Interview with Darrell Caister – 1986 Darrell remembers his first day at St David’s . He came from the Waldorf school and was placed In grade 4 although unbeknown to his teacher, he couldn’t read or write, and didn’t know the alphabet. He spent a week in ... »
Interview with Darrell Caister – 1986 Darrell remembers his first day at St David’s . He came from the Waldorf school and was placed In grade 4 although unbeknown to his teacher, he couldn’t read or write, and didn’t know the alphabet. He spent a week in his class before being caught out, he watched the other boys and turned the correct pages etc but one day he was asked to read out loud by his History teacher, Mrs Napier. He refused and was caned. He was then sent back to grade 1, the second term grade 2 and eventually managed to get back into grade 4. Because of this he was bullied and picked on, however in standard 3 he was awarded the highest marks for Maths. He will never forget that History book or Mrs Napier who was eccentric and used to allow a group of 3 or 4 boys to jump on the bonnet of her car when she arrived in the morning. She would then scream around the U turn (next to Mike Greeff’s house), then brake hard by the fence next to Rivonia Road and all the boys would fall off. This was of course great fun. Mr Manolios was loved by everyone. Mr Cotze the standard 5 teacher was feared by the boys but he was always fair. Mr Findlayson taught History and during an incident in class he threw the blackboard duster at one of the boys, missed and it hit another boy and cut his head. The boy in question was enraged and big; he picked up Mr Findlayson and threw him out of the classroom. Br Ephraim taught JP Maths, Br Timothy had just left – he used to click his fingers loudly and pointed. When he jacked a boy he would put their head under his desk and when he used the cane the boy would automatically bring his head up and thereby receive a double whammy. Willy Castle was his class teacher in standard 4 and Darrell used to get caned for being naughty. Mr Murphy was one of the headmasters during his time and he was well liked and admired by the boys. He built up camaraderie between the matrics and the sports teams; he was a strong man and a leader. There was a high turnover of teachers in the high school apart from Trudy Elliott and Mrs Collier both head of department. The appointment of Darryl Boswell as headmaster was very contentious as there was a lot of support for Trudy Elliott especially from the boys. The boys nicknamed Mr Boswell “little Darryl” and during a photo shoot, Darrell was standing behind him and nudged him causing his toupé to move! In spite of this he still became head boy. Despite of the turnaround in the number of headmasters, there was a good spirit and, many of the boys he was at school with then get together every Thursday. Darrell was involved with water-polo, swimming, athletics, and rugby until standard 9 when he was badly concussed. He was also a member of the junior town council. Darrell never needed an alarm clock as he lived across the road from the school and every morning awoke to the rugby team running past with Willy Castle singing war cries. He remembers first becoming aware of apartheid and its implications when he and a group of boys including Vusi Shongwe (whose boys are at St David’s now) went to the movies. Vusi was refused admission because he was black and all the boys refused to go in. No government school was multi-racial in those days and he thinks that one of the reasons he became a conscientious objector and didn’t serve in the army was because he attended a multi-racial school. His class in matric was small with about 40 boys as many boys had left. He recalled that that was the year that hockey was first introduced as a sport. His last day was particularly sad as he was suffering from meningitis and spent the day in Father Brewer’s bed trying to write an exam. He was accepted by Natal University and studied law, then started his own business becoming an entrepreneur. He ran 5 companies, sold them and went into something different again. When he first moved back to Johannesburg he tried to get his son Dominic into St David’s but was told he had applied too late. However Father Brewer, who was a delightful, compassionate man, intervened and insisted that he be admitted. That was the catalyst for Darrell getting involved with MOBS. He was chairman of MOBS for 4 years and remembers the building of the pub in the pavilion when the PTA eventually had to bail MOBS out. His other son Grant is currently a pupil at St David’s and he has a daughter, Bernice. Darrell has a farm in Mpumalanga, near Pilgrims Rest which houses a school originally built by German missionaries. He has helped to rebuild the school and supports it on an annual basis. It is in an informal settlement and whereas before they had to rely on volunteer teachers they now have 2 permanent teachers supplied by the government. Darrell has in his possession a rugby jersey blessed by the Pope. JE February 2012
