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Interview with Eric Ambrosioni -1966 & Rohan Erleigh – 1967
Both Eric and Rohan were boarders. Eric’s two half brothers Edward Barale and Italo Barale
also boarded and Rohan had two brothers follow him. They knew each other through the
boarding and played in the same rugby, cricket and athletics teams. Goodenough, a kitchen
hand could outstrip every athlete and broke the school record running barefoot. The highpoint in
cricket was when professional, English cricketers came to the school, Ken Palmer and Peter
Stringer who lived at the school and Donald Wilson who got married here and lived above the
chapel. On Saturdays if any major cricket team was playing, the boys had to dress up in full
uniform and walk to Wanderers wearing straw bashers..
They recalled an American field scholar, Philp Marsden who could throw a tennis ball higher
than the tennis captain could with his racket. Julio Cesneros’s father was the Spanish
ambassador, who assisted in bringing the Spanish football team, Real Madrid to South Africa.
The Springbok, Ray Bischoff swam against the Dutch and broke a South African record. The
cycling team was started with Deon and Brett Sacks and Rohan remembers his bike breaking
down near Gilooley’s Farm. There was also a model airplane club, all the planes took off and
then crashed! A Tiger Moth was donated.
Cadets were also started in their time and Eric was one of the first five cadet student officers.
There was a Southern Transvaal Schools Drummer competition and the school won the bass
and tenor drums section beating 700 other schools – who weren’t there!!!
The drama society was initiated together with Parktown Convent and was oversubscribed!
There was a debating society with Dave Lyons, Pat Noble and Andrew Lindiker and debates
were always held on a Sunday at the convent. There was also a dark room where some of the
boys developed their photos.
Gertie the 3 ton utility truck used to convey pupils to various sports events and was eventually
sold and replaced with a new school bus that was painted blue and was involved in an accident
after the first three weeks, the driver being Zebron.
Mrs Buckley-Jones was the much loved matron who however made them write tests whilst in
the sick bay. Mr Drummon-Bell was the Music teacher who produced the “Pirates of Penzance”.
Eric remembered a teacher called Mrs Cane, at Marist Borthers Koch Street Johannesburg, (the
primary school to both Marist Brothers and Inanda) who used it (the cane) with gay abandon.
The first lay teachers in the high school were Mrs Buchan – English, very English, unattractive
but kind, Mrs Pretorius – Afrikaans, she was good looking but unfriendly, Mr Ward – Maths, Mr
Hewitson – Art. Eric remembered a pupil from Greece who chatted in class and when Mrs
Pretorius asked him what he had said Eric told him to say “Ek is jou lief”!
There was a Science lab but when they left it was replaced by a newer one and Eric’s two
brothers – Orcellis – donated two glass windows.
For two years during the mid 1960’s, the brothers hired a catering manager and his wife, the
Coopers. They had a corgi which started off thin but ended up as a blimp! The boys used to
regularly raid the kitchen. Flat bed trolleys were used to carry food, boxes etc and the boys used
to pile onto them and ride down the inclines resulting in quite a few stitches.
Eric was designated, together with George Da Matta to act as cinematographers for the film
every Saturday night. Someone had to collect the 16mm films and they were given pocket
money to get the bus, however George’s father would fetch them and take them to his café to
gorge on fish and chips etc and then after to collect the films in the centre of Johannesburg.
They then caught the bus back to Dunkeld and had to lug the box of 16mm films to school.
The first Spur restaurant opened in Rosebank and several boys were caught bunking in the
Spur and in Ken Rosewall’s snooker saloon. They recall that disputes were resolved between
the boys behind the games room next to the tennis courts.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Champagnat they made the great trek to Cape Town, all
the buses broke down and all the schools ended up at St Joseph’s.
They remember the land bought by the school and the boys of 1966 planted the grass on the
rugby field and cricket pitch.
There was no real communication then, only the telephone and radio. They had vague
memories of the assassination of Kennedy and the attempted and actual assassination of
Verwoed. They had a day off school due to the “Bay of Pigs”. They did remember the stance
taken by the Catholic schools with regard to admitting black children which wasn’t popular with
the government.
Both Eric and Rohan have been back to St David’s for a 40 year reunion and would be
interested in supporting the publication of the book.
Individual memories of Eric Ambrosioni:
Eric’s mother died then his father and in Standard 8 his step brothers came to an arrangement
with the school to enable him to stay there. He had no bad experiences although Brother
Ignatius would lash you for no treason.
Joe Mulaneu lived at the bottom of the bottom field and Eric lived opposite him. He remembers
fooling around with him and hitting him with a metal rod, subsequently their parents banned
them from seeing each other. They later became good buddies and Joe became a
paediatrician.
After the Saturday cinema one night he raided the kitchen, realising a brother was there he tried
to get rid of the evidence and a paw paw rolled down the hall and he was caught by Brother
Liam.
He also remembers going home in the first term and crying about being bullied. His brother
advised him to put a shoe in his pillowcase and wait until the bully fell asleep and then whack
him with it. The bullying stopped after he tried that out.
When he finished school he wanted to go to varsity but, having no family to support him, he
ended up in a bank and was then balloted into the army in which he stayed for three years. He
then went into the oil industry and was seconded to the UK and his company was bought out by
BP. He was repatriated and offered a package in 2004, bought a pasta machine and became a
pasta maker his wife having bought an Italian deli. He made pasta for the deli and sold to other
delis and shops in the Cape Peninsula. He sold the pasta machine at the beginning of the year
to his nephew, another Marist old boy Ted Barale who owns Piccolino in Fourways. He is
married to Louise and is the father to two daughters.
Eric’s brother Italo (1953) married Myrna Morgan whose brothers went to Inanda, Harold and
Ronny who became a Marist Brother.
Individual Memories of Rohan Erleigh:
His parents lost everything they had in business but insisted he went to a private school. They
had an old car, a 1947 Plymouth and he was so embarrassed he told them to meet him outside.
Rohan was an altar boy.
After finishing school Rohan went gold mining outside Sabi, gold was then at $25 per ounce. He
subsequently went into the navy for his national service and made a naval career. He studied
for a BSc at Stellenbosch, rose to the heights of naval captain becoming a military attaché and
retired in 2000 after a final posting as officer commanding the navy’s training base on the west
coast. He spent time on the maritime border during the war in Angola.
He married a Morgan girl and is father to two sons and a daughter. The Morgan boys all went to
St David’s and Ronnie Morgan became a Brother.
Old Boys they are still in contact with:
Jo Stravino, Dereck Schoombie, Peter Moni, Eddie Assad (orthodontist) Peter Struthers
(maxillofacial surgeon) Michael Ford, Clive Bergman (singer), Tony Walker brother of Jeff
Walker (Master of the John Ross), Strati Malamoglou (Dyna Chem), Steve Taylor (sub-ed
Times ltd), Charlie Platt, Patrick Nobe, Brian Jarvis, Kevin Peel, Terry O’Mahoney, Emilio
Iglauer, Anthony Barale (doctor in Canada).
JE October 2011