Affichage de 180 résultats

Interview with Martin Lebos – 1978
Martin initially went to St Paul’s but came to St David’s in standard 1 and Mrs Watson was his
teacher. His class was in the house block (where the CEO’s house is now) where standard 1,
1A and 2 and 2A were taught. He remembers that, in the winter, they used to make up a fire in
each classroom. The following year he moved out of house block to a classroom just below the
old chapel and Mrs Napier was his teacher. There were still boarders at the school at that time
and, where the tuck-shop and library is now was the boarder’s dining room. He remembers
other teachers, standard 3, Mrs Geddes, standard 4, Mrs Sacks, standard, 6 Mrs Knesovitch
who was very strict, used the cane but was a very good teacher.
The headmaster was Brother Anthony and the other Brothers were Timothy, Andrew, Mario,
Aquinias who taught Maths in standard 6 and 7, Bernard who taught Latin and Brother Aidan
who was the bursar. He learnt in standard 5 that if he really studied he could do really well and
eventually was awarded Dux of the year. High school teachers were Afrikaans – Mr Klaasen,
English – Penelope ?, Maths – Br. Aquinias, Geography – Mr Maritz, Mrs Sally Saunders taught
Geography at a lower level in the high school – Mr Maritz, Biology and Science - Mr Karoo, they
all taught through to standard 8. Mr Zacharawitch taught History, was of Russian origin and had
been in a concentration camp, he left at the end of standard 9 followed by Mr Manolios and Mr
MacFadyen who was a very good teacher. For the higher standards there was Mrs Elliot for
English, Mr Lipschitz for Maths, Br Timothy who had wonderful hand writing and was brilliant for
Science, Br Bernard for Latin, and Mr Needt for Afrikaans. Mr Lipschitz was ahead of his time, in
matric he took Martin out of his class and made him do past papers in the hour and taught him
Ad Maths with the result that when he went to varsity he was already ahead of everyone in Ad
Maths. Mr Lipschitz also coached rugby, stayed in Fricker Rd and drove a lime green Volksie
Beetle.
The new Science block was opened, a new pool built and boarding came to an end. The library
was run by Mrs Zent was in the old Science room. The land the Inandas are on now was still
part of the school until it was sold off. Families living in Chiselhurston had a gate with access to
the school grounds.
Martin swam, was a member of the water-polo team, played 1st team rugby, participated in
debating and was a member of a good team which that year narrowly lost to St John’s in the
Colby Cup. The final decision was made by a judge with a bias towards St John’s. He also
remembered an inter-catholic schools athletics held at the Wanderers, Willy Castle was in
matric and Nolan Springer was a brilliant sprinter. At that time the prep playing field was the
track.
Nassey Simaan was the rugby coach and in standard 1, his wife Aggie used to cook Martin
lunch. He remembers a rugby match where the school lost to KES by two points. In 1972 the
school had a really great rugby side. Martin’s matric class was small and could just about field a
second rugby team, the closing of the boarding gave the school a huge knock in this regard.
Boxing was withdrawn as a sport when someone got badly injured. The astro turf was where the
practise cricket nets were and the grade 00 block was the paddock.
Assembly was held every morning in the quad where the trees are now for the high school and
the junior school where they still line up now. The high school swimming gala was held in the
evening and the old boys used to come and compete. The boys used to go to the Beefeater
restaurant, where Giovannis is now, and have hamburgers after rugby and play pinball.
Champagnat day was really enjoyable. It started off with all the boys going in buses to mass at
the Catholic church in Keyes Avenue and he remembers the hymns they used to sing.
Boys he remembers are Jeffrey and Jerome Kourie, Patrick Riley, Oliver Setton, Desmond
Morgan, Fulton Allen, a top golfer who used to stay with the Kouries, George Nikas who was a
brilliant hurdler and good rugby player (owner of the ocean Basket) the Saad’s all went to the
school. Forsman, Martin’s sister’s son, Lawrence Kourie was in the same class and now lives in
San Diego. The head boy was Andrew Snyman and the vice head boy, Mike Peel who now lives
in Nelspruit and has done some amazing research into flora and fauna. Roy Zent is a top
nephrologist in the States and his brother is one of the top oncologists in the States. Marcel
John, Jimmy John, Michel, Costa, Raymond.
Martin went to a 30 year reunion but there was only one other old boy from 1978 there.
Martin loved the school and thought it was wonderful, the school was like a family with the
brothers who were an important part of the school. The school took a big knock when the
boarding facility closed down. His son Joseph is presently at St David’s in grade 8.
Martin is not a member of MOBS but is still passionate about his school. He likes the display of
all the matric photos in the Champagnat hall.
Martin is still very passionate about his school and thinks that the moral standard of the school
has never dropped, but feels strongly that no current parent should be on the board. There
should be a book of rules and regulations and the school authorities should be consistent with
upholding the same and not allow some boys to be relieved of punishment. He also believes
that the teaching staff should have more influence regarding the election of prefects, head boy
and the awarding of Champagnat medals.
NB Martin’s brother is married to Heather Joseph’s cousin.
NB No longer has his matric Yearbook
JE January 2012

Interview with Mike Stanley – 1974
Mike is the youngest of a family of five boys and when he joined St David’s in standard 6, two of
his older brothers were already there and all of them were boarders. He was called “Baby
Stanley or Little Stan” and he remembers his brother carrying his belongings to the dormitory
and his mother made his bed. Because he was the fifth child at the school his parents did not
have to pay fees for him.
Brother Anthony was still there and Mike thought he was a wonderful man, Br Aidan, an
amazing man was the bursar, Br Bosco, Br Timonthy “Tin Man” taught Science, Br Andrew
“Drac” was Spanish and drew blood when he caned the boys., Br Aquinas was an elderly
bulldog of a man who taught English and History. Br Bernard taught Latin and a younger brother
who was an unpleasant and vindictive man taught Art and was in charge of the junior boarding
house. Mr Zacharias – Mr Zac was a wonderful History teacher who had escaped from
Germany hiding underneath a train. There were some pretty female teachers Mavis Hartman,
English, Beverly Ballard (Tremeer) Science and her husband taught at KES’ Mrs Janusch
taught Latin, Mrs Culligan was from an Irish family and had a son Barry at the school. Mrs
Kempster was head of the prep school and Mrs Buckley-Jones the matron, Mrs Buchan taught
History and had a son at the school, Mrs Rudiker a Biology teacher who was very attractive and
wore miniskirts. There was an Afrikaans teacher “Bubo” who battled as there was zero interest
in the subject.
Mike remembers the boarders having to move the stands for sporting events. The boys were
allowed to spend one weekend per term with their families and there were some Sundays when
they were allowed to visit their sons. At weekends the boys were allowed to watch the cricket at
Wanderers. His brothers watched the match in 1967 when South Africa beat Australia in a test
series. It was compulsory for the boarders to support the 1st team in rugby. They watched reel to
reel movies on Saturday nights. At the end of each term the boys had “Beano” which was the
only time that they ate roast chicken and had a pudding the night before they went home.
During term time the boarders often used to break into the kitchen and raid the fridge. Piet was
the school cook. The sister school was Rosebank Convent.
Mike was a member of Benedict house, played cricket and was captain of the 2nd team, played
3 and 4th team rugby and was in the boarders hockey league. In 1972 they had the strongest,
unbeaten rugby team but in a heart breaking match they lost to KES. The captain was Terry van
Heerden from Zambia, other team members were Harry Curtis, Carl Eb, James Cronin - centre
was the only player to be sent off in a match against St John’s for straight arm tackling. Mike
recalls Br Andrew “Drac” telling Cronin “you’ve got to take out that Williams boy”. He recalled
rugby tours to Bloemfontein and other SA cities but never to exotic places like Australia.
Academically, Mike did reasonably well achieving a first class matric and went on to Wits
University to study a BSc as he wanted to go into medicine. Unfortunately he didn’t do too well
in his first year and went into the army for 2 years service and signed on for an extra year. In
1979 he finished his army service and signed up to do his articles with price Waterhouse
Cooper where there were a number of ex St David’s boys He is now involved with the concrete
flooring industry. Mike’s son didn’t attend St David’s as the family lived in Cape Town for a
number of years and when they came back to Johannesburg Mike and his wife divorced and
needed their son to attend a boarding school.
Mike thinks that the years he spent at St David’s was a beautiful time especially in the high
school. He still has many friends from those days and he and Michael Macfarlane have been
friends for 48 years.
Families he remembers having a number of boys at St David’s were Kourie’s, Saad’s, Deeb,
Sopas (Elias, Michael and Basil), Resek, Moni, Marsay, Macfarlane Other old boys such as
Fulton Allem, Lindsay Ralphs now at Bidvest whose nickname was “Pooch”, George Nichas,
Terence Lavery (1968) who unofficially equalled Paul Nash’s time for the 100m, Richard Stavro
Captain 1st Team rugby, Alan van den Handel, Kevin Peel, Rob Adair, Billy Colton, Angelo
Haggiyanis. There were a few ambassadors sons at the school such as the Greek Ambassador
to the Congo.
JE August 2012

Interview with Simon Franklin – 1985 Standard 7
Simon and his brothers Adrian and Jeremy attended St David’s with Adrian (vice head boy)
matriculating in 1984 and Jeremy in 1985. Their father was chairman of the board during the
time they were there. Simon didn’t stay on to matric but left and went to St Andrews,
Grahamstown at the end of 1985 when Mr Boswell was headmaster. There are a couple of
reasons for this, Simon got into some arguments relating to his almost certain election as a
prefect simply because he was a Franklin, this did not go down well with him and the fact that
his brother lost his honours blazer due to the disastrous non-catholic retreat in 1985. St David’s
was going through a bad time without strong leadership and Simon felt it was time to leave.13
out of 15 boys in the U14A rugby side, a really good team losing only a couple of matches that
season, also left that year.
Simon began his career at St David’s in standard 3 in 1981 and cycled to school, the family
home being in !st Avenue. He and his brothers used to access the school through a hole in the
fence. Brian MacFadden lived on the school grounds and Simon used to hang out with him at
his house and the pair of them used to ride a motorbike around where the Inandas are today.
They were naughty and considered the school their playground. Willy Castle and his wife and
young children lived next door to Brian.
Having two older brothers at the school made a big difference with Jeremy being the prop for
the 1st team rugby for two years, he was a big strong boy but is now much slimmer and an artist
who exhibits at the Everard Read, Standard Bank, and Goodman Galleries. Adrian who was
vice head boy to Nick Pruims, head boy is now a successful businessman running one of the
Fortune 100 companies.
Simon was a great sportsman playing A team rugby, cricket, swimming, athletics and held the
high jump record. When his brothers were playing 1st team rugby, his father invited the rugby
team to Dullstroom for the weekend together with Mr Collier and Mr MacFadden.
The teachers he remembers are Heather Joseph, the art teacher, a Mr Kotze who looked like
Freddie Mercury, someone who taught technical drawing who was a stand up comic and was on
TV sometimes. Finlayson was the rugby coach, Isaak Cronje, Walter Cronje’s brother, the
Physical Education trainer and Mr MacFadden who taught History and French and whom the
boys liked.
He enjoyed the prep but the high school doesn’t really stand out apart from the time spent on
the sports field. Academically Simon’s performance was poor, he did enough to get by and his
friendships with his peers and sport were more important to him. He participated in a “Can Can”
production in standard 3 in the old hall with Heather Joseph as producer and his Gran made him
a black and red outfit with stockings.
Of his peers Grant Dykes left at the end of prep, others were Brian Steele, Paul Allen, Sean
Johnson and Greg Black with whom he is still in touch. He recalls Gary Beuthin breaking his leg,
with the whole leg in plaster which did not deter him from lying on his motor bike and riding to
school. Mike Erery, matric 1985 a huge guy who drove a really small car. Other names he
remembers are Michael Wood’88, Tonetti and Roland Retz.
Being an Anglican, the Religious Education was something Simon had to do and didn’t really
appreciate until later and especially at St Andrews where he was nicknamed “The Rev” because
of his knowledge. He felt he was given the tools to decide whether or not he wanted religion in
his life.
Simon was 17 when he matriculated and went into the army in the medical corp it was the last
year of intake and he finished in 1990 when he enrolled at the Cape Technikon to study
marketing and played ruby for Villagers rugby. His first project was the 1995 World Cup which
took him all over the world. He joined FIFA in 2006 until 2011 which gave him huge exposure,
travel and introduced him into a different way of thinking. He was then commercial director for
SAFA and is now with Megapro.
Simon has a son currently in grade 0 at St David’s. Simon is glad to see that St David’s has
adopted football and that a number of boys have been assigned to professional soccer league
teams. He feels that the sport has improved over the last few years and believes that academics
are crucial but that sport is very important and the school’s performance on the sports field.
JLE November 2012

Interview with John Hazakis – 1972 (Std 7)
John first came to St David’s as a boarder in 1968. Having come from Mozambique where his
home languages were Greek and Portuguese, he found it very difficult to integrate in the first
few months.
He recalls the boarders being given a single avocado for breakfast and often they would have to
escape from school to go downtown Johannesburg for a decent meal and a movie. In those
days it was quite safe to bunk out. The boys would squeeze through the dormitory windows,
take a bus into town and return to school after a night out. One couldn’t imagine doing that
today.
The boy slept in open dormitories, 40 boys to a dorm with rows of beds and a small cupboard
separating the beds wherein the boys kept their few belongings. As a boarder he was quite
lonely. He recalls listening to his transistor radio after lights out, under the bed covers so the
radio would not be heard by the brothers doing their regular night patrolling. No ipods and
blackberries in those days.
He recalls how the school boys would dash for the cheese board after meals. On week-ends the
boys would make small braais at the lower-end rugby field, using bent metal coat hangers to
braai the boerewors.
Cinema evenings were held where the Science block now stands. These evenings were a treat
for the boys.
Br Timothy, house master, was in charge of their pocket money allowing them 5 cents a day to
purchase their tuck - a small frozen orange juice and a packet of chips.
Br Anthony was the headmaster, Br Bosco (Mario) taught Science, Br Bernard the artist and
sculptor taught the boys various artistic techniques. John recalls how he was taught to do wood
carving by Br. Benard.
There was strict discipline in the school. The Brothers would carry canes and deal with any
indiscipline by caning the boys. To avoid the pain the boys would tuck layers of toilet paper in
their pants. If discovered they would get a few extra “cuts” for cheating.
He recalls how at breaks the boy would play marbles, rolling the marbles from one end to the
other of the long corridors outside the dormitories.
There was a volley ball court where the quad is now. He recalls how the boys would wake up in
the cold winter mornings and make their way to the open quadrangle for a hot cup of coffee at
the start of the school day.
John left St. David’s at the end of 1972 when the boarding facility was discontinued. He moved
to St.John’s where he completed his schooling. Reflecting back on life of a boarder, he doesn’t
regret any of the experiences. In fact it taught him a lot about life and how to be independent.
After matriculating in 1977, John went to Wits Technikon, to study Mechanical Engineering. He
joined Siemens as a technician trainee in 1978. He has spent most of his career with Siemens
and is now business unit director for renewable energy. He finds his current job very stimulating
and interesting. He is very excited about being part of a motivated team that is introducing
renewable energy to South Africa. Siemens’ renewable energy portfolio includes wind, solar and
hydro power generation. In the past he was involved in the fossil and nuclear power generation
activities, however, considering the current global warming he is glad that he is contributing
towards a cleaner environment.
John is married with two children. His son is studying at Wits and his daughter is still at school
(Crawford Lonehill). This was the first time he had been back to the school in a long time but is
interested in keeping in touch.
Some of the boys John remembers are:
Fulton Allem, who became professional golfer and later went on to win the Sun City million
dollar, Evangelos Nichas who became a vet and now lives in Bloemfontein and Chris Darras a
very successful ophthalmologist,
JE July 2012

Interview with Mike Clarke – 1951
Mike attended St David’s from 1941 when it first opened and became a boarder in standard 7
when his mother decided that, as he was the youngest at home he should become a boarder.
His elder brother Christopher was sent to CBC, Kimberly he hated it and ran away and joined St
David’s in standard 9. Mike remembers the Dunkeld bus and the walk to St David’s from the
terminus.
He remembers Br Pius well who taught him in standard 3 and because of him he still has
beautiful handwriting. Mrs Lindsten and Mrs Stirton taught the grades, the former owning a
Hudson Terraplane a large car which she drove to and from Marist from Troyville and collected
some boys on the way. Mrs Brophy taught standard 1 and Harry Best the PE teacher a boxer,
started boxing as a sport and brought a well known boxer, Alf Ramsay to the school. Carl
Vermeulen decided to become a boxer and won a bout at Observatory and then gave it up.
Br Osmond was the first headmaster followed by Br Edwin who was a marvellous teacher
whose subject was History and whom the boys called “Bones” as he had arthritis. Br Edwin told
Mike that he wouldn’t do very well, however Mike ended up with B’s in his matric and proved
him wrong. Br Urban was marvellous, Br Benedict was the cricket coach, Br Celestine an
Australian was wonderful and a real academic and taught Latin, Br Alban taught English, Br
Bartholemew didn’t have much of a chin and Mr Bishop was lay teacher.
The school at that time consisted only of the grades block and playground which ended by the
line of pine trees and road where the after care centre is now. There was a house at the bottom
of the road where the brothers lived.
Mike enjoyed his time at St David’s in spite of the tough discipline, he was a prefect together
with Carl Vermeulen, Ian Kerley and Alyson Zylstra enjoying the sport and the atmosphere of
the school. Some of the boys discovered where the communion wine was kept in the chapel
and helped themselves to some of it until Father Kunz noticed the level going down rapidly.
After matriculating, Mike first went to Wits University to study architecture but decided that was
not for him and looked at a career in accounting but then went to Natal University where he
studied English and History, decided he enjoyed the academic life and became a teacher. Mike
went to Zimbabwe after Sharpeville in 1960 and met his wife there. After 14years he returned to
South Africa with his family of 2 young children. He contacted Mark Henning and joined the staff
at St Stithians and taught Latin and English there for 23 years. He then retired and became
head of Bishop Bavin’s Prep and afterwards taught at St Peter’s part-time and in 2004 finally
retired for good and relocated to Knysna.
Mike has lost contact will all his colleagues but is still in touch with Carl Vermeulen and Alan
Schwarer.
Mike’s three children, two boys and a girl did not go to St David’s but to St Stithian’s with him
being a teacher there and his eldest son Rick now teaches English and is a housemaster at
Wellington College in England.
Carl Vermeulen was a lawyer with Werkman’s.
JLE October 2012

Interview with Gabriel Simaan – 1986 (Std 6)
Gaby began his school career at Boskop Primary and came to St David’s in standard 2. His first
teacher was Mrs Hurley. He enjoyed his time at St David’s and has very happy memories of his
time there and friends he made. It was a close family orientated type of school. You were made
to feel you were someone at St David’s and were made to feel part of the school.
Gaby enjoyed the sport and participated in soccer, cricket, tennis, cross country, athletics,
swimming and was in A team rugby in the high school. He was also involved in public speaking
and debating and in the inter-house plays in standard 6. Being a small school everyone got the
opportunity to try everything. The mix was also good with both rich and poor parents sending
their sons there. There was also a lot of involvement with MOBS and the sons of MOBS, an
important status.
One person he will never forget is Willy Castle who made him absolutely love sport.
Willy ran soccer clinics which he enjoyed even though all the boys were so scared of him.
By the time Gaby attended the school there were no longer any brothers teaching. Sadly, as the
school was going through a bad patch with several changes of headmaster, Gaby’s parents
decided to move him to St Stithians for a better infrastructure and academic tuition. Gaby
battled with the change and rebelled which affected both his sport and school work. He didn’t
have a good relationship with most of his teachers. There were 5 or 6 other boys from St
David’s at St Stithians at the time. Gaby only managed to get into the B team rugby and didn’t
participate in many of the things he had done at St David’s. The competition was tough and only
the best were accepted both for sport and public speaking and debating. He always regretted
leaving St David’s and his grandfather, Nassey showed his disappointment with Gaby’s parents
decision by no longer supporting him at any rugby matches. Gaby recalled a match between the
two schools where his father turned up wearing his St David’s honours blazer. St David’s won
the match as a former St David’s boy playing for St Stithians missed a kick by miles. Gaby’s
father ran onto the field and hugged him!
After matriculating, Gaby went to Wits University to study for a BComm and then started off in
the pharmaceutical industry and is now managing director of Trinity Pharmaceuticals. Gaby’s
father is a pharmacist.
Gaby still has close ties with the school and his son is enrolled to start in Gr00 in 2016.
JLE June 2013

Interview with Costa John – 1973
Costa remembers his first day with the fish pond at the entrance to the junior school which
seemed like a mystical treasure.
He enjoyed his school days, the structure and deep teacher engagement. As a day boy he
went home every day but felt that the boarders seemed to bond better.
Anne Buchan was a teacher who was caring, articulate, highly structured and inspirational.
He didn’t enjoy the corporal punishment which he felt was a troubling practice all the way to
matric.
He remembers an unhappy moment, confronting the school over incidents where his
brother’s poor Geography grade was made his problem, the next year, and later when his
younger brother was unfairly singled out for punishment.
A good memory was when he set a new school sprint record as an 11 year old when South
Africa went metric and all records were being set for the first time.
Costa enjoyed the sport and played soccer, cricket, rugby and was an athlete. There weren’t
any sports camps in those days. Costa was a member of C.L.G., the debating society,
Science club and 3rd team rugby.
The matric dance was a proud moment with beautiful decor, wonderful catering and was still
a black and white formal event. There was an all-night after party that ended the next
morning with many of the boys enjoying breakfast in Rosebank, still in tuxedos and evening
gowns!
Costa was elected head prefect in his matric year, received his honours blazer and scrolls
for Merit, Studies, and Debating and was awarded the victor ludorum..
His last day was poignant and he realised he would sorely miss the rich mosaic of academic,
sport, faith-based activities and the maturing phase from a child to a young man in the army..
After matriculating, Costa went into the army for a year then studied for a BCom and MCom
at Wits University followed by a Phd in the USA.
He is currently CFO of a San Franciso software company. He is a member of the Red Cross
disaster response team with service at Ground Zero (Terror attack) 2001, Katrina
(Hurricane) 2005, Joplin (Tornado) 2011.
Costa last visited St David’s in 2013 when he addressed a high school assembly.
JLE July 2013

Interview with Franco Lambiase – 1976
Franco came to St David’s as a day boy in 1970 from Bramley Primary School after his family
had emigrated back to South Africa from 18 months in Italy. Arriving in standard 6 he found St
David’s to be a very strict school with mainly brothers teaching. Having come from a nonconformist
environment Franco found St David’s to be regimental and it was difficult for him to
adapt.
Brother Anthony was the headmaster until 1975 when Brother Timothy took over. The brothers
he remembers include Br Bosco (Mario); Br Bernard; Br Aquinas, Br Timothy, Br Aidan the
bursar; Br Ronald and Br Andrew (Drac). Of the lay teachers he remembered Mr Saunders -
Afrikaans, Mrs Zent the librarian who gave him writing lessons and Heather Joseph was friendly
with William Carew (Bubbles), Trudy Elliott, - English with whom he kept in touch.
Franco wasn’t very sporty but played 3rd team rugby and hated swimming. He was there when
the new Science wing and auditorium were opened in 1972. Franco was quite artistic and was
awarded a trophy for Art and also did the decorations for the matric dance – a medieval theme.
Academically Franco did not excel but managed to pass his matric.
After matriculating, Franco went on to Wits University where he studied Pharmacy. He ran a
pharmacy until 1993 when he finally gave this up to become a confectioner and now runs his
own business making specialty cakes. He makes cakes for magazines, wedding expos and is a
member of the Cake Decorators Guild. He judges for Angela Day the mince pies, hot cross
buns and Christmas cakes.
Franco is not a member of MOBS but participated in last year’s St David’s Christmas market.
JLE February 2013

Interview with Rowan Stafford – 2003
Rowan came to St David’s into grade 8 from St Peter’s Prep and after one month at St Peter’s College. He
and his good friend Matthew Alford both came from St Peter’s, their friendship goes back a long time.
Rowan arrived at St David’s on a Tuesday whilst assembly was in progress in the old hall, not knowing
where to go or what to do. James Barrow was assigned to show him around and then at first break he met
up with Matthew.
Rowan enjoyed the sport and was a member of 1st team hockey for 2 ½ years. He made it to the final trials
but didn’t make the provincial team. He was good at athletics and a keen cricketer but didn’t quite make it in
the larger school that was St David’s and played in the B team. He was injured in his first game of rugby
and didn’t play again. Rowan also enjoyed golf and got down to a 3 handicap playing after school at
Wanderers.
As to the camps, Rowan thought himself fortunate to miss the grade 8 camp at Glenmore but thought the
grade 10 camps were more fun. The boys went to St Lucia where they had to camp out on the beach with
only their sleeping bags. Unfortunately there was an absolute deluge and the boys ended up sheltering in
some nearby toilets, cold, wet and shivering. There was a 1st team hockey tour to Cape Town instead of
Argentina where they got a hiding from the big schools down there. During another tour to St Albans with
Andrew Taylor as captain, the boys sneaked out to go to movies, were caught and did not play the next day
and Andrew was stripped of his captainship.
The teachers all had their individual ways of disciplining the boys – Mr Buys used a water polo ball, Mrs
Cameron her high heeled shoes and Mr McMillan his cricket bat. There were some bad moments with
Marius Buys with his strange stories and methods of teaching. He particularly liked Mrs Roman who had so
much patience and love for her pupils. He recalled an incident when she was writing on the board and
someone started throwing naartjies around. One naartjie narrowly missed Rowan and ended up splattering
the board next to Mrs Roman, she just sighed and carried on. Mrs Voorendyck was also popular but once
ended up sending the whole class out because none of the boys bar 3 had done their homework. Mr
Andrew was quite scary in that one could never tell what kind of mood he would be in. Paul Edey also
impacted as a teacher, having so much charisma and no one wanted to get a bad mark. Rowan felt he was
a major influence with a personal relationship with every boy in the high school.
Rowan together with Matthew Alford used to edit the school’s weekly newsletter working for Reverend
Bruce. They did this for 2 ½ years giving up the job before their matric exams. They had to get it ready for
printing on Thursday and there was always a rush to find a cartoon for the front page.
Rowan recalls bunking assembly and Afrikaans often using the newsletter as an excuse. Sometimes they
would join Jason Sturzenegger in his booth where he operated the sound. On one occasion they thought a
teacher was coming and had to climb up through the trap door to the bell tower and wait until assembly was
over.
Jason remembers the matric ance and in particular the after party held at Melrose Arch when they were all
kicked out the venue and his father came and took him and Matthew home rather drunk.
Rowan received half colours for hockey and was a library prefect. He remembers that particular assembly
when his girlfriend from Kingsmead was there and Mr Williams made the announcement which came as a
complete surprise to him. Rowan also received a prize for Mathematics standard grade in 2003.
Rowan matriculated with distinctions in Art HG and Mathematics SG and went on to study at Rhodes which
he found to be a big wake up call. He studied a BComm and majored in three subjects going on to do an
LM in Trusts and is currently finishing off an LLM in tax through Unisa. He is currently employed by Mahons
as a commercial attorney dealing with general commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, trusts and tax.
Rowan didn’t feel strongly about the school when he left but after time realised how important it had been
and enjoyed the recent reunion and the MOBS reunions held at Rhodes. He would send any sons of his to
St David’s and is a member of MOBS. He would also be interested in participating in future matric rites of
passage.
Rowan recently played in the hockey tournament held in honour of Malcolm Williams and realised just how
fit he was when at school.
Rowan’s company participates in community development with one of the senior partners being a board
member of the Teddy Bear Clinic donating cash and legal services.
JLE December 2013

Interview with Raymond John – 1977
Raymond first came to St David’s in the early 1960’s as he had strong ties with the school
being the second youngest of 6 brothers and currently has a son Marco John in grade11. His
brothers were Jimmy (1964); Michel (1972); Costa (1973); Yango (1974); and Marcel (1978).
Raymond joined St David’s as a day boy in 1967, grade 2, the first year the grades were
introduced, he had attended Rosebank Convent for grade 1.
It was not unfamiliar territory for Raymond as had always been involved with his brothers
watching Rugby against KES and other schools. He remembered the bright red buses that
used to bring the KES boys, whole school to support at such big matches.
The teachers he recalls are Mrs Marsay grade 2, Mrs Elliott Std 1, Mrs Napier Std 2; Mrs
Geddes Std 3; Miss Cougan Std 4 and Mrs Kensovitch in Std 5 – she was very strict but
included a spiritual aspect in all that she taught and had a big influence on Raymond’s
spiritual upbringing. Of the Brothers there was Br Ronald, Br Bernard who taught Latin, Br
Mario, Br Aidan and of course Br Anthony.
Raymond enjoyed the sport and played cricket, rugby, soccer and participated in athletics
and played A team cricket until matric when he played a few games for the 1sts and was
captain of the 2nds. In 1970 the cricket oval was opened and top overseas cricketers were
there. He remembers bowling to Geoff Boycott who stayed at the school for a while. Don
Wilson who became the coach for the MCC and Peter Stringer who is the cricket coach at
Trinity College. Raymond was also captain of 2nd team rugby.
He recalled that the matches against Observatory were very intense and competitive
whether it was rugby or water polo and that in 1971 Obs boys came and defaced the school
with spray paint.
Raymond’s house “The Bishops” always came last in inter-house competitions but they
always won the Spirit Cup.
On the cultural side, Raymond was a member of the debating team and in the semi-final of
the Kobe Cup. He also played a role in “Hamlet” fencing with Marc John.
He recalled that St David’s in 1975 was the first school in South Africa to admit black pupils.
The apartheid government was establishing relations with other African countries and had to
accommodate the Malawian ambassador’s children as they couldn’t do that in the public
schools.
Something else that stands out in Raymond’s memory was that of Desmond Tutu coming to
the school and addressing the boys.
There were no camps as we know them today but Raymond remembered an outing to the
planetarium and a rugby camp in Std 9 when he was injured.
Raymond felt that, at the time, the school didn’t pay enough attention to academics and that
the prep school wasn’t as good as it should have been. However he remembered that Br
Ezekial was a really outstanding Maths teacher.
In 1972 the boarding facility, the back bone of the school closed which had a huge impact.
Many boys, sons of ambassadors, those from outlying areas of South Africa had to find other
boarding schools to accommodate them.
Raymond was awarded an honours blazer and had scrolls for studies, merit and debating of
which he was very proud. Raymond was the top student in grade 7 and also in his matric
year.
His last day was a half day and a bit of a letdown. He then went into the army for 2 years to
do his national service it was the first year that the 2 year commitment started. Originally
Raymond wanted to study medicine but after his army service studied instead for a BComm.
at Wits University. He then worked at the JSE eventually ending up at Investec for 17 years
and now runs his own business.
Raymond’s late father was very involved with the school raising funds to buy extra land. The
brothers presented the school with the Costa John Memorial Trophy in his memory, for
excellence in swimming, academics and athletics.
Raymond is currently on the board of governors for the Lebanese Catholic School in the
south of Johannesburg which has now opened up to grade 2. He is also a trustee of the
Opus Securitatus which administers the priest’s pension fund. He is also a member of
MOBS. He was also fortunate to visit Br Anthony at Nazareth House before he died. He
remembered fondly that Br Anthony was the guest speaker at his brother Jimmy’s 21st
birthday celebration.
JLE June 2013

Interview with Kevin Moran – 1985
Kevin came to St David’s in 1974, grade 1 and remembers being quite nervous and not wanting
to go to school. He had his lunch box stolen by Warwick Dredge and he didn’t want to go back
to school. However he and Warwick became great friends and still keep in touch.
The teachers he remembers are Mrs Eliot, the best one, she was a long time English teacher
and instilled in Kevin a love of Shakespeare and he thought she was an excellent teacher. He
learnt so much in his last two years with her. Mr Collia was a good Maths teacher despite
Kevin’s personal dislike of him. Willy Castle, because he pushed him even though he hated it at
the time, however even though he was tough, he was always there to show support in his later
years playing rugby in the high school. Kevin thought Mr Boswell was an excellent teacher and
fair. He loved Mr McFadden as a funny unique character who knew how to teach for the final
exam, but Kevin wouldn’t have recommended his rote style of teaching. There was also a Br
Gerard was an amazing man who played in Craven week or its equivalent when he was in high
school. He was also spiritual and Kevin found him to be inspirational in his kindness. Many of
the teachers really inspired Kevin. He remembers taking an Ad Maths course which was
basically the same as the course (1st semester) he took at university which certainly helped him.
Kevin remembered Mr Murphy the school’s first lay headmaster who turned out to be a fraud
and a professional wrestler and there being a lot of embarrassment when he was found out.
Kevin recalled that In grade1 and 2, he loved playing marbles. The headmistress of the grades
was an elderly, very kind woman who would point her finger which was bent at the knuckle,
probably from arthritis. In the primary school, Willy Castle was his soccer coach and, as Kevin
didn’t like soccer, Willy went to fetch him a few times from the bus stop before he could get on
the bus. Kevin remembered kind Br Anthony leaving and the more intimidating Br Timothy
taking over. Kevin really enjoyed the History tour to Natal.
In high school sports became more important and rivalries with other schools became more
intense. He loved the swimming and rugby tours. Kevin played in the 1stXV rugby, A and B
team swimming, A team water polo and was on and off the athletics team. He was also a
member of the All Marist XV team in 1985. However some his worst moments were all sports
moments that had nothing to do with the school. Things like playing for the first time in the U12A
rugby team in a Currie Cup curtain raiser and being the reason why St David’s lost the game
because he could not hook or throw a straight line out. The team never had possession
because of him and lost by 24 points. He felt that the team was great and should have won by
20 plus. Another occasion that stands out was when he was playing 1stXV against Marist
Observatory when he tried to tackle their best player. He not only stiff armed him but grabbed
the back of his collar and dragged him probably 15 metres on his face, much to the delight of
Observatory’s entire school.
Kevin enjoyed the camaraderie with all his close friends with whom he is still close to this day
even though he moved to the USA to go to college and he sees them in South Africa or in the
US on a regular basis. Friends,such as Jason Goodall, Mathew Smith, Eugene Taylor and Paul
Johnston. He loved playing sports, particularly rugby and despite paying lip service to disliking
school, he enjoyed all of it, including the classroom for the most part.
What he didn’t enjoy was particularly in the junior school, he didn’t like some of the teachers and
how they treated the pupils. He was fine with caning and the like, but some of the more
sensitive children were not ok with it and some of the teachers were quite cruel. He now realises
that it was a different world back then. In high school Kevin had a personal run in with a Maths
teacher, they really disliked each other. The teacher later became the 1st team rugby coach
much to Kevin’s dismay. They continued to clash and Kevin didn’t get his rugby scroll..
All he remembers of his last day was that it was spent writing the last final and then all of the
matrics running out of school screaming and shouting. Later a group of them stood outside
planning their trip to Plett.
After matriculating Kevin studied for a Bachelors degree at University of California, Irvine and
Juris Doctor (law degree) from the University of the Pacific, McGregor School of law and is now
a practising attorney.
Nobody in his family went to university, there was no expectation to do so but he had some
incredible teachers at St David’s who made it clear that they expected everyone in his class to
go to university.
Kevin is married living in California with his wife and two daughters aged 6 and 8.
JLE June 2013

Interview with Martin Rumpelt – 1973
Martin came to St David’s from the German School Johannesburg in standard 6. His parents were not too
happy with the lack of discipline at the German School and the fact that matric would have to be written in
English when all the teaching was given through the medium of German. Father Paulsen was a family friend
and he recommended St David’s as an alternative. Martin had an older brother Thomas who also attended St
David’s matriculating in 1972, he currently lives in Germany.
Martin had been given a tour of the school the year before he arrived and had met the brothers but was, none
the less nervous on his first day. He knew a couple of boys from Cubs and Scouts one of whom was Vincent
O’Mahoney which made life a little easier. Br Anthony was headmaster at the time and he remembered some
of the other Brothers – Br Andrew (Drac) so called because he drew blood when he caned the boys. He was
Spanish and regarded all the boys as spoilt brats and that he was the equaliser; Br Bernard- very artistic and
had a darkroom downstairs below the Science block; Br Mario who still visits Martin’s mother; Br Timothy (Tin
Man) who was the rugby coach for all the 1st teams and a super guy; Br Anthony – (Oaunges); Br Michael; Br
Aidan the bursar who impressed the boys no end with his visitors who came on motor bikes in leather gear; Br
Vincent; Br Paul who was blind; Br Aquinas and Br Patrick. He recalled Mrs Janusch who taught Latin and who
had long conversations with the brothers in Latin.
Martin really enjoyed the sport especially coming from a school where the main sports were swimming and
tennis and some soccer. He loved the swimming, water polo, tennis and rugby. He had never played rugby
before and, with the classes being so small everyone had to participate in either an A or B team. Nassey
Simaan was the rugby coach and he remembers his first rugby match when Mike Griffiths kicked the ball which
bounced off the bars straight into Martin’s hands, He didn’t know what to do and didn’t know the rules but
Nassey screamed at him to score a try –so he managed to score in his first game. He had a “deja vous”
moment recently when his son was playing rugby on the same field in exactly the same conditions – a
flashback to a moment in time. Martin was also a member of the Transvaal karate team which was an extramural
activity.
Discipline was good and all the boys accepted the caning when they had done wrong. Once Br Andrew caned
the whole school, there was a visiting team and someone had written derogatory graffiti on the walls in the
quad, when no-one owned up to this, he caned every boy.
Academically Martin was given every opportunity to do well but didn’t apply himself whereas his older brother
was always top of the class together with Alfred Ghodes. However he passed his matric and then went into he
army for two years in the 11th commando, Kimberly and did border duty for 17 months. After his final exams it
was a bit of an anti-climax and he then went on holiday with his family but with the call up papers for the army.
He was the only boy from St David’s going but fortunately he met up with someone on the train. On discharge
from the army he went on to study for a BSc Building at Wits University. He is involved in construction work,
building and civil engineering and the company he is with Aveng-Grinaker-LTA, built the first Soccer City and
the new Soccer City for the World Cup. Currently the company is looking more to Africa, Zambia, Namibia,
Botswana and Mozambique whereas South Africa and Zimbabwe are quiet in comparison. The newly elected
President of Zambia has stamped out corruption and a lot of development is taking place.
Martin’s two sons both attended St David’s,Nicholas having matriculated and Phillip is currently in grade 11.
His daughter Megan is a pupil at St Mary’s Waverly.
Martin is a member of MOBS

Interview with Lloyd Wilkins – 1980
Lloyd joined St David’s in January 1979, having just arrived in South Africa from Rhodesia, as it was then.
He had been a pupil at St George’s in Salisbury and arrived knowing nobody at the school. However the
boys were very welcoming and it didn’t take long before he felt at home.
Lloyd remembers with clarity that in his first few days at the school, he lost R100 which he had been given
by his parents to buy books. He was quite panicked as it was a lot of money, especially in the context of
having just emigrated. He made it known that he had lost the money and within a short time it was handed
to him, much to his relief. The temptation to keep the money must have been high but the integrity of his
peers was evident.
Lloyd really enjoyed the camaraderie and made lifelong friends, most of whom he is still in touch with on a
regular basis. A group of them in Australia meet at least once a quarter to spend a long weekend together
with their wives. One aspect of St David’s he didn’t enjoy was the caning.
In matric a group of the boys had found a small piece of wood which had broken off a desk lid and, during
lunch break, they were playing soccer with it in the corridor outside the first floor classrooms. Their ”ball”
was kicked down the stairs and Lloyd chase after it only to collide near the bottom of the stairs with their
headmaster Br Timothy who was coming up the stairs to investigate the noise. Lloyd’s momentum was
such that he bowled him over and landed on top of him at the bottom of the stairs. Fortunately the only
injury was to his pride and Lloyd was ordered to his office to receive a caning. He thinks he was the only
matric boy to be caned that year.
A teacher he remembers was Mr McFadden who ensured that all his pupils developed a love of history and
obtained good marks in matric, in part by teaching the boys under a tree on the side of the rugby field.
Lloyd played 3rd rugby XV, 2nd cricket XI, was in the athletics team and captain of the riding club,
participated in senior best speakers competition, was marketing director of the business game. Lloyd
played 2nd team rugby in standard 9 but broke his leg playing St John’s and broke it again at the start of
matric so he missed most of the season once again.
In 1979 Lloyd captained the St David’s riding team and with his younger brother Graham and Simon Bird,
went to England to compete in the All England Schools Show jumping competition at Hickstead. On
borrowed horses they competed against the best English schools and came third!
Lloyd was awarded a scroll for studies.
The matric dance had the theme space and they had as much fun decorating the hall with pictures of
spacecraft as they had at the actual event.
On their last day a large group of boys returned to the school after midnight, dressed in black and pushing
their cars so as not to raise the alarm. They proceeded to decorate the trees in the quad with large
amounts of toilet paper. They became more enthusiastic as they progressed and their stealth was soon
replaced by increasing hilarity, culminating in an epic water fight involving two groups of them, each
manning a fire hose in the corridors outside the first floor classrooms. As lights went on in the brothers’
sleeping quarters they made a hasty retreat.
He went on to study a BA(Law) at Wits University and is now chief operating officer of Barclays Bank in
Australia. He is also chairman of Street Work a charity that helps homeless youths in Sydney. Lloyd is
married and has two daughters studying at a university in Sydney.
Lloyd last visited St David’s in 2006 but attended an informal reunion organised by Sven Arp in August
2013.
JLE November 2013

Interview with James Oberholzer
James came to St David’s in grade O and, with 20 other boys, was a pupil up until he matriculated in 2003.
James remembers all his primary school teachers who made a big impact on his life in particular Mrs
Norton, Mrs Schaafsma, Mrs Ansell and Mrs Kirkenhofer. He recalled being “jacked” by Mr Castle which he
deserved and was almost grateful for. He used to go to after care, was very involved with sports and
academics, was a member of the choir and was awarded a major closed scholarship to the high school.
During his tenure the school went through a huge transformation with the building of high and prep school
pavilions, the swimming pool, tennis courts, Champagne hall, library and the parking lot and the main
entrance. The original entrance was not even tarred initially.
James has good memories of the teachers in high school and the relationship they had with the boys,
specifically Mr Buys, Mr Fry, Mrs Nagy who was his tutor, Mr Gaffney, Br Anthony, Father Brewer and
Reverend Bruce who was a fantastic teacher and really made you think.
James was involved with cricket, soccer, tennis and swimming but was particularly focused on his golf and
from standard 8. He played golf at provincial, level from standard 6 until matric and represented South
Africa at the Junior World Championships in San Diego, USA but was not awarded a Springbok blazer. He
did well academically but only learnt to really work when he went to university. He enjoyed debating but
preferred participating from the floor. He was also a member of high school parliament.
James enjoyed all the tours both sporting and cultural but didn’t go overseas. He misses the sport, the
rivalry and competiveness with other schools. The biggest rivals (on and off the field) were St John’s and St
Stithian’s but, on leaving school the boys became great friends with pupils from those schools.
In standard 9 he did a series of aptitude and career tests which indicated he should excel as a landscape
architect or stockbroker which is what he is now and he loves what he is doing.
James was a prefect and deputy head boy with Gareth Kolkenbeck-Ruh, head boy. He was head of house
Benedict, vice captain hockey and captain of the golf team. He was awarded an honours blazer for golf and
scrolls for academics, leadership and hockey.
James has Italian citizenship and, to avoid the compulsory army service had to show proof of registration at
university.
After matriculating, James went on to UCT to study Business Science but eventually graduated with a
BComm Economics and Finance and graduated with Honours in Economics in 2008. He had a gap year
where he worked as an underwriter in the short term corporate insurance industry before going back to
finish his degree. He learnt that one had to be focused and motivated and was no longer spoon fed as one
was at school.
James is currently employed as a stockbroker, specialising as a research analyst for the mining industry for
Macquarie, a global investment bank headquartered in Sydney, Australia, its strengths being commodities
and infrastructure.
Although James hasn’t maintained contact with many of his contemporaries at St David’s he enjoyed the
reunion in November. Whilst at university, living away from home he established strong friendships with
other students.
If he was blessed with sons James would want to send them to St David’s and is a member of MOBS.
JLE December 2013

Interview with Robbie Crawford-Brunt – Grade 2 – Standard 2 1945
Robbie was only at Marist Brothers for three years and left at the end of standard 2. He started school in
1943 and completed grade 1 and 2 in one year.
Tony Sonnenveldt was in his class whose family were Robbie’s neighbours. Robbie’s parents built a house
on the corner of Main (now Rivonia Road) and Empire Place, Sandhurst a block away from today’s
Sandton City. In those days it was out in the sticks on the edge of a housing development. The
Sonnenveldts lived opposite in Empire Place and Tony sometimes rode to school on a horse. Gallos of the
record company lived opposite in Main Road.
Robbie still has all his school reports as well as receipts for school fees. He also has some exam papers
from that period and a copy of a proposal to establish a Marist old boys club.
Robbie was happy and contented at Marist Brothers and doesn’t recall any bad times or unpleasant
experiences.
JLE June 2013

Interview with Robert Berti - 1976
Rob was originally a pupil at Observatory having emigrated from Italy with his family in August 1972 at the
age of 14. He was initially a boarder in standard 6 but, when the family was more established and had a
home in Bryanston, he and his brother came to St David’s as day boys, Rob into standard 7 and his brother
into standard 6 . Rob believes that he learnt a lot of English whilst in boarding 24\7 with boys from many
other countries such as the Congo, Zambia and Angola.
Rob recalls that Brother Anthony was the headmaster until he left in 1975 and Brother Timothy “Tin Man”
took over. Br Anthony was a legend and when he snapped his fingers you jumped!
Rob’s first impression of St David’s was that he felt quite comfortable and didn’t have to struggle. However,
it was not easy dealing with a new language but after about 6 months Rob says he began to think in
English. He studied Italian in standard 7, 8 and 9 but gave it up in matric although he did write it as one of
his subjects.
Rob participated in sport playing rugby, athletics and tennis. He had never played rugby before but the
coach put him in the back line telling him he would learn quickly. Rob was quick on his feet which was an
advantage.
Athletics was his main love the 100m, 200m, 100m Hurdles and 400m relay. Those were the days when
athletics was big with the inter-catholic schools and against schools such as Parktown Boys, KES and St
Stithians. Rob really enjoyed athletics and remembers a time when hundreds of boys were competing at
the Wanderers in a stadium that no longer exists. Athletics was compulsory when it came to inter-house
competition.
Rob played rugby 2nd team and was promoted to the 1st team in standard 8. He was awarded an honours
blazer for tennis. He has memories of playing in the U15 rugby team against St Stithians when a boy from
the opposing team kicked him in the face and concussed him. He came around swearing, and then only
realised that Br Anthony was standing over him. Br Anthony told him to “take it easy”. On another occasion
he was running the 400m against KES, a very competitive school. He was neck and neck with a boy from
KES who broke just before the finishing line with Rob then in first place. It was a highlight in Rob’s athletic
career. A similar thing happened during the 100m hurdles in an inter-Catholic athletics meeting when a boy
from CBC hit the last hurdle giving Rob the lead. Another major event was that In Rob’s matric year St
David’s beat KES’s water polo team.
Academically Rob never really struggled and was awarded colours for academics. Biology was his best
subject which he believes he owes to Mr Carew who had a different teaching approach and got the best out
of the boys. Rob just got pipped for the Biology prize. Rob auditioned for “The Merchant of Venice” and
remembers Mrs Eliott just laughing,he was not included in the play.
There were no camps in those days but Bill Carew organised trips with about 12 boys to Naboomspruit
when they would go into the bush. Teachers he remembers well are Bill Carew, Mr Lipschitz – Maths, and
Mr Maritz – Geography who used to wear steel tips on his shoes and didn’t take any nonsense from
anyone; Br Mario – Science, a nice guy; Mrs Elliott – English, who was a legend in her own right with a
broad Scottish accent like Br Anthony.
Rob was also awarded colours for merit and was a member of College house.
After matriculating Rob went to Wits University to study engineering. He survived one year before being
kicked out. He then went on to the Technicon where worked for his Higher National Diploma in
Engineering. He felt that the tech was more hands on in its approach with a wide syllabus and proved to be
more practical. He has been in engineering for the past 30 years and is involved with the family business,
his father having bought the business in 1976 and Rob joined in 1983. He wasn’t required to do army
service as he was an Italian citizen but he did volunteer for the air force and was a police reservist for 10
years.
Rob has had 3 sons educated at St David’s, Nicolas (2005) and Michael (2007) with the last, Matthew
writing his matric this year. He also has nephews in Grade 0 and 00 and hopes his family will continue to be
connected with St David’s in the future. He is a member of MOBS and attends most of the rugby matches
including the recent notable math against St John’s when the boys asked him to please contribute with his
usual bellows!
JLE September 2014

Interview with Charles Fontaine – 1966 (Standard 8)
Charles first came to St David’s in 1953 into grade 1 at the age of 5. He was a day boy and was living in
temporary accommodation with his family in the Rondavels on the corner of Boundary and Fricker Roads.
Charles’s father was Catholic and his mother Anglican.
He recalled his first day walking with his mother to school and an hour and half later running back home.
Needless to say he had to return and was very happy after that initial hiccup. Miss Brick was his grade 1
teacher and was extremely strict. Charles also remembers Mrs Kempster who also taught him. Mrs
Janusch was a dragon who was also extremely strict and rapped the boys on the knuckles with a ruler if
they displeased her.
Charles has memories of Brother Pius who looked after the really beautiful and magnificent gardens. Br
Edwin was the headmaster and Br Anthony from 1960. Charles was also taught by Br Timothy and Br
Vincent. Charles enjoyed Arithmetic as it was made very interesting. He has fond memories of matron
Buckley-Jones who was so sympathetic and kind to all the boys.
In the prep, Charles enjoyed the sport playing cricket, soccer, was involved with athletics, swimming and
bicycle polo during the holidays! The boarders’ dormitories overlooked the school swimming pool and the
boarders sometimes jumped into the pool from the windows on the first floor.
Athletics meetings were sometimes embarrassing especially if you were running last in full view of all the
boys and their parents. On one occasion Charles was training for the hurdles, wearing Mike Larkin’s spikes,
hurdled the wrong way and broke his arm. Mike and John Larkin were also pupils at the school; Mike had
poor eyesight and couldn’t drive because of this. He was in the law faculty at Wits University at one stage
and thereafter at UCT. Sadly he was murdered in Cape Town in the vicinity of UCT.
Mass was held regularly and, on special occasions like Champagnat Day, in the chapel which was very
homely with beautiful statues. Charles was also part of the choir in the production of “HMS Pinafore”.
Most of the day boys parked their bikes at the large bicycle shed which was reconstructed in 1955.
Charles’s worst moment at the school when he was involved in a fight on the slope near the tennis courts
with other boys around egging them on. He had never been involved in any other fights and didn’t enjoy
this one.
Charles was amongst the boys of the first standard 6 class to occupy the new block of classrooms next to
the new chapel. He moved into the other wing where Br Anthony’s office was when he was promoted to
high school. He liked Br Anthony whom he regarded as an incredible person. Charles was very impressed
when, at the 20th anniversary reunion, Br Anthony remembered both himself and his brother by name..
Sadly, in 1962 Charles had to leave to go to St Aidan’s, Grahamstown as his father felt that there were too
many non-Catholics at St David’s. Charles didn’t want to leave but his father had made the decision and he
had to adhere to his father’s wishes.
After matriculating, Charles went into the Navy to complete his military service based with the Naval
Gymnasium at Saldhana Bay in 1967. In 1968 he enrolled for a BComm at Wits University and qualified as
a chartered accountant with a post-graduate diploma in Business Information Systems.. He is currently a
partner with Harris, Dowden and Fontaine, having previously been a partner at Price Waterhouse and
manages the audit for St David’s and a number of schools. Charles is married to Elizabeth and they have
three sons, James, Christopher and Peter.
Charles is a member of MOBS
JLE March 2014

Interview with John Hilton – 1997
John joined St David’s in standard 6, 1993, coming from a government co-ed school, he was at first
overwhelmed by the discipline and having to wear a blazer. The Lacey brothers, Christopher and Alastair
also arrived at the same time.The first few days were interesting and he recalled meeting his best friend
Michael Muller at the pool.
The boys were taught to be men following the school’s motto “Comfortare esto Vir”: take courage and be a
man.
Of the teachers John remembers Gary Norton as being a disciplinarian, Mrs Geldenhuys the Science
teacher, Mrs Marais, Afrikaans and Graeme McMillan who was a good hockey player, Rod Smith
ousemaster of Osmund, Richard Girdwoood, English who was a legend, Neil Mitchell, Religious Education.
John didn’t make life easy for himself, and together with Johnathan Nel wrote a couple of plays for
Osmund, parodies and satires which didn’t please Father Brewer or Paul Edey at all. In his matric year
they wrote “Snow White and the Seven Boers”. They wrote and produced the “SA Natiivity in grade 11 and
were awarded the best play and John the best producer.
The school was relatively small and John remembers the rugby matches against other bigger schools
which were great fun and St David’s always took a beating. Swimming was John’s summer sport and he
umpired cricket and played hockey in the winter. The trip on the train on alternate years to St Andrews,
Bloemfontein must have been a nightmare for the teachers to handle all the boys and the shenanigans they
got up to.
John enjoyed the cultural trip to Europe at the age of 17 with a bunch of his mates touring in a semi Kontiki
style trip.
John was made a prefect halfway through the year, together with Darryl Eames in 1997 and was captain of
1st team hockey in standard 9 and matric and played for the provincial C team. At that time there were only
41 boys in matric. John also participated in public speaking and debating and was a member of parliament
in 1996. He was awarded colours for hockey and a cultural tie for oratory and a scroll for drama. He was
part of a team which won the Microsoft Web Design Competition in 1996
After matriculating, John studied Informatics at RAU working afterwards as an IT consultant for a long time.
However, he is now working for a conservation trust, the Wild Bird Trust on a project in the Okavango,
Botswana. He is also very involved with an Eastern Cape project growing and planting indigenous fruit
trees together with the local population.
John joined the MOBS committee straight after leaving school. The committee didn’t have the full
endorsement of the school at the time but Adriano and John developed the MOBS data base. Darko Vidas
and Chris Busschau were also on the committee which didn’t even have a quorum so it is encouraging to
see the growth in MOBS.
John is still a member of MOBS and would send any son of his own to St David’s.
JLE November 2014

Interview with Alfred Lamberti – 1951
Alf first came to St David’s in 1941 at the age of 9. He had been boarding at St Joseph’s Convent in
Krugersdorp from the age of 4 and, unfortunately he didn’t receive much in the way of basic education at
Joseph’s, his parents spoke Italian and he therefore found school rather difficult.
Alf admits that he was quite a naughty boy and was always up to all sorts of tricks. Alf had to repeat
standard 8 as the brothers advised his parents that he would fail his Matric as his Afrikaans was not good
enough, so Alf was sent to an Afrikaans family on a farm in the Krugersdorp area for 6 months to learn the
language. As Alf’s father was Italian he was interned during the war in Koffiefontein and was unable to pay
Alf’s school fees. The brothers allowed him to stay at the school as his father promised he would repay
them once he was released and could find employment. He was a shoemaker but then became a tailor,
together with his brothers, initially as a cutter then designer and worked for Stanger and Co. making air
hostess uniforms for a big contract.
Alf remembers that St David’s when he first came to the school had just opened, wasn’t really finished and
there were holes in the walls. Brother Alban was in charge of his dormitory which had a flat roof outside.
The boys were not allowed radios so they rigged up a copper wire aerial connected to a crystal set with ear
phones.
There was a line of pine trees separating the school from its neighbours by the swimming pool. Some of the
boys decided to make a hidey hole where they could go and smoke in peace, they dug a hole under the
fence and scattered the sand on the roadway. Br Alban spotted it but gave them a day to fill in the hole
thinking they wouldn’t manage it in time. The boys set to and filled the hole with pine needles and topped it
off with sand, however, after the first big storm the needles collapsed and the hole opened up again but Br
Alban didn’t pursue the matter any further. Sometimes Br Alban would have to punish the boys but noting
the marks from recent canings would hit a pillow with his cane and tell the boys to act as if they had been
caned.
The brothers were extremely strict disciplinarians and on one occasion, Br Thomas who taught Maths
asked Alf to write something on the board, Alf made a mistake, Br Thomas aimed for Alf’s head, missed
and his fist hit the board but then he caught Alf from behind.
Volunteers were asked to plant kikuyu grass on the rugby field and cricket oval and they became known as
the “Labour Gang”. One advantage was that on a Sunday the gang was told to sit at the big table next to
the kitchen and they were fed bacon, eggs, toast and marmalade whilst the other boys got the usual fair of
unappetising mealie meal porridge. During the war years there was no bread available and the boys were
given a type of biscuit that was full of weevils with which the boys set up races.
As the school did not have a projector or screen, on some Saturdays the boarders would form a line and
head for the shopping centre which housed the Odeon bioscope via Dunkeld. Unbeknown to the brothers,
the boys would steal items of food from the shops on the way. Eventually the school did acquire a projector
and screen and the “Labour Gang” was allowed to choose the movies but they weren’t very popular as they
preferred action and cowboy movies whilst some of the other boys would have liked movies with girls in
them. The “Labour Gang” under the guise of repairing fences would go into neighbouring orchards and
collect fruit which they then shared with the other boys.
Sport included rugby, although they couldn’t play much until the grass had grown, football, cricket, tennis
and swimming. The brothers had designed a canvas contraption with ropes attached with which they walk
along by the side of the pool dragging a boy along – swimming lessons! Everybody had to participate in
sport, Alf was very competitive and enjoyed running. He also tried his hand at boxing and lost a fight
against Norman Morgan managing three rounds loosing on points.
Alf remembers Br Edwin who was the headmaster in 1950, there was something wrong with his neck and
he had to learn to drive a car using the mirrors as he couldn’t turn his head to see. The brothers he
remembers are Br Alban, Br Edwin, Bartholemew, Clement and Thomas. There were new brothers coming
all the time as they were swopped around between the various schools – Koch Street, Observatory and
Inanda. Inanda and Obs were very competitive.
On Champagnat day a mass was held at St David’s.The boys had dancing lessons but girls were not
allowed! Of his contemporaries Setty Risi is his cousin, Steve Muller was his optometrist and Ray Metcalf
who was Rhodesian used to stay with Alf during the holidays and he remembers Charlie MacAdam,
Norman Morgan and Itoro Baroni.
Just across the road was the Polliack property with a beautiful and lavish garden with an amphitheatre and,
after Bubbles Schroeder was murdered there, a group of boys decided to assist the police and went to look
for the missing handbag and shoes. They turned the amphitheatre in the garden upside down but then Mr
Polliack must have let the dogs and out and they had to run for it over the split pole fence, they all made it
but for one unfortunate rather overweight boy who caused the fence to collapse under him.
Alf was lucky not to be expelled after all these exploits but there was one important rule – you didn’t squeal
on your pals.
Alf managed to get a third class Matric and went to Wits University to study engineering but battled with the
Maths and failed the first year. He then went and found a job and attended Technical Trade School
studying industrial chemistry. He qualified, was awarded a diploma and began his first job as a laboratory
assistant at African Glue Industries. There were quite a few houses on the property, tennis courts and a
pool and Alf and his wife moved in with their birds and rabbits. Eventually they found the smell too much
and moved back into town into Hillbrow and his wife, a qualified nurse worked in the hospital. Initially they
were going to adopt a child and bought a house to qualify but then had two children of their own – Pia and
Mario. Sadly Mario died at the age of seven in a car accident outside a noviciate in Germiston during a day
of prayer. Alf’s wife never got over the loss of her child and after 57 years of marriage died of cancer. Alf
remarried but sadly his second wife died of Aids which she contracted whilst treating patients at the
pharmacy where she worked. His daughter, Pia is a Doctor of Linguistics working at the University of
Johannesburg, she is a single mother to Sophia. Alf, a devout Catholic, he and his wife both visited
Lourdes, feels that his mission in life is now to ensure that his granddaughter becomes a Catholic.
JE October 2014
Maristonian 1949 p61
Maristonian 1949

Interview with Leonard O’Haughey – 1967
Len came from the Rosebank Convent, which he attended for grades 1 and 2, to St David’s in 1958 going
into standard 1. He, very soon after his arrival, earned the nickname “Chick” as within a couple of weeks
he came down with mumps but the boys thought he had chickenpox – hence the origins of his nickname
which has stayed with him ever since. Len was a day boy and cycled to and from school.
Of the teachers he remembers Mrs Kempster as being a battleaxe and the boys were terrified of her; Br
Andrew (Drac) who coached cricket and loved you if you played the game; Mrs Buchan who taught History
in matric; Br Andrew the acting headmaster whilst Br Anthony was away. The boys gave Mrs Buchan a
terrible time and one day she walked out of her class, Br Andrew then took over and made all the boys line
up with Rohan Erleigh being first in line to receive 4 whacks of the cane! There was Mrs Janusch; Mrs
Knesovitch who he didn’t get on with, Miss Owen who was young, blonde and beautiful then from standard
7 onwards there were a variety of teachers including Br Liam; Br Bosco (now Mario); Mrs Buckle; Mr
Pretorius; Br Andrew. Mr Drummond-Bell who used to constantly tell the boys to “Stand together boys” and
as a result Len and Derrick Schoombie are called the “Marist Boys” when playing golf together.
Len felt that the school was good for him. His parents had very little money and the brothers let his mother
pay whatever she could afford at the time. It was never an issue for him whilst he was at the school. The
families of his pals Derrick Schoombie and Anthony Rezek were also very good to him and he remains
friends with both of them to this day.
Len remembers spending a holiday helping with planting up the fields when the property next door was
acquired..
Len played a lot of sport and never really worked at the academics but had a lot of fun. He was an altar boy
and commented that he never experienced anything untoward with any of the brothers in all the time he
was at the school. Len played one game of 1st team rugby but played mainly for the 2nd team; played
cricket from standard 8 to 10 and became involved with athletics as a runner. He was secretary of senior
soldality and a senior officer in the cadets, was made a prefect and was awarded scrolls for athletics and
cricket. He recalls partnering Ronnie Van t’Hof in the school’s tennis doubles championship against Colin
Dowdeswell and Mike Raymond who were very good tennis players. All Len could do was serve and leave
the rest to Ronnie. It was one of his greatest triumphs.
Len was always vying against authority and his son James followed in his footsteps. Both his sons James
(1996) and Deane (1998) came to St David’s from grade 0 until matric. Len won the cross country event in
1967 and his son won in 1995 but didn’t compete in matric and so didn’t carry on the family tradition. Whilst
Paul Edey was headmaster, James was captain 1st team rugby and always in trouble, a rebel and Len first
met Paul when he was about to expel his son.
Len took the girl who eventually married Mike Smith to the matric dance wearing white socks! He received
his prefects scroll that evening.
Len believes that St David’s was good to him coming as he did from a disjointed family and other families in
the St David’s community were very kind to him. He recalls that the high school went into a bit of a decline
and, when Paul Edey took over as headmaster in 1995 it started to turn around.
After matriculating, Len having come from an Irish Catholic family decided to become a priest and studied
for 6 months until he became churched out. He then studied to become a chartered accountant with
Deloittes and ended up living in Baltimore with his wife for 18 months where James was born. On his return
to South Africa, Len got involved with forestry from 1981 until 1994 with Hunt, Leuchars and Hepburn. He
became managing director of the timber facility and, when he was retrenched, he started up in opposition to
them in a mining support business called Trimrite. He built a chipping plant which is the first process in
making paper and developed export markets including the US and Japan. On his visits to Japan he often
met up with Marstao Ushimbubo a former St David’s pupil.
JLE June 2015

It was with great sadness that I received the news of Brother Anthony’s passing. Please convey my condolences
to the Marist Brothers’ community.
He was a wonderful headmaster who inspired great effort on the part of his students and he was central to the formation of the SDMOBA in 1964.
Clearly too, he was a very compassionate man and his work at Kuruman will, I believe, see him richly rewarded in Heaven.
God bless him and may his soul rest in peace while his memory lives on with those of us privileged to have been taught by him.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas Wickins
What sad news.
I've just seen your email and immediately guessed from the subject line that the news about 'Ornge' would not be good. As you say, he was a remarkable man, a superb headmaster and a wonderful human being. St David's owes him so much.
My memories of him are vivid between 1958, when I arrived at 'Inanda' as we knew it in those days, and 1962 when I matricu-lated. The name 'Ornge' is self-explanatory if one ever heard him say orange and, though probably not quite as well known, his invitations to all the parents to stay on for a 'bry flies' after Sports Day was almost his trademark too!
Orge will be greatly missed by those who were privileged to know him and especially those of us who were taught by him. If anyone made it easy to convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade (or Celsius as it is known now), he did! A wonderful man.
Please add my name to any book of condolences that you may set up.
Brian Austin '62.
Found on: http://www.ibo.org/ibworld/documents/nov03.pdf
The students established practices
that have remained the same
for subsequent trips throughout the
past decade. We are guided by
Brother Anthony, a Scottish Marist
brother who has lived in the
Kalahari desert with the local population
for over 20 years. Anthony
was headmaster of St David’s
Inanda, one of the most prestigious
schools in Johannesberg, South
Africa. He is now 76 and serves as
a presence, a symbol that someone
cares for these people whose towns
are still not marked on most maps of
South Africa.
Best Regards
Antonio Senatore
I left St Davids in 1955 and I am trying to think back all those years about Brother Anthony.
There are many things that I don’t remember too much anymore, but it sad to loose him.
We cannot be at the funeral, but will say prayers at home here in New Zealand.
Kind regards,
Derek and Gail Stansfield
New Zealand
I am sorry to hear about this. A lot of my success is a result of the disciple he instilled in me. Please send my regards to Brother Aidan …
John Ryan Old boy 1957 1963
I was at St Davids in 1971-1973 along with my 2 brothers as we lived in RSA while my Dad was assigned to Jburg with an Ameri-can Corporation.
I am now a Catholic priest serving in Afghanistan with US and NATO forces. I will be sure to remember Br Anthony at the All Souls Mass that I will be celebrating within a few hours.
It was Br Anthony who met with my parents in Oct 1971 when we began our odyssey of life in a foreign country. His manner did a lot to console my Mother who was up to that time, very concerned about our education in what was a unique environ-ment for us.
Br Anthony, along with the Marist order will remain in my prayers.
Fr. Steven Brosk
LC, Chaplain, USAF
Had heard ...that Bro Anthony was not at all well so his passing away does not come as a surprise but is nevertheless a sad event. I have very fond recollections of the man -- his humour; his patience when unmercifully teased about his accent by some of the boys; his sense of fairness. He taught us much; much more than the three R's !
Regards
Max Leipold
Matric 1959
My thoughts and prayers with all involved at St Davids - Br. Anthony was a legend. On a light note I was disciplined by him when only in Std 4 for a schoolboy prank - cost me 3 of the best!!
Sincerely
Mike Peel (Nelspruit)
I was saddened to hear of the death of Br Anthony Docherty. Both my brother Michael and I studied at St David's during his time there. We respected him greatly, as did our parents. One of the fondest memories that I have is of Br Anthony appearing at prize giving with bright red hair! - It seems that Br Bosco (afterwards Br Mario) convinced Br Anthony that his gray (almost white) hair could do with a bit of brightening-up. Br Bosco prepared a potion of red hair dye. There was no problem with the idea of a red hair dye. - It seems that Br Anthony's hair was originally ginger, before it turned gray.
The problem was with the shade of red. - Bright, fire-engine red!!! Obviously a source of great amusement for all the school boys. It took many months for his hair to return to its natural colour. Rest in peace Br Anthony.
Larry Griffiths
(pupil at St David's Marist Inanda 1964-1972)

Interview with John Daly – 1962
John , having been previously expelled from Dunkeld College, came to St David’s at the age of 5 on the
recommendation of a friend of his father, Eddie Rohan Irwin whose son Richard was a pupil there as he felt
the disciplined environment might help.
In those days Johannesburg ended at Bompass Road with the number 2 bus terminus. There were only a
few houses north of Bompass including the Rondavel’s tea garden, Sandown Farm, now Sandton City,
which belonged to the Edmonds family and Guy Edmond was chairman of Standard Bank. John
remembers playing tennis there in the veld.
Hyde Park was a swamp and the boys used to play cowboys and indians there. Hyde Gate was vacant
land and was used by all the ox wagons as a turning point when delivering their loads of fruit and
vegetables. John’s mother used to go there to buy the family supplies from Moonsammy, the vegetable
man. Manie Fryer eventually bought the land and drained it.
The soccer fields at the school were initially gravel, then came the concrete, tennis courts and the bicycle
shed which was enormous, accommodating the boys’ bicycles as there was no transport. There was
however, a municipal bus which ran once a day with Ben the driver who was a huge man with a handlebar
moustache. The pupils were dropped off at their homes. A swimming pool was built and there were 4
classrooms for the grades, 10 classrooms in all but no chapel. On occasion one of the boys would ring the
school bell as a prank signifying the end of the day and all the boys would knock off early.
John’s gardener used to take him to school on the carrier on his bicycle until one day John took it upon
himself to take the gardener’s bike leaving him behind. His father then bought him his own bicycle and at
the tender age of 5, John rode to school alone. The journey used to take him through the grounds of some
private homes on the way.
John recalls that in the prep school they had lay teachers until standard 5 with Mrs Brick teaching the
grades, Mrs Brophy – standard 1, Mrs King – standard 2, Mrs Batten – standard 3, Miss Brophy – standard
4 and Mrs Kempster, who was an institution, teaching standard 5. John’s cousin, Mrs Schaafsma also
taught at the school.
The Brothers taught in the high school and, although John and many other boys were not Catholic and
included Jews, and Chinese, they were accepted as it was, at that time, the only boys school in the area
with St Stithian’s opening much later in 1951. It was a full day, every day with academics followed by sport,
the boys were never on the streets with all after school activities being compulsory with the Brothers
participating.
John experienced three headmasters whilst at St David’s, initially Br Edwin who was appointed Brother
Provincial and was followed by Br Benedict and then Br Anthony in 1960.
Manners were exceptionally important and the boys were brought up in an environment which
encompassed religion, sport and studying with the non-catholics having Scripture lessons. There were
many non-catholics in John’s class.
Mr Drummond- Bell led the school choir and produced the annual musical which was usually “HMS
Pinafore”. Singing lessons were included in the curriculum.
The Moni’s were the most prominent family in the school at the time and pupils such as Terry Rosenberg,
Richard Hartdegen and many other boys who did very well in their chosen careers. There was a pride in
the school held by the day boys and boarders alike. It was all very primitive and there was a bursary fund to
assist those families in need. School fees were reduced by the number of boys in a family.
John played provincial tennis and was also involved with debating but didn’t play a team sport. He and
Terry Rosenberg played 1st team doubles at the Wanderers. In his last year, the school won the tennis
league and knockout and Ray Bischoff became a Springbok for swimming, the first Springbok for the
school. The school role stood at 600.
A very sad event was when Paul Barrenbrug was killed near the school entrance. His brother subsequently
became a Marist Brother.
John remembers that Mr McGill-Love, who owned the farm next door, didn’t have any children and used to
come to the school in the afternoons to watch the children play sport and in particular cricket. He left the
property to the College when he died and part of the land, now the “Inandas”, was sold in 1980 which
became quite a controversial issue.
John didn’t go into a restaurant until he was 15, in the 60’s and then went to one in the Carlton Centre and
then at the age of 17 to the Golden Spur Steak House which had opened in Rosebank. Hamburgers were 2
shillings and 6 pence. Blairgowrie, Bordeaux and Hurlingham were farmland. John remembers certain
things at the time, like his father flying in a Junker, a trunk call to Durban was a big thing. His grandfather
built the first house in Illovo in 1896 and had the only phone. Cars were all black, Thrupps was the major
shopping centre, Anstey’s was a fashionable place to have tea and Doctors visited you at home. It was too
dangerous to go into town at night as there were highwaymen in Saxonwold!
Life revolved around balance and the Marist Brothers were very involved in the family’s lives.
After he matriculated, John didn’t go to university but worked and studied, eventually becoming an
evaluator and appraiser and recently passed yet another exam. He has always been self employed and
initially worked with his father, originally in property development. He is the father to 3 daughters and has 6
grandchildren with the boys living in Cape Town so none have been pupils of St David’s.
JLE March 2015

Interview with Nick Pruim – 1984
Nick attended St David’s from grade 1 to matric and absolutely loved the school. He was a day
boy as there were no longer any boarding facilities. In 1982, the headmaster was the infamous
Mr Murphy who was a part-time wrestler. He was watching a TV programme called “Nite Owls”
about what people in SA do at night. Mr Murphy was televised walking into the ring masked and
wielding a hammer. He called an assembly the next day to explain himself and said he would no
longer compete as a wrestler. Apparently Mr Colia and some other masters checked up on him
and found out that he continued to wrestle. Mr Murphy also supposedly played rugby for Ireland.
He was replaced in the third term by Brother Anthony a previous headmaster who, together with
Brother Timothy was a strong headmaster. Mr Freilich then took over in 1983.
One of Nick’s sons goes to SACS and they saw Willy Castle at the water polo there. He
remembers Heather Joseph, Trudie Elliott, Glenda Anderson, Darryl Boswell, Colia, Ross
Howard, an Australian and Finlayson who recently taught his son at SACS. He still sees Adrian
Franklin who was vice-head boy, Reece Carr, Jason Goodall, Garcia (85), Peter Wharton-Hood,
and Craig Brewer.
He remembers one of the first black pupils at the school, Solly Mapanya whose father was a
well known businessman. The boys all gathered around him on the soccer field, now the astro
turf, in amazement. He is godfather to one of Nick’s daughters.
He remembered Gary Beuthin, 3 years above him who was expelled but allowed back by
Murphy and was expelled again a couple of months later. He was bright, sporty but a
psychopath.
Nick played 1st team rugby in standard 9 and part of matric and then dropped to the 2nd team
which he really enjoyed. He also participated in A team swimming, water-polo and tennis.
Academically he achieved a reasonable matric with university entrance. He was head boy for
his year with Adrian Franklin and Greg McLeroth as deputy head boys.
He recalled his last day as having mixed feelings. He learnt to tease and be teased there was a
certain feeling between Marist boys. Being a small school they had to work hard to do well in
sport, pull together. There were then only 280 boys in the senior school. Discipline was at times
harsh with corporal punishment but also respect. He never forgot getting 6 of the best from Mr
Murphy for mimicking a teacher in class.
After leaving school, he lasted 1 year at varsity, worked at the stock exchange for eight years as
a trader then travelled for a year. On his return he opened PD’s in Illovo and turned it into
Stabella in the Thrupp’s Centre. In 1994 he went to Cape Town and opened a place in
Greenmarket Square, Peitit Pains which was a great success, ran it for 13 years and sold it in

2006. He also got involved in the cleaning business and had a contract to clean Cape Town for
      8 years and in that time Cape Town won the cleanest city award. He realised that he had got
      involved in too many things, fishing being one of them. He then sold the shop, got out of the
      cleaning business and concentrated on the fishing industry with which the family has been
      involved with for generations. They have their own boats and buy in lobster to export to Japan
      and China. He also has an interest in renewable energy which is a long-term project and is busy
      with a wind farm.
      Following on from working with communities at school, he buys fish from local communities and
      assists with advice regarding equipment etc. The company also assists the subsistent fisherman
      with paperwork and not charging registration fees for forming co-ops. Better equipment helps
      them get up to a certain level and the company, Calandria, in turn gets a better quality product.
      For the small quota holders, they no longer give one lump sum but pay monthly in advance so
      that they can plan their lives better bringing financial stability. The company also pays the
      salary for one school teacher at Paternoster and usually gets involved in all the small towns they
      deal with and try to employ people in most of these towns in their operation.
      Nick has 5 children, 3 girls and 2 boys.
      There was a reunion 5 years ago with a dinner at the school and he would definitely attend
      more reunions.
      JE October 2011