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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