Interview with Cynthia Hildyard - Staff 1970 – 1985 Cynthia taught grade 2 while at St D’s. Those were the days of ITA spelling which did not work well and was later dropped. It was a very different school while boarders were here. Lunches consisted mainly of roasts and vegetables. Matron Buckley-Jones had her room next to the old library (now the Music centre). Brothers she knew whilst she was teaching were Br Anthony the headmaster, Br Bosco (Mario), Br Aidan, the bursar, a very quiet man, Br Andrew (Dracula), Br Bernard – excellent at photography and art, Br Ronald who left very quietly, Br Mario a Mexican brother taught Maths but the boys found it very difficult to understand him. Old Boys she remembered were Kevin Carter who was with Ken Oostebroek when he was killed while photographing the riots, Alexis Apostolides who had growth behind the eye and went to America for treatment, the Slaven brothers Andrew, John and Jeffrey. Cynthia has two sons who attended St David’s. John matriculated in 1974 and Mark in 1978. Interview: Monday 11 October 2010 GA
Greg Royce 1989 to 1995 Greg was deputy head at St Martin’s until March 1989 before being appointed as prep headmaster at St David’s. He and his wife Pam were very touched as staff held a welcome lunch at the tennis courts. Greg stated that the school was running well despite the lack of a headmaster for so many years. The only problem he found was that each person was doing their own thing instead of sharing ideas with each other. His first task was to formalise things and found that he got on well with the staff and that they accepted him. He always got on very well with Willy Castle and, on one particular occasion Willy wanted a meeting with Greg. A date and time was duly arranged but Willy didn’t pitch, Greg found out later that Willy and Carol Ansell were having lunch together and that Willy had forgotten about the meeting! Greg worked well with his deputy, David Spence. David had a flair for implementing Greg’s many ideas and worked hard to implement the thinking skills and helped arrange for Dr Edward de Bono to visit St David’s. Under Greg’s guidance St David’s became the first school to introduce Kumon in South Africa. The nursery schools were also asked not to concentrate on table top activities but rather to concentrate on gross and fine motor activities. Greg was also instrumental in introducing remedial therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy into the school. He also encouraged the reintroduction of music into the curriculum. Working with Paul Davies proved difficult at times due to Paul being very dogmatic but on the whole they worked well together. Paul introduced the house system and he brought more formality to proceedings. Greg felt that the prep should be represented on the board and wrote a letter requesting prep representation. This was a slow process and took about 2 years before Greg was allowed to attend and address prep issues. Greg always found the parents warm and supportive but unfortunately they always compared St David’s to St John’s or St Stithian’s. The one thing the parents didn’t take into account was that the fees were substantially lower than these other schools so the school didn’t have the funds and thus it was difficult to compete with them. The prep pavilion was built during Greg’s stay at St David’s. Greg had budgeted for a double garage to be built to house equipment but once the parents saw the building in progress, they willing gave money and so the whole project expanded and a concrete slab was laid to provide for a first floor. The school expanded into 3 streams per grade, which made St David’s more competitive and also provided more capital for projects. As regards the board, Greg felt that Terrence Wilkinson was an excellent chairman. He brought professionalism into the board and the school started to flourish under his guidance. The PTA also played a huge part in school life. One major project was when they erected the roof over the stands surrounding the pool under the chairmanship of Mike O’Shea. Greg decided to leave St David’s in March 1995 because he was offered a very good package from St Peter’s and with a growing family this was important as was the fact that Greg was an anglican and of course St David’s was a catholic school. Greg has fond memories of St David’s as their third child, Liam, was born while Greg was headmaster here. Liam enjoyed the life at school and a familiar sight was Liam being pushed around the campus in his pram. Greg loved his time at St David’s where he worked hard and played hard! He started the potjiekos competition which still takes place, as well as the staff christmas ‘thank you’ party. Greg enjoyed his wine but also loved the bush and nature. He encouraged the school to plant indigenous trees and also took groups of boys on camps into the bush. Greg loved animals and encouraged the staff to look after the birds and animals in the birdcage in the prep playground. The guinea fowl on the property had chicks but one got isolated and was struggling to survive so Greg put it in the birdcage for protection because he felt it would not survive outside. He, unfortunately, had to release the bird due to huge pressure, but as suspected, the bird was killed on the first day that it was released! In closing Greg stated that he enjoyed his time at St David’s and has fond memories. He also enjoyed working with the Brothers and meeting the other Marist Heads. January 2011
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 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 Max Leipold - 1959 Max started as a boarder in Std 2 in 1951. His parents lived in Standerton and in Std 9 they settled in Illovo and then became a day student. He was very unhappy and missed the camaraderie of the boarding school so went back as a boarder in matric. Brian Nicol was head boy and the Joint Matriculation Board exam was written. Max played 1st team rugby and was in the team which beat Obs for the first time despite Obs having future Springbok Sid Nomis in their team. A tour had been arranged for Obs to visit Port Elizabeth and play against Marist Walmer in 1958. Due to the very poor season Obs were experiencing it was decided that Inanda, who were having a good season, should travel in their stead. Br Bonaventure and the boys travelled by train. The team lost to Victoria Park and Grey College but beat Walmer 11-3. Max enjoyed the boarding system and in those days there were two dorms with 44 beds in each. Max enjoyed collecting the pictures of girls on the back page of the Sunday Times in those days and made a scrapbook. On this occasion the boys were all sitting round looking at the pictures when Br Ephrem came ‘gliding’ by. Not wanting to be caught they threw the book out of the window but it fell near to Br Bonaventure’s window. His parents were called in to see Br Benedict, the headmaster to discuss this. Max was born in 1941 and retired at the age of 53 and moved to the house they had built in Hermanus. He originally worked for IBM but then moved to Ellerman shipping company where he was a director. Max’s hobby is photography and he and his wife travel extensively in pursuit of this hobby. Interview: 12 October 2010
