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 ... »
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
The Legend of the Champagnat Medallion Up until the late 1980’s players selected for the First XV Rugby team would be presented with a Champagnat Medallion which was to be sewn into the front of the collar of the prized black and gold rugby shirt. The ... »
The Legend of the Champagnat Medallion Up until the late 1980’s players selected for the First XV Rugby team would be presented with a Champagnat Medallion which was to be sewn into the front of the collar of the prized black and gold rugby shirt. The intention of the medallion was to keep its bearer safe and free from injury. Each medallion contained a tiny perspex dome, enclosing a small piece of dark cloth approximately one square millimetre in size. Legend has it that the cloth piece was a portion of one of Blessed (in those days) Marcellin’s actual black habits he once wore. At the end of each season the medallions were surrendered to the school and were sent back to the Vatican to be blessed and returned for use by the next team. It’s unsure exactly when the practice ceased.
