Interview – Gary Norton – Staff Gary was a member of staff at St David’s from 1989 until 1996 when he was acting headmaster. He then went to Oakhill in Knysna before returning to take up his current post as headmaster of Marion College. He recalls that his ... »
Interview – Gary Norton – Staff Gary was a member of staff at St David’s from 1989 until 1996 when he was acting headmaster. He then went to Oakhill in Knysna before returning to take up his current post as headmaster of Marion College. He recalls that his sons Ryan and Shaun, together with the Edey boys started cleaning up the reservoir adding fish and feeding the ducks. In 1994/5 there was a combined Biology/Geography trip for the grade 9’s (then standard 7) that he made together with Father Brewer to Groot Marico. They used a farm as their base, it was very wild and the boys had to make their own toilets and wash their utensils properly. Gary told the boys that they had to have a knife and to make sure that they didn’t get hurt as there were no facilities or anaesthetic if needed. On the Saturday, early evening he and Father Brewer were relaxing when Gareth Simaan, Robbie Tait and Murray White came to them. Gareth said Murray had cut his hand. Thinking that the boys were conning them, it didn’t look real, they told them to go away. However, when they had a good look at the hand they saw how serious it was. They bandaged him up as best they could, got on the bus and, with Father Brewer got to Ventersdorp where they got directions to a doctor. They had to open a gate and two large alsatians came running toward them, they managed to get past them and find the doctor who wasn’t impressed saying “You guys from town don’t know anything”. So the hand was stitched up without anaesthetic just as Gary had warned the boys! There was another memorable trip to Hoedspruit, Blydepoort, also a Biology/Geography camp. On the Sunday the boys were playing touch rugby by the pool and Bradley Geldenhuys managed to break his foot. During this camp an impala was shot and the boys had to cut it up, bleed it and make a potjie. They also went hunting as a part of a culling exercise. One of the boys was stung by a scorpion, very venomous with urotoxic venom; fortunately they managed to treat it. Bradley Geldenhuys then disappeared, at 3am, he saw a zebra and went to pat it and it promptly kicked Bradley on the head. On leaving they had a chicken parade, checking no rubbish was left behind when Bradley called out that he had seen something in the grass – Gary promptly told them all to get on the bus! On another occasion, one of the teachers, Robin Henderson took the grade 8 boys to the weather station; he came back in tears as they had been so badly behaved. Gary summoned all the boys and asked them to write down who was really naughty. He then dismissed the boys but told them that if they had been naughty they should come to his classroom. Out of 75 boys, 72 went to his classroom and when he asked one of the smaller boys why he was there to get a hiding, he replied that he thought he had better come just in case his name was on the list. Another pupil, Kieran Rowan was diagnosed with leukaemia and Gary remembers telling him to think that, like Pacman, his cells were gobbling up the cancer – he survived and is still alive. On a Friday afternoons Gary would take some of the boys fishing and many of the naughty boys would come along. Gary recalls asking one boy why his father never came and fished with him, he replied that his father did spend one afternoon with him but told him he had given up R15 000 he would have earned had he been working instead. Needless to say the boy didn’t ask his father again. Gary’s wife Alison is a prep school teacher at St David’s JE August 2011
