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- 2003
Part of St David's Photograph Collection
Black & white photo
St David's Marist Inanda
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Part of St David's Photograph Collection
Black & white photo
St David's Marist Inanda
Interview with Matthew Alford 2003
Interview with Matthew Alford – 2003
Matthew arrived at St David’s coming from St Peter’s Prep, alone and not knowing anyone. Being very shy,
he found it terrifying, walking into the main quad with his very new school uniform, bags and books. Savo
Ceprnich was the first boy to come and introduce himself, and still remains a close friend of Matthew’s
today. He found the timetable very confusing and after a gruelling Glenmore camp, became a member of
Benedict house.
Matthew liked the teachers and found them easy to get on with. He made some good friends during his
time at the school and enjoyed the culture of St Davids.
Paul Edey was very special and well liked and Matthews’s first encounter with him in class was rather
intimidating, with Paul standing on the elevated teaching platform. When Paul asked him for his name,
Matthew replied with his christian name and Paul barked at him saying “Surname, boy!” All the boys liked
Paul, he was a major influence on them and had a personal relationship with every boy at the school. He
had such charisma none of the boys wanted to get a bad mark from him.
Matthew experienced some interesting moments with Marius Buys who told weird stories and had strange
teaching methods. Mr Andrew was unpredictable and the boys never knew what mood he would be in.
Matthew really liked Mrs Roman and Mrs Marais who had so much patience and love and Mrs Voorendyk
who once kicked out the entire class one by one, for not doing their homework.
Matthew participated in hockey, in winter and swimming during the summer.
Together with Rowan Stafford, Matthew assisted with the school’s weekly newsletter helping Reverend
“Rev” Bruce from grade 9 until matric. The work was quite time consuming with its Thursday deadline and
they handed it over to a new team, before writing their matric exams
After matric, Matthew studied a BComm Accounting at RAU\UJ. He then obtained his BComm Accounting
Honours through UNISA while working at KPMG in 2010. He is currently working as a CA(SA) at ABSA
Capital, is involved with product control and corporate loans.
Based on his experience at St. David’s Marist Inanda, Matthew would definitely consider enrolling any sons
at the school in the future.
JLE December 2013
Egenrieder, Julie
Interview with Tim Johnson 2003
Interview with Tim Johnson – 2003
Tim first came to St David’s from Buccleuch primary in grade 3. His sister was going to high school and the
timing was right for him to change. Tim thinks that St David’s was the only school that he and his parents
looked at. It was difficult at first as all the boys were a tightly knit group and had all started together
however he got to know Michael Thomas and he is currently still his closest friend and they have tendered
for the MOBS home together.
Tim was not really into sports but enjoyed the extra-curricular sport which helped him break the ice with the
other boys. He eventually dropped cricket and concentrated on swimming and played some soccer in the
winter. From grade 5 his swimming became full-time and he got to know Willy Castle well. The prep
swimming team was very successful and unbeaten in grades 5, 6,and 7. In grade7, Tim together with Kyle
Biller went to Germany with the Wanderers swimming club and swam in an international gala. It was a
great experience and they joined in some serious training sessions.
In the high school Tim also played rugby and thoroughly enjoyed it being a member of both A and B teams.
His main sport was still swimming which he took very seriously training both at school and after school and
made both Provincial and Senior National teams. He also was a member of the water polo team, qualified
for the Provincial team and was captain of the 1st team in matric. Sadly he missed out on the rugby tour to
Argentina having given up rugby for swimming.
Tim continued his water polo at Wits University and went to Australia representing Wits University at the
university games. He plays for MOBS and participated in the fund raiser in memory of Justin Bessler.
Of the teachers In the prep Willy Castle was an iconic figure and Tim believed that he helped push him
beyond his boundaries in terms of sport. Tim has remained close to Rick Wilson and found him to be a
genuine, sincere person. Mandy Everson was a particularly good teacher. In the high school, Rod Smith
was a real character; Debbi Cameron cared so much about the boys; Lizanne Nagy held her ground even
though the boys gave her such a hard time and Dave Smith was also a character with a good persona.
Father Brewer held Mass in the old chapel and Tim remembers kneeling on the hard wooden benches and
also that Father Brewer had a scottish terrier and Mr Van Der Merwe a border collie. Paul Edey stands out
as headmaster and as a very good History teacher. Tim thought it was his most interesting subject because
of Paul’s energy and enthusiasm. Tim left St David’s in grade 10 as he wanted to be independent; he went
to Kingswood in Grahamstown but didn’t last long. There were problems at the school but Paul accepted
him back unconditionally. After that experience Tim thought he was number one as headmaster and he
also had great respect for Malcolm Williams.
Academically Tim felt that he could have applied himself a bit more but his real passion and time was
dedicated to sport. However he was in the top class most of the time in high school with Art becoming his
favourite subject and loved the practical aspect of the subject. He was interested in and enjoyed Maths,
Annabel Cotton made Physics exciting and Dave Smith was always entertaining in Geography.
Tim became a prefect and was awarded an honours blazer, specific honours swimming and water polo and
general honours for sport, leadership and merit. He also received many awards for sport and at the annual
prize giving in 2003 was awarded the Reeves Trophy for senior swimmer of the year and the Clark Atwell
Trophy for water polo player of the year.
Special events that Tim remembers are when Marcellin Champagnat was canonised in 1999 and a huge
joint mass was held with all the other schools. His matric dance wasn’t that memorable but the fireworks
evening was, from the beginning on the most favourite evenings when the school took on a different
persona. Champagnat day was always good fun and he remembers the “tug of war” in the prep. Ash
Wednesday was also memorable and although Tim wasn’t Catholic he was exposed to religion and the
Catholic ways and tradition and found it interesting although it was never imposed upon him. Reverend
Bruce was also significant and Tim always enjoyed his lessons which always had a story or strong
message.
The mixed swimming and inter-house night galas were always great fun especially with the girls around.
Tim enjoyed the inter-house plays and always played a minor role. Inter- house events were always fun.
After matriculating, Tim went to Wits University to study BA Architecture and won the People’s Award in his
2nd year for design of a Transvaal home using steel. At the end of the third year they had to do a Gap year
and Tim spent the 1st year in Johannesburg and then went onto London for a further year. He then studied
further for another 2 years doing his BA Hons and then Masters - MArch.Prof. and his thesis focused on
Joubert Park and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Tim’s current employer taught him at Wits and offered him a job at her practice, Sarah Calburn Architects.
He deals in mainly residential tailor made houses for specific clients. He has also started his own company
Greenspace Studio and his aim is to be involved in medium scale social and commercial buildings.
Tim is a member of MOBS and has participated in the matric rite of passage.
JLE December 2013
Egenrieder, Julie