’s sister.
Other names were R Adair, Clive Schoombie, N Jarvis, T Tribe.
Through his involvement with sport coaching many other names came to mind: Terry Rosenberg; Terry
Lavery; Errol MaCauley; Lee McGregor; G. Simaan. The latter’s father Mr Nassey Simaan helped with
coaching rugby and Sean learnt a lot from him and became a fanatic of rugby. He also said that Br Jude
taught him a lot in Maritzburg too. It was a game Sean never played in Ireland where G
gaelic football and hurling were the sports. He took cricket teams and umpired, and took students out on
Saturdays and Sundays with the “Cycling Club”. He never managed to lose anybody, thank God, but when
he thinks of it now, it frightens him. They used to go a long way sometimes and once through the city to the
southern suburbs and beyond, unknown territory.
Sean thought that we would know that some of the names mentioned went on to play at a high level ; Terry
Lavery represented the Springboks and Sean met him briefly at White City athletics stadium in London. Lee
McGregor was a Springbok swimmer whose parents were good people who helped Sean in his transition to
“civvy life’.
Remembering the brothers was easier for Sean in many ways – Br Anthony, Br Aidan, Br Lewis, Br Neil, Br
Andrew.
Br Neil was the nephew of the Br Provincial, family name McGurk. He and Sean once cycled to Pretoria
and back, very tired and thirsty at the end as one could imagine.
Br Ignatius, Br Aidan Burns and Br Sean once walked to Post Shepstone from Hibberdene along the
railway line. They got a few rand from the bursar to buy some food and drinks which they lost on their way
to Port Shepstone. They went back down to the beach and retraced their steps to the shop and eventually
found the money on the ground next to the door. Lucky! They then hitched a lift back to Hibberdene and
two men in the car took them right up to the door. Lucky again!
Br Sean liked distance running, having run up World’ s View in Maritzburg many times but Br Ignatius (aka
Paddy Collins) took it to another level later running the Comrades many times and he is still running full
and half marathons in Ireland now about 74 – 75 years old!
Br Sean stopped playing rugby at 40 and took up running – he completed 2 marathons and numerous half
marathons, but not in the same league as Br Iggy! It might say something about their lives with the Marist
brothers, but what it says, he is not exactly sure.
Another person that Sean remembers with great affection was a Zulu man. Piet, a big man who was in
charge of the kitchen, he was always cheerful and tried to teach Sean a little of the Zulu language and
talked proudly of Dingaan, Cetswayo and Shaka. Sean looked him up many years later on Google. When
Sean went to the kitchen for coffee, Piet would always address him as nKhosaan and Sean regrets not
talking to him more.
One funny incident Sean recalled was when they tried to hear a world title fight from America on the radio.
They tried to get it by rigging up the aerial on the tennis court net at some ridiculous hour in the morning
and by the time they got the broadcast the fight was finished. He couldn’t quite remember who was fighting,
maybe Joe Louis or Floyd Patterson. There were, of course no replays in those days!
On a more personal level, Sean taught Geography in the secondary school from 1964. He can remember
threatening his students that he would cane them if they failed. He now thinks that was a stupid thing to do
but he had seen this in Ireland as par for the course. He had to cane about 4 or 5 students and was sick of
himself by the time he had done two. One student, Gabriel Simaan cried and was still crying when they
went to Ellis Park for an inter-school tennis match. Sean thought that Gabriel liked him as a teacher and
was friendly with Gabriel’s family and was disgusted with himself and his stupidity. He never used the cane
again in all his teaching life of over 30 years. They were a very good family and Sean still has regrets.
Sean finished his degree whilst working on a mine in Rhodesia and later did his HED again at UNISA. He
went down to Johannesburg to do some teaching practice for exam purposes and did it at St David’s in
familiar surroundings and all that went with it.
Sean has some fond memories and some questions he would like answers too, but the past is the past and
he thinks it is not good to dwell on it too much.
After Sean’s wife died in 1996, he was at a loss and very disorientated. He quit his teaching job in a Jesuit
school in the north of England where he had taught English and Geography to “A” level for 10 years. He
went to Southern Ethiopia with the VSO for 2 years to work as a teacher trainer. He then had work at the
University in Newcastle upon Tyne after which he took off with a backpack to SE Asia, Australia and New
Zealand - a bit old for it at 60 but he didn’t care. Sean loved Thailand, the people, the weather and food so
went back and stayed. Sean had a TESOL diploma and an MA in Linguistics from Leeds, studying whilst
working. He developed an interest in the English language but all he did was work doing seminars for
teachers helping them with their methodology and English.
Sean’s son (who was born in Rhodesia) and 3 grandchildren live in Melbourne, Australia and Sean visits
them fairly regularly.
Sean currently lives in Thailand and has done so for the past 11 years, about 350kms NE of Bangkok in a
very rural area with a good wife who looks after him very well. He did some voluntary work teaching for 3
years but then had enough and now reads, works on his wife’s small farm, cycles a bit and relaxes. I gave Sean Gabriel Simaan’s email address and he got in touch with him. Gabriel had no recollection of
the incident and said he was caned on several occasions but it certainly didn’t do him any harm. (JLE)
JLE November 2013

Interview with Paul Gerrard – 1992
Paul remembered his first day as he arrived a bit late two weeks into the first term of grade 1.
He sat next to Jaffrey Tsaksani and Ryan Lamberts, his teacher was Mrs Scaafsma who used
her ruler quite liberally on the boys hands.
As it was compulsory Paul played rugby and cricket and made all the matches unless he was
show jumping which took up a lot of his time. Due to his commitment to horse riding he didn’t
make the 1st teams. He enjoyed the team sports and felt that it really helps in understanding
people and it is good to work together. The camaraderie was great but not all the boys were
accepted and Paul felt that the boys who played hockey rather than rugby missed out. The
camps were amazing and the camaraderie and hierarchy of who sat where on the bus trips.
Paul participated in cross country usually coming 2nd or 3rd but didn’t put in too much effort and
was often caned for missing a run. He was strong in the distance events in athletics, 800m and
the high jump. Through his horse riding Paul became stronger as a person and very fit.
Paul didn’t enjoy being caned but believed that it was necessary. He recalled Mr Girdwood,
English teacher who got very angry about something and smacked him very hard at the back of
his head – at the recent reunion the boys remembered that incident well.
Of his teachers he remembered Lesley Henning an excellent Maths teacher who converted him
from average to being good in the subject. Finlayson was the cricket and rugby coach and Grant
Webster, Biology, had a bat called “Justice” which he wielded once if you admitted not doing
your homework and twice if you lied. There was a small, cheeky, Muslim boy called Mohammed
Ahmed who Webster grabbed by the ankles and held over the railings on the top floor.
He recalled being kicked out of a matric prize giving held at the pool. Together with some other
boys and girls that were around he was messing about creating a noise, a teacher came and
found them and told them to leave.
In the prep most of his best friends were black but in high school groups formed, and the black
pupils usually had their own group. The fact that the school was non-racial changed Paul’s
attitude. His uncle, Francis Gerrard and aunt were activists and in the late 70’s visited Mandela
in prison and Mbeki in exile. Paul’s friends who went to government schools had an entirely
different, prejudiced attitude to blacks. Paul was one of a group of boys who visited Alex
township taking food and clothing collected at St David’s.
Boys he remembers, the naughty crowd, are Garth Ramsay, a cattle farmer in the Midlands who
was a rebel rouser, Bobby French, Andreas Zanella, Jason Harmsen, Justin van Linden, Jason
Hallett’90 and Peter Batisch. From 1993 there were Andrew Harris, Andrew Botha and
Lawrence Azar.
There were initiation rituals where the younger boys had to blow up condoms and other silly
things, nothing too serious but good for one’s development. Paul, together with 3 other boys
opted out of becoming a prefect by walking out of a meeting.
At the recent reunion it was noticeable how many of the “cool guys” attended coming from the
UK and Cape Town but a number currently living in Johannesburg did not make the effort.
After matriculating, Paul studied through Unisa and Midrand Campus for a BComm Honours
which he completed in 5 years. In his final year of honours he was working as a property broker
letting industrial space south of Johannesburg. However interest rates climbed to 20 – 25% and
he lost out on a major deal which prompted his decision to go overseas .He had spent some
time coaching cricket at St David’s and played cricket after leaving school. He spent some time
mainly in the UK, France and the US as a professional ski bum and cricket coach and worked
for a season in the UK as a cricketer .The time away gave him a new perspective on life. He
had many jobs one as a security guard for various shows and events, ending up together with
his wife in the computer industry in the UK. Then in 2003 Flanagan & Gerrard asked him to join
them in South Africa. The company is involved in commercial property development specialising
in shopping centres. They organise christmas carols every year supporting various schools in
Rustenburg, children’s and old age homes.
Paul’s eldest son attends Redhill School as St David’s would not accommodate Adrian in grade
0.
Paul’s father Peter donated a cricket scholarship to the school in 2008.
JLE January 2013