Matric 1991

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Matric 1991

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Matric 1991

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Matric 1991

4 Archival description results for Matric 1991

4 results directly related Exclude narrower terms

Interview with Conor MacFadden 1991

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000743
  • Item
  • 2014

Interview with Conor MacFadden – 1991
Conor began his career at St David’s in grade 0 in 1979.His first classroom was where the old swimming
pool used to be and Mrs Walton was his teacher. He was also taught by current teachers Willy Castle,
Carol Ansell, Heather Joseph and Belinda Marais.
The clergy still played a major role in the school at the time with Father Plestus being exceptionally kind
and caring. Father Brewer was also very special, a mentor and very close to many of the boys. He stood up
for the boys and operated in his own area within the school which meant he wasn’t always popular with the
teaching staff.
Conor was a member of The Bishops and his housemaster, who taught History was Mr Howarth.
The most significant memory he has is of the soccer tour to Belgium in 1985 with two teams, the U10’s and
U12’s. South Africa, because of apartheid was a pariah country and it was unusual to play any sport with a
foreign country. It was an amazing experience touring Belgium for 2 to 3 weeks and a very significant one
for the boys. Because of the rarity of such tours at the time, the SABC decided to do an insert on one of its
programmes Video 2. Martin Bailey was the host and came on the tour with the boys. Conor has a copy of
the broadcasted footage.
Conor also participated in cricket and rugby as well as soccer. He was the junior school cricket captain and
played rugby in high school. Other pupils such as Ivor Rugani played provincial cricket and Brad Rains
provincial rubgy in 1991. They both have sons at St David’s as does Conor. Conor also played golf at the
Wanderers. There certainly wasn’t the variety of sports that are available to the boys today and everybody
had to participate. Hockey had been introduced but was quite contentious at the time.
Conor remembers being a co-worker and was part of a group who visited Brother Anthony’s mission in
Kuruman.
The boys attended the matric dance from standard 9 and it was held in the school dining room. It was much
lower key than today with the boys decorating the venue themselves.
After matriculating, Conor studied law at Wits University and joined Bell Dewar and Hall which recently
merged with the Canadian firm of Faskin Martineau. Conor, a partner is involved with corporate and tax
law.
Conor has a son Liam at St David’s who is currently in grade 1 and is happy to see the Marist tradition
being carried through to the next generation.
Conor is a trustee of the St David’s Foundation and is a member of MOBS.
JLE September 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Kurt Morais 1993

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  • 2015

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

Egenrieder, Julie