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Interview with Anthony Chappel - Board of Governors 2001 -2007 Foundation 2006 - 2014

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  • 2014

Interview with Anthony Chappel – Board and Foundation 2001 to date
Tony has seen two of his sons matriculate at St David’s, Daniel in 2007 and Patrick in 2009 with both sons
starting their career at St David’s in Grade 0.
Tony is Catholic and was educated at CBC in Springs and his father at CBC Boksburg and is a director of
the law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright based in Sandton.
In 2001, Tony joined the board of governors of St David’s, proposed by Eric Annegarn, vice-chairman. At
the same time Robin Smith also joined the board and Tony Reilly was chairman. Tony was on the board for
7 years and retired as chairman of the board in 2007. Tony is currently a trustee of the St David’s
Foundation.
Tony asked the board for a mandate to establish a foundation and led an investigation into this, preparing
the constitution in 2004. Paul Edey’s wife Susan put Tony in touch with Chantal Ratcliff, an experienced
and very practical fund raiser. Chantal knew how foundations worked and how to make them successful.
Her advice was that the board must be really committed, embrace the concept and understand exactly how
it should work bearing in mind that there is not a culture of giving in South Africa. Chantal was appointed in
2005 and was involved in the development of the Foundation for 4 years. There is no doubt that she played
a significant role in the success of the Foundation which was established in 2005. Tony’s vision was that
the Foundation would endow the school adding value, assisting in transforming the school and that the
Foundation would be used to mobilize MOBS (Marist Old Boys). Tony believes that you cannot have a truly
great school without its old boys being involved and supportive of it.
Thierry Dalais was the first chairman of the Foundation in 2006 and Robin Smith the current chairman
being an ex officio trustee whilst he was chairman of the board of governors.
Following his appointment as executive head in 2002, and prior to his joining Gibbs, Paul Edey had
indicated to Tony that he needed to move on and suggested that a consultant would perhaps be better
suited to the role of executive head of the school. Paul had mentioned Mike Greeff, a businessman with a
passion for education, who had run some staff workshops. Tony, then chairman of the board, followed up
on this idea and Mike was eventually appointed as the chief executive in 2006.
JLE August 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Anthony Reilly - Board of Governors 1997 - 2003

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  • 2015

Interview with Anthony Reilly – board of governors 1997 – 2003
Terence Wilkinson the then chairman of the board of governors brought Tony onto the board in 1997. Tony
is Catholic, was educated at CBC, Kimberly and his son was a pupil in the prep school at the time. Terence
was also instrumental in finding Paul Edey for the position of Head master.
At the time the development plan was underway which involved the building of the Champagnat hall and
library with Kevin Brewer being the genius behind that project. They were completed on time and within
budget.
Tony was reluctantly appointed chairman of the board in 2001, Tony had just been promoted at Lonmin to
the position of director of corporate affairs which took up a lot of his time and he couldn’t get so involved
with St David’s. However he attended all the meetings and did what was required of him but Paul Edey and
his team were left very much to get on with it. The meetings of the board were often concerned with
financial issues, bad debtors, the building of the hall, high school pavilion; extensions to the prep school
and the prep and high school libraries, the latter however were fortunately funded by an anonymous donor.
During his tenure, Tony recalled the renewal of the lease of the land the school is on, when the rental had
been increased substantially by Rome. The Marist ethos has always had an emphasis on the poor and
needy communities and St David’s had unfortunately morphed into an exclusive enclave and now there is
an ongoing major issue of balance.
Tony asked Robin Smith to join the board in 2001 to be involved with fundraising and he is still active but
now with the Foundation. During Tony’s term on the board, the educational trust was formed which was the
basis of the current Foundation. In the early days the bursary boys were either indigent, good scholars or
good sportsmen and unfortunately there was a great deal of resentment that their school fees were
subsidised by a portion of the whole school fees. Many parents struggled financially to keep their boys at St
David’s and questioned why part of the school fees was used in this way. It became a major issue but now
it is no longer the case with the Foundation and Marist old boys paying the fees for the bursary boys. The
Foundation has made this more professional.
JLE March 2015

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Doug Wickins 1962

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  • 2011

Interview with Doug Wickins 1962
Doug started at St David’s in Std 3 in 1955. He originally went to St Peter’s in Merrivale and
moved to Parkhurst where he spent 1 year in Std 2 at the local primary school. His mother was
a devout Catholic with 3 sons, Doug being the eldest. He and Anthony started in 1955 and Barry
a year or two later. Doug was happy at Parkhurst and didn’t want to leave and his introduction to
the school was delayed, as he and his brothers contracted scarlet fever, and were quarantined
for 3 weeks. Br Edmond, the principal introduced him to Alf Smith and Michael Fine (“Savage”)
and took him to Mrs Batten – standard 3. Mrs Batten was a real toughie, told him to sit where
she could see him. She sat on the teaching platform, teachers had a leather strap and he can
remember her whacking all the boys in her class. In spite of this introduction he thoroughly
enjoyed his schooling. At the end of standard 6 his father died, his uncle came to stay in the
house; accommodation was limited so in standard 7 arrangements were made for him to go into
boarding. This he regards as the best thing that ever happened to him. He spent 4 years
boarding and really enjoyed it.
There were 16 brothers then, all quite young, many in their twenties and Br Anthony was about

  1. They played sport together. There were 60 pupils in a class but by matric the number had
    reduced to 17 with other pupils either failing or being expelled. One of the problems was that Br
    John was Spanish and Br Charles, French-Canadian and understanding them was rather
    difficult. The language was an issue and there was insufficient opportunity to interface with the
    brothers individually.
    Doug loved boarding and enjoyed school even more because of it and regards the school as his
    Alma Mater rather than university.
    Doug was in a very spirited class with 8 boarders, the remainder being day boys. Among them
    were Darko Vidas, Alex Quail, Alec Smith, John Dayley. Br Edwin (Jack Bones) was principal
    until 1956 and then Br Benedict (The Beak) until 1959 followed by Br Anthony in 1960. He was
    terrified of Br Edwin who was related to the MCGurk family, but revered and respected him, he
    had arthritis but in spite of this he trained boys in rugby. He was eventually promoted to Brother
    Provincial. Br Benedict loved rugby and cricket. Br Anthony was, in his opinion, the best
    principal the school ever had.
    Br Anthony’s nickname was Aungess – Oranges which he could never pronounce properly. His
    favourite sayings were”nothing without work” and “he who plays hard, works hard”. Initially he
    appeared arrogant because of his demeanour but once everyone got to know him, his popularity
    soared. He had a great sense of Christianity hence Slough, and was a teaching principal,
    teaching Science and Maths. There were 450 boys in the school at the time and, although there
    was a bursar, he ran the entire school.
    Mrs Kempster taught under Br Edwin Standard 4, she used the stick and became the first
    headmistress of the junior school succeeded by Mr Manolios, then Mrs Schaafsma. Mrs
    Janusch, a scot married to a Hungarian was an absolute tyrant. He remembers boys such as
    Congo Brian Roberts who came from the Belgian Congo, Doc Livingstone – Rhodesia, Chicken
    Venter, Brian Emerick. The school’s reputation was well established with 180 boarders with 4
    dormitories.
    Doug once lead a boycott of sausages in the dining room, Br Dennis was on duty that particular
    evening and Br Michael wanted to kick him out but Br Anthony saved him. Four boys were
    expelled. Two brothers Peter and Jeremy Forder, Warrington and Hartman decided to run away.
    They got out and went to Sandton, however they were rounded up and expelled.
    A barber used to come to cut the boys hair, The boarders had lunch 12.45 to 1.15, then again
    out of class 2.45 for tea followed by sports practice, shower, study, 6.30 – 7.15 supper, study
    until 8.15 and lights and radios off by 9.15.
    Doug participated in all sport, played cricket but he preferred swimming, played rugby, hockey,
    and athletics and joined in debating. There was tremendous competition between St David’s
    and Observatory. The cinder track, now prep playing fields was regarded as the best in the
    country for the Catholic inter-high athletics. Doug was also made a prefect. Doug recalled an
    incident during an athletics event when Br Charles was measuring the distance that a javelin
    had been thrown when another landed immediately behind him fortunately just missing him.
    People often used to stop at the side of the road to watch the cricket. A sad incident occurred
    when Paul Barrenbrook was killed, in a freak accident whilst he was standing on the bicycle
    wheel of the ice cream cart which was hit by a passing car.
    The school had a good relationship with Parktown Convent rather than Rosebank and often had
    joint functions.
    He helped build a stage and got the wood. The stage was very, very heavy. Technical drawing
    was a subject and because of this they were allowed to use the workroom. There was very
    nearly a nasty accident when Darko got his tie caught up in the planing machine. It took all, his
    strength to keep his head away until someone could switch the machine off.
    Doug recalled President Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962 and listening to
    a radio that Darko had, as they all waited to find out if the world was going to be plunged into
    the first nuclear war.
    He remembers his last day at St David’s, it was in December and there were 4 or 5 boys left
    writing their last matric exam. His 17th birthday was on 29 November and he wrote his first
    matric paper, English 1. He felt that he never left the school and attended many rugby matches,
    swimming galas and athletics meetings. A number of them went to Wits and kept in touch. They
    always had the idea of forming MOBS. Tonetti, Mike von Guilleaume, Steve Muller, Trevor Blow
    (first chairman MOBS, a lawyer).
    He recalls the appointment of Murphy who was welcomed with open arms and was given a lot
    of support by the old boys. That was until he appeared on TV as a wrestler and then it was
    revealed that his credentials were not based on fact as they were presented. Steve Muller, Br
    Jude and Br Timothy originally interviewed him.
    He remembers Darryl Boswell as a good head and Gary Norton as deputy. He was also fond of
    Br Edwin, Quinas and Tometti.
    He studied for a Bachelor of Commerce at Wits and went into marketing and advertising. He
    was interested in investments and on retirement became more involved and now thoroughly
    enjoys it,
    Both Doug’s sons, Gregory and Michael, were pupils at St David’s and in class with Mike von
    Gulleaume’s children. His grandson Thomas Weedon has just joined the school. Greg’s
    youngest son is registered to come here. Vito Rugani founder member of MOBS had three sons
    here.
    Forming MOBS there was tremendous argument between them over what was then known as a
    federation of Marist old boys. St David’s was seen to be better, with young upstarts and elitist.
    Initially they set up the old boys for St David’s only and refused old boys from other
    Johannesburg Marist schools. Now anyone can join if they have been to a Marist school. There
    was a special badge for the federation emanating from St Charles Durban. A group of them
    went down to a number of conferences.
    Doug was chairman of the old boys, chairman of the PTA and vice-chairman of the board of
    governors. Steve Muller was the first chairman of the board of governors and MOBS was
    formed in 1965.He worked together with Kevin Brewer fighting to get subsidies from the
    government. St David’s was the first independent school to admit blacks.
    He remembers Darryl Boswell as a good head and Gary Norton as deputy.
    JE June 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Eric Annegarn, 1998 - 2004, Board of Governors

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  • 2015

Interview with Eric Annegaarn – board Member 1998 – 2004
Eric, whose son Bjorn was a pupil at St David’s and matriculated in 2002, was a member of the board of
governors from 1998 and was elected chairman for 2003 and 2004, taking over from Tony Reilly.
Eric used to question “Why do so many non-Catholic parents wish to enrol their sons at St David’s, a
Catholic school?” which gained a lot of momentum with the “Beyond Our Gates” project and motivated Rick
Wilson to encourage Eric to join the board. When Eric resigned from the board, Tony Chappell took over
the reins.
Eric’s priority was to speed up the process and to get rid of some of the formalities. He aimed to revitalise
the board which he felt had become moribund. The board got tied up with all sorts of issues including ethics
and overseas tours. Eric set up committees to which much of this work was delegated and the board could
then make decisions without long discussions and debate late into the night. Janet Seeland and Father
Michael were members of the committee debating the issue of school tours, the cost to the individual,
fundraising activities, levies on school fees etc.
Projects such as the astro turf and the chapel took ages. Issues such as to whether the school was
regarded as a charitable institution and, in that case were donations tax free? The board also had to report
to the IEB, the government’s Department of Education and to Rome and now to the Marist Schools Council.
The board had to continue a relationship with the Marist Brothers in Rome and various important issues
came up such as who owned the school property and where were the Title Deeds?
Eric had a good relationship with Paul Edey who was not an administrator. When Paul was made executive
headmaster Malcolm Williams was appointed Headmaster.
Eric worked at the school with Paul Edey four days a week from 4.00 until 8.00pm with Rob Smith heading
the development committee.
The planning for the Foundation which took an enormous amount of time was during Eric’s tenure as
chairman of the board and the re-naming of the school which also involved a lot of time and debate.
JLE March 2015

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Jean-Paul Renouprez 1990

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  • 2014

Interview with Jean-Paul Renouprez – 1990
Jean-Paul came to St David’s in 1979 in grade 1 in Mrs Scaafsma’s class. Jean-Paul recalls she was a
combination of a battle axe and enforcer of the law being very strict with a good memory. Jean-Paul’s son
started his career at St David’s in grade 1 in the very same classroom.
As Jean-Paul suffered from bad asthma, he was not that good at sport and it wasn’t a big feature in his life
at that time, He played some soccer, was thrown into the baby pool and learnt to swim. There was he
recalls, a pecking order in the cricket practices which were held where the hockey field is now. He wasn’t
very competitive but remembers participating in the prep standard 5, inter-house general knowledge quiz.
He remembered Willy Castle and playing in an U7 D soccer match under threat. Mr Manolius was the prep
school headmaster, Mr Coetzee his standard 5 teacher who had a big, booming voice, Mrs Hurley taught
Music and organised the nativity plays in which Jean-Paul took part, Heather Joseph taught Art and Mr
Bronkhorst was the sports teacher for the C and D teams who took him under his wing, positioning him as
the goalkeeper.
Jean-Paul has memories of racing down to the tuck shop near the present D & T centre to buy some food
before it sold out.
On entering the high school, Jean-Paul had overcome his problem with asthma and made the 3rd team in
rugby, C and D teams for cricket and was a member of the swimming team.
Mr Olivier was a Maths teacher who made a difference; The Computer Science teacher and class teacher,
Mr Schafer died during his matric year; Mr Webster was the sports master and class master during
standard 6 and 7 and took great delight in holding water-polo practices in the unheated swimming pool
during August. Mr Finlayson was the History teacher and coached 1st team rugby, sport and PE, he was a
former Springbok, Zimbabwean squash player was absolutely feared in the high school and no-one wanted
to be in Benedict house. Jean-Paul enjoyed Religious Instruction which led the Brothers to, at one stage
believe that he may become a Brother. He enjoyed a trip to Slough meeting Br Anthony and used to help
make soup in the kitchen at St David’s .Mr Davies was the headmaster from 1989 until his matric but Mr
Murphy stands out as Jean-Paul was involved in a fund raising drive which entailed licking envelopes and
Mr Murphy told the boys that the resin was made from Camel’s hooves.
Richard Girdwood took over from Trudy Elliot in 1989 and Jean-Paul enjoyed helping with special effects
with various productions such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar and got in a lot of practice setting up lighting
and building sets in the area now occupied by the high school library. He was also involved with some
acting roles and put together a play for Osmond house for the inter-house plays competition. He also took
part in inter-house debating which he enjoyed. Apart from that he really enjoyed the war cries and attending
1st team rugby matches. A memorable and proud moment for Jean-Paul was when his uncle, a former
rugby Springbok and leading businessman, was asked to address the school at the prize giving ceremony.
A month into his matric year, Jean-Paul, together with Denis O’Regan was appointed a prefect and was
awarded a Champagnat Medal at the annual prize giving.
On their last day one of the boys went off in his car and brought back ciders which some of the boys drank
at the back of the pool. Jean-Paul went to the matric dances in standard 11 and in his matric year.
After matriculating Jean-Paul went on to study engineering at Wits University. Working for Altech he made
detonators for the mining industry, was active on the regulatory committee at Wits and in 1999 studied fulltime
for an MBA at UCT. He then spent 4 years with Dimension Data followed by a period in the
pharmaceutical industry and joined South African Breweries in 2007. He has four different roles within
operations and logistics management and is involved with packaging at the Newlands and Rosslyn
Breweries.
Jean-Paul felt that school was a good place, a safe place to be and gave him a special grounding. He
wasn’t particularly good at anything but would repeat his school career again. He is married and has a son
currently in Grade at St David’s, is a member of MOBS and is a member of the MOBS committee.
JLE March 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Kevin Brewer Board of Governors 1984 - 1990; 1992 - 2000

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  • 2013

Interview with Kevin Brewer – Chairman of the board 1984 -90
Kevin went to school, at St Aidan’s in Grahamstown, a Jesuit school together with Br Aidan,
hence the involvement with St David’s. Kevin’s sons were pupils, Paul and Rowan
matriculated in1992, went to Europe with Jeetesh Katawaroo and Craig from standard 8 until
he matriculated in 1984.
Kevin got involved with Br Aidan fund raising, the school fete, organising the cash. He was
then invited to join the board of governors.
The land that was sold, as part of a commercial deal when Mr Marnewick was on the board
was before Kevin’s time as the Brothers needed the money.
Kevin’s experience of the first lay headmaster, Mr Murphy was that he had some attributes,
made decisions and knew what he wanted until unfortunately it was discovered he was a
wrestler in his spare time and was unmasked during a bout which was televised.
The school needed someone on the board who could deal with the financial planning. The
school went downhill losing teachers and pupils. The boys didn’t compete against other
schools, classrooms needed revamping and the school lacked facilities. There was no plan
but Kevin and his board put together a financial plan. Doug Wickens was also a member of
the board and although he and Kevin had different ideas they did make some changes.
There were a number of headmasters, Murphy, 1982 followed by Frielick 1983 – 4, Boswell
1985 - 88, Davies 1989 – 94. When Frielick left, Trudy Elliott became acting head and truly
embodied the spirit of St David’s. Br Brendan was Brother Provincial some of the time, he
was a diehard of the old school. Br Jude, to his credit had the most foresight and has made
a difference beneficial to the Marist schools.
Kevin stayed on the board until 1990 having completed his 6 years service, Brian Steele
took over as chairman and Terence Wilkinson, CEO of Lonmin, a dynamic person came
onto the board and continued the work Kevin had initiated.
Eventually a new stream was introduced into the high school. There was at one time, a
possibility of St David’s and St Teresa’s combining with two schools on the same campus
with Sister Barbara being the driving force. The Brothers were very short of money and had
to appoint a new headmaster and Paul Davies was recruited coming with a good record and
ability. Kevin organised the conversion of Maryknoll for the headmaster.
In 1992, Terence Wilkinson asked if Kevin would assist with a development plan for the
school. They called in Talyard Carter (TC Design) with Gerrit Wessels and Bill Carter and
drew up a plan for the whole property with ideas on how it could be developed. (Prints of the
plans are available in the archives).There was an initial need for extra classrooms to
accommodate the new stream in the high school. The quad was tacky with the toilet blocks
in the middle and a decision was taken to employ a landscaper who was expensive but
made a huge difference to the quad together with the amphitheatre. To raise finance the
board had to generate more income.
The first to be built was the class and toilet block to the left (north) of the Champagnat Hall
which followed and was completed in 1998. Kevin was then back on the board and Terence
Wilkinson had moved to London. Kevin retired in 2000 but was much occupied with the
school. Anthony Reilly took over from him as chairman in 2001, followed by Eric Annegaarn,
Anthony Chappell then Robin Smith came in from 2008 until 2010 .
The high school pavilion was built 1998 and the prep school pavilion extended. The aftercare
area was upgraded. Joe Stravino Park was the prep playground and the former paddocks
became the mini marists. Planning was done together with Br Jude, the board, provincial
council and then Rome. This was a juggling act while trying to increase the number of pupils.
There were negotiations with the council when Rivonia Road was widened. The council
made some compensation and agreed to put up the wall from Boundary Road to the main
entrance. The parking area and the entrance were done at the same time.
The space for mini marists was extended providing space for the therapists. Kevin was also
involved with the site of the chapel but not in the building. The D& T and Art and Music
centre were built but Kevin was not directly involved.
Kevin’s brother Father Brewer was the school’s chaplain from 1986. He was very popular
with the boys and involved with school activities until he resigned due to ill health in 1998.
He died the following year aged 64. He was at St George’s in Zimbabwe before he came to
St David’s. Kevin spoke to Monsignor Plesters a Jesuit Superior and old boy from St Aidan’s
and his brother was appointed by the school. He had had an extremely traumatic time in
Zimbabwe during the years of the bush war.
JLE July 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Mark Reeves 1983

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  • 2016

Interview with Mark Reeves – 1983
Mark began his school career at St David’s in 1973, starting in standard 1, after moving from
Sandown Primary which was located where Sandton City now stands. At the age of 5, he
remembers being the swimming team mascot for College house at the inter-house gala,
dressed as a sword bearing sheik. The aftercare is now situated where this swimming pool once
was located.
He has fond memories of Miss Joseph, Miss Jamieson (Ansell), Mrs Anderson, Mrs Scaafsma
and Mrs Napier, all of whom taught him in junior school. Mrs Kempster was headmistress and
had a crooked index finger, causing confusion as to who she was actually pointing at, while you
were being scolded.
The brothers were still very active in teaching and coaching sport at this time. Mark remembers
being taught at some stage of his senior years by Brother’s Timothy, Bernard, Richard,
Christopher and Anthony. Senior school was where you gained your foundation and became
part of the Marist family.
Memorable advice came from Br Anthony when he said “Do not feel guilty for your privileged
lives, because if it wasn’t for compassionate and generous privileged people the poor would
have nothing”.
Strong teachers like Brother Anthony, Mr Collier, Mr Boswell, Mrs Elliot and Mr McFadden,
made a huge impact on those senior school years. Mark remembers Mr Collier, a remarkable
teacher and coach, who was very religious and well respected by all the boys, especially for his
caring attitude to all. He took them on retreat to Kuruman where Br Anthony and Br Christopher
hosted the boys during school holidays.
During the last two years of Mark’s schooling career at St David’s he had 3 Headmasters, Mr
Murphy, Br Anthony and Mr Frielick. Mr Murphy was a tower of a man and his wrestling career
was the best kept secret amongst the boys. Mark recalls lifting Mr Murphy above his head at
rugby trials in standard 9 and was rewarded with a place in the 1st rugby team for his effort. Tim
Marnewick was chairman of the school board of governors and a strong supporter of the Marist
community.
Classmates who he remembers well are Peter Wharton-Hood, an intellectual genius, who often
assisted the teachers after proving them wrong and who also was a talented sportsman.
Duncan Senior, who mirrored these attributes. Andrew Forsmann, a great all rounder, and the
long line of Forsmann’s who attended St David’s and who owned Kyalami Ranch, a memorable
recreational facility for them all.
He remembers Karl Ortel, who during his matric year at St. David’s fought 20 fights in 21 days
to win the Golden Gloves World Boxing Tournament. Corado Annicello who achieved Springbok
colours in judo. Kamsisi Nyirenda, the Malawian ambassador’s son, who in the black & white
class photo, due to his dark complexion, blended into the background with only his white teeth,
the white of his eye’s and collar visible. Solly Maponya,who had a BMW in standard 6 and who
was a great driver, especially to parties. Other good friends who are now very successful
businessmen include Sven Retzlaff and Roy Perlman, property developers, Mark Atier a cellular
industry entrepreneur, Mark Rosewitz a top legal adviser and Jason Askew, who has become a
famous Anglo-Boer war artist. “There are so many success stories of individual classmates from
his year and he is very proud to have been associated with them all”..
Mark was honoured to have been elected as head prefect in 1983. He was captain of the school
swimming and water polo teams, and was captain of College House. He was awarded colours
for rugby, swimming and water polo, and received a merit scroll for leadership. He played 1st
team rugby and was a member of the athletics team, for field events, but banned from hurdles
for breaking multiple crossbars! He also received an academic scroll and a distinction for History
in matric
After leaving St David’s Mark studied a BA in Education and together with his brother, Alan, also
head prefect of St. David’s in 1977, started a well known photographic business. They have had
the good fortune of working together for over 33 years and are now involved in multiple building
hardware and paint retail outlets.
Mark served St. David’s on the board of governors, was chairman of the development
committee and an active member of the PTA. He still serves as a member of the old boys
committee. Mark is married to Carol-Anne and has a son Stephen and daughter Kirsty.
JLE May 2016

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Robin Smith Board of Governors 2001 - 2011; St David's Foundation 2006 - 2016

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  • 2014

Interview with Robin Smith – Board and Foundation 2001 to date
Robin and Alison’s sons, Alastair and Stuart attended St David’s with Alastair enrolling in grade 0 in 1997,
matriculating in 2009 and Stuart staring in grade OO in 2000 and matriculating in 2012. Having attended a
Catholic school, CBC in Kimberly, Robin wanted his sons to have a similar religious based education. The
family home was nearby in Atholl and Robin’s uncle, Br Hugh Smith was Brother Provincial of CBC in
South Africa.
Robin and Alison were always very involved parents and Robin was invited to join the board of governors in

  1. Paul Edey was then the headmaster of the high school and Rick Wilson of the preparatory school.
    Tony Reilly, who had been a classmate of Robin’s at CBC, had taken over as chairman of the board
    following Kevin Brewer. Robin’s initial portfolio was that of finance with the aim of improving the financial
    systems within the school. In 2004 he then took over the development portfolio from Kevin Brewer,
    launching into a very strong development phase at St David’s.
    The development progressed in several stages with the junior school pavilion being the first rather
    controversial project. Robin, together with the support and assistance of Willy Castle planned and
    developed the facility. They did this “asking for forgiveness not permission” from the brothers. It was a
    success and a great improvement.
    The Design and Technology centre followed together with the senior Art room and then the Music centre.
    In 2006 the Astro was built, the grounds, parking facilities, both “Thatches”, signage and the main entrance
    had a much needed revamp. A new workshop was built and cricket nets built into the bank on the main
    field.
    The chapel was next with two years in the planning with many people wishing to give their input. After much
    discussion and planning, together, with the new junior school Art facility the chapel was completed in 2007.
    The brothers and Rome became progressively more supportive as the board had shown they could handle
    major projects within the time projections and most importantly budgetary requirements. Kevin Brewer, who
    was then on the Marist Schools Council, was a great help in this regard, and was very supportive of the
    accelerated development.
    There was a lull in the development activity in 2008, followed in 2009 with the design, planning and
    construction from scratch of the staff housing project and the grade 1 and 2 classroom block was extended.
    Robin was involved with the planning of the Brother Anthony wing but didn’t run the project as he was by
    then involved with the Foundation.
    The Foundation was established in 2005 and launched in 2006 with Thierry Dalais as its first chairman.
    Robin as chairman of the board of governors was automatically a trustee of the Foundation and eventually
    took over as chairman from 2011 to date. Robin was the longest standing member of the board having
    served for three consecutive terms of three years.
    Robin wished to emphasise that from the initial renovations of the junior school pavilion to current
    developments, Willy Castle has always been very supportive, having a hand in every project and has
    proven to be very practical and very helpful.
    Current projects on the drawing board include the proposed new cricket pavilion on the main oval with the
    drawings and design completed. The Marist old boys facility and sports centre has become a Foundation
    project with the date of completion being set for 2016 in time for the 75th anniversary of St David’s. Robin is
    very involved but is focused on getting the right people on board moving forward with the Foundation.
    JLE May 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Ross Alcock 1986 . Board of Governors 2006 - 2012

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  • 2012

Interview with Ross Alcock – 1986
Ross began his career at St David’s in grade 1 in 1975. He had two older brothers at the school
and remembers being very excited on his first day. He was very familiar with the school as he
had already been there with his brothers on numerous occasions. His first teacher was Miss
Busscheau.
He remembered Father Plesters, the Chaplain who later became Monsignor, Mrs Walton grade
2, Mrs Ansell who was a temporary teacher, Mrs Webb standard 1, Mrs Napier a rather
authoritarian figure, Mrs Joseph, standard 3 and Mrs Anderson. In standard 2 Ross caught a
virus, one boy died and Ross was lucky to come through it, didn’t attend school and was unable
to walk for quite some time. Mrs Napier and Mrs Aubrey helped him with extra work at home.
Ross really enjoyed the sport and recalls sports coach Terry O’Mahoney together with Tim
Coetze standard 5 and Willy Castle standard 4. Willy also coached the grade 1 soccer team.
Br Timothy was the headmaster followed by Mr Murphy who appeared to be very authoritarian
in the beginning until his demise when he was seen by all the boys on TV as a wrestler. Mr
Frielick who was too soft followed and then came Mr Boswell, the Afrikaans teacher who was
influenced by Mrs Elliot, many of the boys thought she really ran the school and that he was
merely a figurehead. There was an incident with the non-catholic retreat in 1985 led by the
Doyle brothers which showed a lack of leadership within the school. Ross felt that the
leadership in the high school was sadly lacking and that the boys needed a strong leader.
Father Brewer was the type of person who should have led the school. He was an incredible
man, unlike a conventional priest. He taught RE but loved sport. An eminently practical and
pragmatic man he could give the boys guidance in life and, even though he was extremely
religious he was neither distant nor removed from reality. He helped Ross with extra Latin
lessons whilst he was at university and had incredible patience. Father Brewer married Ross,
counselling him and his wife beforehand, he also blessed his son but sadly died shortly
afterwards.
In standard 5 a number of boys left to go to St John’s as St David’s was then going through a
bad patch, although it wasn’t a good time for the school, the boys got on well together and there
was great camaraderie through the sport .Some of his pals at the time were Greg Lambe;
Gordon Tonetti and Craig MacKay. He remembers a black pupil joining in grade 2 and that there
were a few black boys at the school including the Shongwe brothers and a number of them went
to their father’s funeral in standard 7 held in Atteridgeville, Soweto.
Ross played rugby in standard 4 and 5 against the high school’s U13C team. As many boys left
at the end of standard 5 it was a great loss to the rugby team. Ross played Transvaal Nuffield
cricket in 1986 and stayed at Hilton College. He was awarded colours for rugby in mtandard 9
and again in his Matric year and won trophies for leadership, cricket, rugby and the Osmond
Cup for sportsman of the year. He was vice head prefect and captained the 1st rugby and cricket
teams.
His favourite year was 1985 playing 1st team rugby and cricket and he went on cricket and rugby
tours to Cape Town. At the Marist schools’ festival they had a very good side and made up the
vast majority of a combined Marist schools team. They stayed in old dormitories at St Joseph’s
and for the cricket tour stayed at the Newlands Sun and being boys managed to get up to some
mischief.
Ross was involved with inter-house plays in the primary school and remembers being in the
team that won the inter-house quiz in standard 5. However he didn’t last long playing one of the
guards in “Hamlet”, Trudie Elliott wasn’t his favourite person.
Ross loved his time at St David’s although he did have some regrets that he hadn’t gone to a
stronger school from sporting and other perspectives. He felt he would have further flourished
but only realised this later. After leaving school he played cricket for Old Eds and for Transvaal
and realised that had he been at another school he would have without doubt played Nuffield A
in 1985 and 6. He actually played for the B side and knew he was better player than many on
the A side. Because of this he didn’t return to St David’s for quite some time. Ross firmly
believes that when sport is poor the perception is that the school is poor. St David’s loses a lot
of focus on sport and does need to be more competitive.
Academically Ross was no star but did well enough to get one distinction in matric and went
into Law studying for a B Proc at Wits University and for his LLB through Unisa whilst doing his
articles. He missed the army by continuing to study and when he finished his LLB he went
overseas for a year, then did his articles at a small firm and joined Edward Nathan Sonnenberg
in 1997 and has been a partner since 2000.
Ross has two sons at St David’s and his eldest son will be going to Hilton for high school as a
boarder.
Ross’ company is the only law firm that has dedicated offices in Alexandra and Mitchel’s Plain
and everyone on the staff has to complete a certain number of hours of pro bono work to
support these offices. They also work together with the Department of Justice and Small Claims
Court in Alex and the managing partners sit on these courts and supply advice.
JLE October 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Steve Muller 1952

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  • 2011

Interview with Steve Muller 1953
Steve came to St David’s in 1941 even though there was no grade 0 in those days, and was
effectively in grade 0 until 1943. His mother said he talked too much and obviously thought
school would do him good, especially as his older brother was there too. He thinks he is the only
old boy to attend St David’s from 1941 until 1952 – check photo taken on steps by what is now
Malcolm William’s office. All three of his sons attended St David’s and his youngest son, Gavin
(87) was the first to complete 13 years, the other sons Graham and Brian completed matric in
1982 and 1980 respectively. His wife was the granddaughter of the first Marist pupil – Peter
Busschau.
The Brothers lived in a farm cottage, the land was all originally part of a Portuguese vegetable
farm. Steve can still remember the brothers walking across the veldt to school.
He was a boarder from standard 5. The senior school and boarding opened at the same time
(1948?)
The teachers, Mrs Kempster ran standard 4 and taught the boys how to write. Mrs Lidstone
owned the ‘Hudson Terror plane’ and used to pick up boys in Rosebank, corner Tyrwhitt and
Oxford where there was a Greek shop. The boys would travel with her along the then sand
roads at a rate of knots. A number of boys used to hang onto the strap at the back.
Brophy and Stirton taught the grades, Hoare standard 3, Kempster standard 4 and the Brothers
taught from standard 5 up. Brother Paul was blind.
He remembers Darko Vidas – a naughty boy. Mike von Guillieaume matriculated the same year
as Steve, Vito used to call him ‘Baron’ as his family originally German and had a castle.
Steve was not a great sportsman but participated in 1st team rugby. He was a good swimmer
and joined in the field events for athletics but never got colours for sport however he achieved
academic studies (60% in standard 9) and was a prefect. He was good at Mathematics and
received the Br Paul medal for Maths which he still has. Steve questions the high number of
distinctions pupils now achieve and remarked that a particularly bright boy, Anthony Radziwill
only achieved 5 distinctions in the JMB matric.
St David’s was always a big part of his life and still is. He enjoyed boarding, thinks it was the
best part of his life and feels very passionately about the school. He remembers his father
saying it was cheaper to send the boys to boarding school than keeping them at home, where
they would have eaten them out of house and home!
When he left St David’s he studied optometry at Wits University. He was an optometrist in
Rosebank for 40 years and in town for 10 years before that and worked until he was 70. He had
3 sons and a daughter. The daughter went to Rosebank convent.
Steve was chairman of the board of governors when, in 1981 Steve’s son was elected head
boy, although Steve knew this he kept it as a secret from his son at the time as he wanted it to
be a surprise. The board at the time was run by Vito, a farmer and Steve and optometrist. Steve
was still chairman 1982 when Br Timothy left and the first lay teacher became headmaster. It
was a difficult time, with both the parent body and many of the staff not being accepting of this
change. Tim Marnewick was vice-chairman and kept in touch with Mr Murphy, who was
originally interviewed by Br Timothy and Br Jude together with Steve. It was a tough time for the
school and many pupils left. A combined staff room for the prep and the high school was
introduced by Murphy, which proved to be an unpopular move with some of the staff.
Mr Manolios, the then prep headmaster was fired, without consultation, by Murphy for
inappropriate behaviour with mothers and a female member of staff. Murphy was also fired
when he appeared as a wrestler on TV. Br Anthony went off to Cape Town to investigate. It also
came to light later that Murphy was not as qualified as he had claimed.
At the end of 1986 when things were more settled, Steve handed over to Kevin Brewer who was
really good and has done a lot for the college.
JE June 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Tim Marneweck. School Council 1970 - 1976; Board of Governors 1977 - 1983

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  • 2015

Interview with Tim Marneweck
Tim had two sons at St David’s in the 70’s, Peter John and Paul.
Peter John was originally a sportsman on leaving school. He was a good cricketer, swimmer and rugby
player and was the first MOB to play professional cricket. He went into the army for the first 5 years then
became a provincial cricketer playing for the Transvaal cricket union in the 1980’s. After working in a sport
shop, then for McCullough and Bothwell, he eventually joined Liberty Life in 2000 and now has his own
franchise.
Paul, the younger son left school in the early 1980’s when Mr Murphy was headmaster. He went into the
army and was trained in guidance missiles and became a lecturer in the subject. He then went to work for
First National Bank for 19 years and is now sales manager for Old Mutual in the financial services
department.
Tim was on the St David’s school council (this was initially formed as an advisory council in 1970) until
1976 and then on the board of governors until 1983 with Kevin Brewer joining the Board in 1984. Tim
continued to work with the brothers behind the scenes and was a member of the Diocesan committee and
Bishop’s committee for close on 40 years, knew Br Jude well and thought of him as a “Walking Saint”.
There was a lot of controversy over the sale of the land on which the “Inandas” now stand. The land and
property belonged to the brothers and Tim is bound not to discuss this but acknowledges that the brothers
were satisfied with the result and Tim was given a certified document from the Marist Brothers of South
Africa Province in gratitude of generous devotedness towards the interests of the brothers. He took a lot of
flack and had promised not to talk about it at the time. He was also presented with a relic of Marcellin
Champagnat, something very special
At the time of the sale there was a lot of politics and tax involved. The brothers couldn’t be seen to be
dealing in property and the brothers did get a share of the profits as the monies came in.
Other MOBS that Tim mentioned were John Mills and said it was amazing what he did for the Diocese,
turning it around and getting all the churches to play their part. Others involved in this were Charles
Rowlinson and David Lawrence.
JLE May 2015

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Walter Cronje 1985.Board of Governors 2005 - 2010

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  • 2012

Interview with Walter Cronje - 1985
Walter started at St David’s in 1977 in standard 2 when his family returned to South Africa from
the UK. Walter’s father worked for BP which involved a lot of travelling which made him more
forward thinking and open to new ideas.
Mr Manolios was then head of the primary school and Br Timothy head of the high school until
Mr Murphy followed by Mr Frielick.
He recalls his first day in standard 2 N with Mrs Napier. He wasn’t used to wearing a cap as he
hadn’t worn one in the UK and was curtly told to take off his cap when a teacher greeted him.
Mrs Napier was scary and had a selection of canes in her office which she used liberally. He
remembered one occasion when Matthew Slavin was standing in line waiting for his book to be
marked and Mrs Napier put a staple straight through his thumb, there was also another incident
involving Ross Alcock. Walter had to write everything in italics with pen and ink and believes
that is why he can actually write well today.
Walter recalled a school trip in 1978 or 9 to the middle of Soweto. The boys visited a school to
hand over donations. Mrs Kenesovitch and HeatherJoseph were involved. He remembers
“Julius Caesar” was the standard 5 school play.
In primary school Walter learnt to play soccer, although he had played club rugby in England
and scored the quickest goal ever. He also played cricket and made the A team. When boys
reached standard 4 and 5 soccer stopped, rugby was introduced and the boys played rugby
U13, C and D teams for the high school. It was a great idea as the boys were introduced to
rugby and became integrated with the high school boys.
In the high school Walter played rugby, which was compulsory and cricket and participated in
athletics inter-school meetings. He was named the cricket 1st team captain in standard 9 and
again in matric. He loved school and became head boy in his matric year. One bad experience
he recalls is being asked to play in the open age group when he was currently playing in the
U14 team and his father refused. He played in the Beckwith week for 3 years and other
tournaments but it was rare in those days for St David’s boys to be selected for provincial
teams. Walter was awarded colours for rugby in standard 9 and used to go to the Wanderers
U20 rugby practise after cricket practise at school. In Craven Week he and Brett Airey were
selected to play together with Sandringham’s forward pack and Sandown’s backs against St
Stithians 1st team and they beat them 55-0. Most of the English speaking schools in
Johannesburg had excellent teams at matric level but very few boys went forward into the sport
as a career unlike James Dalton and Brian Habana.
Mr Murphy was well liked a big strong man, a disciplinarian and very strict. Walter remembered
that it was decided to put on a school musical “Oliver” and Debby Hurley, the primary school
Music teacher was conducting auditions. All the school was herded into the hall and it was
chaos, a free for all, Debby Hurley eventually had enough and walked out and everyone calmed
down. Mr Murphy walked in and blasted them all saying they had no manners, no respect and
shouldn’t treat a female member of staff in such a fashion. He then picked out some boys to go
on stage and audition and they all sang beautifully. Another incident occurred when Nick Pruim
and some of the boys were hoping to go to Argentina and Mr Murphy made them do 1000
squats, in spite of that they never got to Argentina! The boys saw him on tv on a programme
called “Late Nite Owls” showing how people earned a living after hours. Mr Murphy was a
professional wrestler performing under the guise of Sean Reagan and was unmasked. The next
day Br Anthony turned up and Mr Murphy was never seen again at the school.
Walter came second in his class in standard 2 and from then on came first, achieving seven
distinctions in his matric. He remembers “Julius Caesar was the standard 5” school play.
Some of his school mates were Rommel Gobel, Vusi Wandile, Shongwe Moponya – Solly, his
father always wanted his sons to go to a Marist school and Solly’s older brother Isak was also a
pupil.
Teachers - he will never forget Willy Castle! One of the greatest teachers was Tom MacFaden
an ex-Brother who taught History and French, he could get the best out of everybody, was
worldly wise, well travelled, well educated and well read. He taught History from matric essays
not textbooks, his goal was for everyone to pass matric and go on to university. He is now living
in Greece. Trudy Elliot, English teacher who made the boys write a matric essay every weekend
or she took their honours blazer away. Mr Collier, an Obs old boy who taught Maths, Heather
Joseph, Art in primary school. All the teachers were flamboyant and larger than life. Walter had
a number of Biology teachers and remembers that the boys had a record in standard 7 for
getting rid of the highest number of Afrikaans teachers.
Brother Timothy ran the school as an autocracy not a democracy and wasn’t answering to the
voice of the people and if the class didn’t like a particular teacher they just had to put up with it.
Walter believes that there is too much leniency these days rewarding mediocrity and feels
strongly that most especially in a boys school there needs to be a rigid line of discipline. He
recalled Br Bernard caning a boy for accidentally knocking a rubber off his desk, the boys knew
the rules and if they were contravened there were consequences. Walter cannot recall anyone
at school with him having ADD of being hyperactive. The boys started school at 7.15am and
after school there was sport either competitive or practise sessions up until 6.00pm and then
they had to go home and do their homework.
One of the negative things Walter recalls was being told at each assembly of former pupils who
had been killed whilst on border duty. A former pupil Andrew Petit who scored a hole in one
whilst at school winning a car sponsored by Volkswagen was one of those who went to the
border and was killed.
Walter was one of the last young men to do military service after varsity and felt that it had given
him a different perspective and the ability to judge what’s important and what’s not.
In his final matric year, Walter remembered Religious instruction classes were a farce and as a
consequence a decision was made to send all the non-Catholics to a retreat at Hartbeespoort.
Two Computer Science teachers were assigned to supervise the boys. The retreat ended up in
a drunken mess, boys went off in their parent’s boats on the dam and walked out of the camp.
The boys’ honours blazers were taken away and, because of this you won’t find many boys of
that time coming back to St David’s. Sadly of the 30 – 40 matrics who were expected to get the
highest number of distinctions ever, only achieved 13, the timing of the retreat was appalling.
Walter feels that if there should have been a more visible handing over interim phase with the
brothers on hand to instil the Marist ethos and way to the lay teachers and Heads which would
have helped enormously. Unfortunately the brothers seemed to disappear and just hand over to
the lay teachers. In all likelihood the school could not have afforded to entice a top principal at
the time, the school certainly didn’t have the funds to replace the school bus.
Walter is currently with the Jardine Lloyd Group. Walter was chairman of MOBS for 2 years
from 2000 and was on the board of governors from 2005 – 2010 as he felt the need to sustain
the long term stability of the school. If you want continuity and change it is often difficult to get
the right people to serve and a strong board is needed. The Foundation was a concept to raise
enough capital to enable previously disadvantaged and needy boys to be able to attend St
David’s.
JLE May 2012

Egenrieder, Julie