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

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

Interview with Tristan Schafer – 2010
Tristan came to St David’s in grade 0 in 1998, the year that grade 0 first started. A photo of himself and
Brendan Mitchell appeared in the local paper at the time.
On his first day he didn’t know anyone and Mrs Milne was his teacher. He remembers that Mrs Milne taught
the boys the alphabet with “Letter Land” and each week a new letter would appear on the chalk board and
one of the boys would be assigned to that letter. Tristan loved the twisty bread which he bought with
tokens and loved running around the playground and the jungle gym.
Mrs Nieman was his grade 1 teacher and he found all the teachers to be quite different, Mr Sinclair who
was extremely well read; Mrs McWilliams; Mr Thackwell an awesome English teacher; Gareth Dry who
brought a huge amount of professionalism and a completely different element to the school, Tristan was in
the choir and sang at the Linder auditorium in grade 6. He remembers the choir received a standing ovation
and also went on tour to the Drakensberg Boys Choir School. The headmaster, Rick Wilson used to come
and read to the boys regularly and his favourite story was that of “King Solomon’s Mines”.
Tristan was not a very good Soccer player but enjoyed the game and the Soccer clinics run by Willy Castle.
He got involved with Canoeing in Grade 5 and with other sport in Grade 7 and swam in the B team and A
team Water Polo until the age of 16 when he concentrated on paddling.
Tristan was an altar server for 5 years from grade 6 until grade 10, with Father Michael who was awesome
and also when Bishop Tigale came to the school. Tristan is not very religious but is a spiritual person.
Tristan connected more with the teachers in high school. In grade 9 he chose to do Business Studies but
hated it and then changed to Art with Anneke Carter, winning the Art prize 3 years in a row; Mohammed
Jena taught Maths and was an awesome teacher who gave a lot of his time and took the boys on a Maths
boot camp before matric; Gareth Kolkenbeck-Ruh was an old boy teaching English with whom you could
connect. Other teachers who stand out are Stephan Bauer and Bridget Fleming, Geography; Belinda
Marais who was kind hearted; Gareth Kolkenbek-Ruh and Gareth Dry with whom he did film study
“Shawshank Redemption“, “The Mission” and ”Tsotsi” incorporating visual arts, Music, and writing with all
art forms in one which was very creative.; Rod Smith was a cool guy, all the English teachers were good;
Simon Holderness was a great Maths teacher and rugby coach; Shane Lotter who took golf to a different
level; Will van den Berg; Dave Smith. The teachers were all there for the boys supporting a tradition which
holds the school together.
Tristan enjoyed the grade 8 camp, loved playing rugby and water polo and supported 1st team rugby. He
also enjoyed the weekly war cries practices. He still misses eating lunch at break with his pals, there was a
massive feeling of brotherhood and they all helped each other out. His best friends now are boys he got to
know in grade 0. A notable thing is that many of the boys in Tristan’s year went into diverse and
unconventional careers following their passion and included quite a few entrepreneurs. Brad Latilla-
Campbell went to Harvard, Barry Morisse studied Drama at Wits, Chaid White plays soccer for Jomo
Cosmos and Matthew Rigby studied Actuarial Science at Stellenbosch.
2010 was a great year for sport and gave something for the grade 8’s to aim for. The school needs that
kind of continuation. The negative thing that year for Tristan was that the prefects room and that privilege
was taken away and also that Chris Brown, climber who represented South Africa was not given an
honours blazer.
Canoeing or paddling was started at St David’s in 1995 by Willem van der Merwe a very kind hearted man
who helped many boys to find their niche in canoeing. Tristan went on prep and high school canoeing tours
which he found really cool and many of the boys became Springboks. In grade 10 Tristan was canoeing
captain with only 5 boys in the team but by the end of the year there were 25. Tristan firmly believes that
sport should be fun and is to be enjoyed.
Tristan became a prefect and was head of The Bishop’s with Gabriel Ally as head boy. Tristan was
awarded an honours blazer for canoeing and was a peer counsellor in grade 11. In 2010 for the first time,
all the prefects went on a camp with the grade 8’s and Francesco Mariano, head boy 2014, was Tristan’s
mentee.
After Matriculating, Tristan went onto study at Afda Film School covering acting, film and TV. He continued
to coach the school canoeing team for 3 years until Willem left. Whilst studying, Tristan won a few awards
with other students including the Ster-Kinekor Vision Mission award creating an advertisement for
disadvantaged children which he directed and wrote. Whilst on an exchange at Chapman University in the
US, Tristan was involved with a graduation film group that won pretty much all the categories.
Tristan has now started his own company “Old Soul Films” and is adopting that approach to storytelling and
is hoping to get into web advertising and web series especially in the US, Europe and the East.
Tristan was also involved in some charity work with Absa making 3 short films going into communities and
uplifting them. This included a bakery in Westbury that feeds the local children; a young artist in Alexandra
who was abused as a child; a woman from Somalia documenting her story and how life in Johannesburg
compares favourably to Somalia. He was paid for doing these films but then followed up on his own. Tristan
is also doing some pro-bono work for a girls’ orphanage in Malawi where the girls are taught sewing skills.
He will be filming a short documentary and will be involved in the building and construction of the sewing
room.
Tristan is a member of MOBS and would certainly send any sons he may father to St David’s.
JLE June 2015