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Interview with Terry van Heerden – 1972
Terry started at St David’s as a boarder in standard 5 in 1967. On his first day he remembers his
mother crying, lots of other mothers crying, some boys crying, his father helped him carry his trunk
up to the dormitory, rows and rows of beds with military corners, emptying his trunk into his locker,
everything new and labeled with his name. Thomas Manko, whose locker was next to his, men
wearing dresses, big scary boys telling him what to do and where to go, dinner in the hall, loneliness,
homesick already.
The day boys didn’t get to play as much sport, and have endless opportunities to create mischief as
boarders, not that all the boarders considered that a con. In every other respect Terry would have
preferred to have been a day boy and live with his family, date girls, go to parties, wear cool clothing,
listen to music and so on. Terry also felt that boarding did not prepare you for a normal life and in his
first year at university he likened himself to an untrained dog that had been let off its leash. He
knows that the same thing happened to most of the boarders.
Terry most enjoyed the sport, comraderie, the “Boys Own sort of life” that they led and, in an odd
sort of way, the routine of the life. He also enjoyed learning. The habit has stayed with him all his life
and he owes it to the teaching he received at St David’s.
Terry doesn’t have memories of his last day but he is sure that he would have had mixed feelings;
relief that it was all over, excitement about the future, sadness to be leaving what had become, with
all its warts, home.
However he didn’t enjoy the hours of boredom (especially on visiting weekends when most of his
mates went home and he and other boys whose parents lived so far away were stuck at school with
no one to play with), the constant hunger and being homesick.
He has good memories of every rugby game that he ever played. Rugby was a big thing in his life
and Nassey Simaan had a lot to do with that. He lit the fire. Their loss to KES in 1972 still rankles to
this day. It was the only blemish on the “72 team’s record. Heplayed a lot of sport. Terry was in the
school’s swimming and athletics teams and held many records in both disciplines. And he was
captain of the 1972 1st XV rugby team which was the most successful team the school had had up
to that point. Lawrence Saad and Terry were the only two St David’s boys to have been invited to the
Transvaals schools rugby trials. Terry made it to the final 30 but on Br Anthony’s advice to his
parents he withdrew to concentrate on his studies. He later played a few games for the Western
Province U20 team.
Of the teachers, Brother Timothy was an influence. Like Mr Simaan, he had a passion for rugby and
it rubbed off onto him. He also taught him biology and that’s what he went on to study at university.
Another brother, whose name he won’t mention, brought some sanity into our boarding school lives
by supplying us with the occasional beer and cigarette.
Hunger was always with the boarders, and there was this story about earlier generations of
boarders raiding the kitchen at night. They didn’t know exactly how they did it, but they figured it
must have been by climbing out a dormitory window and crossing the roof, which is what they did,
him and Nichas and a couple of others whose names he’s forgotten. They never got caught. It was a
lot of fun. And while everyone else was losing weight, they started putting it on.
His closest mates were among the boarders: Harry Curtis (who, like him, was a Zambian), and
George Nichas and James Cronin (his equals, if not betters, when it came to getting up to no good).
But through sport and being the school’s vice-head prefect he got to know just about everyone.
Among the day boys he was close to Colin Rezek whose family graciously took him into their home
at weekends. Regrettably, he doesn’t keep in regular touch with anyone.
After matriculating, Terry studied for a BSc at UCT then gained a post graduate diploma from Wits
and an MBA from UCT. He is currently the managing director and major shareholder of a group of
companies in Australia – Salima |Holdings Pty Ltd..
Terry last visited St David’s in 1992 for a 20 years reunion.
JLE July 2013

Interview with Thabo Hermanus – 1992
When Thabo matriculated from St David’s, Paul Davies was headmaster, he had come from St
Albans. He remembers that he didn’t resonate with him and his parents only picked this up after
a while. People were pulling out of the school and a lot of black pupils left during Thabo’s high
school years. From standard 7 until his final year he was the only black boy in his class with
another joining in his matric year. One could see the degradation in the high school’s reputation
and what an impact a head has on a school and its teaching staff.
Thabo started school in Alexandra, passed top of the class in each year. When he completed
standard 2 at M.C. Weiller, instead of going to standard 3 remaining in Alexandra, he started at
St David’s going backwards to standard 1 and did marginally well. While at the time this was
difficult for him as he thought he would get left behind by his peers from Alexandra, over time
and, looking back he realised that most of the boys he was at school with in Alex didn’t even
make it to matric. It was a real sacrifice for his parents but it was so far sighted of them. His
mother was a teacher in Alex and his brothers also started at St David’s, although they
completed their matric at Wendywood High. His mother had said to him that if he failed one year
he would be out of St David’s. He worked hard and came third in standard 1 during his first year.
He felt being older helped with his confidence considering the jump in the standard of education
he had to contend with and he mentioned Gladwell’s: The Outliers in this context.. After a year
he had got used to the school and it exposed him to a whole new world. He wasn’t envious or
jealous of the lifestyle he saw that the white children had but it created ambition in terms of
defining what success was, the picture was bigger now and it was no longer necessarily out of
reach.
On his first day he was very nervous, he remembers his cap and thinking that all the boys
looked the same. Miss Keating was his teacher.
There were the odd incidents of naive questions and observations. His father drove an old
beetle and he recalls visiting Mark Pardini’s home and Mark’s little brother asking him why his
father drove a beetle. It was not malicious, just a boy who could not have been older than seven
years old being curious and noticing differences in material wealth. Bullying was normal and
part of the package. On one occasion he went to the tuck shop and bought a toasted sandwich,
another boy told him to give him a bite; he was a large boy, rugby type. Thabo broke a piece off,
gave him the smaller piece. The boy insisted on having the bigger piece and instinctively Thabo
stuffed the bigger piece into his own mouth. The boy punched Thabo for the “offence” which
Thabo could do nothing about given the David and Goliath scenario. He remembers thinking,
“Wait until I get to be your size”.
Even canings hurt but was what they all knew, so it was acceptable. Words can scar a lot more
as far as Thabo is concerned. The worst caning that Thabo remembers was with Mr Webster
and he knew rather to stand at the front of the queue and get it over and done with.
One of the most memorable classroom incidents he remembers involved seeing current in
action. There was a funny incident in the Science lab. Stuart Dickey had a pen set and he stuck
a pen in one plug and then the pencil, mistakenly creating a current, there was a loud bang,
Stuart got the fright of his life and his pen and pencil were welded together. Thabo chirped that
the bang made him feel at home coming from Alex and everyone packed up laughing which
calmed the air a bit from the shock.
He played rugby, basketball and was in the athletics squad in the high school while in the prep
he played soccer. He gained half colours for rugby and basketball.
He is still in touch with Justin van Linden, Yoav van der Heyden, Jeetesh Kathawaroo, Rowan
Brewer to name a few from his year and has contact with pupils from below and above and
recently got in touch with Mike von Guillaeume (2 -3 years behind him).
The teachers he remembers are Willy Castle – “Mr Fruitcake”. In the last soccer season in
standard 5, in a good team playing against a school who went on to win the championship that
year, they lost 1.0 by a silly mistake by Jeffrey Tsatsane. They played defence together and he
can still remember Willy Castle mumbling his disapproval calling out “Tsatsane”. In the high
school he recalled Mr Girdwood – an awesome English teacher, Mr Howarth – History, Mr
Finlayson – Sport and house master and Miss Von Guillaeume whom he is still in touch with
today. There wasn’t a teacher he disliked and he was taught how to think and not just
regurgitate answers, especially by Mr Howarth who spoke to them about the other side of the
story, not written in the matric History books.
He recalled a significant teacher in the prep, Mrs Hurley and a high impact moment whilst in her
class when she had a “throwing her toys” moment with him. He had got 60% for a spot History
test but she still kept him behind after school with boys who had failed. He was supposed to
have read something the day before but hadn’t and it showed. She reprimanded him in front of
his father, saying that his parents were spending all this money on him and he wasn’t working.
He never messed around after that, it was a turning point for him.
Academically he did well, receiving prizes in the prep school. It was a bit different in the high
school. In standard 5 Mr Kotze was the disciplinarian. In standard 6 he messed around a bit and
then in standard 7 he started working hard again.
He feels that a sense of worth helps but most of this comes from the home and parents should
not abdicate responsibility. He believes that boys coming from St David’s are more grounded,
humble.
His last day at school he remembers as being crazy, with everyone signing shirts and letting off
water balloons.
He struggled to get a bursary as he wanted to go to university away from Johannesburg. Justin
van Linden’s father was MD of Customs Plastics, a division of Nampak, had kept an eye on him
through the years unbeknown to him and offered him a bursary. He then went on to UCT, did a
BCom majoring in Accountancy and Economics. He planned to be a CA but hated auditing,
however he went to Nampak where he was a Management Accountant, helped his brothers
through school and university in terms of paying tuition. They are now both CA’s. He left
Nampak and went to Experiaen SA, primarily know as a credit bureau but he wanted to get into
the services industry. In 2008 he was co-founder of Nimble Collection Services and after setting
up the company they sold it. He has been in Cape Town for 4 years now and subsequent to
Nimble, together with his partner Suzanne Capper set up Find Inspired Talent (F.I.T.
Recruitment). Thabo is good with numbers but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what he
enjoys doing the most. People development and leadership are his strengths.
He is the father of two daughters aged 10 and 7, who attend the Waldorf School in Constantia,
he is on the school board and is also involved in setting up a trust to enable young black girls to
attend varsity (funding young girls from previously disadvantaged backgrounds).
He would like to keep in touch and would pledge or make a donation to the book. He would love
to participate in any celebration for the 75th. He owes a lot to his experience at the school.
JE October 2011

Interview with Thomas Rumpelt – 1972
Thomas came to St David’s from the German School, Johannesburg when it was still in Edith
Cavell Street, in the German block donated by Paul Kruger, in the original building built in 1893.
Tom wrote an entrance exam at Observatory but eventually went to Inanda for standard 6. The
family lived in Orchards at the time, his grandfather had been a Jesuit priest and his parents
thought it a good idea for both Tom and Martin, his younger brother to attend a Catholic school.
The first year at St David’s was difficult as he had to undertake all his classes in English and
had only started school at the age of 7. He was, therefore always with the older boys when it
came to sport and only learnt how to play rugby on his arrival in standard 6 He was a member of
the swimming team and athletics was compulsory. He had competed as a fencer at the German
School and continued by going to Wanderers every Saturday and duelling with Springboks. He
continued to play until the 90’s and was an inter-varsity fencer.
Academically he did well, was fortunate to have a good memory, a knack for Maths and he was
ambitious. His rival Alf Gohdes was more fastidious in standards 8,9 and 10 and Thomas had a
problem with discipline at the time.
He liked Br Andrew who was the Maths teacher and also coached team rugby. Tom recalls how
Br Mario opened his eyes regarding how critical things really were in South Africa. Br Mario took
the boys to Soweto and gave them a different exposure and perspective on life. Later he found
he couldn’t reconcile his life in South Africa especially when his brother, Martin suggested he
should perhaps get a gun for security reasons.
His worst time at school was when he was suspended for 3 days. Br Mario used to keep a close
eye on things, hence Tom was suspended for calling out “waiter” to Mrs Sacharowitz, Br
Anthony was not impressed. The boys were not allowed to smoke but did during the world C
chess championships when they would meet in the change rooms, Tom had a box of Mills and
they would smoke and play chess. Tom had long hair which he used to grease back with a lot of
Brylcream to avoid the prefects checking.
The boys had a good connection with Rosebank Convent through Steve Goodey who had a
sister there. It was part of their social life,they studied with the girls and even played hockey
against them.
Boys he remembers well are Steven Goodey, Chares and Nigel Mayer, Chris Stanley, Nolan
Springer and Mike Harris.
Tom recalled a classmate Nigel Mayer who wanted to study dentistry and repeated matric to get
better marks, he now practices dentistry in London.
One of his good memories is of a trip in the winter of 1972 with Andre Malan, the Afrikaans
teacher together with Karl Eb and Steven Goodey to Mozambique. Their car was cleaned out
and everything including passports were stolen. The passports were fortunately eventually
found at the Red Cross. He recalls that the car was a green rover and that only one tape was
left of Janice Joplin and whenever he hears that music he remembers the trip. To cap it all, the
ferry didn’t come to collect them on time to return to Lorenzo Marques, quite an experience.
Another occasion that stands out was when the “All Blacks” were in South Africa, some of the
team members including Maoris were Marist old boys, and visited the school and attended
assembly. It made him think that they were racially integrated and why couldn’t it be the same in
South Africa.
The theme of the matric dance was african dawn and Tom helped with the decorations, he was
good at Art and still paints to this day.
Add Maths was his last subject on 24 November and on his last day at St David’s, Tom had a
driving license so was allowed to take a car and packed a number of the guys in it and took
them to the Rosebank Hotel. Sadly he had to stay sober as he was the driver. They didn’t have
a matric holiday in those days just study leave.
When he left St David’s Tom was exempt from military service for medical reasons and studied
architecture but changed to civil engineering. Whilst at university he was involved in visiting
schools in Soweto encouraging the children to study engineering and not necessarily medicine.
He had a bursary from Grinakaer and worked for them but later returned to Wits to do his
masters, he then worked for SRK for 5 years. He went on to Berkley where he did his Phd in
civil engineering. He had in the meantime, married Mary, the Harrywyn’s eldest daughter and
after 4 ½ years in America, they decided not to stay. Mary had family in Belgium but they
eventually ended up in Germany where Tom was offered a job with an apartment nearby in
Stuttgart. They have two daughters and a son. He is currently involved in a lot of work in Israel
but also manages time in Berlin which he believes is the best city in Europe.
Tom feels that a good thing about the educational system in South Africa is the dual function of
many teachers with the coaching of sport. The teachers have more contact with the boys which
is very important as they see another side to a boy.
Tom went to Germany as an exchange student when he was 11 and believes this would be a
good thing for St David’s to do as a Marist exchange programme. At his children’s school in
Germany they are able to go on exchanges to many other countries including India and Mexico.
The school his children attend has a strong emphasis on Music and has an outstanding
orchestra.
Tom believes that if he hadn’t been at a Marist school he wouldn’t have been so critical of what
he saw when he worked for Grinaker in Hoedspruit, the machinists and boilermakers were
earning a lot of money and he learnt from them and the black guys who had little money and
saw how they lived. Matthew Bobett’s mother was an activist and he left in standard 8 to go to
Swaziland to a co-ed multi-racial school.
Tom’s mother is still living in South Africa and is still in touch with Br Mario.
Tom is on the MOBS mailing list and would be interested in a copy of the history of the school
and also would like to be able to access the yearbooks online. He is involved with foundations in
Germany funding the school’s choir, an English society and the Church.
JLE November 2012

Interview with Tim Marneweck
Tim had two sons at St David’s in the 70’s, Peter John and Paul.
Peter John was originally a sportsman on leaving school. He was a good cricketer, swimmer and rugby
player and was the first MOB to play professional cricket. He went into the army for the first 5 years then
became a provincial cricketer playing for the Transvaal cricket union in the 1980’s. After working in a sport
shop, then for McCullough and Bothwell, he eventually joined Liberty Life in 2000 and now has his own
franchise.
Paul, the younger son left school in the early 1980’s when Mr Murphy was headmaster. He went into the
army and was trained in guidance missiles and became a lecturer in the subject. He then went to work for
First National Bank for 19 years and is now sales manager for Old Mutual in the financial services
department.
Tim was on the St David’s school council (this was initially formed as an advisory council in 1970) until
1976 and then on the board of governors until 1983 with Kevin Brewer joining the Board in 1984. Tim
continued to work with the brothers behind the scenes and was a member of the Diocesan committee and
Bishop’s committee for close on 40 years, knew Br Jude well and thought of him as a “Walking Saint”.
There was a lot of controversy over the sale of the land on which the “Inandas” now stand. The land and
property belonged to the brothers and Tim is bound not to discuss this but acknowledges that the brothers
were satisfied with the result and Tim was given a certified document from the Marist Brothers of South
Africa Province in gratitude of generous devotedness towards the interests of the brothers. He took a lot of
flack and had promised not to talk about it at the time. He was also presented with a relic of Marcellin
Champagnat, something very special
At the time of the sale there was a lot of politics and tax involved. The brothers couldn’t be seen to be
dealing in property and the brothers did get a share of the profits as the monies came in.
Other MOBS that Tim mentioned were John Mills and said it was amazing what he did for the Diocese,
turning it around and getting all the churches to play their part. Others involved in this were Charles
Rowlinson and David Lawrence.
JLE May 2015

Interview with Tyson Sithole 2007
Tyson came to St David’s from Norwood Primary School into grade 8 in 2003. This followed
a visit to Norwood Primary by Mr Edey and Mr Williams when they were showcasing St
David’s and Tyson had a brief interaction with them. Tyson was subsequently awarded an
academic bursary which enabled him to attend St David’s.
Tyson recalls his first day as being so very different to his former co-ed school, with 100
boys in grade 8 and found the first month quite nerve wracking. However once he started
making friends he settled in and refers to it as a life changing experience. Tyson never felt
discriminated against and today many of his friends are former St David’s pupils. He
concentrated on his academics and consistently made it into the top ten academics for five
years. His family unfortunately didn’t get involved during his time at St David’s, however, his
mom and Dad were very supportive of his academic endeavours.
He participated in some sport just for the fun of it but his main focus was on maintaining a
high academic performance. He was involved with SMILE on Wednesdays for four years
which he thoroughly enjoyed and found it to be good fun and very rewarding and his way of
giving back. He played chess for five years, and helped out in the library as a media
assistant. Together with Mrs Voorendyk he made visits to an orphanage in Yeoville and in
his matric year was involved in the school spirit as a cheerleader.
Tyson suffers from an eye disorder known as Keratoconus, which was first picked up during
his time at St David’s
The highlights of his school career were receiving honours in 2007 for academics and
general: academics, leadership and service, being elected as a prefect and when St David’s
rugby team beat St Stithians on Champagnat day. Graham Gallow was the first team
captain. In his grade 8 year, he recalls that the 1st rugby team beat both Kes and Jeppe
which was awesome for such a small school as St David’s was then. Tyson was also deputy
head prefect of College house.
Tyson was initially resistant to some of the school’s traditions especially when he
accidentally put a foot on the matric grass! There was an element of bullying but the school
is being more proactive in that regard.
Teachers that had a huge influence on him especially in the way that the message was
delivered were Mrs Russell, Mr Fry, Mrs Pillay, Mrs King, and Mr Van Den Berg who was his
housemaster. Mrs Marais, Mrs Egenrieder and Mrs Voorendyk were members of staff he
could talk to and relate to on a more personal level.
Tyson believes that the overall perception of the high school has changed. The other week
he attended a rugby match and met up with several of his former colleagues, testament to
the current spirit of many of the old boys.
Tyson said that the five years he spent at St David’s were life changing, developing a
mindset which helped prepare him for his university career, he was awarded a scholarship at
UCT where he studied Bachelor of Business Science, graduating with Honours in Finance.
He is currently employed by Standard Bank in the investment banking division at their
headquarters in Rosebank.
Tyson also said that if he ever has a son he would not hesitate to enrol him at St David’s and
said that many of his colleagues would really like to send their sons too.
Tyson is a member of Marist old boys (MOBS) and also a member of the Temba Bavuma
Foundation which focuses on changing cricket development in South Africa and assisting
boys with talent. Tyson is currently a trustee of the St David’s Foundation and would like to
make a meaningful contribution to his Alma Mater.
JLE March 2018

Interview with Walter Cronje - 1985
Walter started at St David’s in 1977 in standard 2 when his family returned to South Africa from
the UK. Walter’s father worked for BP which involved a lot of travelling which made him more
forward thinking and open to new ideas.
Mr Manolios was then head of the primary school and Br Timothy head of the high school until
Mr Murphy followed by Mr Frielick.
He recalls his first day in standard 2 N with Mrs Napier. He wasn’t used to wearing a cap as he
hadn’t worn one in the UK and was curtly told to take off his cap when a teacher greeted him.
Mrs Napier was scary and had a selection of canes in her office which she used liberally. He
remembered one occasion when Matthew Slavin was standing in line waiting for his book to be
marked and Mrs Napier put a staple straight through his thumb, there was also another incident
involving Ross Alcock. Walter had to write everything in italics with pen and ink and believes
that is why he can actually write well today.
Walter recalled a school trip in 1978 or 9 to the middle of Soweto. The boys visited a school to
hand over donations. Mrs Kenesovitch and HeatherJoseph were involved. He remembers
“Julius Caesar” was the standard 5 school play.
In primary school Walter learnt to play soccer, although he had played club rugby in England
and scored the quickest goal ever. He also played cricket and made the A team. When boys
reached standard 4 and 5 soccer stopped, rugby was introduced and the boys played rugby
U13, C and D teams for the high school. It was a great idea as the boys were introduced to
rugby and became integrated with the high school boys.
In the high school Walter played rugby, which was compulsory and cricket and participated in
athletics inter-school meetings. He was named the cricket 1st team captain in standard 9 and
again in matric. He loved school and became head boy in his matric year. One bad experience
he recalls is being asked to play in the open age group when he was currently playing in the
U14 team and his father refused. He played in the Beckwith week for 3 years and other
tournaments but it was rare in those days for St David’s boys to be selected for provincial
teams. Walter was awarded colours for rugby in standard 9 and used to go to the Wanderers
U20 rugby practise after cricket practise at school. In Craven Week he and Brett Airey were
selected to play together with Sandringham’s forward pack and Sandown’s backs against St
Stithians 1st team and they beat them 55-0. Most of the English speaking schools in
Johannesburg had excellent teams at matric level but very few boys went forward into the sport
as a career unlike James Dalton and Brian Habana.
Mr Murphy was well liked a big strong man, a disciplinarian and very strict. Walter remembered
that it was decided to put on a school musical “Oliver” and Debby Hurley, the primary school
Music teacher was conducting auditions. All the school was herded into the hall and it was
chaos, a free for all, Debby Hurley eventually had enough and walked out and everyone calmed
down. Mr Murphy walked in and blasted them all saying they had no manners, no respect and
shouldn’t treat a female member of staff in such a fashion. He then picked out some boys to go
on stage and audition and they all sang beautifully. Another incident occurred when Nick Pruim
and some of the boys were hoping to go to Argentina and Mr Murphy made them do 1000
squats, in spite of that they never got to Argentina! The boys saw him on tv on a programme
called “Late Nite Owls” showing how people earned a living after hours. Mr Murphy was a
professional wrestler performing under the guise of Sean Reagan and was unmasked. The next
day Br Anthony turned up and Mr Murphy was never seen again at the school.
Walter came second in his class in standard 2 and from then on came first, achieving seven
distinctions in his matric. He remembers “Julius Caesar was the standard 5” school play.
Some of his school mates were Rommel Gobel, Vusi Wandile, Shongwe Moponya – Solly, his
father always wanted his sons to go to a Marist school and Solly’s older brother Isak was also a
pupil.
Teachers - he will never forget Willy Castle! One of the greatest teachers was Tom MacFaden
an ex-Brother who taught History and French, he could get the best out of everybody, was
worldly wise, well travelled, well educated and well read. He taught History from matric essays
not textbooks, his goal was for everyone to pass matric and go on to university. He is now living
in Greece. Trudy Elliot, English teacher who made the boys write a matric essay every weekend
or she took their honours blazer away. Mr Collier, an Obs old boy who taught Maths, Heather
Joseph, Art in primary school. All the teachers were flamboyant and larger than life. Walter had
a number of Biology teachers and remembers that the boys had a record in standard 7 for
getting rid of the highest number of Afrikaans teachers.
Brother Timothy ran the school as an autocracy not a democracy and wasn’t answering to the
voice of the people and if the class didn’t like a particular teacher they just had to put up with it.
Walter believes that there is too much leniency these days rewarding mediocrity and feels
strongly that most especially in a boys school there needs to be a rigid line of discipline. He
recalled Br Bernard caning a boy for accidentally knocking a rubber off his desk, the boys knew
the rules and if they were contravened there were consequences. Walter cannot recall anyone
at school with him having ADD of being hyperactive. The boys started school at 7.15am and
after school there was sport either competitive or practise sessions up until 6.00pm and then
they had to go home and do their homework.
One of the negative things Walter recalls was being told at each assembly of former pupils who
had been killed whilst on border duty. A former pupil Andrew Petit who scored a hole in one
whilst at school winning a car sponsored by Volkswagen was one of those who went to the
border and was killed.
Walter was one of the last young men to do military service after varsity and felt that it had given
him a different perspective and the ability to judge what’s important and what’s not.
In his final matric year, Walter remembered Religious instruction classes were a farce and as a
consequence a decision was made to send all the non-Catholics to a retreat at Hartbeespoort.
Two Computer Science teachers were assigned to supervise the boys. The retreat ended up in
a drunken mess, boys went off in their parent’s boats on the dam and walked out of the camp.
The boys’ honours blazers were taken away and, because of this you won’t find many boys of
that time coming back to St David’s. Sadly of the 30 – 40 matrics who were expected to get the
highest number of distinctions ever, only achieved 13, the timing of the retreat was appalling.
Walter feels that if there should have been a more visible handing over interim phase with the
brothers on hand to instil the Marist ethos and way to the lay teachers and Heads which would
have helped enormously. Unfortunately the brothers seemed to disappear and just hand over to
the lay teachers. In all likelihood the school could not have afforded to entice a top principal at
the time, the school certainly didn’t have the funds to replace the school bus.
Walter is currently with the Jardine Lloyd Group. Walter was chairman of MOBS for 2 years
from 2000 and was on the board of governors from 2005 – 2010 as he felt the need to sustain
the long term stability of the school. If you want continuity and change it is often difficult to get
the right people to serve and a strong board is needed. The Foundation was a concept to raise
enough capital to enable previously disadvantaged and needy boys to be able to attend St
David’s.
JLE May 2012

Interview with William Forsmann – 1987
‘Billy’ remembered his first day at St David’s in 1975 in the first grade O class, his teacher was
Miss Jamieson (now Mrs Carol Ansell) and his son who is now in grade 2 is in the same
classroom. Billy was not particularly worried about being at the school as he had a lot of uncles
who were already pupils there. There were about 20 to 25 boys in a class and there was only
one grade O class at the time. Billy is still, after all these years, in contact with some of his
grade 0 classmates. Billy attended St David’s from grade O until standard 10 when he
matriculated. Members of the Forssman family have been pupils at St David’s without
interruption since 1968.
During his time at St David’s, Billy participated in a number of sporting activities, horse riding,
swimming, water polo, soccer and later rugby from standard 4. The horses were initially stabled
in Sandown and then later in Carlswald and the boys used to travel with the school bus for their
riding sessions. Billy’s strongest sport was swimming and water polo and was captain at some
stage. He also played 1st team rugby.
He remembers Mrs Anderson who was his standard 1 teacher but he didn’t ever have a brother
as a class teacher although Br Timothy was headmaster of the high school until 1980 followed
by Mr Murphy, Br Anthony, Mr Frielick and Mr Darryl Boswell. Mrs Trudy Elliott was his English
teacher and he remembers that she produced plays such as “Hamlet” and ran the debating
society, Billy was involved with both. He was also chairman of the matric dance committee in his
standard 9 year. Other teachers he recalls are Mr Moore (Science) and of course Willy Castle,
Mr Macfaden, Miss Glyn Thomas, Ms Joseph, Mr Finlayson, Mr Webster, Mrs de Wet
Father Brewer (College chaplin) is also fondly remembered – as he played a huge role in the
formative years of many St David’s pupils.
Academically Billy did well and achieved a university exemption for matric and went onto study
at the University of Stellenbosch where he was awarded a BCom LLB. On leaving school he
was involved in the family property business before joining RMB Properties, which later became
the Eris Property Group. Billy was also head boy in his standard 5 and matric years.
Former pupils: Tim Forssman’s father Mark 083 600 0721
Jordan Forssman now living in Taiwan +1 408 431 5600 jordanforssman@gmail.com
Gavin Muller whose brother Graham was vice-head boy 082 498 8480
Jan van den Handel
JLE April 2012

Interview with Willy Castle – June 2010
In the original letter requesting the enrolment of Willy as a pupil at St David’s written by his
father, his father said that he wanted any son of his to be a Marist boy. Willy began his
career at St David’s in 1957 beginning as a day boy in grade 1 with Mrs Brick as his first
teacher until grade 5 when, because of sport, Mrs Buckley-Jones recommended that he
become a boarder.
The school hours were 8am until 2.45pm followed by sport. During his first year as a boarder
he was told to go to the chapel, he thought he had done something wrong but, sadly was
told that his father had died.
Eventually, Br Timothy was the only brother teaching at the school. Willy remembers that
Brother Benedict (Beak) was the first headmaster and that Br Bosco changed his name to Br
Mario.
The school was then considered to be out in the sticks, with no fence around it with people
taking short cuts across the school grounds. Willy used to ride his bicycle home on Sunday
with no cars around. He loved the weekends, just played sport and there was always
something on at Wanderers. A burger and a movie was the highlight of the week and it was
26 kms to Little Falls for a day out swimming.
Many boys came from all over Africa and there were 50 boarders allocated to one room –
with four dormitories A, B, C, and D. The food was magnificent with chef Piet, a huge, strong
man. The boarders had 3 meals a day with morning coffee and afternoon tea, and Sunday
roast with cold drinks and ice cream. They had to wear school uniform all the time but,
occasionally were allowed to wear a suit. Br Anthony allowed them access to the pantry but
they had to eat everything there. The boys used to climb out of the dormitories and take food
from the fridge until the brothers padlocked the fridge door, but the boys worked out a way to
lift the door off its hinges helping themselves to food during the night.
The school buildings stopped at the chapel and went down to Rivonia road which was the
Love’s farm. When the owner’s died, the school bought the land right down to the Inandas.
Maryknoll was the original farmhouse and Willy’s house was the family library. The old
workshop was originally the stables.
Because of the boarders, the school had powerful sports teams and the brothers used to
train them hard. The fields were where the current swimming pool and tennis courts are now.
Mrs Kempster, was headmistress of the prep (she retired in 1974). The current high school
library was the dining room and then the hall. The staff room and admin block was formerly a
rose garden.
Marist cricket week, which has since disappeared, was a great event. Rugby matches
against other Marist schools and rugby tours, like the 1967 tour to St Joseph’s when all the
boys were bussed down and back.
Willy recalled some incidents, In 1953 the matric exam papers were stolen, whilst on camp
at Happy Acres, Oliver Green slipped down the river bank and cut himself very badly. Willy
drove him immediately to Sandton Clinic, making the trip in 20 minutes!
There are also some sad stories. Paul Visser and his brother,who was deaf. Paul eventually
shot himself and the other brother got into an argument in a pub, ran outside and was
knocked down and killed.
Another sad event was when Keith Schafer died. Jason Giles, a naughty boy had been
caught smoking and Keith as senior housemaster had to reprimand him and he usually just
whacked the boys. Paul Davies, the then headmaster called Keith to his office and really
dumped on him. Later Keith was marking exams in the staff room and began to shake and
then fell off his chair. Someone ran to get matron who gave him oxygen; the paramedics
came too late as he had died. Keith had a son in grade 0 Andrew Schafer.
Willy also recalled a time when he offered a cash reward to any boys that told him who was
guilty of marking the bathroom tiles with his shoe every day. Willy couldn’t open his office
door because of the number of pieces of paper that had been pushed under it! Hamilton was
the guilty party.
Sean Sandie, grade 9 was walking with his girlfriend by the Braamfontein spruit when
someone grabbed his girlfriend’s handbag and stabbed him. He lost a lot of blood and had
visual damage. It was a miracle that he lived and three years later wrote matric.
Willy matriculated in 1968, came back in 1976 and 1977 as a student teacher and joined the
staff in 1978 for two terms then went off to St Stithians when Murphy was the headmaster. In
2014 Willy was appointed headmaster of the prep achieving a dream. He is currently
chairman of the Marist old boys.
The rest is history!
JE August 2011 – edited 2016

A5 Brochure/Newsletter

1 A4 page

Ladies Committee Members
Ladies Committee – started in 1951
1951 E. Owen; E. Jacobson; N. Adams; F Livingstone
1954 E. Owen (Chmn); E. Jacobson; N. Adams; M. McQuade; R. Leo; A. Stodel; F. Livingstone; N. Davis; V. Brophy;
J.Olwyn; S. Wilson; M. Hartmann; E. Hesketh-Mare; I. O’Connor; E. Knight; M. Quinlan; E. Blane; ; P. Duckles;
S. Swanson; B. Fine; T. Kirchmann; Br Edwin
1955 F. Livingstone (Chmn); S. Swanson (Vice-Chmn); C. Hawkins; E. Jacobson; P. Duckles; E. Owen; S. Stodel;
R. Leo; M. Hartmann; E. Sprake; M. Quinlan; J. Barenberg; N. Adams; J. Olwyn; B. Fine; N. Heath
1956 S. Swanson (Chmn); A. Barenbrug (Vice-Chman); R. Leo; N. Richardson; C. Hawkins; P. Duckles; J. Stodel;
F. Lingstone; E. Brophy; E. Owwen; E. Sprake
1957 S. Swanson (Chmn); F. Lingstone (Vice-Chmn); J.Olwyn; N. Heath; R. Palmer-Owen; C. Hawkins; E. Owen;
A. Barenbrug; N. Richardson; M. Hartmann; J. Stodel; B. Fine; R. Leo; A. Sprake; T. Kirchmann; E. Brophy;
M. Hope-Jones
1958 V. Heath; F. Livingstone; N. Adams; S. Swanson; B. Fine; P. Brophy; J. Olwyn; M. Hartmann; C. Hawkins;
R. Leo; A. Sprake; A. Barenbrug; N. Richardson; T. Kirchmann; M. Hope-Jones; M. Davis; N. Curnow; R.
Palmer-Owen
1959 F. Livingstone (Chmn); J. Olwyn; M. Hope-Jones; N. Adams; B. Fine; M. Hartmann; C. Hawkins; A. Sprake;
A. Baranbrug; N. Richardson; N. Davis; N. Curnow; P. Benson; M. Leipold; A. Damsbo; E. Bowker
1960 Mention in Yearbook, but no list
1961 Mention In Headmaster’s Report, but no photo, no list
1962 Incorporated into the PTA – last gesture/donation of surplus funds towards building of Fine Arts Block
The Committee then continued as the Ladies Catering Committee, Swop Shop etc.

Colour Brochure and programme

1 A4 printed page

3 A4 pages