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Colour photo

Colour photo

1 A4 newspaper cutting

Interview with Alan Reeves – 1977
Alan began his career, as a day boy at St David’s in standard 1 (grade 3) in 1968. It was a
completely new school for him and he was very excited on his first day even though he really
didn’t know what to expect. He quickly made friends and remained friendly with the same guys
throughout his school career.
He remembers that as a day boy that it was good to go home each day but that a lot of time was
wasted travelling especially when school or sports functions finished late. The boarders created
a deep rooted spirit and tradition in the school and Alan felt it was a real shame when the
boarding school closed as that all vanished.
Alan really enjoyed being around friends every day, the sport, the spirit.
Some negative aspects were classes with Br Bernard who taught Latin and made all the boys
hate the language. Some amusing situations were in the class of Mr Sherman who was a
temporary History teacher. He had absolutely no control over the class, the boys initially gave
him some nonsense names. He was a disaster and, at the end of term when the parents met
the teachers there was always a long queue outside his classroom., He spent hours writing out
notes on the board and the boys would come into the class early and wipe them off. Colin
Anderson (vice head boy), who didn’t even take History shot a movie in the classroom hidden at
the back under all the blazers and Mr Sherman didn’t even notice.
Teachers he remembers well and who left a lasting impression on him were Br Timothy, who
showed him the meaning of leadership and empowerment as he guided him but let him make
his own decisions as head boy. Ken Lipschitz used very progressive teaching methods and Alan
thought that both he and Br Timothy changed a lot of aspects at the school in a subtle way to
more modern educational processes.
Alan remembers Nassey Simaan and his wife Agnes. Nassey was the rugby coach and
coached the 1972 rugby team which only lost one game..Agnes was a very kind person and all
the boys would go to her if they had problems.
Angelo Haggiyannis, head boy 1974 and Alan were both in the Wanderers Club athletics team
and used to take part in athletics competitons. Alan said that Angelo was a brilliant athlete and
they are still friends.
Alan enjoyed the leadership courses and in particular the one held at Queen’s College in 1977.
There was also a leadership course held at Hibberdene where, on the last night the boys put on
a show which included taking off the teachers!!
His most memorable moment at St David’s was when he was told he had been elected as head
boy for 1977, this was in the October 1976 and the day he was also informed he was to receive
the Marist Provincial Award. At his first matric dance in his grade 11 year he was partnered by
his girlfriend who is now his wife.
Academically Alan received a study scroll. He was part of the band playing guitar at the interhouse
plays held at Rosebank Convent.The press attended and a good write up followed. Alan
loved sport and was in the rugby 1st XV team, A team swimming, A team water polo and in the
athletics team. He represented the SA invitation team in the pentathlon and SA Defence in
pentathlon in 1981.Alan was head boy in his matric year. On his last day Alan recalled feeling
very sad as friends were going to different universities, military service and emigrating.
He went on to study for a BComm at Wits University. He has always owned his own businesses
together with his brother Mark and owned Foto First and Beyond IT for 25 years, sold out in
2004 and started DIY Depot in 2007.
JLE 2012

Interview with Andrew Kirkland – 2005
Andrew came to St David’s from Bryandale Primary in 2000, he was accompanied by three other boys
including Sean Howell; Curtis Montgomery. He had to jockey for position amongst the majority of boys who
had graduated from the prep school and who already knew each other, however he made friends quite
quickly.
The Glenmore camp was a big introduction for him, helping him to settle down into the school and Osmond
house.
He found it to be very different from a co-ed school, with a lot more direction and team building and with
hindsight the camp was pretty good.
The main reason he wanted to attend St David’s was because of the sport and his keen interest in cricket,
having played provincial cricket at primary school level. St David’s had a more personal side to its sporting
activities. Andrew played A team cricket all the way through high school. He was always the smallest boy in
the team and at the age of 15 and 16 he struggled. In another school Andrew believes he wouldn’t have
had the same opportunities. After grade 9, Andrew went through a slump in his cricket then picked up again
and did well. He was the top run scorer in the 2004 Beckwith week and subsequently got selected for the
U17A Gauteng team. He followed that up with the second leading run scorer in the 2-05 Beckwith week
and selected for the Gauteng U19B.
Highlights were the Australian Tour in 2003, when he was in grade 10 playing in the Marist Schools festival
in Bunbury in Perth, winning every game and beating St Josephs, the top Marist cricket school in Australia.
In the final game they played against St Gregory’s and lost by 1 run. The boys on the tour became very
close and still keep in touch. The highlight was winning the Beckwith week as leading run scorer and
achieving his specific honours for cricket in grade 11.
Andrew played B team rugby in grade 8, but it wasn’t the sport for him and in grade 9 he made the change
to hockey and played 1st team from grade 10. Through hockey he became friends with Kelsey Stewart and
Bryce Wray and attended provincial training camps in 2004. Alex Gitlin was very involved with the hockey
and was a good but very tough coach culminating in a successful Malaysian hockey tour and peaking at the
independent schools tournament at St Andrews in Grahamstown for their centenary anniversary where St
David’s won all their games. Andrew remains friends with Alex today.
Andrew was awarded an honours blazer, full colours for cricket and hockey, winning cricketer of the year in
2004 and 2005 and was sportsman of the year in 2005.
Andrew recalls his matric dance as being a bit of a disaster, he didn’t get the date he wanted and he was in
charge of the limo’s for the evening. They got there alright but the limo didn’t come to fetch them until the
early hours of the morning so they missed the after party.
Academically Andrew did alright but sport took first place and only when he reached varsity did he realise
what studying was all about.
The teachers he remembers most are Mr R Smith, housemaster and English –also taught the boys life
lessons; Mrs D. King another excellent English teacher; Mr D. Smith – Geography; Simon Holderness -
Maths, he organised the Malaysian hockey tour in 2004 and Mr Gitlin – hockey. Paul Edey was the most
well respected headmaster and an incredible guy, when he spoke the boys listened.
After matriculating, Andrew acquired enough points to be accepted to study for a BSc Construction and
BSc Hons at Wits University. Andrew also played cricket at Wits and originally wanted to play cricket for
Hampshire, England but there were many delays and he ended up studying at Wits for 5 years which
turned out to be better for him in the long run. During his first year there he felt he had a definite advantage
coming from St David’s as much of the work in the first year was covered, especially Maths that he had
done before. He did well in his thesis coming first. It was the first academic prize he had ever won and his
father teased him about it. It was quite hard going through university as he was also working for his father.
Andrew was involved with the organisation of old boys versus Ist team cricket eleven in August this year
with the old boys the victors. He also participated in the One Touch soccer events for the past two years.
Andrew currently works in the family business Spiral Engineering, specialising in structural steel
architectural steel and spiral staircases, winning the steel award for the Malapa Beetle Project in the Cradle
of Humankind in 2014 in conjunction with Wits University. Andrew is project manager having graduated
from small accounts to larger ones. He was involved with numerous steel projects such as Soccer City,
Wits building rejuvenation, Standard Bank, Rosebank but unfortunately, with the labour problems
experienced of late the company has been forced to limit their projects. The company is involved with
community projects such as the Cosmo City Creche, the Malapa Beetle Project in the Cradle of
Humankind.
Andrew is a Member of MOBS and any son of his would definitely come to St David’s.
JE October 2014

Interview with Aubrey Chalmers – 1955
Aubrey’s grandfather attended MBC in Victoria, Australia in the late 1800’s and his father was a pupil at
MBC, Koch Street and his uncle was head boy of Marist Brothers Observatory in 1928.
Aubrey came to St David’s in 1949 in standard 4, his first teacher was Mrs Kempster and the headmaster
was Brother Edwin. Other brothers that he remembers who were at the school at the time were Bothers
Ernest, Benedict, Aquinas (head of Koch Street, “Bulldog”), Alban, Matthew, Pius, Br Gerald and Br Ralph
who taught Afrikaans was a brilliant rugby coach and was nicknamed “BeeGee”. Another brother who
taught Latin and Maths was nicknamed “Caesar”.
Br Edwin was a great disciplinarian but the boys loved and respected him – the atmosphere grew very quiet
when he was around and you could hear a pin drop. Aubrey respected Br Edwin and found him to be
straight forward. Although he was a sick man he had a good sense of humour and kept good control of the
school.
Aubrey remembered when he received six of the best after an incident in the dining room during grace with
the usual competition to gain possession of the milk jug from another boy. Aubrey ended up suddenly
holding the jug as the other boy released his hold and the jug’s contents shot over his shoulder and Br
Benedict ended up totally white.
On his first day the boys were up at 6.00am, shower, breakfast followed by line up and they finished school
work by 2.45pm, had tea went to the dorms and changed into sports gear.
There were 4 dormitories accommodating 44 boys with a brother responsible for each dorm. There were
boys from all over including Mozambique, Zambia, Rhodesia and Angola. On Friday nights matron Mrs
Knight randomly selected boys for a dose of castor oil
Once the boys were playing mini cricket in the dorm with Br Alban using a golf ball which involved breaking
a window and a hapless, rather studious boy who read a lot ended up taking the blame.
Aubrey was a swimmer, age group champion and was a member of Malvern Swimming Club. He swam for
the Transvaal after leaving school. In athletics, Aubrey was mainly a hurdler, represented the school and
was champion until U15. Aubrey also played rugby. As a boarder the boys did everything. Because of the
school’s low numbers the school only had A and B teams. The rugby team played Obs, Jeppe, KES, CBC
Boksburg, Springs and Germiston Boys High, Forest High and Parktown Boys. Obs and Inanda combined
to swim in the high school galas at Ellis park and always came second with KES being the top school.
There were few tours in those days and in 1955 SACS came up from Cape Town with the 1st XV rugby
team with boys from their 6th form – who were already shaving!
Specific events that Aubrey remembers are the day Marcellin Champagnat was beatified, a special
occasion and Aubrey still has the key ring commemorating the day; beating KES at rugby, the annual
triangular with Germiston Boys High, Springs Boys High and Marist Brothers Inanda.
Aubrey was in the school choir and participated in “HMS Pinafore” directed by Mr Drummond-Bell.
Aubrey’s class of 24 was the largest matric class and the school’s total numbers were around 200 boys. In
a “Spotlight on the matrics of ‘55”, Aubrey was elected the Best Storyteller.
Boys at school with him were Graeme Talbot, Errol Goeller, Andrew Oakes, Richard Rowan Irwin (who
gained the highest marks in law that Wits University had ever seen), Robin Manners, Brunton was head
boy and another boy Michael Finger was nicknamed “Tom Thumb”.
Aubrey was never unhappy and enjoyed his schooldays it was a lovely environment to be in with a good
upbringing. Aubrey was upset when Br Urban died and another sad incident was when a young pupil
Barrenbrugg died in a motor accident outside the school.
Aubrey wasn’t awarded colours mainly because of the polio outbreak and sporting events were cancelled.
Ian Kirley who was also awarded the provincial blazer was head boy for two years – in 1952 colours were
taken away and several boys were demoted. Br Edwin appointed Kirley in standard 9, there was a big
shake up in the school.
In his matric year Aubrey had decided to become a brother but during the course of the year he decided
against it and went instead to Wits University and studied for a Higher Diploma in Clinical pathology. He
was initially going to study pharmacy but after a stint working in a pharmacy during the holidays decided
that he would be a glorified shop assistant. He eventually became a clinical pathologist involved with
medical research and was the head technologist at the Blood Transfusion Service from 1963 to 1983
producing albumen. Later he was employed by Millipool, a US company until 2000 and spent 4 months in
Boston. Aubrey has worked in Wadeville for the past 11 years with Clinx Waste Management.
Aubrey’s wife is a nursing sister and they had two sons who were unable to attend St David’s as they lived
in Germiston at the time and there was no longer a boarding facility.
JLE February 2015

Interview with Billy (William) Williams – 1955/ Henry Kool and Fred Hoppert
Billy came to Inanda from Koch Street in 1941 – standard 4, as a boarder, boarding at Koch Street until
1943 when boarding opened at Inanda. The boys were taken to see the school’s building in progress in
1940 and Billy recalls climbing up a gum tree and tying a handkerchief there.
Henry (Hendrik) Kool also came to Inanda in 1941 as a boarder and matriculated as a prefect in 1949.
standard 4 was the highest class at the time and went up each year until the matric class, standard 10, was
reached. He remembered that the sports field was still raw and sloping downwards. This was eventually
bulldozed into two levels.
Fred Hoppert joined Inanda in 1942 as a day boy and left in 1954 having become a boarder in standard 8.
More day boys joined the school from 1942 onwards.
In 1941 Br Thomas, the principal of Koch Street ,went with all the boys to Inanda together with Br Charles
and Br Jordaan. They caught the first bus from Johannesburg Park Station. It was bright yellow and a
single decker with a driver called Scottie who drove them all the way to the school. When the bus
eventually “died” the boys had to catch a trolley bus to Rosebank and then walk from Rosebank to school –
1 ½ miles.
Billy remembers that the classes at Inanda were relatively small in comparison with 21 up to 35 boys in a
class whereas at Koch Street there were 45 at least. There were four houses as now – Osmund, College,
Benedict and The Bishops.
It was during the war years and there was no bread except brown bread, no butter but peanut butter and
apricot jam. There were tables of 6 in the dining hall with 6 small slices of margarine at each table and the
chap at the end of the queue always ended up with the smallest slice or the fraught piece The food was
generally good but cups were difficult to get hold of and beer bottles were cut off, the edges bevelled and
used instead of cups.
The Catholic boys didn’t have as much study time as the non-Catholics as they had to go to mass every
day. When the Catholics had retreat they all joined in as they then didn’t have to go to school. The standard
1 to 5 teachers were lay teachers - standard 1 – Mrs Sturton; 2 – Mrs Brophy; 3 – Mrs Hoare; 4 – Mrs
Kempster who was a tiger; 5 Mr Bishop; 6 Br Benedict; 7 – Br Bartholomew; 8 – Br Aquinas who was
severe; 9 – Br Ephraim; 10 – Br Edwin and Br Pius was the beekeeper and gardener.
The soccer fields were initially just graded and consisted of red sand and small stones. The swimming pool,
25 yards in length was the best in Johannesburg at the time. The first swimming gala and athletics meeting
were held in 1944. Henry remembers swimming the breaststroke and coming dead last.
The school bought a plot below the swimming pool and the house there became the sick bay and living
quarters for the brothers. The boys were “invited” to plant grass on the field there.
Initially there was no rugby as the school didn’t have the grounds and the sport was started in 1947 and
played at the Wanderers. The brothers had to teach the boys how to fall as none of them wanted to! In a
game of rugby against Helpmekaar, Billy remembers Inanda being beaten handsomely and Henry was a
prop.
The boys started playing hockey but smashed half the sticks the first time they played and the remainder
the second time. Needless to say hockey was cancelled.
Billy played cricket against St Henry’s in Durban and the boys in the team were farmed out to families to
stay overnight. Billy recalls being in a photo with a soccer shield – U 13’s team.
On Sunday afternoons the boarders used to go walking for miles through accacia trees and sandy soil
(hence the eventual name of the area as Sandton). Billy ate too much fruit on one of these walks and Henry
piggy backed him home until they were offered a lift.
The three boys, Billy, Henry and Fred were all Anglicans but were never treated any differently to the
Catholic pupils and were never pressured to become Catholic. They used to go to St Martin’s in the Veld
church on Sunday mornings and walked there and back. They walked past many little plots and the boys
used to collect fruit on the way back and then hide it in holes next to the barbed wire fence.
There was a small room underneath a staircase where sporting equipment, soccer balls, dubbin etc were
kept and Billy was in charge, mending the balls and sewing and lacing them up. There was a mark on the
wall, he had to drop the ball and it had to bounce to the second level before it was declared OK. He oiled
cricket bats with linseed oil and replaced the rubber on the handles
Billy recalls bunking out on three occasions climbing down the drainpipes into the swimming pool area and
walking to Rosebank where the boys used to get a trolley bus into town and go to Phillip’s Cafe. For half a
crown they could order a mixed grill and buy a packet of CTC or Flag cigarettes. Afterwards they would
walk all the way back to school. One particular bunch were caught and expelled but eventually allowed
back with a warning.
Billy was unable to complete his matric at Inanda leaving in 1945, standard 7, as his father was ill and he
had to go home to run the family farm. He did however complete his matric by correspondence.
Two of the boys, Felix Sullivan and Stan Silcock became brothers but later withdrew.
On leaving school, Billy ran the family farm and matriculated JCE via correspondence. His father died in
1952 and he continued with the farming, mainly dairy. The farm was located between Grasmere,
Walkerville and De Deur and he ended up being a big supplier to cheese manufacturers. Billy was voted
Farmer’s Weekly, dairy farmer of the year for several years. His farm was the highest milk producer for 3
years with his youngest heifer supplying the highest yield. He ran two other farms as well, one which now is
Orange Farm, he rented it and eventually bought it. Grinaker wanted the farm and bought it from Billy for
R500 000 and Grinaker later sold it to the nationalist government for R7m. The minister of planning at the
time was Fourie.
Henry was awarded scrolls for rugby and merit, gaining his colours and was made a prefect. He went into
banking as he was not called up, starting in Barberton, onto Vereeniging, Graskop, Barberton, Westonaria
and Florida eventually ending up at the head office of Standard Bank in the money market retiring at the
age of 60..
Fred went onto Natal University and studied for BSc Agriculture as he originally wanted to be a vet. He
joined 3M, then Ropes and Mattings (now Nampak) then on to Amalgamated Packaging Industries, then
Allnet, became MD of Olefan Textiles International and finally joined Bidvest where he retired and has
always lived in Johannesburg.
They are all still good friends. Billy’s youngest brother was at Inanda from 1947 and Billy supported him
through school after their father died. Billy fathered 5 children, 3 sons and 2 daughters. The eldest son
attended Settlers and the other two boys went to Potch Boy’s High.
Henry and Fred both fathered 3 daughters each
JLE March 2015.

Interview with Boris Babaya – 1950
This is actually a transcript compiled by Boris himself which makes for interesting reading
Early years at Marist Brothers Inanda
As the new preparatory school opened in 1941, world war 11 was raging all over Europe. The
German nazi army directed by Adolf Hitler had occupied and annexed Austria, invaded
Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece then
Hitler attacked Russia and times were desperate for the Allies.
The British resistance suffered numerous setbacks in the Atlantic as German u-boats pounded
their supply convoys relentlessly. The Luftwaffe was bombing Britain and the Royal Air Force
was desperately fighting “The Battle of Britain”.
In North Africa, the British and Commonwealth armies were fighting the Afrika Corps under the
superb General Irwin Rommel.
Times were tough in South Africa. There were shortages of everything due to the prioritising of
so many basics for the Allied troops up North. News from the Red Cross was invariably
obituaries of family casualties in the war.
Japan had attacked the American fleet in Pearl Harbour and the Pacific war was ignited.
The only way one was able to follow events were the crackling short-wave radio, the press and
rare personal mail. There were very few cars, severely restricted by petrol rationing. There was
no white bread, very little meat or poultry, soap, tea, coffee and just about everything the
modern generation finds stacked up on supermarket shelves, was in very short supply.
Against this background Boris came from Braamfontein Convent to enter St. Davids in 1944 to
join std. 1V.
Inanda was on the periphery of Johannesburg. Most of the boys were boarders. They came
from all over the country and there were well represented contingents from Portuguese East
Africa (Mocambique), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Angola, Nyasaland (Malawi), Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe) and other arenas.
We were “Day Dogs”. I lived in Parktown on the Killarney border, just behind Parktown Convent.
The main arterial road to Inanda was Oxford Road. The Dunkeld Bus got you to the terminus
just before Corlett Drive. Its’ scheduled times were hourly at peak times. It was precisely one
long mile’s walk from St Davids. If you missed it, you got the bus that turned off at Soggot’s
Corner in Rosebank. That made a very poor start to the day.
The Wanderers Club was right in the middle of Johannesburg adjoining Park Station. There was
one heck of a hullabaloo when the minister of transport Mr Sturrock expropriated their grounds
for a functional Johannesburg station.
There were huge public marches in protest. A rally led by ‘Sailor Malan’, a highly decorated
South African ex RAF fighter pilot Ace, and the slogans on the banners: “Save the Wanderers
for the People”.
I recall my father persuading the Wanderers grounds man, Harry Eden to speak to executive
committee chair, Mr Houliston and tell them that they couldn’t stop progress and that he would
show them where the Wanderers could be relocated. He took them to Kent Park, and showed
them the farm that is the site of the Wanderers Club today.
He predicted that private cars would become far more prolific and that they could get a couple of
buses to ferry long-standing members that just couldn’t commute any other way. The rest is
history.
Standard four was a revelation. The principal was Brother Urban. The class teacher was Mrs du
Plessis. After her first lecture I knew she was an excellent tutor. She was clear, logical and
strict. She knew her syllabus inside-out, she put it over so well one felt like a genius. She
marked one’s homework meticulously. There were no bic pens so one scratched around with
stephens ink and pens with nibs. When one’s mind was in full flow and you were scribbling the
answers speedily, the nib would hit a speed-bump in the paper and droplets of ink would be
sprayed over the page. Miss would painstakingly encircle every single blot with ‘laager’ of red
ink. You knew instinctively that this lady wasn’t going to take any prisoners.
Under her expert guidance History, Geography, English or Arithmetic was just ‘a stroll in the
park’. While watching some hopeful candidates on BBC’s “Who wants to be a Millionaire” one
becomes acutely aware that they never had her as teacher. I recall one Geography test where
just the outline of the world’s land and sea masses were drawn. One had to fill in all the major
mountains, rivers, seas, lakes, countries, oceans and continents. I’m grateful that we were
taught by her.
The other standard 1V class was taught by Mrs Kempster whose class considered her as
another ace teacher.
Sports were highlights. soccer, cricket, athletics and swimming were the sports we all enjoyed.
Like schoolboys universally, our heroes were the more senior guys in standard five and six.
Somehow one seemed not to be particularly aware of one’s juniors.
From the following year, the school would start to become a senior college with an additional
higher class each year thereafter.
There are memories of health scourges. The pasteurisation of milk was not yet an industry norm
and TB or tuberculosis was a dreadful disease. It was an era before antibiotics were available,
so milk was always boiled. Fruit juices were only homemade. The other frightening disease was
polio or infantile paralysis. The papers were full of news about this dreaded disease. Victims
were put in huge contraptions called “Iron Lungs” and it was a terrifying prospect. One of the
popular lads, from Northern Rhodesia was afflicted and we all feared for his fate. Miraculously
he came out of it without any paralysis whatsoever and there was enormous relief. This was
many years before the “Salk Vacine” was developed by an American doctor which effectively
halted the pandemic.
Firm friendships were made, some of which lasted a lifetime. I befriended Michael Rogers who
went on to become a world class cardiac surgeon. He studied with the best pioneering surgeons
in England and America with the likes of Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley and a couple of
others whose names elude my dysfunctional memory.
Romeo Buffa a classmate was an outstanding sportsman. He was the greatest schoolboy
sportsman we were privileged to see. It did not matter what the sport was. Whether it was
soccer or rugby he was the star player. In athletics or swimming, Romeo broke all the records.
He was a naturally gifted sportsman. Had he pursued any sporting discipline seriously, we were
all certain he should have made the olympic team.
I recall some of seniors of those days, Stan Barale, Frank McGrath, Keith Kennaugh, Errol
Hulse, Hugh Gearing, Ashley Kallos, Phillips, see the complete list at end.
Classmates were A. Lees, B. McGrath, D. Potter, R. Perino, G. Bordani, P. Vieyra, M. Rogers,
C. Leon, P. Cazolet, R. Kippers, G. Pacheo, G. Rethman.
Mr Bishop was the standard V master. He was a strict disciplinarian of Swedish origin and a
good teacher. Mr Hoare took standard V1. He was elderly, preached on many moral issues and
used to take the musical class. Mrs Basson would play the piano and he would conduct the
singing. Half the class was utterly tone deaf and he would weed them out. He explained the
tonic-Sol-fa: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, te, do. Every song practice Mrs Basson would play four notes
and the class would be asked to call the notes played. Well, you can imagine the answers that
came from the tone deaf. We had one little chap Francois May who was unerringly correct
whenever he was called upon to answer. Some others of the class got it right or partly right
sometimes, but some never ever got a single note correct. Mr Hoare’s patented reaction was,
“Feeble minds”. He administered punishment with a short leather strap, never a cane. His
command was,”Ankles!” then he would dance three steps towards the offender for each stroke
or slap of the strap. It was never painful.
Brother Thomas was the first brother we had as a teacher. He was Irish, had come from Marist
Brothers Koch Street and as usual our spy network had alerted us that he had a short temper. If
you provoked his ire through stupidity you would get a slap. He taught us Geometry and the first
theorem was painstakingly explained with blackboard diagrams.
I can well recall his exposition:
“When one straight line meets another straight line, the two adjacent angles so formed, together
equal two right angles.”
It wasn’t rocket science, but when individuals were called up to the blackboard platform to
explain the proof the atmosphere got very heated. The selected classmate would have a go at
the explanation, messing up the whole logic of the proof. Br Thomas went red faced, wringing
his hands at his sides in an effort to control his temper, his voice rising until one of his arms
struck out like a black mamba, giving the unfortunate, aspiring geometrician a resounding slap
on the head.
He would repeat the whole proof while the class focussed on the elements of the logic,
determined not to be caught out if called up to the blackboard. Over the next few sessions most
of the class were able to master the first theorem but a few would get caught out some time
later. A wary atmosphere prevailed in his class as one didn’t want to provoke ‘n snotklap.
Br Alban prevailed over std. eight. He had played rugby for Western Province prior to becoming
a brother. He coached the first team and was quite an awesome character. He would castigate
miscreants in a derisive tone with words found in no dictionary. He had a seemingly endless
vocabulary of appellations. “You rumagultion!” and “kookiekommer” comes to mind. He was a
heavy smoker of Springbok plain cigarettes, with the ball of his thumb and the two cigarette
holding fingers burnt to a very deep brown, which one never sees these days.
If you were the unfortunate to get the dreaded invitation to come to his rooms, you knew that
you would depart with painful red stripes on your backside. It was a tortuous ritual. If you were a
smoker, he would offer you a Springbok from his pack of fifty. If you demurred, you would get an
extra couple of strokes for being a hypocrite. Of course you had heard this from the lads, but
you were never sure whether they were spreading a false rumour or a real fact. He would
engage you in friendly conversation about all kinds of interesting subjects. This would proceed
amicably until you were convinced he had forgotten about the reason for the invite as the next
class period was only minutes away from the bell. Just as you reached for the door handle to
exit, he would casually ask why he had invited you to call on him. With accelerating stress and
anxiety you would stutter and splutter some meaningless supposition. The inevitable caning was
administered while you frantically hoped it was four and not the fearsome six.
English speakers had a rather pathetic grasp of Afrikaans. He would produce current Afrikaans
newspapers or periodicals and make a student read an article and then render an English
translation. We were terrible. He got us to say the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” in Afrikaans. I
think I can still do it sixty six years later.
I managed to develop an “opstel” aid. I memorised a few paragraphs of an introduction that I
hoped would indicate some knowledge of Afrikaans. Whatever choice I made from the offerings,
it was my opening shot.
“Dit was a heerlike warm somer’s dag en toe het my vriend Piet en ek besluit om te gaan
visvang.
He took us a couple of years later on a rugby tour to Natal by train to play our brother schools,
the formidable St. Charles Pietermaritzburg and St. Henry’s Durban.
On the train the cigarettes were offered and known smokers dared not be guilty of being
hypocrites. We narrowly beat St. Charles captained by Peter Fricker, if memory serves, yours
truly elated at scoring the winning try. The team thrashed St. Henry’s so the return home was
triumphant. No misdemeanour in transit escaped his purview. Indiscretions of any kind were
dealt with later, sometimes to one’s utter consternation, much later. He had a sixth sense to
detect any transgression.
Br Edwin, later to become principal, took us for History. He was an inspiring teacher. His first
lecture was preceded by his enquiry from the class as to what precisely was History all about.
The class individuals came up with all kinds of inane answers. His brief definition was, “History
is the story of the living past.”
He went on to explain that virtually everything we are, do, think, feel or believe is the effect in
some way or another, the result of what has been done or has happened in the past. We cannot
escape the history of mankind and our planet. It determines virtually every facet of our
civilization, way of life, social interactions and codes of behaviour. It was stirring stuff. One
realised that if one was unaware of one’s history, one couldn’t understand much of what life was
all about.
I was personally fascinated and very proud to win the Marist Provincial Prize in History. (1947)
Due to life threatening illnesses, my memories are like the “Curate’s Egg”.
There are so many memories buried under the mists of times long past.
One Brother made an indelible impression on all his classes. He was an Australian and took us
for Latin. Brother Celestine was an extraordinary personality and an unforgettable character. His
first words to the class were, “Caesar est.” He asked the class to translate. There were no
volunteers. He translated, “I am Caesar.” That became his nickname, Caesar.
He then asked the class to raise their hands if anyone didn’t think they would pass Latin at the
end of the year. Slowly one hand was raised, and then another and then a flurry of several more
hands were raised. Caesar asked them all to stand up. He riveted his challenging stare at each
one turn and said the following.“No one fails any subject that I teach! You will all pass Latin. Do
you understand that?”Each sentence was delivered like a pistol shot, clearly demanding an
affirmative response. Each of the hapless guys had to clearly state that they would pass Latin.
That was our introduction to Caesar.
He appointed a dog walloper. His duty was to order a class member to clear the blackboard
whenever necessary. If the dw wasn’t alert enough to anticipate the function timeously, he had
to do it himself with Caesar’s derisive comments ringing in his ears.
Sooner or later everyone was bestowed with nickname by Caesar. This ‘christening’ was always
a ritual. A very popular boarder was a regular prolific smoker. Smokers resorted to all sorts of
subterfuge to camouflage their indulgence. A popular habit was to stroll to the young trees
bordering the Fricker Road perimeter, using the meagre foliage to screen their actions. Light up
there, ambling along carefully exhaling the thinnest possible stream of smoke to as to be almost
imperceptible from even a few metres away. One day Caesar related the story at length of how
St. Francis would speak to the birds in the trees. The punch-line was that we had a modern day
St. Francis in our midst. He then asked the guy, “When you go to sneak a smoke in the trees
what do you converse with the birds?” After embarrassed shuffling and stuttering, the fellow was
thereafter always called ‘St. Francis’ by Caesar.
Caesar could start a lesson with a joke. This could carry on for almost the entire period, with
much top of the desk banging by the class when the punch line was delivered. At a minute hand
signal from Caesar the applause would abruptly stop. In the remaining time Caesar would get
through the lesson, set the homework and woe betide anyone that didn’t master the assignment
by the next lesson.
I recall a joke that lasted a good thirty minutes. Two musician pals would go for drinks after their
performance. When they would overdo it, they had to give their respective wives an explanation
for coming home at such a late hour. As the explanations were often not convincing, they
decided to invent a good story while sober that would ensure peace and quiet when
overindulgent and very late. They came up with the alibi of having to practise “Syncopation”.
They swore it was the truth and the wives believed them. This worked for a while until the two
wives got together and eventually they discussed the alibi story. Since both were curious they
mooted several musical probabilities and eventually decided to look it up in the dictionary. What
they found there illuminated the scenario. syncopation: An erratic wandering from bar to bar.
One guy that regularly bunked school and was a hopeless mess, was kicked out of Caesar’s
class permanently. The rest of the class passed Latin. Caesar played an excellent game of
tennis. Years later we discovered that he was an excellent rugby player.
Ellis Park was the venue for both provincial and international rugby and cricket. In 1947 we had
the thrill of viewing the first post war visiting All Blacks. Captained by Fred Allen they had been
preceded by reports of being a powerful team. We had no idea how well the Springboks would
fare. I recall the All Blacks winning their scrum and the ball was passed to the centres. Then
there was a huge collision. The Springbok centre ‘Tjol’ Lategan tackled the Kiwi centre with
such bone crunching force that he was dazed when he staggered to his feet. The crowd went
wild and we knew the ‘Boks would give a good account of themselves. They did. Sitting on the
grass embankment at Ellis Park, eating naartjies was such great fun.
The great Australian cricket team also treated us to the thrilling sight of the two fastest bowlers
in the world, Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller. What a pair to face. Ray was arguably the greatest
fast bowler ever in Test Cricket.
Notable scandal making for yards of headlines was the death of a young lady, ‘Bubbles’
Schroeder. She had been to a party and there had been intimacy with certain well known
society lads. Her dumped body was discovered in the bushes of a dense forest of trees in Kent
Park very near the Dunkeld bus terminus. The post mortem had shown that she had choked on
sperm. Col. Ulf Boberg was the chief investigating officer and the proceedings of the
subsequent trial made sensational, lurid details daily in all the local press. All schoolboys were
intensely interested in the drama, avidly following the court evidence daily. Dictionaries were in
prolific use.
On Thursdays the overseas mail was regularly due at the CNA in Rosebank. The two most
sought after publications were “The Champion” and “The Triumph”. My favourite character was
Rockfist Rogan the RAF fighter pilot Ace and heavyweight boxing champion of the RAF. His
daredevil exploits in the air and taming of bullies was a great source of weekly, thrilling reading
matter.
I was of pure Croatian descent from the Dalmatian province born in Johannesburg. Virtually all
local Dalmatians made their own wine. They never reported it for formal, official assize. My
father used to purchase the whole day’s consignment of wine grapes on the old Newtown
market auction, if he considered them up to his high, quality standards. It would number many
hundreds of two-handled wicker bushel baskets.
As a kid I would be left to guard them while he went to phone the Dalmatians alerting them that
the wine grapes were there and they should come to collect them post haste.
The grapes would be ‘pressed’ through a wooden, roller mangle and fermented in oak barrels.
In due course the wine would mature and then carefully taste tested. If the old man felt the wine
was below par, it was relegated to be distilled as brandy (Rakija). This was very bad news for
me as I would thereafter have to spend many hours in the cold basement minding the still. The
heat applied to the still had to be just right. This was evidenced by the rate at which the brandy
dripped from the still. The correct flow was tortuously slow, about one drop every three or four
seconds. Any flow faster and the still would “burn”. If this happened, the still would be
irrevocably ruined, thereafter imparting a burnt flavour to the liquor distilled in it.
Many years later on visits to Eastern Transvaal distilling farms, I never once found a distillate
such as mampoer or any other that didn’t have a distinctly burnt flavour.
It is a Croatian custom to drink wine with every meal. The young drink it as “Bevanda”, that is,
very diluted with water. My father’s “Konoba” or sunken basement under our home always had
many dozen bottles of home-made wine.
The Portuguese boarders at St. David’s were brought up in similar fashion so they were keen to
get some wine to enliven up their smuggled snacks. I understood their sentiments and would
occasionally get a couple of bottles of wine from my dad’s “Bootleg Stock” for their special
celebrations.
One fateful Saturday when we were due to play rugby against the very tough Krugersdorp,
Monument High School, I arrived at St David’s with my kit and a couple of bootleg wine bottles
enclosed in rugby socks in the tog-bag. Brother Bartholomew stopped me from boarding the bus
and ordered me to report to Brother Edwin in the principal’s office with my kit-bag.
I knew there was serious trouble brewing. The wine was discovered, I was told there was no
rugby for me and a plethora of opprobrium was heaped upon me. My father and Brother Edwin
had a meeting on Monday and peace was restored.
Dad strongly asserted that “English Culture” was not yet appreciative of some of the finer habits
in life like good wine with good meals.
The matric dance was a highlight of the final year. In those days there were very few guys that
had girlfriends. Boy/girl relationships were fantasies. A guy would write a poem and secretly
admire a young lady from a distance. A distinctly victorian ambience prevailed, so the main
hurdle was getting a partner for the dance. If one had some tenuous connection with a source of
girls, like one’s sisters or cousins friends, one was expected to negotiate a partner for pals for
the occasion. Having a Parktown Convent connection I did my duty wherever I was able to do
so. One lass I contrived to persuade to come as a partner for one of the most popular guys
became a rag queen at Wits. My partner was a stunning beauty, the sister of a friend from
Marist Observatory. He and I still meet twice weekly.
Although I had colours for four different sports viz. rugby, athletics, boxing and tennis and was
top of the academic class for many of the years, I was never awarded the merit scroll so never
qualified for the colours blazer, neither was I made a prefect.
On the last day of school, I auctioned all my numerous sports scrolls and pinned my de-scrolled
blazer to the matric blackboard. This gesture attracted further opprobrium from the principal.
After being invited to play in the traditional old boys rugby game the following year, Stan Barale
the captain had to phone me to tell me that I was barred from playing and not welcome to attend
as spectator.
After leaving St David’s, Boris graduated with a BComm (Economics and Business Finance)
after a jaunt in mining on the copper belt of Northern Rhodesia.
Needless to say, he did not send his two sons to St. David’s. He sent them to Michaelhouse.
His daughter sent his grandson Matthew Maguire to St. David’s whence he matriculated
JLE April 2013
Classmates continued – Romeo Buffa, Gorgon Rethman, Brain Magrath, Michael and Gerald
Rogers, Errol Hulse, Achilles (Ashly) Kallos, Tommy Williams, Pat Spencer, Phillipe and Jacque
du Buisson, Setty Risi, Louis da Cruz, Jorge Pacheo, Dion Herbet, Bobby Perino, Jackie Att,
Brian Kennedy, Forrester, Patrick Sater, Owen Simms, Fettis, Hugh Gearing , Bruce
Eshner,(Gymnast), Theo SYtsema, Clive Seff, Guido and Sandro Boroni, Socrates Vartsos,
Francois May. Clive Leon, 2 Kippen cousins, Howard Neyans (yank), Muller brothers, Mark
Madeyski, Paul Vieara, Peter Cazalet, Wilson.
Comment [BB1]: Addition of the
“bootlegging episode

Interview with Brian Austin - 1962
St David’s Inanda: some recollections before the Beatles
Brian Austin (1958 – 1962)
In those days it wasn’t called St David’s, though his name was there in the small print.
We all knew it as ‘Inanda’, to distinguish it from ‘Obs’: those other guys who wore the
same funny stripey blazer. But many people around Joburg called both schools ‘Maritz’,
for obviously South African reasons but clearly without much appreciation of who these
Marist Brothers were. And, to distinguish us from them at Obs, ‘Inanda’ was always
regarded as the posh school where you went if you didn’t sound (or want to sound) like
Al Debbo (now there’s a name from the dark ages!).
I went to ‘Inanda’ (I’ll stick with that name) in 1958. My prep school years were spent at
the little Catholic school in Maryvale, St Paul’s Parochial School, that’d been founded by
the remarkable Fr Philip Erasme OMI in 1943. I’d been head boy there but was small fry
when I arrived at Inanda. Most of the guys in standard 6 had been together at the junior
school of Inanda and so they all knew each other and also who was king. New blokes
from other places – and there were a handful of us – had to slot into the established
social order. And Inanda had boarders and the boarders were the really important guys,
not day boys who still lived with their mothers. I was a day boy.
There was only one lay teacher in the whole senior school at that time. He was Mr
Bishop and he taught us English. Mr Bishop stood out for never having a hair out place
and he always wore impeccable suits. He used to read to us occasionally from a book
wrapped in brown paper. It was a war story and some said it was his autobiography,
hence the wrapping. In those days we got ‘lashed’ with the cane for various
misdemeanours usually to do with homework that wasn’t done. Old Bish could lash all
right. So could Br Andrew who was our official class teacher. He was a French Canadian
and always said ‘bon’, when you got something right. He taught us Maths and Latin. And
Br Benedict was the principal (I think that’s what he was called in those days. Later we
had a headmaster, but maybe not). Benedict was tall and gaunt. He was known as Beak
(or maybe Beek) and commanded respect. He could lash too.
The standard 6 classroom was stuck away down below the boarders’ dining room.
Remember that in those days the school didn’t extend north beyond the road that ran
down from the second gate (not the main gate) off Rudd Road. That property northwards
was a farm. And our classroom was alongside that road that ended up in the bicycle
shed. It also went past the swimming bath, which I see is now much bigger (according to
Google Earth) and somewhere else altogether. We had swimming as part of the
morning’s lessons one day a week in the summer, of course. I’d never dived into a pool
before then; I learnt to dive very quickly on the first swimming day. I was also known as
‘milk bottle’ because of my fair skin. Boys’ schools are very gentle and genteel places,
as we all know.
I played cricket because I loved the game. Rugby we all played whether we liked it or
not. In those days the school even had a professional cricket coach (a Mr Bannister)
who came out from England, believe it or not, to coach at various schools around
Joburg. He was a great coach and we didn’t have a bad U13 side as a result. The
captain was Roy Chisholm, a left-hander who bowled good in-swingers. I opened the
batting with Mike Ness who went to England the following year. So did Terry Coughlin,
the wicket-keeper. In those days, apparently, there was much traffic between some
South African ‘Private Schools’ and English ‘Public Schools’, such as Stoneyhurst in
Lancashire run by the Jesuits. In this context private and public meant the same thing
which would confuse anyone today not versed in such details.
2
I remember Chisholm and I once ‘made a stand’ against Athone U13. He got into the
sixties and I made 53, precisely. Br Anthony (much more about him later) was umpiring.
The Athlone captain was a little squat fellow called Sammy. He placed himself at silly
mid-on (it gets technical here), just a few years to my left, and I was facing their offspinner
who bowled a gift of a full toss. I played a mean on-drive in those days and duly
caned the ball. It hit Sammy on the forehead and nearly decapitated him. He certainly
took off backwards and landed on his bum. Br Anthony, standing at the bowler’s wicket,
sauntered up the pitch to see if Sammy was still alive and then said to me: ‘that
should’ve been four”. Exactly what I thought too.
Standard 7 was a tough year. Our class teacher was a very young Irish brother whose
name now escapes me. He clearly felt challenged by pimply-faced, testosterone fuelled
fourteen-year olds with attitude. As a result he didn’t cope well and lashed us often,
clearly his only defence. A fellow called Ralph van Oppen would openly challenge
anyone who so much as dared look at him to a fight – and he always won. He once
organised a strike by terrorising the whole class who, at his say so, didn’t dare return
after lunch break. We just sat on the lawn. Somehow it was resolved (I don’t now
remember how) and we weren’t even lashed but van Oppen disappeared from the
school. A word, no doubt, was dropped into his father’s ear, though if the son was
anything to go by, Van Oppen senior must’ve been quite something. Perhaps he’d got
away before the allies captured Berlin? That was the year we started ‘Science’ as a
subject and I immediately discovered my métier. English too wasn’t far behind.
Standard 8, or ‘J.C.’ (Junior Certificate) in those days, was a nondescript class and an
uninspiring time. It was 1960 and the time of Sharpeville but our pent-up anger
throughout they year had much more to do with yet more testosterone, I’m sure. Girls
now entered our spheres of interest but most seemed totally disdainful of us. Rosebank
Convent provided much that was attractive but it never reciprocated our awkward
posturing. And we produced a lousy rugby team, but smoking on the bottom field
improved markedly as the year went by. Br Walter, our class teacher, seemed older than
Noah by at least a generation. He was the most gentle of men. Seemingly near-blind
behind very thick lenses, and always somewhat befuddled, he taught us Maths and
Christian Doctrine. Sometimes there was so much fervour involved in both that it was
difficult to tell them apart. As a result, if one had any mathematical flair it was likely to be
kindled by Walter and mine certainly was. Others discovered they had ‘vocations’ and
talked of becoming brothers themselves. At the end of the year, having gained a ‘firstclass
J.C.’, I remember writing Br Walter a letter thanking him for making ‘the minutiae of
the subject’ (Maths) so amazingly clear. His flair with figures, equations and abstruse
geometry undoubtedly helped because I’ve used a fair bit of the subject ever since. On
the matter of our execrable rugby performance that year, I remember our being thrashed
by Jeppe 103- nil. How we dared arrive at school the next day remains one of those
mysteries on one’s educational life. The ignominy must’ve been indescribable.
Junior matric followed and another figure - in black (not white then) cassock, white bib,
rope around his waist and swinging crucifix - strode into our lives in very sharp focus.
Brother Anthony was the new principal and his Scots accent became part of our lives.
He was always known as ‘Ornge’ or ‘Ornges’ from the way he said ‘orange’. He also
caused much mirth when he spoke after the annual athletics sports day each
September. After thanking everyone for attending and making the occasion the success
it usually was, he’d then announce, into the microphone, that all were very welcome to
attend the ‘bry flies’ afterwards. Most did, if only to hear Ornge say it again.
Ornge was a phenomenal headmaster. I’d go as far as saying that he really made the
school into what it is now. Every morning at assembly he spoke from the upper balcony,
3
looking down (but only metaphorically) on all of us standing in our rows, per class, in the
‘quad’. The prefects prowled around in between. I still vividly remember hearing one of
them, Martin Funston the nephew of Ken Funston the Springbok cricketer, tell a fellow
who happened to have a shock of red hair, and who was talking, to ‘shut up, copper
knob’. That actually occurred in 1958 but such things happened in 1961 too and just had
to be mentioned because the reaction of all within earshot was excruciatingly funny.
The matric class in ’61 (a year ahead of me) were a brilliant bunch and Ornge was very
proud of them. Dudley Mandy,with much swagger and I suppose what we’d call
charisma these days, was headboy. I think he also subsequently became a brother. The
cleverest bloke was Doug Hawkins, now a professor of Statistics in the states. ‘Dougie’
(but pronounced, as you’d expect, by Ornge as Doogie), was at least 6 foot 3 and gangly
too. Though clearly designed for the second row of the scrum, or at least the line-outs,
he didn’t appear on the rugby field. Having brains helped some escape. He was a
mathematical genius – a fact often mentioned by Ornge – and he also started the
Science club. His plan was that ‘Inanda’ should follow the Americans into the space
race; remember sputnik was launched by the Russians in 1957 and ever since the
Americans had been trying to catch up. Anything we could do to help would no doubt be
appreciated. Doogie wanted to design, build and launch a rocket and Ornge backed him
to the hilt. So, one morning at assembly, after he’d addressed us from the balcony,
Ornge called on Doogie to join him up there and tell us his plans for interplanetary travel
or whatever he had in mind. I was enthralled and when the great man asked for
volunteers to join in I was there.
By then I was rather interested in radio. Not Springbok Radio but making radios and I’d
already made a few. Doogie said we needed radio communications, especially radio
telemetry, on our rocket. It would at least tell us where it was when it came down –
possibly in someone’s swimming pool. We agreed to meet at his house over the
weekend to discuss strategy and try to make a radio small enough to fit inside a (rather
small) tube that would be packed with explosives and after ignition would lift the missile
into space. It sounded fantastic and I was bursting to make my contribution. Doogie and
I, in his father’s garage the following Saturday afternoon, soldered and squashed
electronic bits and pieces together into the tube but never a peep came out of it. His
mother brought us tea and enquired how we were getting on. We said we were at ‘T
minus something and counting’ (that’s what they always said from Cape Canaveral just
before lift-off) but had hit a snag. She said she was sure we’d sort if out and then asked
us to try not to drop solder on the carpet.
I don’t remember the rocket ever being launched. Something about Pretoria and laws
against making missiles, if I remember correctly, but it was great fun and Doogie was
impressively tall. Others in that class who excelled cerebrally were Richard Hartdegan,
later a dermatologist in Joburg, Rodney Leigh (known as ‘Gripper’ for some reason),
another medical doctor, and Steven Fine, a dentist to be. And Emil Iglauer, built like the
proverbial brick toilet, hence he propped the 1st XV scrum with Darko Vidas (in my year),
became an electronics engineer, as I did too a while later.
In 1962 I entered matric. There were only 17 of us in the class and, of course, only one
matric class in those days. Our classroom was right at the end upstairs. Next door were
the junior matrics and next door to them was the Science lab which always stank of H2S,
but then so did some boys even though they never went near the place. I never earned
my colours blazer. You needed three ‘scrolls’ for that and despite being bananas about
cricket I never made enough runs to get that most prized (in my mind) of scrolls. I was a
prefect for which you also needed the ‘merit’ scroll. Presumably it meant what it said but
we didn’t know how they measured that. They just watched us, I suppose. We also
never had a head boy that year. The ‘watchers’ clearly decided that no one really stood
4
out. Roy Chisholm was no longer captain of the 1st cricket XI because Rob Fiore had
arrived from St Henry’s (in Durban) accompanied by accolades about his sporting
prowess. So he captained both the first teams: cricket and rugby. I still opened the
batting and, in fact, had played in the ‘Firsts’ the previous year too.
Before that, in the 2nds, our captain was Bill Oliver (also lavatorially-shaped and so
another ‘Firsts’ prop) opened the bowling. For sheer spirit (if not stunning talent) that
2nds side was fantastic – and Bill was the reason. He was inspirational, not least
because most of the team were in classes below him and were at least 50lbs lighter than
he was. Bill had his own form of ball-tampering long before the term was ever used at
test match level. Before opening the attack with the new ball he would rub part of it
vigorously on the concrete wall alongside the main cricket field – the main rugby field too
– immediately on the right of the driveway into the school from the main gates. This
gouging of the leather near the seam gave Bill the purchase he needed when bowling
his assortment of deliveries, mostly short-pitched that reared up at pace, to all who faced
him from our neighbouring schools. He hated them all – a good sign in a fast bowler –
and he inspired us.
In 1961 I went with the 1st XI to Marist Brothers, Walmer (in P.E.) for the Marist Cricket
Week. Every year each Marist school in the country sent its first team to play against all
the others at one or another school. We didn’t do too well; as you might expect given the
fanfare that surrounded Fiore’s arrival from Durban a while before, St Henry’s walked
over everyone else. But Rob himself was picked to play for ‘S.A. Marists’ – as a bowler.
Until then he’d been a top-order batsman and occasional wicket keeper too. But in P.E.
our captain (Mike McGurk) told him to bowl medium pace, which he did, and he took a
mountain of wickets. Needless to say, this was yet more Fiore sporting magic.
My cricket in matric was obsessional. Alf Smith (who didn’t play at all but was a cricket
nut like me) and I used to ‘talk cricket’ at every break and often in between too. I still
opened the batting, usually with Renzo Brocco of the year below. He was also fullback
for the firsts at rugby (I was fullback for the ‘Thirds’). We had a few decent opening
stands when he scored most of the runs. I was just too dogged and Jackie McGlew-like
in that I stuck out my backside, gripped the bat too low down and lost the on-drive that
had nearly murdered the Athlone boy some years before. In the St David’s Magazine
that year (I think it was, by then, known as St David’s) the matric class had pen pictures
and photos. Alongside were our nicknames and any special idiosyncrasies, foibles etc.
As was seemingly the custom in those days, we were also described by a current pop
tune. Mine was ‘Transistor Sister’ because I was also, by then, a confirmed radio (in the
electronics sense) nut as well. My cricketing prowess was, as I remember it, described in
equally unflattering terms too!
In matric, Br Anthony (‘Ornge’) taught us Maths, and very well too; Br Robert, an
extremely short Australian, taught us Science in a very methodical way, and Br Gerard
taught us English, quite inspirationally. He even made (some of) us appreciate poetry.
Best of all, he spoke impeccable English with much emphasis on correct ‘received’
pronunciation. For example, the list he put on the board included such words as
Wednesdee, ‘vittles’ (food to the rest of us), and ‘contriversey’, with the emphasis on the
first syllable and a delicate ee sounding of the second. And he could lash too, especially
when one hadn’t learnt the complete ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy from Hamlet, our
setwork of the year. If I remember correctly, Alan’s Paton’s ‘Cry the Beloved Country’
was another, as was Thomas Hardy’s ‘Return of the Native’ which allegedly caused
some consternation within the state censor’s office until it was pointed out that influx
controls were not being breached.
5
Sportswise, the cricket coach of note was little Br Dennis or ‘Tickey’, as we knew him.
He taught Latin and History too. And, on the rugby field there was ‘Bodo’: Brother
Bonaventure, big, dark and almost brooding. He too wielded the cane with precision
while teaching us Afrikaans. Both he and Tickey, evidently, never stayed the course and
left the brotherhood some years later. Now, of course, there are no brothers left and old
Ornge is, so I hear, still doing a fantastic job out in the sticks tending to those whose
needs are far greater than ours, as very privileged white youths, ever were.
I was an active member of the Science club in 1962. I proposed a club project to Ornge,
which he accepted, and the school funded. S.A. Philips, the Dutch electronics company,
had recently published a remarkable book, written by its engineers in Joburg, called
‘Transistors for the Home Constructor’. It contained all sorts of circuits for various
electronic gadgets and I wanted to build the radio transmitter. Ornge forked out the
money and my father bought the bits and pieces. Then, two or three of us, set about
building the transmitter. It took a bit of fiddling but eventually we got it working and we
could walk all around the school grounds transmitting our voices to a good old fashioned
‘wireless’ set up in the science lab. And that was long before cell phones. My mates
thought I’d clearly become what I suppose we’d now call a ‘geek’ or a ‘nerd’. They felt I
needed to spend more time with girls.
I left ‘Inanda’ at the end of 1962 and spent nine months in the army before going to Wits
to do electrical engineering. Graduating, after a few hiccups along the way, with B.Sc
(Eng) degree launched me on a career that became my life, first in Joburg at the
Chamber of Mines Research labs, and then at Wits as an academic in my old
department and for the last twenty years, before I retired five years ago, at the University
of Liverpool. As a side interest, I also wrote the biography of Sir Basil Schonland, a
noted South African scientist who amongst many other things founded the CSIR, was
scientific adviser to Field Marshal Montgomery and ultimately, was director of Harwell,
the atomic energy research establishment in England. It was published in 2001. St
David’s (‘Inanda’) provided me with lots of good guidance, both academic and spiritual,
great company amongst one’s fellow pupils and, especially, a sense of pride in a
wonderful institution that thrived throughout my time there under an inspirational
headmaster always known to us as ‘Ornge’.
B.A. (Brian) Austin
West Kirby
Wirral
UK
(May 2010)

Interview with Brian Kirchmann – 1958
Brian was enrolled as a pupil at St David’s in standard 3 in 1950. Both he and his brother had
attended Craighall Primary and when his brother was due to go into the high school at St
David’s it was decided that Brian should go too. Both of them were day boys and Brian
remembers the quad and playing soccer there at break. He had played rugby at Craighall and
had to learn to play soccer on arrival at St David’s.
He recalls his mother used to pack extra sandwiches or tuck for the boarders.
His best year in primary school was standard 4 with Mrs Kempster, he got straight A’s. She was
very strict but a very good teacher and had good and bad dress days. She was followed by Mr
Bishop who was not as strong and the boys used to take advantage as he was not strict
enough. Brian’s marks went down to B’s from standard 6.
There were never more than 20 – 27 in a class and there was one class per standard. It was
tough playing rugby against bigger schools such as KES. The academic side of school took
second place to sport which Brian loved. He played cricket, rugby and participated in swimming
and athletics but not in tennis.
He enjoyed the brothers, they were committed and open to talk to the boys at any time. In
standard 8 he wanted to convert to Catholicism and then go into the brotherhood. Br Ralph
talked to him and told him to think carefully about this, he said that Catholicism was a hard and
strict discipline and to become a brother meant one had to be married to the brotherhood and to
the Catholic church. Br Ralph could see the kind of person Brian would become and Brian later
realized that Br Ralph was right.
Brian remembered Br Edwin (Jack) walked with a stoop following a back injury after a rugby
accident, other brothers were Br Gerald, Br Bonaventure and Br Anthony. They were good
guys, strict but fair and the younger brothers, who weren’t much older than the boys they taught,
used to coach rugby.
He recalled an incident when Br Edwin had previously warned the boys not to play near the
parked cars, a ball rolled under a car and Brian went to get it out from under it, the next moment
he saw a large pair of black shoes and heard Br Edwin telling him to come to his office. He got
six of the best for that However, he felt that the strictness and discipline was good and feels
sorry that his grandchildren no longer experience that kind of discipline. He feels that children
should be given boundaries.
Another time Br Bonaventure had a Science class and some of the boys had concocted an evil
smelling potion in a phial and had broken it filling the classroom with the disgusting smell. Br
Bonaventure calmly told them to close the windows, gave them work to do and went outside
and watched them suffer. The instigators had to run the gauntlet afterwards during break.
During their matric year Br Edwin insisted that the boys still play rugby and cricket after school.
He felt they should have an hour’s sport and then they could continue working, he made them
make time.
In standard 9 Brian went overseas to a scout jamboree during July, August and September
travelling there and back on the “Sterling Castle”. On his return he just managed to scrape
through the exams and because of this didn’t get a very good matric and he rewrote the
following year at Damelin.
His parents had said they would either pay for the overseas trip or for university so he didn’t go
to varsity but underwent a marketing course at the Institute of Marketing Management. He didn’t
regret the experience he had had touring the UK and France with other like minded boys but,
with hindsight he should have repeated standard 9. Overall he really enjoyed his time at St
David’s but his son wanted to go to St Stithians as he had been at Craighall primary and many
of his pals were going there. St David’s was going through a bad patch at the time which also
influenced the decision.
Work wise he started off with an auctioneering and property company with Richard Currie, he
then went on into the plastics industry becoming sales director for Omega Plastics. He was then
head-hunted by Brian Pffaf, joined Southern Sun and was their national sales manager from
1978-83. All the travelling and time away from home created a strain on his married life so he
left and joined a steel furniture manufacturing company for about 7 years. For the latter part of
his working life he was the CEO for Sapoa (South African Property Owners Association) dealing
with commercial property development for 16 years and retired in 2005. Whilst he was with
Sapoa he was responsible for setting up an education programme for the property industry.
Brian and his wife Gail are committed Christians, members of the Bryanston Methodist Church
and do some marriage counselling.
Other contemporaries: Frank Mills – member Parkview Golf Club; John Rushton living in
Pietermaritzburg.
JLE April 2012

Interview with Byron King – 2007
Byron came to St David’s mid-year 1998, grade 3. Byron’s family had relocated from Cape
Town, where he had attended a small government school, to Johannesburg. Debbi Zambon
was his teacher and he recalls that it quite an intense and overwhelming experience for him.
The sport was much more competitive, the buildings formidable and it was very cold.
Johannesburg was very different and he didn’t have as much freedom as he had in the
Cape. His mother Cheryl started working at the school and therefore, Byron spent most of
his time at the school.
Willy Castle ruled the prep with an iron fist, but Byron used to see him at school and
afterwards in a social capacity together with his parents. Byron’s passion was his guitar and
was encouraged and influenced greatly by Rick Wilson the prep school headmaster. He
participated in sport with swimming, soccer, and athletics but he never featured in any top
teams.
Byron though that Ron Thackwell, Mandy Everson and Craig Sinclair were excellent
teachers with Craig having an incredible general knowledge which he imparted to the boys.
Roger McIver was his grade 7 English teacher and although he loved English, he fought him
all the time but now they are the best of friends and Roger is one of his mentors. The prep
boys love to hear the story of how Mr King and Mr McIver didn’t get on. Byron remembers
well the grade 7 lunches with food from Steers when Rick Wilson made a speech and
mentioned every boy in grade 7.
Byron felt more integrated in the high school but wasn’t a member of the main groups. He
became friendly with Dino Zuccolo who was very driven, worked extremely hard and in spite
of that always came second. Boys grew up quickly in high school. In grade 7 you tend to
think you are invincible until the grade 8 camp with guys you had never seen or met before
and of course new teachers. The older boys seemed enormous and the entire grade 8’s
were scared of them. Initiation was fierce and the matrics were vicious with the grade 8’s in
Byron’s year, but the boys respected them. They had a great 1st team rugby and when they
mentored the boys one on one gave them guidance..
By grade 9 the boys became a bit cockier with hormones, girls, cell phones and the
accompaniments of the teenage youth. His class was a close knit group and became more
so after the death from cancer of Justin Bessler which brought them together again after
leaving school.
Byron took sport more seriously in high school and did well in swimming, water polo, and A
and B team rugby. He lived for sport and no longer played his guitar until he reached first
year at varsity. Byron was captain of the B swimming team and captain for one or two rugby
games.
Special events, Byron recalled the New Zealand and Australian rugby tour in his matric year.
The team consisted of 25 boys including 5 from grade 11. Boys on tour generally become
very close and this tour was no exception. His fondest memory is of the 1st team rugby
beating St Stithians at home in 2007. The stands were packed Byron was on the bench the
atmosphere was electric. From a social point of view there was quite a bit of tension as
many of the St David’s boys were friendly with St Stithian’s girls. He also recalled the time in
grade 8 and 9 when St David’s beat KES.
Byron was line-up monitor, but didn’t receive a leadership scroll. Rod Smith told him it was
his sloppy dress and behavioural issues that let him down. Mr Smith was his favourite
teacher teaching English but also covered Life Skills. He always came late by 10 or 15
minutes to start a lesson, although he was very strict on discipline. He was housemaster of
Osmond house which always did well, the theory being that he selected the boys for his
house whilst they were at the grade 8 camp.
Byron also studied Art and found Anneke Carter to be a great teacher and made the subject
so interesting. Once, the boys went with her to the Carlton Centre to draw the Johannesburg
skyline. She allowed the boys some freedom for 40 minutes and many of them wandered off
with the result that they arrived back at school late and missed several other lessons. In his
matric Byron achieved a distinction in Art with several other boys, he didn’t struggle with the
history of Art and spent many Saturday afternoons doing pracs in the Art room.
Walter Thompson was the boys’ rugby coach from grade 8 to grade 10 and taught Maths.
The boys really enjoyed him, he treated them well but they understood the line they
shouldn’t cross. He treated the boys like adults on the rugby tour and they rewarded him with
the U16 rugby team winning all their matches. Then for some reason things changed and the
boys became demotivated and lost the drive to win.
Marius Buys was an interesting teacher coaching rugby and teaching Afrikaans and
Geography.
Byron was awarded scrolls for U16A rugby, U14A rugby. He did help out with the SMILE
programme once but unfortunately didn’t have time to participate more than that. He
performed in house plays in grade 11, auditioned for the school play but wasn’t selected.
Byron respected the ethos of St David’s and realised it was a privilege to have received a
Marist education with its focus on modesty, humility and simplicity.
After Matric, Byron took a gap year and together with Cameron McLullich went to St
Augustine’s a Marist school in Cairns, Australia near the Great Barrier Reef. The school
uniform was different but the ethos was very similar. A top boy’s school it was run by Marist
brothers in their 40’s upwards, living on the premises. The head brother Michael was aged
about 55 and Byron enjoyed the Brothers innovative and modern approach to Marist
education, It influenced his eventual decision to become a teacher. He visited 3 Marist
schools whilst in Australia – St Josephine’s in Sydney, Marist Ashgrove in Brisbane. All, the
schools offered boarding and were absolutely phenomenal. Two Australian Brothers are
starting a Marist organisation and members will be recognised as an official Marist educator.
On his return to South Africa, Byron went to Stellenbosch to study for a BComm but
absolutely hated it and decided to return to Johannesburg and study to become a teacher.
He started working and studying through Unisa simultaneously and regards himself as
extremely fortunate to have Rick Wilson as his guide and mentor. Teaching is very different
now with the use of Ipads, laptops and smart boards etc.
Byron is currently an intern at St David’s and believes he is fortunate to have guidance from
Rick Wilson and other prep school teachers.
JLE August 2013

Interview with Cecil Thokoane – 1985
Cecil came to St David’s in June 1982 at the age of 12 into standard 7 and matriculated in 1985
age 16. Cecil was born in Soweto and went to a government school for his primary schooling. In
standard 3 his teacher thought he was too smart and he was promoted to standard 4. Cecil’s
mother wanted him to go to a Catholic school either Holy Cross or St Matthews, run by the
nuns. In May 1982 Sister Michael gave him a letter in which he was awarded a scholarship by
British Petroleum for tuition at St David’s. Fortunately his school colours were the same and he
got the rest of his school uniform from the swop shop. It was quite an experience, not knowing
who, where or what but he was made to feel welcome and at home. Even so it was quite a
transition and, since his mother had taken him to school by tram which stopped at Dunkeld he
had to find his own way home and got lost walking back. Eventually he used to ride in a Combi
with much younger boys to school but as he had to stay later for sport he had to use public
transport to get home. He used to have to get up at 5.00am and spend an hour travelling to
school and when he had sport it would take him even longer to get home.
He remembers meeting Mr Murphy and being mobbed the first lunch hour and given a crash
course in rugby. He went into Osmond house and when he finally settled in was able to excel
academically. He learnt to play rugby, becoming quite a good player making the A team. He
also performed well at athletics and collected a number of accolades including being awarded
the Sandton Mayorial Trophy two years in a row and breaking the record for the 800m.
Cecil was not a member of the swimming team and tells the story of how he nearly drowned
earning the wrath of Willy Castle. He had been at the school a couple of months, it was the
beginning of the summer/spring season and PT shifted to the swimming pool where the boys
were going to play water-polo. Being just 12 he thought he could just swim and got into the pool
at the deep end and promptly proceeded to sink. Fortunately one of his class mates, Steve the
American, spotted him and rescued him. By lunch time the whole school knew that he had
nearly drowned and he only started taking lessons two years ago in 2009 overcoming his fear.
Cecil enjoyed playing rugby and gradually improved becoming quite a good kicker. His first
rugby game was quite funny as he had literally been given a week’s classroom tutorial about the
game. He went in as a sub and when he first saw this mean faced, spitting, fuming guy from
Parktown Boys barrelling down on him and, even though it was his first game ever, he sensed
that if he were to let him go past he would score and right royally embarrass him. He caught him
with a high tackle, he didn’t score, they were penalised but didn’t lose any points. This was his
debut into 4 years of sweat, pain and fun as well.
He remembered a particular rugby game. It was during an U14 game and St David’s was trailing
9-11. He thought they had lost the game, in front of a full crowd waiting to watch the 1st team
match against Marist Observatory, the match of the season and compulsory. There were literally
a few minutes left to the last whistle and as fullback he was lounging under the poles and then
they were awarded a penalty 10 or so metres into their half. He thought that the front would run
the ball and attempt a try. Next thing he heard his name being called, the team wanted him to
kick for goal and earn 3 points. He told them it was too far and they shouted that he had made
those kind of kicks during practise. So all of a sudden everyone was looking at him, the whole
place was quiet. He went up, made a nice sand mound and started taking his back-step, only
this time he went back at least 20 metres; all the while saying his Hail Marys. He took what felt
like a long slow motion run and kicked that ball with all his might. His kick was dead straight
and, from his vantage point it looked as if the ball had fallen short. Next thing the whole stadium
erupted with jubilation. It took seconds for him to realise that he had scored the penalty from
that distance and had also won the school the game. His moment of glory! The first team went
on to win their match and on monday he had the pleasure of the whole episode being recounted
to the school at assembly.
Another game he remembered was an U14 away game at Parktown Boys, the ref was a 1st year
student from Wits and half the guys were bigger than Cecil. They had been having a bad
season so the game deteriorated pretty quickly and the ref completely lost control with full on
brawls on the field. The game was abandoned and Cecil was in a bit of a fix because he
planned to walk from Parktown Boys into town to catch his bus home. After the fight he was the
only blue and yellow rugby shirt in a sea of black and red. In the spirit of sportsmanship they
chuckled about the fights during the game as he made his way to the gate – the year of living
dangerously.
Most rugby games were a mixture of excitement and fear. There simply weren’t many black
children playing rugby and a lot of times Cecil could see the other team marking him up as he
got off the bus in all cases to try and make his game a misery. However he was lightning fast
and they couldn’t catch him most of the time and his Marist brothers and team mates were
always close by to bring woe unto whoever felt the urge to harm him outside the normal rules of
the game. Unfortunately because the riots were so bad, he stopped playing rugby in Matric and
he didn’t make the 1st team.
The teachers he remembered were Mrs Evans for making him feel welcome when he first
arrived at St David’s. Mrs Evans caused an explosion during a Chemistry class. She was
showing how sodium, he thought, reacted with water. The boys started to urge her to throw in
larger chunks and a large explosion followed which the boys thought was awesome but left Mrs
Evans very red-faced.
Mr Boswell understood where he came from and found a family, the Hoffmeyers for him to stay
with during the Matric exams literally saving his life as the Combi he normally travelled in was
attacked and he would have been targeted. Mr Colia was always cold and hard but made him
want to really prove himself at Maths. Mr Farrel,for enabling him to enjoy History, his only
distinction in Matric and Mrs Elliot for teaching him to love Shakespeare. He shocked her by
getting a first class English pass for Matric, so much so that she wrote him a card expressing
her joy.
Cecil was awarded scrolls for History and Biology. He couldn’t participate in school plays etc
because the travelling was so difficult. He used to get nervous doing orals in front of the class
and remembers talking about his then hobby ballroom dancing which caused some hilarity. On
his last day he wrote Afrikaans and stayed with the Hoffmeyers going home the following
weekend. He was sad to leave St David’s where he had grown up intellectually and as a person.
He had an awesome time and came into an environment where he became good at sport and
was given the opportunity to reach new heights.
After school Cecil went to Wits to study mining engineering which was a disaster as he realised
he was not mechanically inclined. He then went to the University of the Western Cape where he
studied for a BSc majoring in Maths and Physics and his minors were in Computer Science and
Applied Maths with dreams of working as a nuclear physicist. Later he also completed an MBL
through Unisa. Although he was sponsored by BP he was recruited by Engen when his career
in IT began. He also worked for the stock exchange, IBM and a start up company for 3 years
which failed. He then went on to Dimension Data and worked with Jason Goodall, an Old Boy of
the same year, as chief technical officer for Middle and East Africa. Jason is currently the MD of
Dimension Data. Cecil is now running his own company; Galeboe Professional Services which
has grown 300 – 400%.He is a finalist in the Finance Week competition for entrepreneurs.
Cecil is also vice-chairperson of the Unisa Alumni Committee and a non-executive director of
the Unisa School of Business Leadership. He has three daughters Jade 13, Tyler 11 and Eisha
6 all pupils at St Teresa’s where his wife went to school.
He is a member of MOBS and is in touch with a number of old boys such as Jason Goodall,
Branden Aab, Solly Maponya, Walter Cronje, Jeremy Franklin, Eugene Taylor, Paul Johnston
and Rees Carr.
JLE June 2012

Interview with Chris Busschau – 1965
The Busschau family association with St David’s and the Marist schools began in 1889 when
Peter Busschau was the first boy to arrive at the Marist School at Koch Street, Johannesburg. In
those days Johannesburg was a mining town and Peter Busschau lived, like most of the
inhabitants, in a tent. Peter was the third of three sons and the older boys went to CBC in
Kimberly whilst the family was living there. When his father was transferred back to
Johannesburg, Peter went first to the End Street Convent until Koch Street was opened.
Later Observatory, now Sacred Heart was opened as an off-site campus and his father went
there as did Peter’s four sons. St David’s initially was not a separate school but rather an
extension of Observatory and Koch Street which closed in 1964.
Chris only attended St David’s for two years as his father was based in Port Elizabeth and he
went to the Marist school in PE. When father was transferred to Johannesburg and Chris came
to St David’s he was at the outset very intimidated coming from St Patrick’s, a poor relation to St
David’s. St David’s was regarded as a vastly superior and wealthy school, with a very high
standard both academically and on the sports field. At that time all the Marist boys in standard 6
wrote the Marist school exams and St David’s always had a disproportionately high number of
boys who achieved high marks.
On Chris’s first day, aged 16, his parents dropped him off at the main gate. He made his way
into the school and ended up next to the auditorium and was asked by Terry Ray if he was a
new boy and chatted to him about the class he was going to. This was quite a coincidence as
Brother Vincent had previously suggested that he meet up with him and a number of other boys
including Terry Rosenberg, Drummond Robinson and Tony Wickens. Chris’s fears were
immediately dissipated and he settled in very quickly. Now years later he is still in touch with
Terry Ray, now living in Toronto and Terry Rosenberg living in Durban, and he regularly sees
Tony and Drummond.
The head of the school was Brother Anthony who was very much the king during that era. Br
Anthony had formerly been the head of the prep school in PE and was a strong leader, very
astute and had the skill of being able to harness both educational and administrative skills. He
had the firm commitment from the parent body and others outside of the school and of course
the boys too. His nickname was “Aunges” because of his Scottish pronunciation of oranges.
Chris a day boy, played cricket, was very keen, a member of the first team. He went on to play
serious cricket when he left school. Due to a knee injury he did not participate in rugby but
played hockey and tennis, ran the mile and represented the school in cross-country but was not
a good swimmer. He recalled a chap in his class Roy Hutton who gained Springbok colours for
swimming. Chris was steady academically and achieved a first class matric, B level.
The main events that stand out, were the mass on the closing of Koch Street and the launch of
Marion College. Several thousand pupils wearing the Marist uniforms and what seemed like
hundreds of brothers were around, and photos of the event were carried in the local press. The
Mass was held in the Catholic Cathedral near to Koch Street.
In 1964 he recalls the first St David’s Old Boy to be ordained as a priest – Michael Linden who
celebrated his first mass in the old chapel.
Chris Terreblanche was the head boy in 1964, he became a doctor and died tragically on a run
5 years ago (2006). He was an extraordinary boy and man, handsome, charismatic,
intellectually gifted and a great athlete, sprinter. He recalled him beating against all odds, Paul
Nash, the glamour sprinter from Michaelhouse, at nationals.
In standard 9 he remembers a guest speaker at prize giving, Prof Bozzolli who was then the
vice-chancellor of Wits University. He made a powerful speech in which he said that the word
school is a collective noun as a school is made up of pupils, teachers, ground staff etc. This
speech probably coloured Chris’s attitude and loyalty to St David’s.
On leaving St David’s he went into the army, completed his army service and went on to study
economics at Wits University. His first job was with Anglo American as a junior economist. At
that time he was involved in politics, Zac De Beer being his boss, who later became a member
of parliament for the Progressive party. Chris stood as a candidate and experienced problems
with the security police spending a night in police custody. Much to his relief he was released
the following morning, unlike many other hapless individuals who were held for much longer
periods. Later he worked as a financial journalist and met his wife Pam who was a ballet dancer
with Pact, as was his sister Ann. He had 3 sons and 2 daughters. He ended up in the financial
world with the Standard Bank Group for many years and now does consultancy work for the
financial services board. All his 3 sons taught at St David’s at some stage in their careers and
currently Ian is still teaching here. His grandchild, Owen is registered to start in grade 00 and
will carry on the Busschau tradition now 5th generation.
Chris has continued to be involved with the school and was a member of the old boys on
leaving. There was a monthly pub night at the old Balalaika Hotel, stag dinners, dinner dances
and he watched the rugby matches and attended some of the athletic meetings. He became
more involved when Patrick started at the school. The infamous John Murphy was head when
he started in the prep school. Chris eventually was invited onto various committees and was
involved with fund raising activities and the Busschau family traditionally ran the hamburger
stand. He was eventually elected onto the PTA in 1989 until 1999. He was
vice-chairman for 5 -6 years and then became chairman from 1995 to 1999 and, as result also
served on the board of governors. He has been a member of the old boys committee for the
past 10 years.
Chris is also a member of the Liturgical Executive of the SA Catholic Bishops Conference, and a
member of the finance committee that handles justice and peace programmes. He is also
chairman of the board of Radio Veritas.
Other items of interest:
Br Edwin, head from 1950 until 1957, had family connections with Neil McGurk, who is now
living in Durban. Neil was extremely talented, an SA schools cricketer who became a brother.
He has doctorate in nuclear physics and used to fly to Harvard every year and oversee a final
programme for the students there.
In the old boy’s Magazine, about 3-4 years ago is an article about the legendary matrics who
stole exam papers.
Darryl Boswell had a nervous breakdown and couldn’t cope and hence Trudy Elliot was
appointed Acting Head for the final term in 1988
JE August 2011

Chris Daras – 1976
Chris was a boarder at St David’s from standard 1 in 1967. In standard 6, 1972 the boarding
was closed down completely. Chris’s brother George was already a day boy and their parents
lived on the corner of Bompas Road and Jan Smuts Avenue.
Chris hated boarding, only being allowed home for one weekend a month so he was quite
pleased to become a day boy. Whilst he was a boarder he was fortunate to have a friend,
Andrew McCartney who used to invite him for Sunday breakfast. Andrew’s father was one of the
first ophthalmologists in South Africa and took Chris to work with him, it was then that Chris
decided on ophthalmology as a career.
Because of the boarding facility there were many boys from the Congo, Mozambique and other
parts of Southern Africa but when it closed many of those boys went to St John’s College and
boarded there.
Chris recalled the dining room and the kitchen where the tuck shop is now and remembers that
they were given an avocado once a week at breakfast.
On his first day Chris made friends with Neil Jacobs, now a cardiologist in Sydney; Les Pullman
who is chief financial officer for Nandos, with whom he is still in touch, the Lebos brothers,
Martin Gill, Roberto Berti, Mark Otto qualified as a dentist and then became a professional wind
surfer, John Lawrenson – professor of paediatric cardiology, Children’s Hospital C.T., John
Hazkins and Tim Parr who formed a band called “Elemental”, he was good at English and once
someone upset him in class and he just stood on a desk and kicked him. There was a golfer,
Fulton Allem who was a friend of the Kouries and Lebos families, he used to practise on the
rugby fields and ended up winning the Million Dollar Golf at Sun City. All in Chris’s group did
pretty well but some sadly have since passed away - Mark Meyer, Basil Sopas and Nick
Georgidos
The school has changed enormously. The pool was built during Chris’s time and the boys used
to play war games where the tennis courts are now. A sculptor, Baldinelli or Villa lived in the
house nearby and used to scream at the boys to be quiet and they retaliated by throwing stones
at the metal sculptures.
Of the teachers he remembers Bill Karoo who taught Biology in the high school and Chris went
with him and Heather Joseph on a trip to Europe, George Maritz, a ducktail with brylcreamed
hair and pointed shoes.
Brother Anthony was the initial headmaster followed by Br. Timothy. The dormitories were
above what is now Willy Castle’s office and Chris can remember listening to the radio broadcast
of the first landing on the moon one Sunday. He recalls Br Mario and Br Aidan and saw Br
Bernard carve the statue that now stands outside the chapel. The brothers used to make the
boarders weed the playing fields on a Saturday to keep them busy. The school did well with
horse riding with the paddocks where the grade 00 block now stands. The team won the
national schools jumping competition at Hickstead in England. Bishop Tutu came to speak to
the boys in the auditorium and began by saying he wasn’t there to make a political speech and
then proceeded to do just that. He made a big impact on many of the boys
Chris’s matric year was the year that one of the brothers took the boys out to a movie followed
by supper.
There was a rumour in his matric year that there were going to be attacks on white schools and
unbeknown to the teachers, many of the boys took guns to school. Chris was a prefect, vicecaptain
of College house and was awarded his honours blazer for studies, merit and athletics.
Chris was a runner, played rugby and sometimes captained the 2nd rugby team and was a
member of the B swimming team..
Although many of the boys didn’t realise it at the time, St David’s carried a lot of prestige with
the institutions of higher learning. St David’s also went against what the government of the day
stood for and school was important for that reason. The first black children were admitted as
pupils in 1975. That ethos came through and with many of the old boys that thinking has not
changed.
Chris didn’t do well academically but passed matric and went on to Wits University where he
studied for 5 degrees – Initially a BSc Hons in neuro-chemistry for 6 years followed by yeast
technology at Stellenbosch and then eventually he went into ophthalmology. Whilst at Wits he
joined a student march and met Philip Tobias. Chris had some money and decided to study until
the money ran out; also it was a way of avoiding the army. If you registered for under-graduate
courses you were not called up. However, in 1989 the army caught up with him and he ended
up as serving for a year as an eye doctor stationed in Pretoria with an office next door to Wouter
Basson.
Chris has two sons who are currently pupils at St David’s and he is a member of MOBS.
JLE June 2012

Interview with Craig Wallington – 2007
Craig began his career at St David’s in 1995 at the age of 6 in grade 0. In his matric year, he
recalled that there were more boys than in previous years who had completed 13 years at
the school.
Craig’s first teacher was Mrs Sternberg and she left at the end of his year as did his teachers
for grade1, 2 and 3 but he felt redeemed when Mrs Jones in grade 4 stayed on! He has fond
memories of his grade 0 class with prayers before lunch. One of the boys accused another
of having his eyes open during prayers to which Mrs Sternberg replied “How do you know”?
Craig particularly enjoyed grade 4 with Heather Joseph as his Art teacher. He enjoyed the
sport and was the vice captain of cricket in grade 5 and swimming in grade 7. He played
tennis and hockey. At St David’s you got to do everything and, although not a phenomenal
sports person, he played sport every term.
Craig was a member of “The Bishops” from grade 0 to grade 9 but when he chose to study
Zulu instead of Afrikaans he had to move to “Osmond”. Zulu was very new to St David’s with
Mrs Ntombeni the teacher. Eventually Craig decided to go back to Afrikaans at the beginning
of the third term in grade 10. He set his mind to mastering the subject and was awarded the
subject prize in matric.
Teachers who made an impression on him were Mr McIver in grade 5 and 6, Mr Midgley
who taught Maths in grade 7 and Mrs Everson, English. In the high school all the teachers
were really good and Craig couldn’t really point out anyone in particular but Ms D King was
very helpful, also Simon Holderness who taught Maths and was his tutor. Mrs Nagy was
brilliant and Craig believed that her class dynamics were really good. The standard was high
and Craig started study groups with the grade 8’s in the library for the final exams. Craig
achieved academically throughout his time at St David’s.
Craig was involved with public speaking, debating, chess- captain, junior city council where
he met his current girlfriend, annual book quizzes and study groups. Anything you wanted to
achieve was possible and even more so now with Music and Art. He was involved with the
SMILE programme which he found to be an amazing experience. Craig enjoyed St David’s
as there were so many different ways in which one could excel. He was recognised for his
achievements in an environment where academics are recognised and sport did not override
that.
As for the school camps the only one he really enjoyed was the grade 4 Bush Pigs camp.
The grade 9 camp was also super with good leadership experience and a great spirit of
adventure. Craig learnt a lot about himself, although it was a terrifying experience most of
the time. In grade 10 they went hiking in the Drakensberg which he felt was madness and
ended up often hiking alone. The grade 11 camp he recalls was wet and very muddy, it
poured with rain the whole time. They had to cross a bridge to get into the camp and their
shoes were absolutely caked with mud.
Although most of his experiences at St David’s were generally good he does remember that
in grade 9, all the boys were punished when only a few didn’t attend the inter house Music
competition. The matric group that year wasn’t great.
His closest friends were also with him from grade 0, Gianluca Sacco, Connor Williams,
Duncan Otridge and Daniel Chappel, they are now even better friends than they were at
school. He also remembers Benjamin Ndimurukundu in grade 11 with whom he played
doubles, tennis and working together with Tyson Sithole,
Craig felt that St David’s fosters a learning attitude with the influences the teachers had, they
were so accommodating especial when Craig decided to take Accounts as an extra subject.
However a school cannot prepare you for everything and at university one had more
responsibility for one’s self.
Craig became a prefect was awarded honours for academics and (general academics,
cultural and leadership).
On a personal level Craig remembers bumping into Paul Edey when he was in grade 6, Paul
saying “I hear you are the next Daniel Wright”. Craig always studied since grade 8 and
always worked on something beyond his immediate objective and received continuous
positive reinforcement. His goal in matric was to come first in Afrikaans which he achieved,
winning the Buckley-Jones trophy for Afrikaans. Craig was always winning prizes throughout
his school career and in grade 12 was awarded the BR Hunt Trophy for Dux of the school
and the following trophies:
Walter Cronje Trophy for Additional Mathematics; the Phillimore Trophy for English; the
Matric 1991 Trophy for Biology; Thomas McFadden Trophy for History; Mayat Trophy for
Computer Studies; Ryder Bowl for Academic Achievement and the Gian-Paolo Pera
Accounting Prize.
The matric Dance was very special with the grade 11’s organising an amazing event “Cirque
De Soleil”. Marc Neto was head of the MDC and Graham Gallow gave his speech
acknowledging the fact that everyone was there and being a very close knit group.
On leaving St David’s Craig studied for a B Acc Science and was in the top twenty on four
occasions. He completed his honours and in his 2nd year Account articles but is in his first
year at PWC.
Craig is a member of MOBs and would definitely send any sons to St David’s.
JLE June 2013

Interview with Darko Vidas 1962
Darko joined St David’s in 1960 after living in Namibia. His mother had died and eventually his
father decided to move to Johannesburg hoping for a better life for his children. Darko was a
boarder and found the first year to be very hard; it was difficult to get acquainted with everyone
and everything, plus the fact that he went overseas for two months to Europe and Croatia to
meet his family there.
Darko was quite a rebellious child and initially found the discipline at St David’s to be a difficult
change from life as he knew it. Brother Anthony had just been appointed headmaster and he
began by reading the boys the riot act as he was determined to change the ethos of the school
and behaviour of the boys. Darko thought he would get thrown out of the school!
His first day was quite horrific. Getting organised, classrooms, teachers and books he needed. It
was a very different environment from Namibia where he went to a much poorer, dual medium –
English and Afrikaans school and discipline was a big issue. His English was never very good
as he had been brought up in his mother tongue of Croatian until he went to school and he
battled with the language.
He now speaks Croatian, English, Afrikaans, German and a little Zulu and firmly believes in
introducing other languages to children as it gives them a greater vista and an advantage.
He also remembers serving at mass in Namibia, if you did this the nuns gave you breakfast
which included delicious rye bread and polony.
He really enjoyed his time at St David’s, making good friends, with whom he really bonded.
They shared everything, which was a great experience; he mixed with boys from different walks
of life – richer and poorer than himself – having compassion for one another. The brothers
showed love and compassion even though they were disciplinarians. As far as he was
concerned there were no cons to boarding school life at St David’s, for him it became his home
and haven as he no longer had a mother at home. He also remembered that the food was very
good.
Some of the Old Boys he is still in touch with and some he remembers:
Alec Quail Steven Muller
Doug Wickins Mike von Guilleaume
John Daly Rugani - deceased
Alf Smith Tonetti - deceased
The last day he can’t remember which exam he wrote. He remembers that he wasn’t happy
about leaving and knew he would always be back. It was the end of an era and he was sad
about it.
The boys were made to play sport and he played 1st team rugby and was vice –captain of 1st
rugby team, although he had never played before. He was also a good athlete. His record with
cricket was rather ignominious as, during net practice he disgraced himself and managed to
injure one of the school’s best batsmen. Needless to say he wasn’t encouraged to continue. He
was nicknamed “Bull”, was rugby prop and was injured in a match against KES. Whilst he was
in hospital, Br Anthony told the boys to go to church and pray for Bulls recovery.
His class was the smallest matric class ever, just 17 of them, but they played against all the top
schools and beat Observatory for the first time in 1961 away (3-0) 1962 at home (6-8).
As teachers, he didn’t think the brothers were particularly good but they were certainly always
encouraging and supportive. The brothers at the time were Br Anthony, Br. Gerard, Br Liam, Br
Dennis who coached rugby and Br Ignatius and there were some lay teachers in the junior
school. Br Gerard was kind, compassionate and a dedicated teacher who helped him a lot with
his English and gave him extra lessons at no charge. He put up a stage production of “Hamlet”.
All the boys had to learn the roles and not only learn the words but understand and interpret the
meaning. He was also the senior master for the boarders and used to feed them extra food in
the form of cakes from the brother’s fridge.
The brothers were a family in themselves and motivated all the pupils and taught them to be
innovative and to think laterally. They taught them to understand what they were trying to do
and not just to learn another formula.
He remembers that he and some of the other boys built a stage for a production of “Swan Lake”.
They took Gertie, the school bus to collect wood from some of the boys. However that didn’t
come to anything and eventually the wood was donated. When it was finished it had to be
transported from the wood workshop to the school hall (now the library) and all the boarders
mucked in and helped.
Alex Quail and Darko shared a big trunk in which they kept their books and punishment for
some of the younger boarders was to carry this trunk from their classroom back to the study.
Once, a couple of boys dropped the trunk, which then went sliding down the stairs nearly wiping
out Brother Anthony. The poor boys even got caned, an additional punishment however Brother
Anthony didn’t cane hard as he really didn’t believe in caning.
Another time the boarders went on strike protesting about the food and one boy even sang a
ditty
“Sausage in the morning, sausage in the evening sausage at super time”. Brother Gerard who
was in charge of the boarders had a soft heart and often used to open the brothers fridge and
hand out some food.
An incident, where he got into trouble after complaining about an English test, led him to be
disciplined by Br Anthony. He was not allowed to wear his honours blazer for 3 months. It was
very hard for him but he learnt the true meaning of the school motto “Comfortare esto vir - Take
courage and be a man”. Br Anthony was the cornerstone of his life, always there to listen and
offer advice and was a guest at Darko’s wedding.
Darko was vice captain of Osmond house and a prefect.
Darko’s first girlfriend, who was with him at his matric dance, much to his horror, became a nun,
however they kept in touch until she died.
When he left school he went into the navy. He volunteered together with Doug Wickins.
Afterwards he started an apprenticeship with Eskom as an electrician but he decided this
wouldn’t get him very far and studied electrical engineering at night at the Wits technikon. When
qualified he joined Siemens where he stayed for 41 years until he retired.
He brought his future wife to St David’s and remembers telling her that any sons of his would be
pupils at the school. He continued to be an active member of the school community and served
several terms on the PTA from and on the board of governors as a well as on the old boys
committee and the old boy’s bursary fund, but hastened to add that many of his compatriots did
likewise. Darko was also good friends with the now infamous headmaster John Murphy. Darko
being a boxer had something in common with him. Darko was at that time chairman of MOBS
and was on the board of governors. He was distressed to here of Murphy’s wrestling exploits
but agreed he had to go when his falsification of qualifications also came to light.
JE May 2011

Interview with Darryl Jago – 2006
Darryl came to St David’s from Montrose primary school in 2000 going into grade 6. His older brother was
already at St David’s.
Initially he found the classrooms were much bigger than the ones he had been used to and they had a
strange platform which the teachers used. His first class teacher was Mrs Whitfield. The tuck-shop had a
wider variety of food and he found it interesting to be in a monastic set-up as opposed to the co-educational
environment of Montrose.
Darryl found it easy to make friends especially as Sebastian Ridley and Karabo Mooki had been assigned
the task of looking after him. Church was a very big thing especially coming from a school with no strong
religious affiliations and it became quite interesting. Darryl’s father was Protestant and his mother came
from an Anglican background.
Darryl loved the sport and participated in cricket, soccer, athletics – the 1500m. He also tried swimming but
soon acquired the nickname “Rocky” as he always sank to the bottom!
In grade 8 all the boys had to wear massive name tags, carry a rock around with them and perform different
drills until they passed the new boys exam. On reaching high school Darryl became a keen hockey player
and was a member of the U14A - captain, U15A - captain, U16A and 1st teams. He currently plays premier
league hockey and coached 1st prep school hockey and 2nd team high hockey whilst at university and whilst
teaching at St David’s. He also played cricket. He recalled that Alex Gitlin, master in charge of hockey was
tough to get on with but once Darryl understood his purpose he then related well to him. He was an
incredible geography teacher and the best school boy hockey coach around. Darryl will always remember
the excitement of being the first year to play on the Astro turf and wearing the white scarf of the 1st team.
Darryl also enjoyed the cultural aspect of the school and participated in the inter-house plays and being
involved with the likes of Kalil, Schneider, Lambert and Roszinski. He also enjoyed debating, played a role
in the school parliament. Champagnat Day was always special, so too being able to walk on the grass in
matric.
Deanne King developed Darryl’s passion for English and he enjoyed her classes, Willy Castle was
fantastic, and made him pick up litter even when he had a broken toe and couldn’t participate in athletics.
Paul Edey had a huge persona; he was an incredible man teaching History and guidance with fire and
passion. He commanded respect from the boys with ease. Darryl remembered the night bus ride to the
grade 8 camp at Glenmore and getting to know everyone. On that camp were Rod Smith, Graeme
Mcmillan, and Phil Andrew who made all the boys line up in the pouring rain. Rod Smith was one of the
best teachers Darryl ever had and recalls his enthusiastic rendering of the “Best of Bosman”.
Academically Darryl did well in the prep school being a year younger than his peers having come from
Natal where schooling starts earlier. However in the high school he really only began to focus again in
matric. Darryl saw the teachers in a different light towards the end of his matric year.
The matric dance had a “Troy” theme and was held at the Wanderers with the traditional after party and
many stories followed. The last day the boys organised a goat and tried to create a zoo, they also stole the
doorknobs of the downstairs classrooms, there was toilet paper everywhere and the inevitable waterballoons.
After the shirt signing, they all met at Cobblestones at Montecasino to celebrate. The following
week many of the boys were back asking for revision lessons to help with the exams.
After matriculating, Darryl began studying a BComm but soon recognised that he had a passion for the law
and transfered to the University of South Africa where he completed his LLB. He was then unsure which
career path to take and, whilst he was coaching at the prep school, Rick Wilson encouraged him to become
a teacher. In 2012 he embarked on a teaching internship with Lisa Hatfield and taught Life Orientation,
History and coached various sports in the senior primary.
He was then approached by a representative of Total with an offer of a legal internship which he couldn’t
refuse. He is being retained for one year as an advisor in the legal department and currently provides direct
legal support to the head of legal and the expatriate office. He is dealing with competition law matters,
general litigation, compliance projects and contract management. He is now signed up to join a big law firm
next year to go into private practice with Hogan Lovells. Law is constantly changing and Darryl finds the
situation both challenging and competitive.
Darryl has completed two post-graduate qualifications at the University of the Witwatersrand and will
complete four more this year, eventually converting these into a Masters degree. He will be specialising in
competition law, company law and labour law respectively.
Darryl feels that the time he spent at St David’s teaching helped him mature, refine his interpersonal skills,
improve his command of the English language. Without this he doubts that he would have had this
opportunity and potential for the future.
Darryl is still involved with MOBS and is passionate about his school although he probably won’t be able to
devote as much time to it as he would like in the future.
JLE March 2014

Interview with David Braun – 1972
David attended St David’s from 1967 to 1972 and his brother Jamie until 1974 and some of the
track records he set were unbroken for several years after he left. His father, Max Braun was
chairman of the PTA at one time.
David was a day boy apart from a stint at boarding in 1970. He remembers brothers such as Br
Patrick his class teacher in standard 5, Br Andrew who taught him Maths, Br Ezekiel also
Maths, Br Bosco\Mario – Science, Br Timothy – Biology and Catholic Doctrine, Br Bernard –
housemaster, Br Anthony – headmaster, Br Aidan – Latin and bursar. David was grateful for the
education he received at St David’s, especially the Brothers, but also some amazing lay
teachers. Br Timothy’s Biology classes inspired him to become very interested in the natural
world and he subsequently has ended up doing working for National Geographic.
He appreciated the liberal aspects of his education, especially from the brothers and other
teachers who openly questioned the morality of separate development and who taught the boys
to understand and appreciate History, Geography and Science all of which has served him well.
He regarded himself as having received a strong education at St David’s and various South
Africa universities.
David was not much of an athlete at school, he tried swimming in his earlier years and the last
rugby match he played was for the U15 C team and vividly remembered a match played against
St John’s as being particularly dirty in the scrum. He was a prop and received several injuries in
that game, including a bite and a very hard blow to the groin. It was only after he left school that
he found enjoyment in running and completed 12 marathons including the Two Oceans twice.
He recalls other boys and in particular Robert Tine who left to attend a fashionable school in
Swaziland and became a famous novelist of stories based on popular movies. David and Robert
were members of their own secret society in 1969, complete with covert awards and medals
which they used to wear on the underside of their blazer lapels. The society’s only function was
to mock the more obnoxious teachers and prefects. It was an amusement during the breaks.
On leaving school, David did his national service with a couple of Marist boys at 3SAI in
Potchefstroom and then was transferred to the military police in Wonderboom and
Voortrekkerhoogte and didn’t do any camps after basic training. He then enrolled at RAU for a
BA in Political Science and International Politics,doing his studies in Afrikaans, his second
language. He completed two years then dropped out to become a journalist. He later completed
his BA via Unisa. He added a post-graduate diploma in strategic marketing from Unisa and
some credits for an MBA at the Wits Business School.
David’s student career was marked by political activism, first as a member of the Young South
Africans of the United Party then as a young Prog chairman and deputy chairman of the
Southern Witwatersrand region of the Young Progs. He also served on the federal executive of
the Young Progs under the chairmanship of Bobby Godsell who later on became chairman of
the SA Chamber of Mines and CEO of AngloGold.
In 1976 he joined Argus Newspapers as a cadet journalist on Pretoria News and worked for
some 17 years for the newspaper group now Independent Newspapers, becoming political
correspondent of The Star when he was 29 and Washington bureau chief when he was 34. He
returned to SA as an executive editor on a couple of Durban newspapers and then emmigrated
with his family to the US in 1995. He has been with National Geographic for more than 15 years,
the last 5 of which he has been VP editor in chief for National Geographic digital media.
David is a dual citizen of the United States and South Africa and is married to Caroline Melhliss,
also a journalist on the Pretoria News. They have a daughter, a psychologist and a son who
works on web development for the army small business unit at the Pentagon.
David has travelled widely in his career and privately but notably he travelled with four SA
Presidents, P W Botha to Zaire, Ivory Coast and several countries in Europe; De Klerk to the
US, Mandela on his North American tour and Mbeki to the UN in New York. He also travelled
with President Clinton to four African countries and Mexico a few years before he left office. He
has been to more than 80 countries, more than 50 as a working journalist. He has taught
journalism in South Africa, the U.S. and Russia. He has published two books and has solid
plans for three more and intends to be very active in his retirement.
JLE November 2012

Interview with Earl Morais – 1989
Earl came to St David’s with his brother in 1980 as their parents wanted them to have a good education. As
far as he is aware they were the first coloured boys to be admitted to the school. His brother Kurt started in
grade 0 and Earl in standard 2 with Mrs Hayley as his first teacher. The boys both started a week late after
the school term had begun and were interviewed by Mr Manolios.
It was quite a culture shock for Earl with only one black pupil, Siphiso, in his class having come from a coeducational
environment into a monastic one. Compared to his previous school, he found St David’s to be
very competitive from a sporting perspective. Earl couldn’t swim a stroke and Willy Castle, his Physical
Education teacher told him to just get into the pool and I will teach you how to swim. Earl was an
accomplished swimmer by the time he left St David’s.
The teachers he remembers are of course Willy Castle to whom he feels he owes a lot; Mrs Anderson, a
strict Afrikaans teacher; Mrs Bowles, standard 3; Mr Buchanan, standard 4. Mr Kotze, standard 5 ; Ms
Joseph –Art ; Mr Bronkhorst – Sport and in the high school he recalls Mrs De Wet, standard 8 ; Mr De
Sousa, standard 9; Mr Hill; Mr Van Rooyen, standard 7; Mrs Marais, standard 10; Mr Webster, standard 6 ;
Mr Finlayson, high school sport(rugby) and Mrs Trudy Elliott who was a magnificent English teacher. Br
Ephraim was a disciplinarian but very popular.
The paddock was where the Mini-Marist is now based and George the tractor driver working with Willy Van
De Merwe kept the fields in pristine condition. Willy was a mechanic, builder, canoeist and runner. Mr
Norton was also a canoeist and Willy Castle encouraged Willy to run.
The retreats were an eye opener and often quite difficult but the teachers handled the situation well. Movies
were always organised by Willy Castle on the last day of school and soccer clinics during the school
holidays which his sons now attend. Mass was held every Friday but that didn’t mean that Earl and his
brother didn’t have to attend church on Sundays as well.
Earl remembers the RAPS plays and that Mrs Elliott had a personal relationship with Atholl Fugard which
resulted in the boys performing one of his plays set as if the audience and cast were in church. The boys
won their round of the competition but were not allowed to go to Grahamstown because of the deemed
racist content of the play.
Earl also has fond memories of a “Can-Can” show in standard 3 where the boys dressed up as girls and
thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Earl was a member of Osmond House, became vice-captain and played basketball with the courts situated
where the Champagnat hall now stands.
The matric dance was held in the school hall with the standard 9’s and 10’s. Earl is still friends with many of
his contemporaries and they intend to celebrate their 25 year reunion this year.
Earl’s biggest love was boxing from an early age but he still had to participate in other sport whilst at St
David’s. After leaving school he went to the University of Durban-Westville to study for a BSc for a year
until the family experienced financial difficulties. He went on to become a professional boxer and became
the South African National Cruiserweight Champion from 2000 to 2004 and the World Boxing Association
Champion from 2002 to 2003. He attributes his success to his upbringing at St David’s with teachers like
Willy Castle instilling the motivation and pride required. “Confortare esto vir” Take courage and be a man.
Seeing it as a means to an end, Earl retired from boxing in 2008. He is involved with auto-gas, refitting
taxis to use gas as a fuel and now owns his own company, Greennovation making buildings more energy
efficient and is involved with various government departments,
Earl’s father always dreamt that his grandsons would attend St David’s and Earl’s two sons are in grade 0
and grade 7 with a daughter who attends, Auckland Park Preparatory School carrying on the tradition set
by his parents.
His brother Kurt intends sending his boys to St David’s as well when they return from abroad. He currently
works at the World Bank head office in Washington.
JLE May 2014

Interview with Frank Cattich – 1969
Frank came as a boarder to St David’s in standard 8, 1966. He had previously been a pupil at St
Aidan’s in Grahamstown and had a bond with Br Aidan having been a pupil of his. St Aidan’s
was Jesuit and extremely strict so it was a relief to appreciate that St David’s was not quite so
rigid and more relaxed. It was also great to be closer to home as his parents lived in
Bedfordview.
Frank’s mother was an orphan who grew up with nuns in Rome and Frank remembers staying
in the grounds of the Vatican as a child. His mother sought out her mother in South Africa as
she wanted to know why she had abandoned her. Unfortunately this didn’t have a happy ending
as her mother a widow, her husband having been the owner of Valenti Construction, didn’t want
to know her daughter. She established that her father was an Italian prisoner of war and
eventually got to know Margo Moni and others with whom she lived together in the youth hostel.
He recalls his first encounter with Anthony Stanley was with a punch up on the rugby field and
they have been firm friends ever since. Mike Denopolius built the castle at Kyalami, now lives in
Marbella and his daughter recently married Chemaly’s son
Trevor Corie was a boarder who slept near Frank and about twice a month they would stuff their
beds with cushions, climb out the window onto the roof and through a chapel window en route to
the kitchen. They would raid the kitchen and, after midnight bring back the loot, cases of cool
drink, biscuits and sweets. There were a couple of dobermans that roamed around the school
but they never barked at them and Br Bosco used to patrol the dorms with his torch but never
caught them out. On one occasion they were in the kitchen, heard footsteps, one of the Brothers
had come down to make a cup of tea, all the lights went on and the boys hid behind the stove.
Trevor started to giggle and Frank’s heart stopped, thinking they were going to be caught, it
seemed like an eternity but they got away with it. Later the brothers put a padlock on the fridge
but undeterred the boys removed the pins from the hinges and still got in. During these raids the
boys accumulated hundreds of empty bottles which they stacked on the roof and only years
later were they found.
The boarders were used to plant the fields on the McGill- Love farm at the weekends.
Br Mario was unique and always seemed to be in conflict with the boys behaving rather like a
prison warden. He wasn’t unfair but the boys just didn’t like him. He once ordered Frank and
Trevor to bend over and Trevor refused, they weren’t guilty on this occasion. Br Mario just didn’t
know how to deal with them. Br Andrew “Drac”was very hard and Frank recalls being lashed on
his first day at lunchtime following a fist fight. One of the boys, Simon had been tormenting the
new boy Frank, shooting at him with a peashooter, Frank identified the culprit and let him have it
on the landing, unfortunately witnessed by Br Andrew. Br Michael was the rugby coach. Br
Anthony had a short memory and awarded Frank his honours blazer, which he never received
as his father refused to pay for it. He was awarded scrolls for athletics, rugby and merit; three
scrolls were required for honours, three months later Br Anthony, obviously wondering why
Frank wasn’t wearing an honours blazer re-awarded him his scrolls.
Frank played rugby and was 1st team captain in 1969 and recalls there was a blood feud
between Observatory and St David’s and there were some tough games. On one occasion he
remembers a painful experience playing against Jeppe when he was about to score, was ankle
tackled and fell a metre short of the line. Frank didn’t board for his last year but rode to and from
school on his motorcycle. He remembered that his brother had an operation to reconstruct his
nose which cost R10 000. Being fair his father offered him the same option but Frank decided to
keep his nose and save the money.
Frank was a November child and he believes that this contributed to him repeating his matric
year in 1969, together with Willy Castle. However, Frank was not good academically, was
motivated by material things and didn’t achieve a university pass. On leaving school Frank went
into the army and afterwards went to Europe where he met a German girl, a dental assistant. He
stayed with the family for four years before returning to South Africa and joined his father’s
company dealing in civil construction, earthworks and pipelines. He was an apprentice for 6 -7
years. His father didn’t believe in spoiling his children and Frank was the black sheep of the
family, with his brother and sister going on to university .Frank speaks fluent German and Italian
and has always been in business for himself spending 7 years in Switzerland and then he got
involved with a contract in Iraq which was a huge and exciting challenge. He was established in
Cyprus and all was going well until 9/11 when, due to sanctions nothing was allowed in or out of
Iraq. Following this disaster, Frank came back to South Africa and together with Investec Bank
launched Velocity, a company with technology imported from the UK to upgrade and maintain
the deteriorating roads in South Africa.
He is married to Sheena and is the father of three children, a son Maximillian, a pupil at St
David’s in grade 0 and twins a boy and girl.
Frank is an active member of MOBS.
JLE October 2012

Interview with Gareth Kolkenbeck-Ruh – 2003
Gareth came to St David’s in 1999 from Rembrandt Park Primary School. Gareth’s father was a devout
catholic and Gareth had had experience of the school when it hosted various primary school sporting
events, and he liked what he saw.
He remembers that on his first day he was collected from the “Thatch” by prefects and taken to the
amphitheatre, he was overwhelmed by both the size of the prefects and that of the school. As he was the
only pupil coming from Rembrandt Park he didn’t know anyone but by the end of the day he began to fit it.
The grade 8 camp was a great ice breaker and initiative where he got to know everyone. After three days
the grade 8 boys went off to camp during their second week at St David’s. Belonging to a specific house
gave you an immediate identity and Gareth was selected for Osmond.
Initially the jump in academics was quite a shock but the teachers helped to make it manageable. It was at
first strange coming from a co-ed environment into a monastic one but by the end of the first term Gareth
was enjoying the change. He now firmly believes it to be a good thing to be in an all boys environment
during high school. He grew not only academically but learnt how to be a man in today’s society which he
appreciated enormously.
The teachers he remembers in particular are Shane Gaffney, Graeme McMillan who was at times quite
scary, Rod Smith, Colleen Kennedy and Paul Edey. They were good role models and one of the reasons
why Gareth has chosen teaching as his profession.
His last year as head boy was an unbelievable year as far as the sport was concerned. St David’s won the
Johnny Waite Cricket, had an unbeaten soccer side, and the rugby team beat KES and Jeppe on their
home territories for the first time. Gareth believes that, especially in a boys school, if the sport is going well
then the general school vibe reflects that and is good and positive.
Gareth had heard that the position of head boy was a lonely one, however he had massive support from his
peer group and, so far it was the most enjoyable year of his life. He had a good relationship with Paul Edey
and Malcolm Williams who took over the headship in 2003.
Gareth was captain of soccer and cricket teams and was awarded honours for soccer, cricket and general
honours.
He played provincial cricket U17 and U19 and had a professional contract with Wits University for one year
in 2003.
Academically, Gareth did very well and earned 3 A’s and 3 B’s in his matric. Dave Smith helped him to
catch up on the Geography syllabus in the matric year as Gareth needed the subject to enable him entry to
the USA. The teaching staff was always willing to go the extra mile for the boys. Gareth was awarded a
Champagnat Medal and won the Brother Edwin Award for Cricketer of the Year; the St David’s Marist old
Boys Soccer Trophy; the Desmond Schatz Trophy for Sportsman of the Year; the Old Boys Trophy for
Leadership and Promotion of the Marist Spirit and the Osmond Cup for study, sport and leadership.
After matriculating, Gareth went on a soccer scholarship to the US to Gannon University in Pennsylvania
for three and half years. He studied for a BA English and PGCE or Postgraduate Certificate in Education,
graduating Suma Cum Laude.. He was tempted to stay in the US but his family was still here in South
Africa and in the US the educational system is different and teachers don’t coach sport. He returned to
South Africa and taught English in the high school from 2008 -9 and went on to KES in 2010 and became
head of English there in 2012. He was appointed deputy head of the primary school at St David’s in 2014,
is learning a lot from Willy Castle with good systems in place.
Gareth was also instrumental in getting soccer up and running in the high school together with Shane
Gaffney in 2002 into 2003.
Gareth is an active member of MOBS .
JLE March 2014

Interview with Gordon Tonetti – 1986
Gordon came to St David’s in 1974 going into grade 1 in the same classroom where Carol Ansell now
teaches. Carol taught him together with Heather Joseph, Willy Castle, Mrs Schaafsma and Mrs Napier. Mrs
Napier who taught him in standard 2 to 3 would throw her blackboard duster at you if you talked in class.
Gordon admits to belonging to a naughty crowd, didn’t do much studying and was often jacked by Willy
Castle and Terry O’Mahoney. In fact the boys used to compete to see who got the most jacks! Mr Murphy
was the headmaster in standard 6 but didn’t last long and Br Anthony came back for a term before Mr
Frielick was appointed. Gordon’s group was the smallest matric group in years.
Gordon’s father was a former pupil of St David’s and vice head boy matriculating in 1954, and Gordon’s
grandfather attended a Marist school overseas. His father recalled when at the age of 6, he was put on a
train in Barberton and was told he would be met by one of the Brothers at the Johannesburg station. He
arrived but no-one was there to meet him, eventually a policeman spotted him and asked him why he was
there alone. The policeman called his family in Barberton who then contacted the school and at long last
one of the Brothers arrived to collect him.
Gordon was a good sportsman and was awarded 5 scrolls for athletics and rugby and captained a few
teams . He played 1st team rugby throughout his high school career and was a member of the A and B
swimming teams, but didn’t play cricket. In standard 5 the school had a strong rugby team but sadly many
of its members left and went to St John’s whilst Br Timothy was headmaster. Gordon loved the athletics
and the long distance running, he held the long distance record in his time and regrets not having been
pushed further as he could have done a lot better. He has started running again recently.
Mark Reeves’s sister was a swimming coach, a tough battleaxe and Mrs Mah, another coach would see a
storm coming up but wouldn’t let the boys leave the pool. On one occasion lightening struck where the
clock tower now stands, hitting a line of wattle trees, a third of one tree was split and came crashing down.
Mrs Mah screamed like crazy to get the boys out of the pool.
He recalled that if a fight started in the playground during break the boys would move the fight to the 1st
team rugby field but as soon as the boys saw any teachers they all disappeared.
When sport finished Gordon would use the tickey (phone) box, call his home and just say “pick up”, put the
phone down immediately and thus had the call for free. The schooling was different back then and Gordon
wasn’t awarded an honours blazer but was given an open scroll for athletics in standard 9.
Sondiwe Nyirenda and his brother were enrolled in 1975 as the first black boys in the school. A good
sportsman, he and Gordon became good friends but they sadly lost touch after he left in standard 5.
Gordon’s younger brother Trevor was sent from St David’s to CBC Pretoria as Gordon had a run in with
Trudy Elliott.
Gordon was academically average but enjoyed his school career. In high school Gordon was taught by P.
Collier, Ms Howard, Mr Moore, Mr Kaliphy, Mr McFadden and Br Ephrem taught Science. Father Brewer
was the chaplain, a very nice man who was very involved with the boys.
Gordon remembers an Afrikaans camp in standard 4 and a camp at Golden Gate in standard 5. In standard
9 there was the religious camp but because of problems with the non-catholic camp at Hartbeespoort the
catholic boys camp was very controlled and not much fun.
Gordon regrets the fact that corporal punishment is no longer allowed and felt that it played a significant
role in the discipline of the boys.
As it was an all boy’s school the boys had no contact with girls except for every two years when they
participated in a school play with St Teresa’s. Nowadays the boys aren’t as awkward around girls as they
were then.
After matriculating, Gordon attended the technikon for a diploma in engineering, which involved studying for
6 months and working for 6 months. After gaining his diploma he did his military service and then went
overseas for a couple of years. On his return he bought his business from his father. It was a very shaky
period for the business at the time but he pulled it through and the company did well.
Gordon is married to Helen and his son Liam attends St David’s, currently in grade 5. Gordon wasn’t too
sure about the school but Rick Wilson convinced him it was the school for his sons. The school has
changed a lot for the better from the time Gordon was a pupil.
Gordon is a member of MOBS and is currently a member of the MOBS committee.
JLE November 2014
NB Gordon has photos from his father’s time at the school in the 50’s

Interview with Greg Boyes-Varley 1973
Greg and his two brothers were day boys at St David’s living as they did behind the school in
Second Avenue. The family lived in Cape Town and Zimbabwe until 1966 when Greg joined the
school in march in standard 2. Coming from Zimbabwe Greg didn’t understand Afrikaans and
his teacher, Mrs Michael organised extra lessons for Greg with Mrs.Kenesovitch. Brother
Anthony was head of the high school and other Brothers such as Br Andrew, Br Aidan (bursar),
Br Bosco (Mario), Br Timothy, Br Dennis, Br Ronald and Br Ezekiel were still teaching.Br
Ezekiel was a brilliant Maths teacher and taught extra Maths on a Sunday declaring that that
was more important than going to Mass.
Greg had a tough time at school and was teased, because of a speech impediment and injury to
his face. He was playing on a trampoline when his leg got caught and his face was badly
damaged by a broken coke bottle. Mr Owen-Smith a plastic and maxillo- facial surgeon
operated on Greg and due to this he was determined to become a maxillo-facial surgeon
himself. Greg went to the Wits Speech and Hearing Therapy unit and eventually overcame his
speech impediment and now speaks at conventions and deals with patients confidently.
Greg recalled Nassey Simaan, the popular rugby coach who had no favourites and chose his
teams by selecting the boys he felt had guts. To be selected Greg had to tackle one of the boys
and he chose a big boy from standard 5 who always teased him. He flattened him and when
Nassy asked him to show the other boys how to tackle he selected the same boy again and
annihilated him once more. The boy never teased Greg again after that.
Greg’s father was a very active member of the St David’s community, was on the PTA, was
chairman and helped commission the building of the McGregor oval. He also used to organise
all the fathers and sons cricket matches and arranged for some English cricketers, Don Williams
and Peter Stringer to come and coach cricket at the school.
Greg remembered a day at the end of standard 8 during Nuffield week when he was playing at
leg slip and was hit squarely on the head with the cricket ball. The other boys made him get up
and he carried on taking 8 wickets. Patrick Quarmby was particularly kind and supportive.
The new Science lab has just been built and Greg remembers some experiments which blew
holes in the ceiling.
There was an African compound next to the white house where Mr Scott lived and the boys
used to buys cigarettes from the staff.
Anthony Bartlett (now living in Belgium) was the DJ for all the parties they organised with each
boy taking a turn to have a party on saturday night. Legally the boys couldn’t drink, even when
they went to university as they were all 17.
Academically Greg did well, became a prefect, got his university pass for matric and went on to
study Dentistry at Wits University. It was the last year of the JMB matric.
Greg remembers St David’s as being a great school where he made some good friends and in
his subsequent dealings with boys from local schools he thinks the St David’s boys are the most
humble.
He feels that it was a big mistake to close the boarding and then to replace the JMB matric with
the TED version. That was when a large number of boys left the school and went mainly to St
John’s.
Greg would have liked his son to go to St David’s but the family left to go the UK from 1994 until

1997. When they returned Oliver was in standard 1 and when they applied the then principal of
      the prep Mr Royce’s secretary was extremely rude and said there was no place for him. Oliver
      then went to St John’s and then on to Michaelhouse. Rees Carr’s father Ronnie who was
      coaching cricket intervened but by then it was too late. Greg was very sorry that his son didn’t
      go to St David’s but the experience he and his wife had in the UK was very good and he learnt a
      lot whilst at King’s hospital. Greg now practises at the Morningside Clinic and often lectures
      overseas and has written a number of articles. He is currently mentoring Etienne Raffner (2003)
      a dentist,doing a 5th year.
      Greg has been to two MOB’s dinners pre 1994 and is on the mailing list.
      Greg would like to get involved in an advisory capacity especially with boys who would like to go
      into medicine.
      He is touch with many of his old colleagues and remarked on the fact that St David’s has
      produced many doctors.
      Paul Sutej – Professor of Rheumatology in the US.
      Ian Jones – Dentist
      Bruce Potgieter – son in Matric 2011
      Etienne Raffner -2003 – dentist
      Daniel Shepherd – intern at Bara
      Glen Jones
      Peter Rossini
      Desmond Schatz
      Paul Sutej
      Michael Ross – vet Kyalami
      JE – July 2012

Jason began his career at St David’s in grade 1, 1974; he had spent grade 0 at St Teresa’s as
there was then no grade 0 at St David’s. There was a break when in standard 6 his family went
to the UK for 9 months but he returned to St David’s until he matriculated in 1985.
Jason remembered his grade 1 teacher Mrs Busschau, being very proud of his uniform and
standing in front of the fountain where his parents took photos. The first boy he met was Gary
De Necker who followed him in. He recalls Mr Castle who was a hard task master and ensured
the boys got very involved in sport.
Jason wasn’t very competitive but was in the U11 cricket team which got to the final of some
tournament playing against schools such as Pridwin and KES. In standard 5 he was in the
Commonwealth team which beat St Stithians where Jason took a memorable 8 wickets. Some
boys were also selected for the area cricket team.
Jason was also involved in swimming, tennis, athletics and soccer. His tennis doubles partner
was a boy named Lipschitz who ranked in the top 4 in the country, needless to say they did well
together. The school was small and the boys were encouraged to take part in all sports. Jason
recalled going on a number of tours and one in standard 5 was very exciting in that that they
flew to Durban when they played against St Henry’s. In high school in standard 8 he was
selected to play for Transvaal and has a photo in the school yearbook. Sport was a big thing
and the camaraderie that was born of it. In standard 9 he was selected to play for the 1st team
rugby but sadly only played 2 – 3 games as he was concussed and out of the game for the next
4 – 5 weeks.
The teachers that stand out in the prep school were Mrs Kempster, Schaafsma, Anderson,
Kenesovitch and Mrs Napier who had a heart attack at the school. In the high school there was
Trudy Elliott, the English teacher who produced the school play – “Julius Caesar”; Tom
Macfaden who taught History, was a fantastic man and typical school master.
Jason was involved with the school plays and the Marist co-workers and was instrumental in its
early formation being the first chairman. The boys went out to poorer schools and communities
and took blankets, clothing and food that they had collected. Jason was also on the junior city
council in 1984.
Boy’s schools were mainly judged by their performance on the rugby field but St David’s had a
good balance between rugby and cultural activities, everyone did everything because it was
such a small school.
He recalled some usual boys’ nonsense when someone climbed into the roof above the ceiling
of the biology laboratory during a lesson and played God, Brother Plesters was teaching at the
time.
Academically Jason did well and was always in the top 3 throughout prep and high school and
was awarded academic colours with an 80% average. He received a tie and scroll, was
awarded full colours for cricket, rugby and merit and elected vice head boy.
On his last day, he remembers everyone signing each other’s shirts, water and a pool being
involved and an end of school party. He wasn’t sad because he knew he would see his school
mates again.
After matriculating, Jason was fortunate enough to get a bursary from Barlow Rand and went to
Wits University where he studied for a BCom and BCom Accounting, eventually becoming a CA
doing his articles with Deloitte and Touche. On qualifying he was then employed by the Barlow
Rand Group at IBM, becoming the youngest manager and then moved on to Dimension Data in

1998. He is currently COO of Dimension Data Global.
      Jason feels that one becomes more appreciative of your school, its history and traditions as you
      get older. He has fond memories of the school being small but still managing to upset some of
      the bigger schools in competitive sport. The school has become bigger but has improved and is
      more competitive both sporting and academically.
      The friendships he made are still important to him today; friendships made then were made for
      life. He recently summited Kilimanjaro with Rob Scott who was in prep school with him .He is
      still in touch with Sasha Martinegro; Brett Dykes; Kevin Moran (US); Kevin Schaafsma even
      though they didn’t go to the same university.
      Jason is the father of two daughters but, if he had a son he most certainly would have been a
      pupil at St David’s. Jason is a member of MOBS and has been to some anniversaries
      celebrating 10 and 20 years and would be interested in participating in a reunion in 2015.
      He would be happy to be involved more and with such events as the matric rite of passage and
      would be willing to lend Dimension Data’s name to school fund raising activities. He commented
      that a number of old boys are putting up their school photos on Facebook. He would like to have
      access to the yearbooks for his time at St David’s and offered a number of suggestions as to
      how we could facilitate this.
      JE August 2012

Interview with Jeetesh Kathawaroo – 1992
Jeetesh first came to St David’s in standard 1, 1983. He and his sister were pupils at Parktown
Convent, Jeetesh being in grade 1 and 2 before writing an entrance exam and being accepted
at St David’s. The family were living in Lenasia and had to get up early at 5.30am and travel to
their schools via Fordsburg where their parents ran a restaurant. Jeetesh was aware that his
parents sacrificed a lot for him and his sister to receive a private school education.
Mrs Orford was his first teacher and he made friends with Rowan Brewer and Mark Egan who
was originally from the UK and whose father was a teacher at the school
Jeetesh really enjoyed his time at St David’s meeting different kinds of people from all levels of
society, both black and white. He was also exposed to many things such as leadership and
development programmes, youth groups, other schools and was on the Sandton junior council
which he wouldn’t have experienced elsewhere. There were also the extra murals and more
opportunities in sport and academics and the teaching was better. However one rather took it
for granted whilst one was involved in it.
During his time in the high school there were a number of headmasters, Brother Anthony for a
short while then, Mr Freilich, Boswell and Paul Davies. Other teachers were a Brother who
taught Technical Drawing and who wore a white cassock with a western province T shirt
underneath. Br Julian who would, unsolicited, interrupt a class and talk about random things,
much to the annoyance of the other teachers. Mr Oliver, Maths was a great teacher if you were
good at the subject, Mrs Hughes, English, Mr Girdwood, English whom he enjoyed and who
helped him with his public speaking. He also remembers Mrs Marais with fondness. Mrs
Madison the librarian, he spent a lot of time in the library as he often had to stay late waiting to
be collected. He remembers her always saying put the books “on the table not the trolley”.
Jeetesh was not very good at sport and was a reluctant participant. He played hockey, cricket
and took part in athletics where he was reasonably good. He hated swimming and still does to
this day.
Academically he did well receiving various awards, an honours blazer, academic and oratory
scrolls. He enjoyed public speaking and was involved in national competitions and today speaks
professionally at conventions and conferences. He remembers making speeches for Mrs
Bowles and Mrs Anderson, he was good at it and enjoyed it. In standard 2 he had to make a
speech about his favourite TV programme and talked about Spider Man. He learnt that it was
better to speak about things you knew and were comfortable with. Jeetesh also was in a
number of school plays and Benedict house plays.
There were 37 pupils in his matric year and 250 in the high school.
After matriculating, Jeetesh went to Wits University and studied for a BComm Hons and is
currently doing his masters. He was first employed by Absolute Consulting Group, a small
company and is now working on his own as an independent management consultant. Having
worked for large organizations he prefers working on his own.
The first reunion held in November 2012 was great and he met up with Andrew Rose (UK) and
Kieran Roane (UK) who together with Mark Egan he often meets up with in the UK when he is
there. He is still in touch with Thabo Hermanus who he sees when he is in Cape Town. Jeetesh
is in contact with a number of boys through MOBS.
As to any sons he may have, Jeetesh would like them to have a private school education but
preferably at a school which didn’t have a strong religious influence. Being a Hindu he
sometimes was forced to participate whilst at St David’s which depended very much on who
was teaching Religious Education at the time.
Jeetesh chooses a different charity each year and either donates or contributes in some way
and does this in his private capacity.
Jeetesh would be very interested in participating in the 2016 celebrations.
JLE February 2013

Interview with Jock Loseby 1951
MEMORIES : ST.DAVID’S MARIST , INANDA : 1946 TO 1951
On a mild August day in 1946 I came to St. David’s (SD) for the first time. Not only
was I to attend school there – I was also to be a boarder as where we stayed, on a
timber farm near Sabie, was about 6 hours drive away.
Attending school was quite a pleasure. I moved into Mrs Stirton’s grade 2 class
immediately. The rage of the day there was the percussion band with triangles, bells,
drums, clappers and goodness knows what. We even attended an Eistetford at the
city hall and were highly commended. My part was, with others, to ring our bells at
the right time.
Mrs Brophy, in standard 1, almost immediately passed me on to Mrs Walsh in
standard 2. I felt most comfortable with Mrs Walsh and prospered under her watchful
eye. She was also my teacher in standard 3 where I managed 100% at year end for
Arithmetic – the best in all the South African Marists. I got a similar prize, in standard
4, for Afrikaans under Mrs Kempster – a very disciplined and kind person .
Mr Bishop, my standard 5 teacher, was the hero of many – he managed the under 11
and under 12 soccer sides!
Mr Hoare, in standard 6, was a perfect gentleman.When we did something silly, he
would press his index finger on our temples, saying “dear me boy”. For more serious
offences, we got strapped on our behinds, in private, in the classroom, during the
lunch break. When we thanked him for the strapping, he seemed confused.
In standard 6 Brother Joseph was our Latin teacher. It was rumoured that he used to
be a Spanish wrestler – so we generally learnt our Latin grammar!
Boarding was of course, something new. I was immediately allocated to the most
junior dormitory. Brother Michael was the dormitory master.
He used to read to us each night, in the dormitory, before bed. We listened to the
Hardy Boys and Biggles et al and even got a sweet each half way through the
session.
I was the 2nd smallest in the dormitory, (and probably in the school) the smallest boy
slept next to me and sometime later he became my brother – in – law.
We had to keep our clothes lockers neat. After locker inspection, we received one
strap (cut) for each untidy item of clothing. We also had to send our dirty clothes to
the laundry. When my mother heard that I had been criticised for sending too many
clothes to the laundry, I was told to tell the brother – in – charge that “cleanliness is
next to godliness” I did not obey this instruction!
We also had to polish our shoes every evening – monitors inspected our efforts.
Sport played a big part in our lives – even at primary school.Cricket and soccer were
the main sports with swimming not far behind.
We had PT during class hours – probably up to standard 1 or 2.We sometimes had
boxing during PT and at other times there were adhoc tournaments. I hated boxing
especially being hit on the head and even more so if it was the smallest boy in the
school doing the hitting (my now brother – in – law). Harry Best was our PT
supervisor and he was also Johnny Arthur’s boxing trainer. JA was the South African
heavyweight boxing champion.
When I arrived at SD there were sand fields on the right of the entrance gate (as you
entered). On these both juniors and seniors played cricket (on matting wickets) and
soccer. In ca 1947, a grass rugby cum cricket field was built below the tennis courts
and in 1949, the old cricket/soccer fields were replaced by 2 grass rugby fields with a
turf wicket – between them I think. There were still some sand fields for cricket and
soccer on a piece of land that may have been acquired (or was it just left over)while
the grass fields were being constructed – these fields bordered the grass fields but
were further away from the school complex.
2
So with the grass fields rugby began in earnest. In 1950 or 1951 I played rugby at
scrumhalf for the lowest team in the school – under 13B. In our first game we lost to
KES 15-0.
The turf wicket was also a great improvement. I watched a senior school practice
where Brother Benedict hit many straight sixes.
I was lucky enough to captain the U13 cricket team.
At this stage Brother Urban had been replaced by Brother Edwin as principal.
During the school féte held at about this time Vickie Toweel defeated Manuel Ortiz to
become Bantamweight champion of the world and also
 Leon Norgarb and Eric Sturgess played an exhibition tennis match (Mrs
Strauss, our coach, often told us how she had played tennis with these
gentlemen)
 Sid Brews hit some towering drives on the upper grass fields and also
amused us with some trick shots and
 We could win money by scoring goals past Phil Snoynan, the SA goalkeeper
And now something about the food.
There was no white bread in the first year or two I was at St David’s and sometimes
for tea we were given thick brown bread sandwiches with peanut butter in them.
Many times the day boys gave us some of their lunch. Enrico Giglioli, the Italian
ambassador’s son, was particularly generous to me in this regard.
Some interesting parts of our menu were
 Frogs eggs – particularly sticky sago pudding
 Army biscuits with weevils in them and
 Lumpy porridge.
But before our longer holidays we had beanos – lovely food, ice cream cool drinks
and sweets.
Of course, I did have some heroes:
Brother Urban, a charismatic, dynamic person.
Brother Edwin, a deep person
Brother Benedict, a man’s man
Michael Clarke, a friend of Cor? Vermeulen, played first team cricket, got 6B’s in
matric, became a schoolteacher on leaving school.
Ian Irvine and Grisdale, prominent athletes
Roy Gibson, good boxer, flyhalf for first rugby team
Setti? Risi, scrumhalf for first rugby team
Johnny Westwater, very dynamic, eventually became a champion jockey
Bobby Perinho, hit 5 fours in one over
Rosmarin made a century for the first team
Buffa, a good high jumper and
Asher Swede, a generous patron of the school.
Our religious upbringing was taken very seriously.
Catholics had Mass about 3 times per week including Sunday, Confessions were on
Thursdays, there were daily? RD lessons and we were prepared for 1st communion
and confirmation – I was confirmed by Bishop Whelan at the Rosebank Parish in
1951.
My non catholic friends were encouraged to be committed in their specific faiths.
What an unforgettable and happy experience I had at St David’s!
Jock Loseby
28 April 2007

Interview with Keith Farquharson- 1952
Keith attended St David’s from 1948 until 1952 and was a day boy who boarded for a couple of
terms whilst his parents were overseas.
Keith enjoyed the sport playing rugby and tennis but wasn’t particularly good at swimming or
cricket. His mission was to get his matric and go to university. He enjoyed the tours when the
boys went to play rugby at CBC and St Charles, it was not a regular occurrence and was a treat
to go away. Harry Best was the PE teacher in charge of general sports who introduced boxing
to the school. He didn’t allow fighting but if the boys had an issue they would participate in a
controlled boxing contest. Keith said that Paul Freemantle and Risi had quite a fight. Harry had
a link with a boxing gym in the Johannesburg city centre and when Vic Toweel was contesting
the World Bantamweight Title, Harry organised sparring partners for his opponent Jimmy
Carruthers the current holder of the title. A number of the boys used to go and spar with Jimmy
and were paid five shillings per round. Vic Toweel won the fight.
As a day boy Keith was able to buy cigarettes for the boarders and recalls he charged one
shilling for a box of commandoes. He also supplied the boarders with sandwiches.
Brother Urban was principal but when he died in 1950 Br Edwin was appointed. Br Edward who
was Spanish taught Maths, Br Benedict coached rugby, Br Thomas taught Science and
coached rugby and although he also carried his cane in his cassock, was his favourite brother
who took him to task on a number of occasions and took the class for the first period after the
lunch break. He used to enjoy his tot and was in charge of the B dorm. Once a month on a
Thursday he would have the day off and go shopping and bring home his tipple. He had to walk
from the terminus in Dunkeld and once fell, breaking his arm which meant he couldn’t
administer any form of corporal punishment.
Of his fellow pupils Jeff Truby came from Barberton and would bring back miner’s fuses after
the holidays. The boys used to then make bombs with the Sparklets soda siphon refills and
Hugh Miller, who was a keen chemist blew up the steps by the tuck shop and was put on
probation. Charlie Gilfilllian had a bad stutter and was never asked questions in class. Ray
Gibson and Mike Forrester dropped out. They were notorious for slipping out after late prep and
had girlfriends down the road. The belief was that they were expelled, both of them played 1st
team rugby and were sorely missed. B Cooper came from Hilton where he had refused to do
any fagging for senior prefects and opted out and came to St David’s. Unfortunately boys
coming home for the holidays had a vendetta against him and he often needed a group of St
David’s boys to escort him home. A sad memory is of Peter de Silla vice-captain of the cricket
team whose youngest son had a drug problem and ended up murdering Peter and his wife.
Norman Lazarus had the nickname Oogies where he came from, Paul Freemantle started at St
David’s in 1941 and his brothers Owen and Joe always attended the school. Dan Reeece was
the 1st team rugby captain and is reputed to have set up the biggest Ponzi scheme in South
Africa and attempts are still being made to extradite him from Switzerland. Cornelius Seeling
used to build kites and in August would secure them to the rugby posts on the main rugby field.
Peter Leigh whose father was the school doctor, Brian Stott, Victor Ludorum in 1952 was a
casualty of the lightening strike whilst playing golf at Johannesburg Country Club.
After matriculating Keith went on to Wits university and UCT acquiring financial qualifications
and also became a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. His
career was in the field of financial management working for Deloittes, Cooper and Cooper and
was surveillance manager at the JSE for 10 years until the 90’s when he became the financial
manager for E. W. Balderson. He lost contact with St David’s until 1963 when he and his wife
played hockey for Maristonians and he renewed his association with MOBs. Keith and his wife
Dorothy have a son and two daughters.
JLE November 2012

Interview with Kevin Peel – 1966
Kevin joined St David’s in 1954 in grade 1 and his first memory is of being in class with the
famous Mrs Brick and others such as Mrs Kempster, Mrs Janusch who was head of the junior
school The teachers that stand out in his mind are Br Anthony, Br Andrew (Drac) and Br Bosco .
He remembers standing at line up with Mike Larkin with whom he went through until matric.
Mike became a Professor and was sadly murdered. Kevin and his two brothers all attended St
David’s, with his parents doing the daily trip from their home in Roosevelt Park for 24 years.
Kevin’s father was also a Marist boy at Koch Street and then Observatory.
He enjoyed the sport wanting to be a part of it all and was in the 1st hockey team, 2nd teams for
rugby and cricket and also participated in athletics and played golf. He remembers Trevor Elliot
who started the school’s first golf club. All the Peel boys played sport everyday and their father,
who worked at Rosebank clinic in the radiology department, fetched them at the end of the day.
Because they spent so much time at school they often used to eat with the boarders. Kevin was
the only Peel not to be awarded provincial colours but went on to play 1st team rugby at Pirates
Rugby Club. He and his brothers were in the Pirates 1st team spanning 13 years and at one
stage 13 out of the 15 U20 team were MOBS.
The Inter- Catholic Schools Athletics Meetings were unbelievable, booking out the Wanderers
stadium and the school had some great athletes such as Terry Lavery, some of whose records
remain unbroken today.
Kevin’s father was the chairman of the old Marist Club and captained their cricket team
He is still in touch with many of his friends from those days namely Eric Ambrosioni, Anthony
Walker and Colin Cockerell. Another old boy, Renzo Brocco is Kevin’s first cousin and they
were also related to the Goosen family. Kevin also meets up with other old boys such as
Schoombie, Stott, Foden at Parkview Golf Club. He recalled the Tomaselli family who lived
below the fields.
An amusing incident that he recalled was when he was sent out of class and looked over the
balcony to see his brother sitting on the wall below him as he had also been sent out. He called
out in a voice imitating Br Anthony “Cooome heeer boy” at which his his boet got such a fright
he fell off the wall.
Discipline was hard and strict but the boys didn’t resent it and never complained Kevin
remembered a time when he was sent out of class and told to fetch the brother’s cane from the
auditorium. He found the cane and then dropped it down between the tiered seats and went
back and said he was sorry but couldn’t find it. He wonders if it is still there to this day.
Another memory was the day it snowed and as the brothers came out of their door to assembly
they were pelted with snow balls. One of the glass door panes was broken much to Br
Anthony’s anger and disgust.
Br Anthony attended the 40th reunion which was organised by Kevin and Trevor Elliot.
Kevin remembers the musical “Pirates of Penzance produced by Mr Drummond Bell which was
enthusiastically supported by all the boys and Kevin remembers that his partner at his matric
dance was Jenny Ireton.
After matriculating, Kevin attended Wits University where he studied for a BSC Quantity
Surveying. He then worked in his uncle, Harry Morgan’s practice for a few years. Harold’s
brother was Brother Ronald who taught at St Davids’ for a few years.. Kevin then started up on
his own in 1980 and has worked for himself ever since and is currently with O’Mahoney, Peel ,
Rowney Quantity Engineers.
Unfortunately Kevin’s son was unable to attend a formal school such as St David’s but is now a
journalist.
Kevin has been a contributor to Boys Town for the past 20 years and also supports a number of
other causes such as the Avril Elizabeth Home and Oliver’s Home. Kevin’s company is often
involved in undertaking gratis work for the church when called upon by John Mills’ 59. Kevin
enjoyed his time at St David’s and is more than happy to get involved.
JLE January 2013

Interview with Kurt Morais – 1993
Kurt remembers being interviewed by Brother Jude in 1980. He was kind and warm and asked Kurt what
he would do at school and Kurt responded by saying that he would play and learn. Initially Kurt found
everything very intimidating. Mr Davies was headmaster of the school at the time.
Whilst at St David’s both Kurt and his brother Earl (1989) grew up in two distinctly different environments.
During the day, at a predominantly white school and then returning home into a township environment. Kurt
was sensitive to race issues but was never made to feel any different by his teachers and other pupils, with
the exception of Mr Davies. In grade 2 a fellow pupil, Michael Fuchs went with him into the township. Kurt’s
father ran a shebeen in which both he and Earl worked from time to time whilst their mother was a bank
clerk and eventually became a bank manager.
In the prep school he remembers teachers such as Mrs Walton, Mrs Hildyard and Mrs Geldenhuys.
Another boy Zam Nkosi was with Kurt from grade 0 up until matric. Other teachers he remembers well were
Mrs Hurley, Mr Finlayson, Mr Kotze in standard 5 and he recalled that if a pupil got less than 15 he would
be caned for every mark lost. Mr Eagen was an English teacher with a lisp and boys being boys, mocked
him. Mr Girdwood was a good English teacher and most sought after. He captivated the boys’ imagination
with his stories and Kurt likened him to Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society”. Other teachers of note
were Miss Von Guilleaume who taught Zulu and Mr Lambe, Religious Instruction and Science.
Kurt said that he grew up with interesting characters, some highly educated and some with prison
backgrounds. Willy Castle taught him how to swim. He participated in soccer, rugby, swimming, basketball,
athletics and cricket but didn’t play tennis. However after a number of injuries his parents decided that he
should no longer play rugby.
He went with the athletics team to Potch University for training and found it to be an excellent way of
bonding with the team members. Kurt was also basketball captain in his matric year and excelled in
athletics.
Kurt was a member of the school choir and participated in all the school plays.
Kurt was appointed a prefect but had to give it up due to an incident on the school bus returning from an
athletics event. Both Kurt and another coloured boy, Bushan Ravjee were unaware of the incident but were
in any event defrocked. Gary Norton spoke out against this decision.
Kurt admits to messing around a lot in class and was kicked out on numerous occasions but he excelled
after leaving school.
After matriculating, Kurt was awarded a Konrad Adenauer bursary. The Geldenhuys family assisted with
this and he initially studied for a degree in engineering at Wits but after 2 ½ years realised it wasn’t right for
him and went on to study politics and economics at RAU.
Kurt is marrie, has 3 sons and a baby daughter Milea. His eldest, a stepson aged 17 is currently studying
at the British International College and has Spanish as his second language, the other sons Alexander, 6 is
in grade1 at St David’s and Adam, 2 1/2 will probably start in grade 0.
Kurt spent 4 years in Washington working at the World Bank but returned to South Africa in 2015. Belinda
Marais visited him when she was attending a conference in Washington.
JLE December 2015

Interview with Larry Griffiths – 1972
Larry joined St David’s when he was 8 years old going into standard 2. His father was
transferred to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth where he was formerly a pupil at St Patrick’s.
He and his younger brother Michael (1973) were day boys.
Br Anthony was the headmaster and Larry thought he was brilliant. He recalled an amusing
story involving him and Br Bosco (Mario). Br Bosco decided that Br Anthony should regain his
red hair and developed a dye which would work on his grey hair. Unfortunately it worked well,
but rather too well and Br Anthony ended up sporting fire engine red hair! This occurred shortly
before the annual prize giving and the dye didn’t wash out therefore Br Anthony had to take the
podium with his brilliant red hair much to Brother Anthony’s embarrassment and everybody
else’s amusement. In September 1979 Larry visited Br Aquinas, a family friend in the Cape and
went to see Br Anthony somewhere in the Cape Flats.
Larry did not particularly like Br Timothy, ‘Tin Man” but the boys were amused by his habit of
combing his hair over his bald patch and when the wind blew it stood straight up then flopped
onto his opposite shoulder. He enjoyed Br Bosco, he was passionate about his subject,
Science. He recalled Br Andrew giving the ’1972 matrics punishment and detention unless they
could recite the first chapter of Caesar’s Gallic Wars. He was a strong disciplinarian but always
fair. Br Aidan the bursar was popular, he was always in control and treated the boys like adults
and they responded accordingly..Larry felt that, in spite of his other problems, Br Bernard was a
good Latin teacher and managed to bring it alive with stories about its background. Father
Bailey trained him as an altar boy. Bob Blythe the Maths teacher could never get Colin
Rezekswick’s name right and called him Da Silva. Mr Zachkarowicz was fluent in English,
Polish, German, Italian and Greek, he had a rough time in Germany but managed to escape
and ended up in South Africa. He was very anti the South African government as he could see
similarities with what he had experienced in Germany. Larry felt that he was an excellent History
teacher. Mrs Janusz taught Latin, and was formidable, she was a Scot and her husband was
Polish.
Larry did well academically until Thomas Rumpelt and Alfred Ghodes came along at the start of
standard 6.They were both academically very strong and also performed well on the sports field.
However Larrry was still awarded the Costa John Memorial Trophy for coming top of the class in
standard 5. He was the first boy to be acknowledged in this way.
Larry was not a great sportsman but played 4th team rugby and, although tennis was not really
encouraged at St David’s both he and his brother played and the team achieved a place in the
premier schools league. In spite of their endeavours none of the 1972 members of the 1st tennis
team were awarded a scroll which they longed for, it was only in 1973 that tennis was
considered moderately acceptable and the school’s tennis champion, Larry’s younger brother
Michael was awarded a tennis scroll. This caused a bit of a problem in that Michael was not the
tennis captain – Michael had defeated Desmond Schatz, the tennis captain, in the final of the
school championships. The school decided to award Desmond Schatz a tennis scroll as well.
No other members of the first team were awarded scrolls.
In 1964, Larry’s first year at St David’s, it snowed and Paul Steinhardt threw a snowball with a
stone in its middle at someone; it missed and smashed the window of one of the teacher’s cars.
In December of the previous year there had been a huge hail storm which caused a lot of
damage, many windows in the school were broken including some stained glass and it took a
few years for them all to be replaced.
Larry’s first experience of being politically aware occurred in the late 1960’s when Marist old
boys, who were members of the visiting New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team came to address
the school at assembly. He remembers wondering why the Maoris could be included in the New
Zealand team and their society and the blacks in South Africa were not.
Larry remembered the victorious rugby team of ’72 and George Nichas missing a goal against
KES even though he was standing right in front of the posts. It was the only match that St
David’s lost that year.
The matric dance was held in the boarders dining room and the after party was held at Carl Ebs
parent’s home in Illovo. It was all very low key and everyone was well behaved.
Of his peers Larry noted that Terry Van Heerden – deputy head boy; Eric Melman; Steve
Goodeye, and his brother Michael (1973) class – all currently living in Australia. Carl Eb lives in
New Zealand as does David von Elling (1971) class. Patrick Esnouf (1973 class) “Mr Mining” in
South America formerly a director of Anglo and now with the Andean Board living in Chile. Tim
Cockerell’s father was a pilot who died of a heart attack and his mother brought the family to
South Africa from the UK, While having the greatest admiration for Betty Cockerell’s pluck in
moving to South Africa and bringing up three sons, all of whom attended St David’s, Larry
believes that she may have been helped by the brothers to enable her to educate her sons.
When he matriculated, Larry went to Wits University and studied Civil Engineering. Afterwards
he did two years national service becoming an officer in the South African engineering corps,
was seconded to the CSIR where he was involved with mine warfare and bridge demolition. He
was in active contact with the Rhodesian Engineers and the Selous Scouts. He then had to fulfil
conditions of his bursary and worked for Grinaker Construction for two years living in Rhodesia
before it became Zimbabwe, before returning to South Africa. He was having so much fun in
Zimbabwe that he stayed in Africa a lot longer than he had originally intended. Larry finally left
for New Zealand in February1994and was transferred to Australia in early 1995. Initially he
settled in Melbourne before moving to Queensland in early 2006. He currently lives in Brisbane
where he works as a traffic engineer in local government.
Larry thinks it is very sad the way things have evolved in South Africa. He feels very strongly
about affirmative action and its related policies, which he believes have had a very negative
effect on the development of the country and on job creation.
JLE November 2012

Interview with Mark Forssman – 1979
Mark was the first of the Forssman family to attend St David’s followed by his brother Bobby –
1980; Andrew – 1983 and cousins Billy -1987 (head boy); Jason – 1989 (deputy head boy);
Dale - (deputy head boy); Jordan -1996 – (head boy); Mark’s sons Tim – 2004 and Chris –

2006. Currently pupils at the school are Adrian, Andrew’s son; Blake cousin’s son; Aidan, Billy’s
      son and then Jason’s son.
      Mark started in grade 1 in 1968, although he doesn’t remember his first day he certainly
      remembers his brother’s as he relieved himself during line up! Mark said they had been brought
      up running free, no shoes and playing on the family plot and he does recall that wearing shoes
      was a bit of a problem to begin with.
      Mark remembers teachers, such as Mrs Napier; standard 2, Mrs Schaafsma; Mrs Kempster and
      Mrs Kenezovitch who played the organ at his wedding. During his time there were still brothers
      at the school, Br Anthony, Br Timothy, Br Bosco (Mario), Br Bernard, Br Aidan, Br Plesters who
      was involved with the gardens. Trudy Elliott was a fantastic teacher and quite a character; Mrs
      Klaasens – Afrikaans; Mr Neft; Mrs Lipschitz – Maths and water polo coach now living in
      Australia; Sally Saunderson; William Smith – Science; Mr Vahey- Geography and Mr Lobo who
      was Spanish. Mark recalled Peter Springer, Peter Habertson, a sports teacher who for some
      reason disliked Mark, made life difficult for him and ensured that he wasn’t included in the 1st
      team rugby photo even though he had played for the team on 5 occasions and Peter Swanson
      who was an international Irish rugby player and the rugby coach.
      Mark remembers when he was in junior school that he and some friends were tormenting a boy
      near the road that ran between the junior and high schools. Br Anthony spotted them and called
      them into his office. They shuffled in and Br Anthony, looking enormous stood there with his big
      cane which he flexed against a chair giving them stern looks, they were terrified but he
      eventually told them to get out and never to tease any other boys again.
      In the junior school Mark was involved with swimming, athletics, soccer and tennis and standard
      5, U13 rugby. He won the junior school tennis championships but never played again after that.
      The boys were more or less forced to participate in cross country and they used to try all sorts
      to get out of it! In the high school he played rugby, water polo, swam and was the B team
      swimming captain and captain of the 2nd rugby team. He was awarded a scroll for water polo,
      studies, merit and became a prefect. With 3 scrolls one was awarded an honours blazer of
      which he was very proud.
      Mark recalls boys hiding in the auditorium under the chairs and that going to sport events in the
      old school bus was great fun. Disco’s were held in the basement room next to the tuck shop to
      raise funds for the matric dance. These often ended up in chaos. Mark was a bit of a renegade
      as his father used to organise a bus for him and his friends, Mark would set up a shebeen and
      bought the booze from the compound.
      Culturally there wasn’t much happening, no camps or anything special like that at the time.
      The matric dance was held in the dining room with an Al Capone, gangster theme. The standard
      8’s were the waiters. The standard 9’s decorated the room and were allowed to join in. Mark
      remembers that the after party was held at Deon De Gouveia’s house which was across the
      road from the school.
      Academically Mark was average but a consistent student and achieved 6 C’s for matric. After
      leaving St David’s he studied at Wits University but had a bad motorcycle accident on the first
      day, missed three months and subsequently pulled out after the second three months. He
      continued the second year but again pulled out, went into the army and eventually signed up on
      the permanent force and became an air traffic controller from 1982 – 1987. Through various
      circumstances he became involved in building and construction and now has his own company.
      Many boys in Mark’s time left the country and others including a good friend who died fighting
      on the border. It was a strange time which affected everybody. Things started to come right in
      the mid- 80’s and Tim was born in 1986.
      Mark organised an Argus ride in memory of Justin Bessler – the JB Express consisting of 120
      cyclists raised R265 000 for CHOC. It was Justin’s dream to beat cancer and to ride the Argus
      and raise funds for CHOC.
      JLE April 2012

Interview with Mark Reeves – 1983
Mark began his school career at St David’s in 1973, starting in standard 1, after moving from
Sandown Primary which was located where Sandton City now stands. At the age of 5, he
remembers being the swimming team mascot for College house at the inter-house gala,
dressed as a sword bearing sheik. The aftercare is now situated where this swimming pool once
was located.
He has fond memories of Miss Joseph, Miss Jamieson (Ansell), Mrs Anderson, Mrs Scaafsma
and Mrs Napier, all of whom taught him in junior school. Mrs Kempster was headmistress and
had a crooked index finger, causing confusion as to who she was actually pointing at, while you
were being scolded.
The brothers were still very active in teaching and coaching sport at this time. Mark remembers
being taught at some stage of his senior years by Brother’s Timothy, Bernard, Richard,
Christopher and Anthony. Senior school was where you gained your foundation and became
part of the Marist family.
Memorable advice came from Br Anthony when he said “Do not feel guilty for your privileged
lives, because if it wasn’t for compassionate and generous privileged people the poor would
have nothing”.
Strong teachers like Brother Anthony, Mr Collier, Mr Boswell, Mrs Elliot and Mr McFadden,
made a huge impact on those senior school years. Mark remembers Mr Collier, a remarkable
teacher and coach, who was very religious and well respected by all the boys, especially for his
caring attitude to all. He took them on retreat to Kuruman where Br Anthony and Br Christopher
hosted the boys during school holidays.
During the last two years of Mark’s schooling career at St David’s he had 3 Headmasters, Mr
Murphy, Br Anthony and Mr Frielick. Mr Murphy was a tower of a man and his wrestling career
was the best kept secret amongst the boys. Mark recalls lifting Mr Murphy above his head at
rugby trials in standard 9 and was rewarded with a place in the 1st rugby team for his effort. Tim
Marnewick was chairman of the school board of governors and a strong supporter of the Marist
community.
Classmates who he remembers well are Peter Wharton-Hood, an intellectual genius, who often
assisted the teachers after proving them wrong and who also was a talented sportsman.
Duncan Senior, who mirrored these attributes. Andrew Forsmann, a great all rounder, and the
long line of Forsmann’s who attended St David’s and who owned Kyalami Ranch, a memorable
recreational facility for them all.
He remembers Karl Ortel, who during his matric year at St. David’s fought 20 fights in 21 days
to win the Golden Gloves World Boxing Tournament. Corado Annicello who achieved Springbok
colours in judo. Kamsisi Nyirenda, the Malawian ambassador’s son, who in the black & white
class photo, due to his dark complexion, blended into the background with only his white teeth,
the white of his eye’s and collar visible. Solly Maponya,who had a BMW in standard 6 and who
was a great driver, especially to parties. Other good friends who are now very successful
businessmen include Sven Retzlaff and Roy Perlman, property developers, Mark Atier a cellular
industry entrepreneur, Mark Rosewitz a top legal adviser and Jason Askew, who has become a
famous Anglo-Boer war artist. “There are so many success stories of individual classmates from
his year and he is very proud to have been associated with them all”..
Mark was honoured to have been elected as head prefect in 1983. He was captain of the school
swimming and water polo teams, and was captain of College House. He was awarded colours
for rugby, swimming and water polo, and received a merit scroll for leadership. He played 1st
team rugby and was a member of the athletics team, for field events, but banned from hurdles
for breaking multiple crossbars! He also received an academic scroll and a distinction for History
in matric
After leaving St David’s Mark studied a BA in Education and together with his brother, Alan, also
head prefect of St. David’s in 1977, started a well known photographic business. They have had
the good fortune of working together for over 33 years and are now involved in multiple building
hardware and paint retail outlets.
Mark served St. David’s on the board of governors, was chairman of the development
committee and an active member of the PTA. He still serves as a member of the old boys
committee. Mark is married to Carol-Anne and has a son Stephen and daughter Kirsty.
JLE May 2016

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

Interview with Mike Eilertsen – 2000
Coming from Rosebank Primary, Mike joined St David’s in 1996 when Paul Edey was
headmaster. He recalled that on the first day standard 6 underwent an induction on the
basketball courts and bullying was the big topic for the day and great emphasis was placed on
the boys being part of the Marist family. Rod Smith had been the victim of bullying in his youth
and was therefore strongly against it.
The teachers he remembers in particular are Mrs Snyman, Mr Fry, Mr McMillan, Mrs Cameron,
Paul Edey and Rod Smith. Debbie Cameron was impressive and once flicked and caught her
high heeled shoe before throwing it across the class when the boys were being particularly
unruly. Mr Cameron had an elastic ball which grew and grew as he confiscated rubber bands
from the boys. Mr McMillan used to squash paper and throw it at the boys, on one occasion
Mike caught it and threw it straight back. “Mac” used to hit the boys with his hand with what was
called a “Pucker”, he wasn’t vicious but made his point and often used to make the class stay in
after school. He had a little Scottie dog which followed him everywhere. Mrs Schumayn the
Afrikaans teacher would get so harassed by the boys that she would order the whole class out
of the classroom. Of course the boys took advantage of this until one day Mr Edey came by and
asked why all the boys were in the quad. There was a Mrs Leenstra who taught Maths and with
whom every boy fell in love. She was a warm person and beautiful on the inside as well as
being very attractive.
Mike was a very good sportsman excelling in athletics, was a good sprinter and received the
Victor Ludorum in 1999 and 2000. He was awarded an honours Blazer for general honours and
specific honours, sport, culturals, merit and leadership. Mike also got involved with school and
house plays, and public speaking which helped in his business career and is key with his
presentations. Academically Mike was in the top class but regarded himself a “B” student.
Mike went on to study a BComm Entrepreneurship at RAU but was unhappy with the content
and programme. He decided to open a business – “Breakfast Boys”, he initiated this and sold
breakfast packs at the corner of Jan Smuts and Conrad Drive for R10. He included pamphlets
about himself and what he was doing and business issues he was experiencing. The business
did well and he had a number of students who did the same thing at various key intersections
with him providing the packs. Someone then asked for coffee with the breakfast pack which led
to Mike buying some backpacks from Nestle and then flying to the US to acquire the rights for
the specialised backpacks. Two months later he took over the below line marketing for Nestle
and SAB and covered all the cricket matches and outdoor events including the World Cup. It
wasn’t long before Nestle and SAB bought him out. Together with Bruce Smith he got involved
with other ventures and now runs an events company, publishing and travel companies under
the umbrella “LiveOutLoud”. The hard cover magazine he publishes is available only to
exceptional people or SA business leaders.
Mike’s company is a finalist in the Sanlam Entrepreneurial Award 2012, the youngest company
to be nominated and in the top 20. The company was placed in the annual Africa SMME Awards
where the best businesses in Africa and the most innovative were identified. Mike’s company
was placed second in the “Most Innovative Category”.
Mike believes that experience is as vital as qualifications and that the courage to go out and get
involved in something makes you stand out.
Mike would be interested in offering internships to boys in grade 10 and up and would be
interested to be involved with the matric rite of passage. He would be interested in the book and
getting involved in 2016 celebrations and MOBS.
JE September 2012

Interview with Mike Smith – 1966
Mike was a day boy at St David’s and lived on a flower farm near Alexandra township. He
remembered his first day in grade 1 in the old grades block, Miss Brick was his teacher and she
used to rap the boys knuckles with her ruler. He and his brother Alf used to arrive at the school
early as their father used to drop them off on his way to market. Mike used to go and sit on the
steps and could see the traffic cops who used to come inside the school grounds to do their
speed trapping of cars on Rivonia Rd. He recalls that one morning Br Edwin the then principal
called him and sent him to tell the police that they could get some coffee from the school
kitchen. Mike was terrified of both the principal and the traffic cops so it was quite nerve
wracking for him.
Br Pius who had taught his father at Koch Street was at the school, although no longer teaching,
his passion was the gardens and he used to give the boys sweets from his lucky packet.
He remembered teachers such as Mrs Martin, Mrs Brophy, Mrs Green and Mrs Humphrey in
whose class the last minutes were dedicated to reading time. The boys really enjoyed this and
you could hear a pin drop during this time.
Mike enjoyed playing cricket from the early days when he used to play with his brother.
Throughout his school career there were always excellent cricketing coaches during the
summer months including the likes of Ken Palmer ( played for England); Jack Bannister; Don
Wilson and Poole. Mike had to choose between swimming or cricket and thoroughly enjoyed the
coaching and practise sessions. The coaches added value to their cricketing performances
which was quite good at the time. The cricket nets were next to where the new chapel now
stands.
The highlight of Mike’s school career occurred during the Michaelmass holidays, the school
then had 4 terms, which was the Marist cricket week and all the Marist schools in the country
competed against each other – St Patrick’s –Walmer; St Joseph’s – Cape Town; St Charle’s –
Pietermaritzburg; St Henry’s – Durban and St David’s – Johannesburg. The week was rotated
between the schools and Mike participated in 3 whilst in standard 8, 9 and 10. When the
matches were completed a Marist cricket 11 was selected and all the players were given a
special blazer, this was regarded as being especially prestigious. This team then played the old
boys team. Mike was selected twice for this team and became the captain in his matric year and
still has the badge given to him. During the week the food was good and the players were taken
to see a movie and a social event together with the local convent school was organised. The
Wilf Isaacs visiting cricket team was also a very special occasion and the Nuffield trials week
when St David’s and Observatory had a combined team against the likes of KES and Parktown
which gave the Marist schools a lot of credos. In those days the boys didn’t wear protective
head gear and he recalls an Obs boy, Brian Norberry being hit by a ball between the eyes. He
fortunately recovered from what was a potentially very dangerous injury.
The school’s swimming team at the time was very good and has been ever since. Athletics was
strong and regarded passionately by the boys and included such names as Terence Lavery,
Chris Terreblanche who were very talented athletes. The inter-catholic high he recalls was held
at a stadium. Rugby featured strongly and the tours were very popular. The rivalry between
Observatory and St David’s was strong and became quite hectic at times.
Academically Mike always did well being in the upper quotient of his year. He was amongst the
first boys to be streamed and studied Maths, Physics and Chemistry, Biology, English and
Afrikaans.
The school put on a couple of plays and Mike was involved backstage but did not act.
The brothers were amazing and real characters, Br Edwin, Br Anthony, Br Bosco (Mario) and Br
Andrew who was Spanish. The brothers dining room was out of bounds but, through the
occasional glimpse the boys could see that the food was good and that the brothers ate and
drank well.
Mike was caned on a daily basis, it was like an honour and not regarded as a problem. He
recalls an incident when a rather ripe orange that was thrown and just missed Br Andrew (Drac)
and all the boys were caned.
The matric dance in those days was rather different and the matric boys themselves decorated
the dining room, no huge sum of money was spent on the event and there was no before party.
The boarders were a fantastic bunch and made the school to a large extent, coming from all
over -Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique the Lowveld etc. He still remains in touch with Mike
Beaumont, Bart Dorrestein, Peter Gerrard, Jannie Steyn and Eric Ambrosioni. There were many
polio victims in the school at that time and he remembers Mike Nettman who was unable to play
sport and now lives in New Zealand and was one of the “Four Jacks and a Jill” and has had a
successful career as a musician. Mike organised the 40th reunion which was held at the top of
the Michael Angelo Towers in Bart Dorrestein’s suite “The Cupola” in 2006 and with a braai on
Sunday at St David’s high school paviliion
During his matric year there was much talk about military service and Mike was called up. He
remembers lining up for the medical exam in his school uniform in the drill hall. After completing
his military service Mike went on to Wits University to study engineering and until recently ran
his own construction company. His son Robert (2004) followed in the family tradition and was a
pupil at St David’s and Mike’s father Cyprien, who is now 92 was a pupil at Koch Street and
Observatory.
JE March 2012

Interview with Peter Loffell (1960)
Peter first attended St David’s in 1948 in grade 1 as a day boy. He was in a section in the junior
school with four classrooms with two grades within one classroom. This was separate from the
main school which had a series of classrooms in a horse shoe shape facing east, with the
dormitories facing north. The infirmary windows overlooked the swimming pool and McGill
Love’s farm. On the western side was the dining room and on the southern side, downstairs
were the headmaster’s office and about 2 classrooms. Standard 4, 5 and 6 were upstairs and
standard 7, 8, 9 and 10 downstairs. At that time the school had 300 pupils.
Peter used to go to the McGill Love’s place of 50 acres with cows etc after school until his father
came to fetch him until he was old enough to ride his bicycle to school. Mr McGill Love was
Peter’s mother’s uncle and founder of Haggy Rand and African Wire Ropes.
He remembers his first day vividly. His teacher was very strict and used the strap liberally and
Peter to this day still does not understand why she took the strap to him. Happily she didn’t stay
very long and Mrs Vincent took her place. In the first year he skipped a class and went up to
grade 2.
Other members of staff he remembers were Mrs Brophy -standard 1, standard 4 -Mrs Kempster,
standard 5 - Mr Bishop and from standard 6 upwards all the teaching was done by the brothers.
The teachers from the grades up to standard 5 had their own classrooms and taught all subjects
but after standard 6 the brothers taught individual subjects. The brothers he remembers are Br
Benedict, Br Bonaventure who was the rugby coach, Br Walker, Br Ephraim and Br Ralph.
Br Edwin was the headmaster followed by Br Benedict until Peter’s last year when Br Anthony
took his place. He recalls Br Edwin had very bad arthritis and had to take cortisone.
Peter enjoyed sport and played soccer in the junior school followed by rugby and cricket 1st and
2nds in the high school. There were A and B sides from U13, U14, U15 and then the 1st and
2nds. There was great rivalry between St David’s and Observatory who had some very good
players. The year in which he wrote matric St David’s rugby team was soundly beaten by
Observatory who had some great players and athletes in their team.
Peter remembered the tours to other Marist schools and went to Cape Town with the cricket
team in 1959 and in 1960 to St Henry’s and St Charles in Natal.
Culturally, Peter used to attend the debates between other schools but was not a member of the
debating society. A concert was held which he doesn’t remember too much about but he was
involved with two operettas, “HMS Pinafore” and “The Pirates of Penzance” directed by the
Music teacher Mr Drummond Bell.
As his first passion was the sport, Peter didn’t do too well academically and didn’t work very
hard, and although there was no sparing of the rod he wasn’t sufficiently motivated to work.
The matric dance was held in the dining room and he recalls it was agonising to find a girl to
take to the dance, he was only 16 at the time. The boys decorated the dining room themselves
and after the dance went home. In 1959 a party was organised for the end of year exams and
Br Benedict warned them that they wouldn’t be allowed to write the exams if he found them to
be involved in preparations for the party.
After he matriculated, Peter went on to Wits University where he studied for a BSc Engineering
but bombed out and then spent a year in the army after which he joined the Netherlands Bank
which became Nedbank until he retired. Paul Middlewick and Gilbert Pooley were also on the
Nedbank staff.
Peter has a son who after returning to Johannesburg from Natal went to Hyde Park High
School.
Peter attended a school reunion after 25 years and saw one of his contemporaries Clive Nobbs
who became head of Rand Mines and the Chamber of Mines.
JE March 2012

Interview with Reinhard Hartmann – 1980 and Robert Hartmann – 1981
Reinhard came to St David’s in 1968 and specifically remembered the fountain at the entrance to the prep
school. He recalled being told by Mrs Kempster, who was quite a tough cookie, to put his cap on, as he
hadn’t been to a nursery school he had no experience of a formal environment.
There were still boarders at the school when he and his brother Robert initially started. Reinhard
remembered the swimming pool, science block and Mr Chipolat the Science teacher. He thoroughly
enjoyed standard 9. Br Timothy used to flick his fingers and say “Office! Boy!”. Robert has fond memories
of Heather Joseph who taught both himself and his younger brother Roland, Art. Br Bernard was the rugby
coach who would get the boys into a huddle saying their “Hail Mary’s” and then tell them to “Go Kill ‘em!”.
He was a good sculptor and photographer. They both remembered learning History by rote which made it
incredibly boring.
Reinhard felt that Trudy Elliot had the biggest influence on his life at St David’s, she was one of those
teachers who was interactive. He recalled the Great Gatsby, Macbeth and The Crucible, which he will
never forget and recently compared the two Gatsby movies with his family recently. Reinhard is still an avid
reader to this day. Robert also saw her many years after he finished school and said that she was well liked
by all the boys. Reinhard remembered Penny Richards who taught swimming and who, at the time he
thought to be the most beautiful woman in the world! Other teachers were Mr Boswell who was different
and calm, teaching Afrikaans and History. Mr McFadden was quite a character and Willy Castle also taught
both of them.
Br Timothy (Tin Man) ran the school with an iron fist and wasn’t particularly well liked. When he was
headmaster he made a speech on the boys’ last day threatening them that they would not matriculate if
they threw him into the swimming pool. There were not many brothers still teaching at the school when the
Reinhard and Robert came to the end of their school career.
The brothers felt that they were never frightened into believing the religious aspect of their education whilst
at St David’s whereas at Treverton they were exposed to Sunday movies with non believers burning in hell.
At Sat David’s there was religious instruction and a regular mass which was very formal and weekly
Confession. Robert remembers being an altar boy for one event. The boys used to strive to be an altar boy
but Chaplain Plesters didn’t interact with the boys outside of mass. Reinhard felt that he took away from
this a respect for his elders and other people. Education was not his priority and neither he or Robert were
great academics and in those days the parents didn’t get involved as they do today.
Reinhard remembers writing matric in the dorms. And that the theme of his matric dance was “Star Wars”.
Both brothers left St David’s for a short period of time, they had a very autocratic German father who
decided that there was too much emphasis on sport and not enough on academics. They both went for one
term to Sandown High where they were introduced to girls, Robert in standard 6 and Reinhard in standard

7. From there they were sent to Treverton, a boarding school in Moii River. Robert came back to St David’s
   at the beginning of the second term in standard 8 and Reinhard lasted until about three quarters of
   standard 9. Both of them repeated a year, Robert standard 8 and Reinhard, standard 9.
   Both brothers remembered being caned but usually for a good reason.
   Reinhard had a drivers license in matric and drove an old Varient. A few boys Alphonso de Chaud, Enrico
   Maraschin, Brian Muller and George Daras tutored him and helped him pass matric. Reinhard was
   awarded scrolls for rugby and swimming and water polo. Reinhard played 1st rugby XV, was captain of the
   ‘A’ water polo team and captain of Bishops house
   Robert was vice captain of the ‘A’ swimming team, vice captain of the 2nd rugby XV and captained the
   Western province team, ‘A Water Polo team, a prefect and was awarded an honours blazer, scrolls for
   prefect, werit and water polo.
   After leaving school, Reinhard was accepted at Durban University to study a BComm but didn’t go. A friend
   of his father offered him a job in the laboratory field, then he followed his father and got involved in design
   and kitchens. In 1983 he went to Germany for three years to a college specialising in the furniture industry.
   Afterwards, in 1986 he went on a business trip with his father to the United States arriving just after the
   space shuttle blew up. Three months later both Reinhard and Robert were in the States, in Atlanta for one
   and half years until their father returned to South Africa and Reinhard and Robert closed the business.
   Reinhard rejoined the family business in 1994 and asked Robert to join him when their father retired and
   the two of them took over the business – Hartmann and Kepler. Keppler was their grandfather’s cousin, a
   cabinet maker.
   Robert completed a year at an audit firm as a junior clerk after leaving St David’s and rewrote Maths. He
   eventually went to work in the family business and did an apprenticeship in cabinet making for four years
   and went to the US in 1985-6. He then did his national service and joined the audit firm Meyer, Wilson and
   Marsh completing his articles there and studied for a degree through Unisa. He worked one year for an
   adult education company before returning to the family business.
   Reinhard felt that one of the saddest things when he left St David’s was that he didn’t know what the ANC
   was, although the country was in political turmoil he had been sheltered and was not aware of Mandela
   until he went to Germany.
   The brothers’ father, Gunter was an old boy of Koch Street and spent a short time at St David’s
   Robert has three sons two who currently attend St David’s and Reinhard has two daughters who attended
   St Mary’s. (Both at Stellenbosch). They have a brother Roland who also attended St David’s and is living in
   London.
   JE October 2013

Interview with Sabelo Sithebe – 2005
Sabelo’s mother was determined that Sabelo be a pupil at St David’s and went in everyday to
the admissions department with this objective in mind.
Sabelo remembers his first day at St David’s in the old grade 0 block. He watched Andrew Prior
and Kyle Burger playing cricket, the first time he had seen the game played and joined in. His
teacher was Mrs Tyack and he made life-long friends that day. The head of the prep was Greg
Royce followed by Rick Wilson who built on the merit system which motivated many of the
young prep school boys and changed the mind set of many. He was a father figure who
interacted with the boys well and was always fair. He remembers Mrs Hurley, Mrs Rose who
pushed him with his reading and to achieve, Mrs Geldenhuys whose approach to Maths was
invaluable.
In the high school Paul Edey was headmaster and the teachers he particularly remembers are
Mrs Marais, Mrs Roman, who struck a good balance, being caring and tender but also strong
enough to control a class. Mr Van Den Berg taught him to enjoy Accounting and the atmosphere
he created. Great teachers had good balance and knew which buttons to press at the right time.
Sabelo feels that it’s not the buildings at St David’s but the people who make the school.
The school grew enormously whilst he was a pupil with the building of the Champagnat hall,
high school pavilion and library.
For Sabelo, school was a huge part of his life and he participated in sport in all the three terms
playing tennis, cricket, football, rugby, athletics and swimming. He learnt to swim in grade 6, as
Willy Castle took no excuses and said “you will swim”. Willy Castle was a father figure to all the
boys who were initially afraid and in awe of him. Willy pushed you to be better than yourself and
had a great influence on many of the boys. Sabelo thought the sport was fantastic and the way
in which it helped develop ones character. He was a member of the 1st team football, 1st team
rugby and also did a lot of running. The rugby was tough in the beginning, building bonds,
relationships with fellow soldiers, and believes that’s why rugby is important at a boy’s school,
Sabelo said it wasn’t the same at university, at school every Saturday was special. He recalled
the Johnny Waite victory over schools such as St John’s and learning that even being a small
school they could still achieve a lot.
He felt that there was a lovely balance of academics and sport as school is also about people
development, building young men who participate in society using the Marcellin and Marist
ideals with modesty. Those traditions were instilled in the junior primary with highlights such as
the football tour to East London. The 1st team were in their special kit and everyone played hard
to ensure they upheld the tradition and values of the school. In the high school going to St
Andrews, Bloemfontein was always great.
The camps were sometimes controversial with his grade 9 and 10 year camps being held in
appalling conditions with particularly bad weather. However the grade 11 camp held under the
same conditions went very well. He really hated the camps but really enjoyed that one.
Sabelo participated in the SMILE programme, performed in three school musicals produced by
Mr Dry, and remembers Nelson Mandela coming to watch “West Side Story”. He was also a
member of the school choir in grade 11 and matric.
Sabelo looked up to some of the older boys such as Jason Simaan, Robert Smith, Gareth
Kolkenbeck-Ruh, Bevan Winderly, boys he saw achieving and wanted to emulate them. They
were setting the standard achieving not just for themselves but also for the school.
On becoming head boy, Sabelo knew he would be amongst a group of individuals who would
help him. It was a phenomenal experience and also quite overwhelming being one of a line of
leaders of men such as Mike Von Guilliame, Gareth Kolkenbek-Ruh and Robert Stuart.
Academically Sabelo did very well and was in the top 15 when he matriculated with 7
distinctions. His last day was surreal and emotional and he is very much a product of St David’s.
He went to Wits and studied for a BA Accounting Science until 2009 and then went onto
Investec to write his articles and, having passed the exams, being the first overall in the country
and will start practising as an accountant in November 2012.
JE 2012

Interview with Svend Littauer – 1988
Svend came to St David’s in 1984, standard 6, he had just returned from being a few years
in Denmark and started school during the mid-term. It is never easy to try and integrate
when everyone already has their group of friends but he was made welcome by having a
designated person to look after him who he proudly still can call a friend 30 years later.
He always generally enjoyed school as an opportunity to be social and if the curriculum was
engaging enough it ensured that he was interested. Unfortunately during his time at St
David’s there were some “scandals” relating to the headmaster which meant that there was
no strong leadership in place. The reputation of the school suffered and the loss of the
brothers took away the specialness of the school.
Svend did not enjoy prefects’ teas – the thought that someone 17 years old had the authority
over you and, depending on their character, what punishment they could inflict.
Svend played tennis, rugby, hockey and cannot recall which team but he was briefly in the
rugby team before injured knees meant he had to swap to hockey..
The teachers that he remembers are Ms Joseph who was a fun Art teacher, Mrs De Wit and
Mr De Souza; Svend enjoyed their commitment to teaching.
One year the matrics apparently bounced the mini belonging to the Biology teacher up to the
first floor but as Svend wasn’t a witness he was not sure whether this was an urban legend.
Of his last day Svend remembers that it was with an element of sadness as it was where he
had spent the past 5 years however with it being the final year before embarking on the next
journey it was fairly exciting. He was with a number of boys going to St John’s to complete
their A’levels, during the uncertain times when they weren’t sure what the future in SA held.
After matriculating Svend went on to St John’s to write A level’s then onto RAU where he
studied for a BCom Law from 1992 – 94 and then Economics Hons in 1995. He is a fellow of
ICSA and is currently head of corporate legal and HR, Goodwille Ltd., St James House, 13
Kensington Square, London W8 5HD.
Svend had no sons who attended St David’s and visited St David’s 10 years ago but is still in
contact with George Neville Griffin, Stephen Klein, Beau Nicholas White and Edric von
Meyer.
JLE July 2013

Interview with Temba Bavuma – 2007
Temba moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg with his parents in 2003 and first went to Fourways High
School joining St David’s in grade 10 when he was awarded a sports scholarship to play cricket. He was
spotted by Shane Gaffney and Roger Budd at a regional U15 cricket week.
At first he found the school rather intimidating and didn’t know quite what to expect as a co-ed school is run
somewhat differently. He made friends easily especially with his sporting background being involved with
rugby, soccer, cricket and cross-country.
Temba was awarded colours for soccer and cricket but didn’t play in an open year. He played for the A or
1st team in all the sports in which he participated and at one time soccer was his first love before cricket. He
struggled in the first few years but represented Gauteng U19 cricket. Initially he was going to study at UCT
having gained 3 distinctions in matric but he stayed on at St David’s and completed a post-matric year
which qualified him to play for SA Schools. It was a very tough year having to come back to school in
uniform and repeating matric subjects again. However, it did make him mentally stronger as an individual
and from a cricketing point of view.
Temba enjoyed the brotherhood at the school with a tight relationship amongst the guys especially in rugby
and cricket.
Temba did struggle with all the discipline and school regulations and those parameters but, with hindsight
he now appreciates it. He found all the teachers to be different and he could relate to them. Mr Ireland
didn’t show much emotion presenting a tough facade but Temba enjoyed him. Mrs Deetlefs had a vibrant
nature and always engaged with the students and Ms Cambitzis tried to break the student, teacher barrier.
Temba feels he owes a lot to Shane Gaffney who gave him the opportunity to succeed and contributed
greatly to enable Temba to get to where he finds himself now. Shane was very strict but tried to get the
best out of him and the other boys.Temba also had a good relationship with Amarinda Binder who helped
him a lot.
One unfortunate incident which stands took place during his grade 11 year when Sello M........... lost his
soccer boots and assumed that Temba had them. Sello took Temba’s school and cricket bag in revenge
which meant that Temba couldn’t do his homework or attend cricket training. This was a disaster for
Temba.
Temba went on school tours to Maritzburg and was involved in the St Albans tournament for cricket and
with soccer went to Kloof High and Durban, and played rugby in Bloemfontein at Gray’s College and St
Peter’s.Temba remembers that before his matric dance he was playing cricket all day and wondered if he
would ever make it.
The friendships he made at school he will always cherish and he remembers in particular Sabelo Sithebe,
head boy whom everyone respected, he was inspiring.
Temba matriculated in 2007 and 2008 with Accounting, Biology, Zulu, English, Business Economics and
Mathematics. He admits that his focus was not on marks but on cricket and was fortunate to play SA
Schools and for the SA U19 team, memories which he will cherish forever.
Temba appreciated the support he was given by being at St David’s, the way the school was run with its
systems and structure which enabled him to become the person he is today. It shaped him and encouraged
him. The values and principles the school instilled in him whilst he was there. The biggest thing wasn’t
about academics but how to be a man amongst other men. Comfortare Esto Vir: Take courage and be a
man.
In 2009 Temba enrolled at University of Johannesburg to study for BComm Finance. He finished the first
year but dropped out in the second due to his cricket commitments, enrolled at Unisa and finished his
degree in June 2014. He found it difficult to study and play sport. It was hard to find the energy after a
tough days training to apply himself to his studies. At the moment he is focused on his cricketing career and
a coaching facility at St David’s which he hopes will start at the end of March. He will be touring India and
Bangladesh during the winter.
Temba is now receiving information from MOBS and hopes to get more involved in future.
JLE February 2015

Interview with Terence K. Lavery -1967 aka – T
Years attended Marist Inanda – 1956 -1967 – Matriculated 1967
My oldest brother Rory (1965) and I carpooled from Emerentia Ext. with Kevin & Johnny Peel
from 1956 – 1965. In 1966 & 1967 I boarded at Marist InandaThere really were not any pros to
being a day boy, it was what it was and we didn’t know anything else and I did feel sorry for the
boarders that had to remain at school over the week-ends but sports and activities made the
week-end go by quickly.The cons to being a day boy for the Lavery’s & Peel’s were that we had
to get up rather early to execute the carpool and that we were dropped off early, usually 1 to 1-
1/2 hours before school started (until standard 7, when they implemented a new period that
started @ 7:45am) and we were picked up 5:00pm to go home. This made an extremely long
day, especially in the early years. Special arrangements had to be made when we were let out
of class early and many times we had to wait until 5:00pm to be picked up. The other con was
that we did not get to play or know the children in our neighborhood, since we arrived home so
late.
The pros to being a boarder, especially in standard 9 & matric was the structured day, study
hall, rosary, chapel, meals and bedtime. Boarding (and the military service) taught you to eat
anything and everything otherwise you went hungry. You became better friends to your
boarding classmates.
The cons were the limited access to radio music (a form of broad punishment) and news
papers. In hind sight I missed a lot of music influences in 1966 & 1967 and world and local news
events (Sharpsville riots) that influence and mold teenagers in that age bracket. This really
showed up when I was attending the University of Washington in Seattle, WA 1970-1974.
My 1st day is still a vivid memory, very apprehensive but not like some others that day as I was a
3rd sibling and my oldest brother Rory already attended Marist Inanda. My mother walking me
into the courtyard of the grade school, on the way to Mrs. Bricks classroom when she spotted
another mom and son next to us walking in the same direction, she grabs his arm and asks
“what your name? – Robert Ashby he replies – good, this is Terence Lavery, you are now
friends.” Robert and 11 other boys walking to Mrs. Brick’s classroom that day matriculated
together in 1967.
My last formal day before matric exams began consisted of short time in the classroom followed
by Joe Stravino, Johnny Astrup and I (only 3 matric boys with cars) deciding to race our cars
around the cinder athletic track, NASCAR style early years, sliding around 3 corners (track had
3 legs of cinder and 1 of glass) completing 1 lap and after 2 additional corners finding Br.
Anthony standing squarely in the middle of the track, hands on his hips causing us to come to a
screeching stop. When each of us exited the track onto the road he asked us “What are you
doing? I’m not going to let you take the final exams.” We went to his office to beg for
forgiveness, and permission to be allowed to take the exams.
I cannot remember the theme of the matric dance but I do remember that the standard 9’s had
done an excellent job of decorating the dining hall and that Susan Davey and I had a wonderful
time. I also remember that my sister Trisha, who attended Holy Cross Convent, helped set up
Joe Stravino with Zenda Lutz and Derrick Schoombie with his date for that night and that they
both of them married their dates that night later in life.
I enjoyed the all boys’ school, the uniforms, the small class room sizes, the brothers, the lay
teachers, the discipline, the friendships, ethnic diversity and the athletic fields, the requirement
to participate in a sport every season.
The aspects I least enjoyed were wearing ties on a hot summer day, caning the entire class for
an infraction by one student, competing against larger schools in sports – KES, Parktown Boys
and Marist Obs and getting crushed. But the passage of time, the 46 years, has diminished the
majority of dislikes.
The Marist Centennial celebration in 1966 with 3 bus loads of students travelling down to St
Joseph in Rondebosch, Cape Town was memorable in more ways than one. Best left
unspoken.
The worst moments at school, in my experience, comprised of the strict and severe disciplinary
measures metered out by the brothers. I recall my 1st caning in grade 2 and my last episode 1
week before I matriculated. But the most memorable was a severe dose metered out by Brother
Andrew one morning in 1st period standard 8 because the entire class was were talking and not
studying as instructed. The entire class was marched out single file to an empty class room and
individually brought back for 4 strokes with the cane. When it was my turn Brother Andrew, who
was left handed, seemed to dispense the strokes with extra vigor and on my return to the class
room I felt blood dripping down my buttocks. Being macho and amongst peers you did not show
any sign of pain or crying and were usually laughing out of pain. I let my peers know that I
believe I was bleeding and was called upon to prove it. I dropped my pant to display the
bleeding to all in attendance, only to have Brother Andrew enter the class room to see me with
my pant around my ankles. “Lavery - What are you doing? Do you want 4 more?” When I turned
around to face him he noticed the blood streaming down my leg and his jaw dropped in surprise,
his eyes got bigger and he mumbled “Get dressed!” and left the class room.
As an epilogue to the above story I do not feel that any of the discipline I received was
undeserving or malicious in nature and it never affected me mentally or physically. I never
notified my parents of any incidents because my father was an old Marist Observatory boarder
from grade 1 to matric (1933) and he would have supplemented the punishment. He too was a
strict disciplinarian.Unfortunately time has erased the funny/amusing incidents but I sure if I
were to attend a class reunion my recollections would be rekindled.Once again, unfortunately
time has erased the names and faces of the teachers but the following 3 were clearly influential
in my development. Brother Anthony, Brother Andrew & Brother Timothy come to mind.I was a
prefect but didn’t receive any special awards other than for athletics.
I played all sports at Marist Inanda at that time 1956  1960 swimming, tennis, athletics and
soccer.
1961  1967 – I participated in swimming and water polo team, cricket, tennis, field hockey,
soccer and athletics. We did not attend or have any camps available to us. In all sports I was on
the 1ST Team except cricket which I did not participate in. From 1965 as I was playing baseball
for the Pirates Club and the 1967 1st XV rugby teams as I was training for the Springboks
European tour 1967.I competed for the Southern Transvaal athletics teams from 1964 – 1968 in
all provincial competitions and South African championships and was selected as a Junior
Springbok to compete against Germany 1966 in Bloemfontein, OFS and to tour with the Senior
Springbok team for 4 weeks in Europe July 1967. I still hold 4 South African records in the 100
yards, 220 yards, 220 low hurdles & 440 yards in the U-17 age group.I was selected to attend
the South African Air Force in Valhalla and after my service was completed was given a bursary
to attend Stellenbosch University. I toured with the University of Stellenbosch athletics’ team in
1969 in Rhodesia.
In 1970 at the advice of a mentor, rather than attend the University of Stellenbosch, I applied for
athletics’ scholarships to 14 different USA universities in western or southern states. I accepted
an athletics’ (track) scholarship to the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington State. I
chose to study Business Administration and graduated in December 1974 with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Business Administration with a minor in marketing. In 1975 I attended Wits
University MBA program which I did not complete as I returned to USA in August 1975.
In order to return to the USA on a working permit I was offered a job as an outside Industrial
salesman for a plumbing, commercial and pipe, valves and fittings distribution company in
Seattle, WA. I have been employed there for 38 years and hold the position of national account
manager for The Boeing Company. In this position I administer the support to Boeing for its
ground assembly facilities across the USA, supporting Boeing’s locations in the Puget Sound,
Portland, OR, Southern California, Mesa, AZ, Salt Lake City, UT, St. Louis, MO, El Paso, TX,
San Antonio TX, Philadelphia, PA and Charleston, SC. In 1988 my company Familian
Northwest, Inc was sold to an English company Wolseley, PLC. Which today is the world’s
largest distributor of plumbing, commercial plumbing and pipe, valves and fittings in the world
and USA.
Since I was out of the country I had none of my 3 children attend St. David’s, Marist, Inanda.The
last time I visited St. David’s was in January 2002.
The story I recollect regarding the sports field north (?) of the school is as follows – I believe the
50 acres of property were donated to the school in 1965 +/- and that our students were granted
access to a usually prohibited piece of property for the 1st time. The newly assembled marching
band members use it to practice their bugles and kettle drum music and some members of the
1st VX rugby teams chopped some of the trees down as strength training. Then they started to
bulldoze the lower area for rugby fields and after months of work with large earth moving
equipment the fields had their final shape. I remember that Brother Anthony hire a water
dowsing expert to locate an underground stream or water source and that Brother Andrew, who
maintained the cinder track and cricket pitches, showed us how by using willow branch we
could confirm the location of the water. This is where Mr. Simaan enters the picture, Br. Andrew
was tasked with planting the grass on the newly bull dozed fields, he would allow a selected few
Std 9 & 10 students out during the evening study hall to walk with him as he survey this
monumental task. I’m not sure how this transpired but in short time George Da Matta offered his
father’s flat bed produce truck to Br. Andrew and that a number of us students went over to Mr
Simaans property the following week-end, armed with picks, shovels and pitch forks to harvest
the kikuyu grass that surrounded his property. We returned with a truck load of kikuyu starts that
were subsequently planted in rows starting in the corner closest to the road between the shed
and the property. George Da Matta, Dave Palmer and others that grew up on farms, knew how
to operate the tractor and plow and they hoed perfect rows for us to plant the kikuyu starts. We
did this in the evenings after the african workers had completed their work during the day.
JLE June 2013

Newspaper cutting

A4 newspaper cutting

1 A4 page

A3 newspeper cutting

A4 newspaper cutting about Temba Bavuma Matriculated 2007