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Eulogy for Nassey Simaan 1922 - 2013?

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000859
  • Item
  • 2014

As the oldest in my generation of cousins, my Judu would insist that I say a speech at
important family functions. If I did not meet my Judu’s high standards of public speaking, he
would not say a word to me. If I spoke well, he would walk up to me, give me a kiss on my
cheek and whisper in my ear, “you talk just like your Judu”. So Juds, here it goes. Once
again I will try talk just like you.
Good afternoon Reverend Fathers, and all of Nassey’s Humrees and Darlings.
My name is Gaby Simaan, Jnr, a grandson of an icon and legend of the South Africa
Lebanese community.
Nassey Simaan - The head of the Simaan family, husband to Agnes. Father and father in
law to Gabe and Jane, Antoine and Kathy, the late Linda Rose, Andy and Shirley, Marie Lou
and Saki. The grandfather of Gaby, Jeanine, Karen, Deirdre, Warren, Sean, Samantha,
Gareth, Candyce, Jason and Luke. The great grandfather of Nicholas, Gabriella, Cristina,
Connor, Mathew, Taylor, Daniel, Jessica, Meagan, Troy, Joshua and Jonathan. Sister to
Louise. Nephew to Aunty Isabel. Friend and mentor of hundreds . On behalf of Nassey’s
children – I have been honoured with the task to pay tribute to the great life of Nassey
Simaan and the impact that he has left behind.
Born on the 5th April 1922, in Bethal, Nassey was the oldest child of Gibran and Rosy
Simaan. Nassey grew up in Bethal, where his father owned the local Cafe. At the age of 16,
his father, who he always spoke so highly of, passed away. Nassey was sent to boarding
school in Uitenhage. That is when our family’s tradition with Marist Brothers schools began
and Nassey learnt to speak English. When he matriculated in 1939 he had been awarded his
school honours blazer, after receiving colours in athletics, rugby and for being a prefect. He
was also awarded the title of Victor Ludorum due to his athletic achievements. He
represented EP schools in athletics and rugby.
It was Nassey’s dream to go to university to study law. Unfortunately with his father’s
passing, the family was struggling financially and he needed to start working in order to
support his mother, sisters Dorothy and Louise, and his brother Ramsey. This was
something I only learnt this week from aunty Louise. With all the stories my grandfather told
us, not once did he mention, how he had to give up going to university for his family.
With the war breaking, Nassey joined the army and was deployed to Europe and Northern
Africa as a wireless operator. He took advantage of being sent to all the different countries
by visiting as many churches and religious sites as he could.
The first time my Gran met Judu was when she was working in the OK Bazaars as a cashier.
They were introduced by Judu's best friend at the time - Freddy Michael. Freddy was
actually going out with my Gran at the time and subsequently got engaged to Gran. Nassey
felt that he was far more deserving of this young Lebanese gem. He suddenly developed a
passion for shopping at OK. It was not long till my Gran gave into his relentless charm and
called off her engagement. As only Nassey could get right, he convinced Fred that it was
the right thing and God’s will. The 2 remained close friends. My grandparents were married
for 64 years!
My grandfather followed a career as a travelling salesman. He was known in the motor spare
industry as “King of the road” With a charm second to none; he had friends and contacts in
2
every town you can think of. The family originally lived in Mayfair and later moved to
Buccleuch, where my grandparents stayed for 35 years. My grandfather struggled
financially. Things were tough for the family. When they saw a strange car coming down the
long drive way, it was more than likely the sherriff. The sons would grab the family’s
precious belongings and run to hide them by the river so the sheriff could not reposess them.
Judo told us how, my dad would hide in the bushes and shoot the sherriff’s car with his pellet
gun to deter him from coming back. Sometimes there was no money for bus fare for the
children to get back from school. The boys would have to walk home - All the way from
Inanda to Buccleuch. Despite all these hardships, my grandfather made sure that money
was found for his children to receive a top class education at a catholic school. He kept his
family together, entrenching the highest morals and values in his children. The reason why
the Simaan family is so close and strong today is all because of our leader – My Judu.
One of Nassey’s greatest accomplishments was his role as the Marist Inanda’s first team
rugby coach. During his 3 year reign, the school enjoyed their greatest success with records
that still stand today. His players from this era all say how there were no superstars in their
team. They were a small bunch of very average rugby players. Nassey focused on the
weakest, smallest and scaredest players in the team. It was through the self confidence and
motivation that my grandfather instilled in them, together with his immense knowledge,
strategy and love for the game, that they were able to achieve what they did. Not only did
Nassey’s loud voice assist the boys in the matches as he marched up and down the
touchline, but his athletic abilities too. Apparently more than once, Nassey’s wing would get
the ball with a gap in the defence. Nassey would be in line with the wing. With a cigarette in
his mouth, Nassey would take off at the same time the wing broke, and sprint down the
touch line screaming instructions. By the time the wing made it to the try line, Nassey was
already there waiting for him. Last year, my grandfather’s most successful team had their 40
year school reunion. They invited him as their guest of honour. Nassey’s rugby talents and
passion for the game was passed onto my dad Gabe. Judo spoke with such pride of my
dad’s rugby achievements. His favourite story was about my dad kicking a penalty over from
the halfway line, into the torrential rain and howling Cape wind, to beat Marist Brothers
Rondebosch by 1 point. He loved telling me that my father would have been a Springbok, if
he did not discover women and put them before the game.
Nassey was a founding member of The Sandton Bird Club. He organised many trips away
for the club. The members have many fond memories of these well organised trips. Besides
the Birds, Nassey‘s entertainment was the main attraction of the trips. If he did not have
everyone listening to his stories and jokes, he would be singing for them in Arabic or
Afrikaans. Last year they celebrated their 25th anniversary. Nassey was invited as an
honouree member. Although he had not been active in club for some time, he insisted on
saying a speech and entertained his old and new members late into the evening.
We all know how religious my grandfather was. He was a true warrior and defender of our
catholic faith, the Maronite Church, the priests, and Our Lady. His love and commitment to
Holy Mary is unmeasurable. His knowledge of our faith and the bible was immense. It ever
we had a question about the bible; Judu would be the first and only person we needed to
ask. Once I even heard a priest ask Judu for clarification on a verse in the bible. Nassey was
on the original Maronite parish council that advocated for this church to be built. Despite the
criticism they endured, they stuck to their dream and after much perseverance, the
commission to build this church was granted. For many years after this church opened, Judu
3
occupied this exact space on this alter. While Father Mardi was giving his sermon, Nassey
would walk around the perimeter of the church to make sure everything was in order. At the
same time he would be counting the number of people so that he could monitor that the
church’s attendance numbers were growing. It stressed him out and he would call for an
urgent meeting with the priests if he picked up a negative trend in the numbers. When it was
time in the service for the announcements, there would be a sudden change in the mood of
the congregation as Nassey Simaan made his way onto the altar. Everyone sat up and the
silence grew even greater. You never knew what to expect, except that there would be no
mincing of words. Judu felt nothing to tell the people to stop being stingy and instead of
wasting their money at the casino to rather donate it to St Charbel’s Helping Hand. Judu
would often take the opportunity of this time on the alter to talk about how great our lady is
and share stories of miracles she performed in Lourdes, Fatima and the best village in
Lebanon, where his father was born – Maghdouche. Nassey was the greatest ambassador
of Our Lady. He had no mercy on anyone you dared to mention a negative word about her.
He would say : “how can you really love Jesus if you are not prepared to honour and praise
the person our Lord loved and was so close to when on earth – his holy mother?” The best
way that we can honour Nassey today is by glorifying Our Lady!
Judu tried to go to church every day. Even when on holiday in Mauritius, Marie Lou, Saki
and my Gran would travel an hour to get to the closest catholic church. They would sit
through the French service cramped in the small church, suffering with the December heat.
Nassey’s first words when he got back into the car.”What a lovely sermon!” Sakie would
pack up laughing, my Gran would look down and gently shake her head and Marie Lou
would explode “How can you say that! Since when did you learn to speak French?” Every
day at 3 pm, something on Judu would start ringing. It was his alarm to remind him to say his
Novena. Nassey was an apostle of the Divine Mercy. He is responsible for it being practiced
by so many in this parish and the Rivonia Catholic church. I could talk for hours on what
Nassey has done for our church and our Lady. Apparently there will be an article in the next
Arch Diocese newspaper, honouring Nassey and his role in the church. This article was
written and planned before his passing. It’s such a pity that he will not get to read how he
has been honoured and thanked by our Church, but I am sure he has now been thanked
directly by God, Jesus and Our Lady.
Judu was so proud off all his children’s success. He visited my dad and Andy’s offices daily.
He would make his way round the office, greeting and kissing all the ladies hello. It was not
enough to simply say hello. He had to ask them how their family’s were and then had tell
them a story, which typically was about Lebanon or the best travel agent in the country –
Marie Lou, the best importer of motor spares - Antoine or his grandchildren . Once Andy
called all his staff in due to his companies escalating phone bill. They were all warned with
their jobs to stop making so many personal calls which was costing company thousands.
When the bill was even higher the next month, Andy dug deeper to find the guilty person.
The culprit – Nassey... Calls to Lebanon!
Judo drove my poor uncle Antoine mad with his shopping list every time Antoine was going
to Europe or China for business. Eventually Antoine needed to book an extra day on every
trip to try and find Judu’s rare model trains or catholic books that were not available in SA.
With the amazing son that Antoine is, no matter how busy he was, he always did his best to
come home with what my Judo had asked for. If Judo heard someone could not find
something in the shops, he was quick to offer Antoine’s services – don’t worry, my son
4
Antoine will get it for you overseas. Marie Lou being the youngest was always her father’s
baby. They had an extraordinary bond. Judo would often say to Mars, God has taken my
beautiful daughter Linda away from me, but has blessed me by giving me you. Mars, you
proved just how true these words are with all that you did for Judo when he got sick.
Judu loved visiting his family in Lebanon. After his first trip, he returned with the title deeds of
the properties his father owned in Lebanon. We thought that the land had been lost and
taken over in the war. You can imagine the excitement of my family’s re found wealth in our
homeland.
After his second trip, Judu returned with more documents. This time it was transfer papers.
My Judu had given all the land away to his cousins in Lebanon. He felt they needed it more
than we did. When Andy took his family to Lebanon a few years ago, his cousins took Andy
to see the properties. They felt so guilty they even offered to give some of it back. Such was
the massive charitable heart of Nassey Simaan.
On one of Nassey’s visits to Andy’s office, he asked Andy’s secretary where Andy was. She
explained to Judu that Andy was in the boardroom, trying to close a deal with the executives
of a leading financial institution and under no circumstances could be disturbed. Judu
ignored the instruction and walked into the Boardroom unannounced. He was wearing his
shorts, long socks and sandals. In his hand was a tray of Koeksisters. Hello everyone he
shouted. Shut up! I am his father. I am selling koeksisters for St Charbel’s helping hand.
Only 50c. Where’s your money? Is that all you have! My son said you are rich. Thank you
my Humree. Bless you. By bye dad! And out he walked with money for St Charbel.
On the 25th Aug 1985, my grandparent’s lives were shattered with the sudden death of their
daughter Linda Rose. After 28 years, Judu still mourned for her bitterly. And like my Gran,
never even got close to healing this wound and loss in their lives. When Judu was diagnosed
with Alzheimer a year ago, the only consolation I could find in this dreadful disease and turn
of events was that possibly this painful memory and loss could be wiped from Judu’s
memory. It never happened. At least now Judu is with aunty Linda. Not only is he with her in
heaven, but the urn with Linda’s ashes, has been placed next to Judu, in his coffin.
The last year has been very tough on my family. Watching a loved one getting so frail is
devastating. On behalf of my gran and family, thank you to all the people who were so kind
to him during this time. A very special thank you to Marie Lou, Sakie and my mom Jane.
They sacrificed so much of their time to help Judu in every way possible. Jane was Judu’s
nurse during the day while granny was at work. Her patience and kindness is remarkable
and a true reflection of her love for Nassey. Sakie, the family is totally in awe with what you
have done. You have been a pillar for Mars and granny. You could not do enough for Judu.
Whether it was taking him to the doctor, dressing him, or getting out of bed to go to Judu’s’
house when he could not turn on the TV, you did it with a smile and with such kindness.
When Judu was still well, Marie Lou and granny would prowl the shops in Sandton City
every Saturday afternoon. Sakie was left to watch sport with Judu. Although they were very
close, Judu and Sakie did not see eye to eye on which team to support. Judu was a die hard
lions and Man united supporter. Sakie – Sharks and Liverpool. When the Sharks were
playing the Lions, the common result was the Sharks would win. As soon as the Sharks
started leading, Judu would turn off the TV. Despite Sakie’s pleas, Judu refused to turn it
5
back on saying it was rubbish. Sakie then got his revenge with the soccer, as soon as
Liverpool went a goal down against Man U Sakie turned the TV off.
Judu, I can just imagine the chaos in heaven since you left us. You,walking around with
aunty Linda, greeting all your old friends and family. Hello my Humree! Come give me a kiss.
How’s mommy and daddy? Bless you darling, bless you..... Who was that Linda? We all
must expect our prayers to take a little longer to be answered as Jesus and Mary’s time has
been consumed by Judo in the last few days. Telling them all his stories, singing for them
and getting the answers and clarification to the questions he had planned for them.
Judu we are going to miss you so much! The Simaans are so grateful for the family that you
have created. The Lebanese community is so grateful for their legend, and I am sure God,
Jesus and Our Lady are so grateful for what you have done for our faith. We love you Juds.
Watch over us always.

Egenrieder, Julie

Farewell to Rick Wilson 1996 - 2013 by Willy Castle

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000892
  • Item
  • 2013

Interview with Rick Wilson – 2013– Farewell speech by Willy Castle
Mr Rick Wilson a summary of 18 years.
I am one of those(probably unusual) people whose favourite part of any function is the speeches.
Normal conversation ceases, times becomes momentarily suspended and people are joined together
to listen, laugh, cry and share in a personal story.
I have 3 goals for this speech
1 Not to cry
2 Make Mr Wilson cry
3 Make sure all of you know how important Mr Rick Wilson’s contribution of 18 years at St David’s
Marist Preparatory School has been.
How do you condense 18 years not easily so sit back and relax because it is going to take a while.
Mr Warwick BruceWilson was born in Zimbabwe......Married to Gerry and has two grown up sons,
Bruce and Andrew. We all know that Mr Wilson is a lover of dogs and now has two dogs, he loves
the Kruger Park and we have some great days in the park together, a brilliant golfer and now a keen
mountain bike fanatic. Oh yes and Pizza and chilli are Mr Wilson’s favourite food, just ask Col Chetio
at Blue Bird shopping centre.
Good evening to all you special guests who have gathered here to celebrate the life of a man who
has had a remarkable influence on all, our lives not to mention 18 years as headmaster of this
wonderful preparatory school which would equate to teaching approximately 1500 new pupils
entering St David’s.
To try and find out what Mr Wilson headmaster does all day we hired the heavies from Gr0 and
asked them what Mr Wilson does all day and here are some of the answers...
“He works on his computer all day and drinks tea”
“He’s ticking work”
“He watches the children on camera”
“He does gymnastics in his office”
Just before leaving my house this evening I phoned Linda who unfortunately cannot be here as she
is in America and said to her “Lin did you ever think in your wildest dreams that I’d be standing
before hundreds of people making a speech” and I could hear a giggle and she said “Wily you don’t
appear in my wildest dreams”
It was on a chilly day in August 1995 when we were busy with our annual inter-house cross country
on the College rugby fields when Mr Edey came down the dreaded First rugby team stairs with a
gentleman in tow wearing a green jacket. We all thought he was going to introduce us to the recent
winner of the Masters in Augusta but no such luck, we were introduced to Mr Rick Wilson our new
headmaster.
My first memory of Rick was on the side of the football flled in East London when he was teaching
and coaching St Stithian’s . Little did he know that he would still go on football tour to East London
for another 21 years and fall among thieves on and off the train. Mr Sinclair or Captain Morgan as he
was known on these trips will remember them as the highlight of the year. What happens on tour
stays on tour.
It is not widely known that on Saturdays Mr Wilson wears red underpants not in case he has a bad
golf game but o support his favourite football team which at the moment the name escapes me. Rick
also, unbeknown to most people won the “Cow and Gate Beautiful Baby Competition”, when he was
months old. I leave it to your imagination whether he looked like the cow or the gate! By the way it
was the girls’ category!
In no time at all we were as staff introduced to SWOT analysis, new strategies and the effective use
of technology in education. During this time we embraced technology, our teaching methods
changed and we came to understand that schools don’t in fact exist for the sake of teaching, but for
the sake of learning.
During this time Rick guided us through this most exciting phase of growth and development. Rick
has assembled a great team of professionals and sees hi srole as one of servant leadership where we
are rigorous, but not ruthless.
Rick’s own claim to technological fame is winning the staff technology award for shredding his tie in
the shredding machine while Mrs Donaldson and Mrs Mackenzie were overcome with emotion.
We all know how important assemblies are to Rick and how without fail, a dog comes into the story
– which reminds me of a story....
One evening after Mass a priest was just about to leave the church, noticed a man with a dog. He
went up to the man and asked him “What are you doing here with a dog?” The man replied “The
dog has come to pray”. “Dogs don’t pray” said the priest. “This one does” said Rick. “I don’t believe
you” said the priest, “It’s absolutely true” said Rick. “OK” said the priest, “Then show me what the
dog can do”. “OK” said Rick and the dog got into the pew, knelt down, took a Missal from under his
collar and started praying. The priest shocked listened for a full 15 minutes, speechless and so
impressed with the dog and the quality of the prayer. When he regained composure the priest said
to Rick “I have never seen anything like it; do you think your dog would consider joining the
seminary?” Rick, throwing his hands up in disgust said “You talk to him, he wants to be a doctor”.
We all know Mr Wilson is a prankster of some note – always interfering in equipment and switching
off sound systems and hiding diaries, keys and anything just to stir with someone.
He has however been caught out himself. A few weeks after Rick and Gerry had moved onto the
school property, Linda and I were walking past Rick’s driveway next to the back of the Music room.
They had just come back to the house because they had left something behind and needed to get it.
Their car was parked outside the gate with the keys in the ignition – what an opportunity! I climbed
into the car and drove it around the front of the now Music room. We waited until Rick came out of
the house and then it started: “Gerry the car is gone! I told you we are now living in Gauteng!! Beep,
beep, beep!” Rick ran up to the gate to speak to the guard to see if he had seen his car drive out. The
guard looked at Rick as if he were on drugs. By this time we could not be quiet and Rick heard us
laughing and discovered his car parked own by the tennis courts.
On another occasion Rick had just lit his Weber braai and put the meat on when I happened to pass
the gate. I saw that it was unattended and nipped in and wheeled his braai out to the road and
waited for him to go crazy when he came out to turn the meat.
When my Combi was stolen during Mass at Rosebank one Sunday, I walked back from church
straight to Rick’s house and said to him “Okay where’s my Combi?” I am still looking for it.
Gerry you took the pranks in your stride and also gave us Rick whenever we needed him at school
functions. We thank you for giving up your family time and sharing the many school occasions with
Rick and supporting all the different activities including feeding the geese, ducks and birds. We
would like you to accept this small token of appreciation from all of us.
We would also like to thank Rick’s school wife , tea girl, file finder, and someone who helped us on
many occasions into getting off campus when we needed to get him away. Mrs Coleen Donaldson,
please come and receive a gift on behalf of Rick and all of us. Good luck, for I believe the headmaster
for next year is quite a difficult pain in the neck!
We all know Rick enjoys a good party, loves his music and is very knowledgeable about different
genre of music. After one of our pub crawls through the property (we used to start at the pavilion
and then go to Mac’s flat, then Fr Brewer’s and a few other houses), on returning home after a pizza
fight at my house, Rick slipped and fell in his house. Gerry called me and off we went to Sandton
Clinic for Rick to have 38 stitches in his head. The next morning when Rick went into a Grade 5 class
one of the boys said “Good morning Sir, you look like a baseball”.
Rick is well known for his assemblies, Grade 7 luncheon speeches are legendary and each year the
boys look forward to him including all of them in his story.
Mr Wilson has given unselfishly of his time to support the boys and parents in all the activities in
which they participate, namely academics, cultural and sporting. Your presence has really been
appreciated by all of us.
On behalf of the pupils, parents and staff, we would like to thank you for your commitment and
dedication to St David’s Marist Inanda.
We all say thank you and wish you a fantastic retirement until you get bored and start the next stage
of your life. Our prayers go with you and Gerry. We are really going to miss you. Thank you.
Please will you all stand and join me in a toast to Rick and Gerry.
Willy Castle 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Adriano Iorio - Matric 1997

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000521
  • Item
  • May 2012

1 page A4 transcript in MS Word Pdf file
Interview with Adriano Iorio – 1997
Adriano started his career at St David’s in grade 0 and remembers coming for aptitude tests
with Mrs Kirchner before he was accepted. He was taught by Mrs Scaafsma who was a strict
disciplinarian but a good teacher. Mr Royce was the head of the prep school and was
outstanding and a great History teacher. In standard 5 he remembered someone organised an
event with the Foster brothers talking about their experiences working with the bushmen – the
bushmen believed that all are created different but equal.
Adriano was a general all rounder, was in the prep school soccer team and later went on to play
rugby in the high school from standard 6 until standard 9 and was in the water polo team but
didn’t participate in any sport during his matric year.
In the high school Darryl Boswell never made an impression on Adriano, he was then followed
by Paul Davies but the school turned around with the appointment of Paul Edey as headmaster
of the high school. There were no longer any brothers teaching at the school but teachers such
as Gary Norton made a big impact on him, he was a good leader and deputy head.
Adriano was involved in school plays, debating and public speaking, he directed a play for
College house. He also used to participate in the SMILE programme and made a contribution,
albeit small to the co-workers.
He recalled nothing memorable about either his last day or his matric dance. Adriano enjoyed
the overall ethos and founding principles of Champagnat and the spirit in the classroom and on
the sports field.
Academically Adriano did well receiving the Dux each year and acquired 6 distinctions for
matric, he went on to study engineering at UCT. He was on the Dean’s list and was awarded his
degree, Cum Laude after 4 years. He then worked off his bursary at Mintek, in the mining
industry,he then joined a group of friends starting up a mobile software company. Unfortunately
that folded in 2009 and he is now working for Blue Label Telecomms as an IT/software
specialist, specialising in product development and is also trying to develop a parallel path in the
property and development industry.
Adriano found school quite easy but his impression of first year at university was far more
humbling, away from the insularity of a Marist education, meeting other boys from Hilton,
Kearsney, St Stithians etc. getting a sense of where the bar was actually at. He admired the
boys from the boarding schools as they were generally more independent and adjusted to
university more easily. With hindsight, the internet has changed the landscape and, in an era
without the internet the general exposure to the rest of the world was far less than it is today.
School was insular; however some of his best friendships were made on leadership camps and
with boys from other schools.
Adriano was involved with MOBS when Paul Edey was still around in 2000 until 2003. He is still
in touch with other old boys, Raef Farinha; Craig Chandler; Keith Clover (his mother Mary was
the Librarian); Daniel Wright who is with Google.
Sadly Adriano would probably not send any sons of his to St David’s as it would be too
expensive and he envisages relocating to Cape Town in the future.
JLE May 2012

St David's Marist College

Interview with Alan Reeves 1977

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000394
  • Item
  • 2012

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Alex Quail 1962

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  • 2011

Interview with Alex Quail 1962
Alex started at St David’s in 1958, came into the high school straight from the bush –
Carltonville. There were no English high schools in the area at the time and Bishop Wheelan
helped him get into St David’s.
Johannesburg ended at the entrance to the school . A Dairy Den was about 1 kilometre down a
dirt road and Sandton City did not exist, the area was just veldt and the occasional farmhouse.
Alex was a boarder and remembers everyone being very competitive in sport and with each
other. There was a boxing ring and the “Beak” Br Benedict would organise the boys to sort out
their grievances in the boxing ring. The school was tough and there were very real fights
between the boys especially the Lebanese and the Jews. There was iron discipline and boys
were caned for any reasonable misdemeanour, however it did them no harm. The discipline was
fair and not vindictive, some old boys found it unfair and were very bitter about it. It was rather
like being in the army and the boarders became a band of brothers and those that saw it
through became very good friends often for the rest of their lives. On one weekend per term, the
parents were allowed to visit their sons on Sunday and they went home during the school
holidays.
The boys were very cruel to Mr Bishop the only lay teacher, who was tormented by the boys.
There were 60 boys in a class which reduced to 17 by Matric. All the brothers taught,one
brother was Spanish, another Afrikaans, quite a good mixture. Brother Bonaventure, “Bonnie”
was a big tough guy who used to sit on his desk and fall asleep. He was very laid back teacher
and Alex can’t remember what he taught. Br Anthony taught Afrikaans and Maths but he was
always so busy so the clever boys in the class ended up teaching them. Br Edwin became too ill
to run the school in 1958 and Br Benedict “Beak” took over followed by Br Anthony.
In 1962 there were 17 matrics in the class and they beat Observatory in rugby. Those were
harsh days without the rules and regulations that protect the players now. There were 200 boys
in the high school competing against other schools with over 1000 pupils for example, KES,
Jeppe, CBC Boksburg, CBC Pretoria. One of the boys Chris Dempster, lost a kidney after he
was badly tackled and the teachers pumped his legs. Darko cracked his skull in one match. Alex
was too small to make the 1st rugby team but played in the 2nd. He played cricket and was
captain of the 1st hockey team. His father was captain of Transvaal in the late 30’s and got
together with the brothers to help develop hockey.
He could not swim but was dragged into the inter-high gala. The school pool is where the prep
playground is now. He was in Benedict house and was a prefect..
The cycling club was good for them and they were able to bring their bikes to school. The golf
club was formed and the first golf tournament held, Alex was involved and his brother Michael
was a good golf player. Unlike today he well remembers walking out to the cricket pitch without
a hat.
Alex feels strongly that the boys who became Springboks should be honoured with a school
honours board. The first Springbok was Ray Bischoff for swimming and Gavin Webster for
hockey. John Daley was a very good tennis player.
As far as academics went, St David’s was a seven subject school with three languages English,
Afrikaans, Latin, Geography, History, Science and Maths. He was an average pupil who wrote
the JMB matric. The clever boys did Add Maths.
There was an incident in the eary 60’s. NASA had just got going and the boys wanted to
develop a solid fuel rocket. Alex had a recipe and they used the Science lab on the second
floor, brewed some stuff up which then exploded! Br Anthony flew up the stairs to see what
damage had been done, but no-one was injured and Br Anthony was relieved. Eventually a
rocket was built by one of the geniuses of the school – Hawkins who is now Professor of
Applied Maths at Wits. Another pupil Bernard Haakman, seemed dopey, but became a vet.
David Sole, went on to study chemical engineering and worked for the government developing
rocket fuels or something similar.
He recalled an incident during study time in the standard 6 classroom that accommodated 60
boys. There was very little swearing in those days and debating was popular as the boys got to
get out of school occasionally. Doug Wickins stood up to make a speech and asked the
question “How can you call George that name, he is a boy”? (cunt). Br Dennis (Tickey) blushed
a deep purple, but Doug continued with his speech which was honest and full of integrity. He got
a round of applause and was not reprimanded by the brothers.
After matric he went to the Pretoria Technikon and did a National Diploma in Civil Engineering,
Land Surveying and remained mainly in Johannesburg.
He has no memories of his first day at the school but would have had to be there a few days
early as a boarder. On his last day he was so pleased to get out into the big wide world and was
very confident. He remembers walking into Barclays Bank, an uncle was a director, and asked
to open an account.
He says the boys were not prepared for the outside world due to the essentially classic
education they had received (No “life skills taught in those days”) but the fact was that they were
able to cope with whatever was thrown at them. Some did very well and most not too badly.
Once a year a Marist recruiter (crow catcher) used to come along and they all avoided him. He
was aware that Michael Heubeck, an American became a brother, he was with them until
standard 9.
Alex’s brother, Michael (deceased) was a really good cricketer and fast bowler. In those days
the cricketers wore boots. Michael played in a final and took 5 wickets against KES. A nonconformist,
he was presented with a cricket ball at assembly whereupon he promptly threw the
ball at Br Anthony. Needless to say, he was expelled but allowed to write his matric. He went on
to become a doctor.
Alex felt that the boarding was where the spirit of the school lay and that the character of the
school changed once the boarding facility was closed.
JE June 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Alf Smith 1962

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  • 2011

Interview Alf Smith – 1962
082 441 7227 011 782 -7376 (Home) alfredsmith@iafrica.com
Boundary Rd was a dirt road next to the golf course and Sandton consisted of small holdings
with lots of fruit trees. The boundary of the school was the old farm. Br Pius who taught his
father at Koch St, resided in a cottage in the school grounds and maintained the beautiful
gardens where the administration block was built. The prep playing fields consisted of sand
fields, an oval with grass and a cinder track for athletics. There were three fields below the
existing swimming pool which comprised a small soccer pitch and rugby fields. The acquisition
of additional grounds for the school was a big moment.
Alf started in grade 2 in 1952 and lived in the Wynberg/Bramley area. His first day at school was
not an easy one as, in grade 1 he had initially gone to St Paul’s, the school attached to
Maryvale Parish. He was very unhappy at St Paul’s and was taken out after 6 months. He then
had private teaching from one of the sisters from Alexander Convent. His first teacher at St
David’s was Miss Brick, grade 1, who was a very kind person. He was in her class for two
weeks and then Br Anthony advised his parents that he should be moved into grade 2. Miss
Martin was his teacher, a very good teacher.
Alf was a day boy and at the time the ratio of day boys to boarders was about 50/50.Because of
the boarding, boys came from far afield. His recollections were phenomenal in that he received
a good education. His father was a Marist old boy who went to Koch St in the late 1920’s and
then onto Observatory until the beginning of WW2.
He had a strong relationship, bond with the brothers themselves. It was a very religious school
but accommodated non-Catholics, although it was predominantly Catholic. Then brothers were
very dedicated and an enormous emphasis was placed on the Catholic faith. The first period on
Mondays was Catholicism and bible study for the non-Catholics. So the boys got a very solid
foundation in the Catholic faith. Retreats were a serious issue lasting a week and during school
work there were dedicated slots in the furtherance of the Catholic faith and teaching. He
remembered the impact Vatican 2, October 1962 had on the boys and the changes in mass
from Latin to the vernacular which was very significant to the pupils at the time. He wanted his
son Paul (matric 1999) to share the same experience but it wasn’t the same, the school was
battling and no longer had the brothers. However he still had a good education, developed a
love for his father’s school and made good friends. He started in grade O with Mrs Kerschoff
and completed 13 years until his matric in 1999. It was a sacrifice to send ones children to
private schools in the beginning and especially now. Not everyone was affluent, but the brothers
accommodated this and must have helped a lot of families. Alf’s family has always had a strong
bond with the Marist movement.
Alf cannot over emphasize the role the brothers played, there were a few gaps as some of the
brothers weren’t up to standard. There were women teachers in the grades including one of the
best, Mrs Kempster, grade 4, then from std 6 onwards only the brothers taught. The brothers
were teachers but more than that, they gave so much extra. The principals were Br Edwin (a
McGurk), who became Br Provincial, Br Benedict followed by Br Anthony for his last five years,
he thought Br Anthony was a wonderful man.
It was truly one school in those days with only 400 pupils. All white children, as segregation was
a big issue. Observatory had a few Chinese children. The brothers wrestled with these problems
and more is expected of children these days.
There was an influx of boys in standard 6 with plus/minus 60 boys, some left in standardd 7 and
by standard 10, matric there were only 17 boys left.
Alf regarded himself as an average pupil, but said the brothers identified potential in a boy and
encouraged that. He was a quiet, reserved pupil but achieved so much as the brothers gave him
every opportunity to blossom.
Alf played 1st team rugby and was a member of the team that beat Obs 8-6 in 1962. The full
school attended that match at Observatory. There was a lot of emphasis on athletics. There
were four terms, during the first they swam, played cricket, second term they played rugby and
the third term was devoted to athletics and the school competed in a lot of inter-school meets.
Debating also played an important role at the school. This was run by Br Gerard the English
teacher. Alf was persuaded to prepare a speech on the family business and he remembers
Doug Wickins being an excellent speaker. This was an important aspect of extra mural
activities. There was theatre and plays with a period of music once a week with MrDrummond-
Bell. They produced many Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Darko was a very hands on pupil.
Their social life was more focused on the school, with families and parents being more
spontaneous without any expectations of the brothers. The inter-highs were invariably followed
by braais.
The worst thing a boy could probably do was to get caught trying to smoke a cigarette!
Sadly, Alf together with Alec Quail and Brian Austin didn’t get a 3rd scroll and therefore their
colours blazer in their final year.
His last day was a sad day for him; the last term was a panicked, stressful term. He wrote Italian
as his mother was Italian and had to wait another 10 days after all the others had finished their
matric. He had enjoyed his time and on leaving was sad that his school days had ended.
Incidentally, Willy Castle was age under 10 when Alf matriculated.
He then went to Wits University and studied for a BA Economics. Afterwards he went overseas
to England and the south of France working in floriculture. His family business is marketed
under the name E.C. Smith and is located in Hartebeespoort on the Hennops river. They
propagate cuttings and supply the flower markets. They have also supplied flowers to St David’s
and the Catholic church in Rivonia for many years. Neither his son or daughter got involved in
the business,with his daughter at Citibank and Paul at Investec and another company and is
now involved in a cleaning business with his brother-in-law.
Alf’s parents were on the PTA whilst he and his brother were at St David’s, and his mother was
on the original ladies catering committee.
He felt that Br Timothy struggled to fill the gap after Br Anthony left and felt that Paul Edey was
the first principal, after Br Anthony who brought stability, vision and structure to the school.
He remembers a tragic incident when Paul Barrenbrug, who came from a Dutch family and was
in the same class as Alf, grade 2 1952. The boys always used to wait for parents by the junior
block, by the little wall and the fountain. There was an ice cream seller by the main gate and a
car ploughed into the ice cream bicycle and cart, Paul was thrown into the road and killed
outright. It was an enormous shock to the whole school and especially the boys in his class. It
left a mark on Alf and some of the other boys.
Alf still keeps in touch with Darko, Alex and Doug, but married much later than the others, so his
children didn’t really get to know theirs. He did quite a bit of work for the old boys in the early
years. They were driven by the bond they had for each other and the school.
Alf is very interested in the book and the 75th anniversary and would like to be kept informed. He
doesn’t attend evening events because of his location. He did attend the opening of the new
chapel. His brother pupil Robert Smith, from 1956 – 1966,involved with old boys, also had a
son at St David’s, a good sportsman – cricket and rugby – matriculated in 2005? and became a
civil engineer like his father.
JE July 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Alfred Lamberti 1951

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  • 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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Alison Smith - Parent

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  • 2014

Interview with Alison Smith – Parent
Alison has been associated with St David’s from 1997 until 2012 whilst her sons Alistair and Stuart were
pupils at the school. She also assisted with a number of projects and stood in as “Matron” on a number of
occasions.
Alison helped behind the scenes in a number of ways believing that care and support stand out at St
David’s. A qualified nurse, she assisted Father Michael with special dressings when he contracted cellulitus
after his knee surgery and provided Monday evening meals for him and Father Chaka for some time.
Alison was on the line at rugby matches ready to assist if necessary and recalls meeting a rugby union
referee who she found impressive and particular in his requirements from medical support at matches.
Encouraged by Sharmani Pillay, the school’s child psychologist, she put together the manual for schools
writing the “Grief, Loss and Bereavement Policy for Schools”. Eric Annegarn’s company assisted in the
printing and publication of the manual.
Having the time, knowledge and connections with Hospice, Alison also arranged that Caren Marcus
undertake two workshops with teachers before the school term started covering other aspects of grief, loss
and bereavement in a school context. The workshops were entitled “Bereavment in Schools” and “Hot
Chocolate for the Teachers’ Soul”.
The Catholic School of Education also asked Alison and Sharmani to present a workshop for boys in
Catholic schools. This was a valuable experience and, judging by the feedback was worthwhile.
Alison is also closely involved with “Children of Fire” and St David’s has participated by the outreach
programme in community service with the organisation. Two boys Ruelle Jarvis and Joshua Jarvis are
currently being educated at St David’s with a bursary from the Foundation.
Some experiences have not been pleasant and Alison and her mother were hijacked at gunpoint whilst
waiting for the boys outside St David’s. The school was very supportive in helping them both to deal with
the trauma. Ten days later Judy Sexwale hit the headlines when she too was hijacked at gunpoint at the
same spot.
As Alison’s husband Robin has been a member and chairman of the board of governors and is the current
chairman of the Foundation, she is still very much involved with the school behind the scenes.
JLE September 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Allan Schwarer 1941- 1945

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  • 2014

Interview with Allan Schwarer – 1941 – 45
Allan and his brother Paul attended Saxonwold Primary until Marist Inanda opened in 1941 and
were pupils at the school until they were relocated to Kimberly.
Allan recalled that Br Urban was the headmaster and a Br Pius was the eldest brother and well
liked by the boys. Br Urban came from Australia and Allan’s father helped him with regard to
local regulations etc regarding building work. As far as he can remember the school started with
standard1.
Allan’s family lived next to the Killarney golf course in West Street and he remembers playing in
a lane than ran alongside their property. To get to school they caught a bus as far as Dunkeld
and from there the school provided a taxi. All the roads to the north were dirt roads and Inanda
was very much in the country.
Other boys that he remembers being in his class were Michael Clarke, Steve Muller and Carl
Vermeulen. They used to play marbles in the quad and cricket although there was no soccer.
The school’s chapel was upstairs,
Allan currently undertakes legal work for the Catholic church.
JE July 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Allan Wotherspoon 1980

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  • 2014

Interview with Allan Wotherspoon – 1980
Allan came to St David’s in the junior school but then left and went to the UK for 4 years and on his return
went into the high school. In principle he was put into the same class as people he would have been with in
junior school such as George Daras who was his closest friend in junior school, but had a different group of
friends by senior school, so Allan joined a new group of friends at senior school. Three of those five friends
now live close enough in Australia that they keep in touch on a regular basis.
Allan lived close enough to the school to be a day boy and saw his close friends out of school on a regular
basis but still had his parents and sisters around him. As he was one of the youngest in his class he had to
play sport with guys from the year below for many years.
He recalled Mr McFadden as he enjoyed History and remembered his favourite quote of “A for away and O
for Go”.
Allan enjoyed the sport, athletics 100, 200, 400 and 800m, physical education and especially games like
gaining ground, the odd game of cricket when he scored 50 runs or took a hat trick for the 2nd 11 team, or
played a good game of rugby. In athletics one year Allan broke a couple of school records and was victor
ludorum of both track and field, ending up with quite a few trophies and his father was asked to donate one
of them. Allan also ran in inter schools competitions.
He didn’t enjoy Afrikaans as he never had a good grasp of the language and struggled to pass the exams.
He disliked the sadistic canings by the headmaster and brothers and the attempts at bullying himself and
his friends.
Some disappointments included not being able to compete in running for athletics and not getting an
athletics scroll or honours blazer. Allan also had an accident which meant that he had to write his matric
exams with the wrong hand.
In standard 9 the boys decorated the hall and he recalled the difficulty and shyness of getting a date. His
matric dance was a great night out, the hall looked good and it was fun dressing up smartly.
On his last day he recalls all of the boys signing their school shirts, sneaking back in the middle of the night
and putting toilet rolls to stream all over the place.
After matriculating, Allan went on to Wits University to study BSc Commerce and completed many courses
throughout his business career. He is currently employed as an IT manager. Allan is still in touch with Lloyd
Wilkins (who he has known for 33 years), Brian Muller and Geoff Slaven, all living in Australia and literally
bumped into Gavin McLauglin who used to live in the same housing estate as his parents and went running
with him on weekends whilst he was temporarily staying in SA.

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Andrew Kirkland 2005

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  • 2014

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Angelo Haggiyannes 1974

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  • 2011

Interview with Angelo Haggiyannes – 1974
Angelo was day boy, with a brother Paul who matriculated in 1970. Angelo acknowledged that
the boarding facility had held the school together with its team spirit and sport especially
suffered when the boarding closed, the numbers declined and the spirit wasn’t there. In 1974
there were 263 pupils in the high school and then 1 boy was expelled.
He recalled his first day in standard 4 in 1968, Mrs Kempster was the headmistress and he met
his first friend playing marbles in the area next to what is now the Chapel of Mary. He was
originally at H A Jack and then his father decided to send him and his brother to St David’s. His
brother went into standard 6.
He was captain of the B swimming team, captain of the athletics team and played rugby until
standard 7 when he was badly injured, his left arm still shows the results of that injury. He was
awarded an honours blazer which he still has. He wasn’t a great academic, but had an ability
with the written word and did take part in the debating society and drama. He played the lead
role of Thomas More in the play ”Man for All Seasons”. It was during rehearsals at Rosebank
Convent that he saw Rosemary, his wife for the first time and said to his friend “that’s the girl I
am going to marry”. Four of the boys in his year married girls from Rosebank Convent.
He was the second non-Catholic pupil to become head boy, the first was Buckley-Jones. He
was elated when made head boy, the competition was strong, but it was the first year that the
boys voted which was probably the reason he was elected. Alan Van Den Handel was vice
head boy and his brothers Rick Standard 8 and Theo followed.
During his time at St David’s there were no black pupils but in 1973 an exchange student came
from the USA, he was black, it caused quite a stir and the school came in for a lot of flak over
this.
He knew Br Anthony and Br Timothy well. Other brothers were Br Mario (Boing) Br Andrew
(Drac) who was mean and drew blood; Br Bernard (he left the brotherhood); Br Aidan who was
involved with the boarders and controlled their purse strings; Father Plestus; Mrs Kempster.
He recalled the stables where the grade 00 block is now and “The Inandas” weren’t there.
Most of the boys in his time did well and went into the corporate environment; some such as
Thierry Dalais became brave and opened their own private financial institutions. Greg Boyes-
Varley, another old boy and Angelo’s surgeon, epitomises what the school stands for “Take
Courage and Be a Man”. Boyes-Varley had a cleft palate and a stutter for which he was
mocked, a humble man who became one of the country’s best maxilla facial surgeons.
His last day was rather a letdown and he remembers some of the boys went to his home for a
few beers. He was a people’s person and knew every boys name in the school. This principle
he took into the business world.
On leaving school he went to Wits and studied for a BA Law, went into the army for two years,
came back and did an LLB and was admitted as an attorney in 1986. He practised for five years
and then went into insurance.
MOBS put some money towards the bar in the College Pavillion including Mark Waner, Willy
Benson (DBN), Greg Hut (NZ), Alan Van Den Handel, John Koel (Dbn) became an actuary with
Liberty Life, Colin Richardson – senior partner, Mercedes Benz, Rivonia Rd.
JLE November 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Anthony Chappel - Board of Governors 2001 -2007 Foundation 2006 - 2014

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  • 2014

Interview with Anthony Chappel – Board and Foundation 2001 to date
Tony has seen two of his sons matriculate at St David’s, Daniel in 2007 and Patrick in 2009 with both sons
starting their career at St David’s in Grade 0.
Tony is Catholic and was educated at CBC in Springs and his father at CBC Boksburg and is a director of
the law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright based in Sandton.
In 2001, Tony joined the board of governors of St David’s, proposed by Eric Annegarn, vice-chairman. At
the same time Robin Smith also joined the board and Tony Reilly was chairman. Tony was on the board for
7 years and retired as chairman of the board in 2007. Tony is currently a trustee of the St David’s
Foundation.
Tony asked the board for a mandate to establish a foundation and led an investigation into this, preparing
the constitution in 2004. Paul Edey’s wife Susan put Tony in touch with Chantal Ratcliff, an experienced
and very practical fund raiser. Chantal knew how foundations worked and how to make them successful.
Her advice was that the board must be really committed, embrace the concept and understand exactly how
it should work bearing in mind that there is not a culture of giving in South Africa. Chantal was appointed in
2005 and was involved in the development of the Foundation for 4 years. There is no doubt that she played
a significant role in the success of the Foundation which was established in 2005. Tony’s vision was that
the Foundation would endow the school adding value, assisting in transforming the school and that the
Foundation would be used to mobilize MOBS (Marist Old Boys). Tony believes that you cannot have a truly
great school without its old boys being involved and supportive of it.
Thierry Dalais was the first chairman of the Foundation in 2006 and Robin Smith the current chairman
being an ex officio trustee whilst he was chairman of the board of governors.
Following his appointment as executive head in 2002, and prior to his joining Gibbs, Paul Edey had
indicated to Tony that he needed to move on and suggested that a consultant would perhaps be better
suited to the role of executive head of the school. Paul had mentioned Mike Greeff, a businessman with a
passion for education, who had run some staff workshops. Tony, then chairman of the board, followed up
on this idea and Mike was eventually appointed as the chief executive in 2006.
JLE August 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Anthony Reilly - Board of Governors 1997 - 2003

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  • 2015

Interview with Anthony Reilly – board of governors 1997 – 2003
Terence Wilkinson the then chairman of the board of governors brought Tony onto the board in 1997. Tony
is Catholic, was educated at CBC, Kimberly and his son was a pupil in the prep school at the time. Terence
was also instrumental in finding Paul Edey for the position of Head master.
At the time the development plan was underway which involved the building of the Champagnat hall and
library with Kevin Brewer being the genius behind that project. They were completed on time and within
budget.
Tony was reluctantly appointed chairman of the board in 2001, Tony had just been promoted at Lonmin to
the position of director of corporate affairs which took up a lot of his time and he couldn’t get so involved
with St David’s. However he attended all the meetings and did what was required of him but Paul Edey and
his team were left very much to get on with it. The meetings of the board were often concerned with
financial issues, bad debtors, the building of the hall, high school pavilion; extensions to the prep school
and the prep and high school libraries, the latter however were fortunately funded by an anonymous donor.
During his tenure, Tony recalled the renewal of the lease of the land the school is on, when the rental had
been increased substantially by Rome. The Marist ethos has always had an emphasis on the poor and
needy communities and St David’s had unfortunately morphed into an exclusive enclave and now there is
an ongoing major issue of balance.
Tony asked Robin Smith to join the board in 2001 to be involved with fundraising and he is still active but
now with the Foundation. During Tony’s term on the board, the educational trust was formed which was the
basis of the current Foundation. In the early days the bursary boys were either indigent, good scholars or
good sportsmen and unfortunately there was a great deal of resentment that their school fees were
subsidised by a portion of the whole school fees. Many parents struggled financially to keep their boys at St
David’s and questioned why part of the school fees was used in this way. It became a major issue but now
it is no longer the case with the Foundation and Marist old boys paying the fees for the bursary boys. The
Foundation has made this more professional.
JLE March 2015

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Anthony Stanley 1968

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  • 2012

Interview with Anthony Stanley – 1968
Anthony was a boarder at St David’s from 1963, standard 6. He initially went to Bryanston
Primary and found it strange as a new boy jostling for position with boys who had known each
other for some time. After the first couple of weeks he really enjoyed it. He loved the boarding
even though the family home wasn’t far away in Shepherd Avenue, Bryanston. One thing that
really stands out in his memory was the early morning mass and going to the courtyard
afterwards for coffee and a slice of bread and butter with his breath steaming in the cold air.
Anthony participated in the sporting activities swimming, athletics, cross country, tennis and
hockey where the boys played against some girls schools! He was also in the 1st rugby and
cricket teams and also played chess. He played flank in the 1st team in 1968 and recalls there
was a photo in the “Southern Cross”. The matches against Observatory and Parktown Boys
were always great; there was a lot of competition between the schools which generated a lot of
enthusiasm. Anthony really enjoyed the rugby games in which his younger brother Tim played,
he was a full back and kicked well. He now lives in Australia. Anthony remembered how, in his
matric year he was so sick with a cold but was determined to play in the last rugby game
against Parktown Boys. Other members of the team were Demata and Stravino.
Anthony recalled the trips to matches in the old school bus and going over the humps at St
Stithians which threw the boys out of their seats. He was a prompt for a play which took place at
the Sandown Hall.
There was talent contest in which Curtin was the drummer and Tony Riviera played guitar.
Brother Anthony was quite a character and used to tell the boys that he would show them how
to kick and would demonstrate by hitching up his cassock and kicking the rugby ball soundly.
There were other brothers such as Br Andrew (Drac), Br Michael who left a year after Anthony,
Br Liam who used to get the boys to warm themselves up by jumping up and down and
thrashing their arms about in the freezing classroom. Br Edwin, who was very old, was still at
the school but no longer teaching. Mrs Janusch was a tyrant and used to hit the boys’ fingertips
with her cane. Mrs Pretorius was gorgeous and taught Afrikaans, he remembers her saying to
him “Stanley, I don’t know what you are going to do because you cannot speak Afrikaans”. The
brothers were not trained teachers but weren’t too bad and in particular Br Mario – Science,
made things interesting. Some boys built the first computer in the school during Anthony’s time
in his class.
The discipline was good and the boys respected the necessity for it and there was no bullying.
Academically Anthony did reasonable well, there was a carefree attitude in the JMB class but he
achieved his matric. Willy Castle was in his matric year but in the Transvaal matric class and
was an incredible sportsman.
He took Alex Le Vieux, Pierre’s sister to the matric dance and had a great evening in the
boarder’s dining room.
After leaving St David’s Anthony studied for a BSc and BSc Hons at Wits University and had
started his Masters when he decided to study Medicine. He then had to do his military service at
a mission hospital in Nongoma, Zululand and also did 6 months on the border. He was then a
registrar qualifying as a physician in 1984 and then went on to become a cardiologist in 1988
and is currently practising at Sunninghill Hospital. He has two stepsons who were already pupils
at St Stithians when he met his wife. His daughter is a psychologist and his son went to Hilton
and is studying neurology at UCT.
He remembers Frank Cattich and is still in touch with Joe Stravino and Patrick Quarmby.
JE October 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Aubrey Chalmers 1955

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  • 2015

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Bart Dorrestein 1966

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  • 2011

Interview with Bart Dorrestein – 1966
At the very beginning of his school career, Bart remembers going to the school outfitters,
Markhams to get his new blazer; Cuthberts for the shoes and books from Hurleys in town. His
mother would then cover the books in brown paper!
Bart thinks of St David’s as having been a fantastic and incredible school and really enjoyed his
time there. He lived in Hurlingham, there were only about 3 houses then just off the Nicol
Highway. He would get a lift to school with the Vonk family and they would travel via a dirt road
past Tara.
The routine was good and he remembers it was exciting waiting for the report card to arrive,
especially in the lower classes. Checking the notice board to see who had been selected for
various teams.
The headmasters during his time were Br Benedict and Br Anthony. He recalled Mrs Brick his
grade 1 teacher, she wore sandals, had bunions and he was dead scared of her. She had a big
ruler with which she smacked the table. He was a left hander and had difficulty with writing and
found her to be a frightening character. The matron was Mrs Buckley-Jones and her son was
head boy for Bart’s matric year.
Other teachers were Mr Martin, grade 2, Mrs Kempster, standard 1, Mrs Humphries standard 2,
Mrs Janusch standard 3, she was a great teacher who also had a son at the school. There was
an incident with Mrs Humphries when she was mistakenly tackled by the boys. The boys used
to stand by the door and tackle other boys as they came in and one day they mistakenly tackled
Mrs Humphries!
Br Vincent taught standard 5 and was a great teacher, sportsman and coach. Br Declan taught
Latin. Br Andrew “Drac” was Maths teacher and soccer coach, a superb man. Bart was the
captain of the U10 soccer team and (Peter Gerard was the goalie). Br Andrew gave them a
good grounding and discipline in Maths and in the manner in which he taught theorems. He
gave Bart a high level of help and appreciation of Maths. He also moulded the boys into a super
soccer team. He took them to Vereeniging in the school bus “Gertie” for a match in a stadium
which they won. He recalls that they used to drive down Loch Avenue at a rate of knots. Br
Mario was a fantastic Science teacher, nicknamed “Boeing” because of his large ears, he nearly
convinced Bart to become a brother. Br Dennis, who used to insist that the boys kept their
hands above their blankets, and would check the boys during the night, he was a great teacher,
sportsman and coach for standard 5. Br Terence Boyle and Br Sean were given bicycles to
enable them to visit families; they both eventually left the order.
Bart received the academic prize in standard 5 and received a cup. Later, he had a good
Afrikaans teacher, Mrs Elsabe Pretorius and was a member of the debating team together with
Patrick Noble. The English pupils had to speak in Afrikaans and vice versa. Jannie Steyn, a
tennis player and Bart, who had Dutch parents spoke about love and won the competition.
During a woodworking class he and Mike Smith made crucifixes which didn’t quite work until
they swopped pieces and then their crucifixes fitted perfectly.
In Science classes they would, as a dare, fill up water bottles which had a pipe, someone would
distract a Brother and the other would squirt water down the side of the cassock where the cane
was kept.
The boys used to time each other when they went into the confessional. Bart was an altar boy
for two masses and was then thrown out, together with Strauss and De Matthaus as they were
caught laughing during the service. It was infectious one would start and everyone else would
join in involuntarily. Father Peter Haskins came to say mass on the first Friday on the month,
Bart managed to put the cloth in the water and when it came to communion he smacked
everyone on the Adams apple with the plate which didn’t go down too well.
Bart was a swimmer, vice-captain of the swimming team, together with Peter Moni, Mike
Beaumont, Alan Curtin, Peter Gerard (Frances’s brother). Leigh McGregor was a Springbok
swimmer and came from a dynasty of top rowers, his son Hank was a Springbok for rowing and
surf ski. Mrs McGregor was one of the mothers who manned the tea and cake stand after the
galas, together with Mrs Moni both of whom were both considered good looking. Bart took her
daughter to the matric dance.
Bart played 3rd team rugby, and participated in athletics. He was also in the U10 cricket team
together with Mike Smith and Mike Beaumont. He opened the batting and got 75 although the
ball was dropped 11 times! Sadly his coach wasn’t watching at the time.
He remembers entering the U12 race for the 220 yards and being placed in the A race and was
given the first lane. He was in the lead, then fell and collapsed onto the cinder track. He cried as
he had tried so hard and he remembers a guy called Milne who carried him off the track.
Chris Terreblanche (deceased) who matriculated in 1964) held the school 100 yard record and
ran against Paul Nash.
There was a very near tragic incident involving a player in the 1st rugby team, when the tackling
machine collapsed on his head. He had to have brain surgery but recovered and became a
doctor.
There was a big scoreboard on the cricket pitch and during the holidays the boys used to try to
get inside and use it as a club house.
He remembers school colleagues such as Peter Gerard, Olaf Winkler (Omnia Fertilisers),
Frances Gerard, Brian Jarvis, second best friend Derek Schoombie. Boys above him – Rob
Fiore, Ellis, Slabbert, Hartman, Rudell, Nobbs, Ricki Valenti
After leaving school with a first class matric, Bart went to Wits studied for a BSc and went into
business. He is now the chairman of the Legacy Group. His late son also attended St David’s
from grade 1 until standard 5 and, as the school was going through a bad patch went onto St
Johns’ where he became a Junior Springbok water polo player.
Bart says that St David’s was a standard school with no airs and graces and gave the boys a
missionary zeal which is reflected in the boys of that time. It was a school that gave opportunity,
religious education and ethos. He feels that it is this that inspired him and the Legacy Group to
build the “Candle of Hope” which stands outside the Da Vinci hotel and is the beginning of
things to come.
JE November 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Batana Vundla 1996

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  • 2011

Interview with Batana Vundla -1996
Batana was a pupil at St David’s from grade 0 to matric and recalls there being at least 3 or 4
black pupils in his year during that time.
Mrs Walton was his grade 0 teacher and he remembers his first day, crying because his uniform
was uncomfortable but by the end of the day he didn’t want to go home.
Mr Royce had a big impact on him in the prep school, and had a steady hand. In the high school
there was Mr Brownlee,(who he understands helped him become a prefect in matric), Mrs
Marais, Mr Edey who enjoyed teaching and was always fair, inspiring but strong.
He has known Mike von Guilleaume since grade 0 and his was the first white person’s home
that he visited. At the time in the 80’s he somehow thought that white people had green blood.
So you can imagine he was a bit nervous sleeping over at his house. Other boys he remembers
are Murray White, the Chandler, Contardo and Fiaschanaro, families. There was a good school
spirit, Sifiso Ngwenya was St David’s first black head boy, the school was ahead of all the other
private schools in this regard. He was grateful for all the support he received and to get such a
good education at St David’s.
He was fortunate as his parents did well and his mother ran the family business. Although he
sometimes had to travel to school in civies (At the time attending school in white areas was
taboo) he always travelled in a private car which helped in getting around. His mother
developed cancer whilst he was in standard 7 and was ill until he matriculated. It was a very
stressful time for him and he didn’t handle it too well.
On the sporting front he played B team soccer, athletics, and cricket in the prep and then A
team rugby in the high school until matric as a wing. In 1995, year of the World Cup the rugby
side was the best St David’s ever had. Mike von Gulleaume was head boy and Johnathan
Kyriakakis, 1st rugby team captain. It was the year of the first overseas tour in which the team
won all of their games and they used to sing Sho Sholoza coming off the pitch. In the opening
game Batana scorred the winning try. He also remembers the game against Bryanston High,
the same day of the Rugby World Cup final, the stands were full, they played really well and St
David’s won. They felt that the Boks would win because they had. In this year Batana was
chosen for Transvaal U18 development team.
He was involved with plays for College house and had mainly bit parts but no major roles. He
was involved with debating and recalls Mrs Henderson who started a campaign asking for
peace in SA, she also taught Geography.
Batana never achieved academically, he admits to being a lazy student who underperformed.
He was relieved on his last day to be finishing school but was nervous and counting the days to
the results. He looked forward to going into the real world. He passed his matric and went to
Wits then onto UCT where he studied Drama.
Batana is currently a film producer working on a production dealing with the protection of
information and corruption in the ruling party. He is also involved in the film industry assisting
youngsters to get into the industry. He has also been on the MOBS committee for the past two
years and would like to send any sons, which he may father, to St David’s.
JE December 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Belinda Marais 1989 - Staff

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  • 2014

Interview with Belinda Marais – Staff – 1989
Belinda began her teaching career working in government schools but after 8 years she took a break, saw
an advert for the position at St David’s and applied. She was interviewed by Brother Brendan and Trudy
Elliott and was appointed as head of the Afrikaans department commencing employment in January 1989.
The first task she was given was to mark the grade 11 Afrikaans exam paper. As it was literature, Belinda
had to first read the book and set the memo before she could begin marking. The previous head of
department had left and she had no-one to consult with. It was a difficult time for the school with a new
headmaster, Paul Davies and prep headmaster, Greg Royce and numerous newly appointed members of
staff including Leon Benade (deputy head of the prep school), Gary Norton, Biology, and new Maths and
Geography teachers. Having never taught at a TED school before, it was quite a challenge for Belinda and
initially she liaised with a teacher from Sandown High.
Sifiso Ngwenya, the first black headboy and junior city major, was in her class and distinguished himself by
achieving an A for Afrikaans in his matric. The discipline was poor and Belinda was the only black on the
staff, teaching a subject which the boys hated, but she held her own. Other boys she taught then were
Frederick Barnard and his brother Chris was also at St David’s. She remembers Cedric de Trevou whose
son is in grade 9 and Earl Morais whose son is now in the prep school.
Paul Davies was instrumental in restructuring the house system which became more established and
Champagnat medals were introduced for the first time. Paul Davies left in 1994 and Gary Norton was
acting headmaster until Paul Edey was appointed and took up the position in 1995. Belinda has seen a lot
of changes at St David’s however many things remain the same and the heart of the place is very much the
same.
A highlight for Belinda was the pilgrimage in which she participated in 2001 when she visited Rome and the
Hermitage. Belinda felt that the pilgrimage made everything so much more real; opening up a whole new
world and things became more tangible. Belinda grew up as a Catholic although she is a non-practising
one.
Belinda has always been very involved with the SMILE programme which was initiated in 1993 by Robin
Henderson, an English teacher. She was contacted by an NGO and began to implement the programme
started by St Mary’s in Kloof – St Mary’s Interactive Learning Experience. Robin left the following year and
Belinda took over. The value of the programme was in teaching English oral skills but the interaction of the
boys with younger children from poorer communities was mutually beneficial. Belinda also feels that it is a
very practical programme and has a definite purpose. She currently liaises with two schools in Tembisa –
Ebony Park Primary and Drake Koka Primary School whose staff are willing to accompany the children. Mr
Edey was always very supportive and helped out during the holidays participating as a SMILE guide and
other teachers took the classes. The holidays are no longer covered with St David’s having three terms
and the government schools having four. However, thirty Wednesdays per year are covered, with Ebony
Park’s grade 5’s coming for the first half of the year and Drake Kaka‘s children coming for the second half.
The children benefit from the help and enjoy the food and drink they are given.
Belinda has always been very instrumental in the success of Champagnat day which originally was a mass
followed by soccer matches between the staff, prefects and pupils, the boys were given a cool drink and a
doughnut and everything finished around 11am. In 1994 the staff bursary fund was established and Belinda
suggested raising funds by selling, food etc. on Champagnat day. It started off in the prep school pavilion
with Belinda buying sweets and cool drinks on special and asking mothers to help making some food to
sell. In 2013 the more extensive and established Champagnat day festivities raised R113 000.00 for the
bursary fund.
As Belinda was employed at St David’s her two sons became pupils. Terry went into grade 0 in 1989
followed later by Bradley. Terry matriculated in 2001 and Bradley in 2005. St David’s played a significant
role in her sons’ lives, they were very happy at St David’s and Belinda would not have been able to afford
the school fees had she not been a teacher. Terry is currently a teacher of Music in London, a pianist giving
recitals and Bradley is training to be a lawyer and is doing his articles with Lowndes and Dlamini.
Belinda believes that St David’s is an authentic community with the brothers, colleagues, boys and parents
and this is what she loves and appreciates about St David’s. St David’s has had a great influence on her
life, she feels valued.
Belinda is very much a people’s person, various individuals have impacted on her life, but as staff change
she feels they bring a renewed energy and value with them. Children are children and if you treat them
fairly and as fellow human beings they will respect you and do what you want. Belinda has enjoyed the
rapport, with the occasional hiccup; she has had with the boys over the past 25 years and has observed
that they carry with them a special conscience when they leave. St David’s has done something right.
Belinda still enjoys teaching and wouldn’t want to do anything else and feels that it has, on the whole been
a pleasant experience. JLE Feb’2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Beverly Geldenhuys

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  • 2011

Interview - Beverly Geldenhuys – Staff
Bev is the third generation of her family to be linked to St David’s. Her grandmother, Beryl Smith
taught grade 1 at Koch Street, moving to Marion College when Koch Street closed. Bev’s
mother, Rosalyn Quillian, also worked at Marion College as a secretary. Bev started her
teaching career with two years at Marion College before joining the staff of St David’ in 1976.
She later took a break when her children were born but taught an hour a day at R20 per lesson
and came back to teaching full-time in 1984.
She views her time at St David’s as pieces of a jig-saw puzzle of stories. For example bumping
into a past pupil now aged 36, in a shopping centre and being told that Bev’s mantra, when she
taught him in standard 4, was one that he lived by; at the wedding of a past pupil when he broke
their walk up the aisle to introduce his bride to his former teacher, these are all pieces making
up the whole picture and the happiness and fulfilment she has had whilst working at St David’s.
She felt that when one followed the careers of many past pupils and knowing that one has had a
part to play it made it all so worthwhile.
She recalled that when she first joined St David’s, at first break, tea and cakes were served and
at second break, a three course meal which left everyone mellow and chilled and gave them
energy for the remainder of the day. Now she and many other members staff phone out to
Fabianos or Thrupps to get their food preferring freshly made fare to that which the school tuck
shop offers.
She enjoyed working with Paul Edey as headmaster, liked George Manolios and Greg Royce
but did not like Paul Davies. Greg Royce used to call her the R11 note – rare!
She remembers an occasion when she was part-time, substituting for a standard 2 class. The
children were being very naughty and on the second day they asked her why she didn’t throw
the blackboard duster at them as their teacher normally did! Bev had a style of teaching which
often saw her standing on a desk which usually grabbed the attention of all the pupils and
enabled them to remember the concepts being taught. She often thought that they were all
waiting with bated breath to see if she would fall, hence the concentration.
After her recent illness, many of her pupils ran up and hugged her on her return to school and
made her promise never to leave them again. In fact, the mother of one of her young pupils
insisted on being taken to visit her in hospital to make sure that she was still alive.
Both Bev’s sons went to St David’s and have retained friends from their days at school and her
grandson Riley will also follow in his father’s footsteps. Her son Gary didn’t miss one day of
school from grade 0 to matric and was presented with a special award by Paul Edey.
JE August 2011

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Billy Williams 1949 - Standard 7

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  • 2015

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Bobby Forssman 1980

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  • 2013

Interview with Bobby Forssman – 1980
Bobby (Luke Alexander) first came to St David’s in grade 1 in 1969 following in his brother Mark’s footsteps
with Andrew arriving 3 years after Bobby. He remembers his father filming the event and that he, Bobby
who was used to running around barefoot and undisciplined, decided to have a wee in the middle of the
dirty, dusty playground on his first day.
Brother Anthony was headmaster of the high school and Mr Manolios of the junior school. Of the early days
he remembers Mrs Schaafsma who taught him in grade 1 and 2, she was a tyrant and all the boys were
terrified of her. If a boy wasn’t paying attention he had to sit under the piano in her classroom during the
lesson.
In the junior school, Bobby went on tour in standard 5 to Fort Mistake in Kwa-Zulu Natal with Mr Manolios
and Heather Joseph. Heather was a young, newly qualified teacher and all the boys were in love with her.
Heather used to apply a very bright lipstick, kiss all the boys leaving lipstick on their cheeks which they
treasured!
At the entrance to the school where the original gates now hang, an ice cream seller used to park his bike
and sell home-made ice lollies. The boys used to pinch the dry ice and then throw it into the fish pond
nearby. Bobby did this once and panicked when he thought he was going to kill the fish. He jumped in, in
full uniform and proceeded to throw out the ice.
Bobby enjoyed the sport the soccer, cricket, sack and potatoes races in the annual athletics. He also
participated in the horse riding which he didn’t really enjoy and they rode at stables in what is now
Pineslopes. School was generally fun although the boys were scared of the teachers as they were often up
to mischief when they had the opportunity. The boys would hang around the tuck shop and wait until break
was over hoping to get discounted or free food. On Champagnat day they would get donuts and a cool
drink.
Bobby and his family lived out at Kyalami at the Kyalami Ranch Hotel and many of the boys came to watch
the Formula 1 events from the hotel. It was a mission to get to school although there was a school bus,
sometimes his father would fetch them in his beach buggy and if they were staying late their mother would
also come to fetch them.
In the high school Bobby had teachers like Trudy Elliott who was the English teacher. They were supposed
to study the Great Gatsby and Hamlet for 3 years from grade 8 which Mrs Elliott didn’t agree with and
suggested that the boys produce a newspaper as an alternative. Bobby and some other boys started a
newsletter which came out once a month for 10 months. Bobby had to do a lot of typing without a computer
although there was at least a typex band in the typewriter.
Bobby had Mr Tony D’Almeida as his Biology teacher who was well built and used static exercise to train
which all the boys had to try out in class! The school had quite a few exchange students and Bobby had to
chaperone a chap from Brazil in standard 8 whose father was head of Castrol. Bobby was with him when
he met up with Reinhard Hartmann who asked “Hi my China, where are you from”, the reply “Not China,
Brazil” as the poor chap could hardly speak any English.
There was a Mr Valney who taught Geography who became quite friendly with some of the boys and
invited some of them to his flat in Illovo one evening. He believed in self hypnosis and demonstrated by
collapsing on the floor after he told the boys to instruct him to do something. The boys were rather taken
aback and tried a few things including sticking a large pin deeply into his arm and then telling him to wake
up. He came to with no memory of what had happened and no physical signs of any sort. The teachers on
the whole were pleasant and engaging.
Bobby enjoyed motor cross racing from standard 7 through to standard 9 with four other St David’s boys
and competed against other schools. Br Bernard attended one of the events and took some photos for the
school magazine. Unfortunately Br Timothy was not aware of the motor cross racing and wasn’t impressed
and basically banned them from participating anymore or said they must find another school. Bobby then
started playing rugby in standard 9, was captain third XV and was a member of the A water polo and B
swimming teams as a summer sport.
Bobby also enjoyed the debating and public speaking which was fairly low key and great fun.
Bobby did well academically and was usually in the top 5 or 10. He was elected a prefect and awarded an
honours blazer, academic tie and scrolls for merit and studies.
In their final year 6 of the boys decided to take a holiday. The Hartmann’s had a flat in Umhlanga and they
asked Bobby’s father if they could borrow one of the cars to go down. Initially the parents said no, but then
Bobby’s father relented and booked them into alternative accommodation and lent them a bus. With
hindsight it was crazy with unlicensed drivers driving all the way to the coast in a bus, but they survived.
After matriculating, Bobby was awarded a bursary by Eskom and studied engineering at Wits University
then UCT. He then went into the air force for two years completing his military service. Whilst in the air
force he met a chap who was into building development and decided to work for himself and started off in
the Cape in the commercial development of shops and warehouses. He would buy the land, design the
structure then rent it out and sell. He often works together with his older brother Mark who is in building and
construction. He was supposed to work for Eskom after his military training and had to reimburse them the
costs of his university education, fortunately they underestimated the costs and he managed to pay them
back.
Bobby has one son Jason who spent 1 year in grade 1 at St David’s before the family moved to Cape Town
and returned 5 years later. Greg Royce was then head of St Peter’s so he became a pupil there going on to
Hilton for high school. Bobby’s two daughters are at DSG in Grahamstown.
Bobby is still in touch with Mark Hindle through his wife Paula and with Reinhard Hartmann and Sven Arp.
He is a member of MOBs and was last at St David’s for the Nite Fever firework show.
JLE November 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Bonny Pooley - Parent 1996-2005

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  • 2012

Interview with Bonny Pooley 1996 – 2005
Bonny first became involved with St David’s when her son Gilbert started high school in grade 8
in 1996, and she continued to be so for about ten years even after Gilbert had left.
Bonny assisted in reviving MOBS and established the first contact lists. She was very involved
with the MOBs aspect of the PTA golf day and organised the MOBS annual dinner for two
years.
She also played a big role in the teaching of Religious Education in the high school and helped
Rev Bruce until he left and took over in the interim until Br Mario joined the staff. Whilst Gilbert
was still at the school, she also assisted with the teaching of RE in the prep school for at least
one term.
Bonny also worked for four years with the boys towards their confirmation. Bonny organised the
boys’ retreat hiring a bus to take them to their destination in the Hartbeespoort dam area
together with Father Michael and another teacher. Working together with Chris Busschau she
was responsible for the fact that St David’s ran the programme for the Catholic schools in the
area.
Bonny recalled a special Mass when Father Paul Saggie, a young priest celebrated the Mass in
the middle of Champagnat hall. This had a tremendous impact on the boys and gave them their
first taste of a modern celebration of Mass. Bonny felt that the time she spent with Father
Saggie was very special.
Belinda Marais assisted with the SMILE programme and with a trip to the Baragwanath
oncology unit.
Bonny was class mother all the time Gilbert was at St David’s and helped with the organisation
of various functions especially the school plays when she was in charge of front of house. In
addition she was very involved with the tuck shop helping Mary von Guilliame. She was on the
ladies committee organising the annual mothers’ luncheon at the Bryanston Country Club and
was in charge of the rosta list. For sporting events such as hockey, Bonny was responsible for
the catering for both home and away matches and the annual dinners.
Bonny’s husband Gil was also active within the school and helped with chess as an extra-mural
together with Martie Andrew.
Bonny felt that Paul Edey brought out the best in her son and in fact all the boys during his time
at St David’s winning their admiration and respect.
Some of her son Gilbert’s contemporaries were Damien Tucker; Michael Rands who is currently
in Japan and has published two books; Brendan Murray and his brother Michael who resides in
Australia; Gareth Reece; Paul Slabolepski; Ashton Hayes, David Dias.
Other families Bonny felt made a mark on the school and should be contacted were:
Marsay family
Wharton-Hood
Kevin Brewer and his son Craig “84
The Busschau family
Chemaly
Flascannaro – Luke’98
Giuricich
Gonsalves’ 2002
Gore Vincent and Kevin one is a member of parliament and disabled – the 90’s
Maraschin family
Mitri – the father organised the firework display for Bonfire Night
Peel – 3 brothers ’66, ’70 and ’78 – John, Kevin and Michael- they were farmers in Mpumalanga
Rugani, Vito – son Ivor’ 76 together with Darko and the older Von Guilleame was responsible fot
the MOBS bursary
Schoombie family – Mark, Paul and Sean
Simaan, Andrew, Antoine and Gaby
JE March 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Boris Babaya 1950

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  • 2013

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Braydon Aab 1985

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  • Item
  • 2012

Interview with Braydon Aab – 1985
Braydon joined St David’s in 1981, standard 6 when the family moved from Germiston. Initially
he found the transition difficult but through sport he soon became integrated.
He really enjoyed his time at the school and felt it was the best time of his life.
Braydon felt that the education he received was ordinary and influenced greatly by the transition
the school was going through with the brothers leaving and the subsequent turnover in
headmasters at the time. Br Timothy was his first headmaster followed by Mr Murphy who was a
complete disciplinarian and ruled by fear. After his demise, Br Anthony returned for a short
period followed by Mr Freilick, then Mr Boswell who was an Afrikaans teacher. Braydon felt that
Mr Freilick was the best of the bunch.
Of the teachers, Braydon remembered Mrs Elliott, an unbelievable character who taught
English, and was passionate about everything that she did. Tom Macfaden, who taught History
was a character of note who knew his subject well. St David’s was a much wealthier school than
Observatory although the teachers were poorly paid and the general feeling was that St David’s
subsidised Obs.
Braydon enjoyed the sport and focused on partying and on getting into varsity. Sport was really
important to most of the boys and St David’s, although a very small school compared with the
likes of St Stithians and didn’t have the numbers, there were only 60 boys in matric, they still
managed to beat St John’s and a couple of the boys were selected to play in provincial cricket
teams.
Braydon played 1st team tennis in standard 6, 1st team cricket in standard 10, was captain of the
U14 rugby team and played 1st team rugby in standard 9 and 10 and never missed a game.
Braydon recalled the tours which the parents funded; the best was the U14A rugby tour with
their last game playing at Hilton. In standard 9 he went to Europe, saw the passion play at
Oberammergau and he remembered that the group was welcomed by one of the cardinals at
the Vatican. The tour was a tremendous experience and made a big impact on Braydon.
An aspect of school discipline at the time was the institution of the prefects tea. If you had done
anything wrong you were told to go to the prefect’s tea which was held in the old hall during
break. The punishments meted out were nothing too serious or harsh other than perhaps
pushing a biscuit along the floor with your nose, however the discipline was effective.
He recalled one of his worst moments during his time at St David’s. To get an honours blazer
you needed three scrolls and Braydon had a scroll for merit, being a prefect and was waiting for
his rugby scroll. A retreat was organised, supervised by two of the teachers. Braydon and some
other boys went on to a friend’s yacht and had a couple of beers. The teachers noticed that
some of the boys had had alcohol and back at school Mr Boswell asked those boys to come
forward and apologise. All of them that were prefects lost their badges and Braydon was among
the boys whose honours blazers were withdrawn.
Academically Braydon did well enough to get a university pass for matric and went on to study a
BSc in Building Science Faculty at Wits University. Whilst at university he started a construction
company and has been in the construction and commercial property business ever since. He is
currently employed by Broll in the industrial division.
Braydon is married with two daughters and a younger son who attend St Stithians. Although he
doesn’t have any current connection with St David’s he would be interested in participating in
the 2016 celebrations and would purchase a copy of the book when published.
Braydon is still in touch with many of his contemporaries such as Jason Goodall who was
deputy head boy, Nicholas Pruim, Adrian and Jeremy Franklin, Mark and George Wurr. George
lives in Jhb. He remembered the Hartman brothers Roland, Ronald and Reinhart (Hartman &
Keppler).
JLE July 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brian Austin 1962

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  • Item
  • 2010

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brian Kirschman 1958

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  • 2012

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Aidan 1963 - 1984

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  • Item
  • 2010

Brother Aidan 1963- 1984
Br Aidan attended St Aidan’s School where he matriculated in 1953 and then attended Wits University in 1954.
As Br Aidan’s main ambition was to teach he joined the Marist Brothers in Pietermaritzburg. He then went to
Australia to complete his novitiate and eventually returned to Port Elizabeth’s Walmer School to teachAt the
end of 1962 he received a letter from the Bishop in Johannesburg to take up the post as bursar at Observatory.
Br Michael, the incumbent bursar at St David’s, met Br Aidan at the train station and, when they arrived at St
David’s Br Michael informed him that the position had changed from Observatory to St David’s as he, Br
Michael, had been appointed Provincial and therefore had to vacate the position. The job had included looking
after the boaders and their food etc. Br Michael had looked after the tuckshop, worked only for the boarders
and had to supervise that every afternoon and evening. The job also covered the ground staff. With Piet the
cook for the boarders, the catering turned out to be quite easy, Charles was the brothers cook and second IC
in the kitchen. Apart from being ther bursar, Br Aidan had 4 periods of teaching Monday to Thursday after
break and on a Friday afternoon he had to do the shopping which was a heavy load.Br Aidan was very
reluctant re taking this position as he really wanted to teach. Before the Bishop sent the letter to Br Aidan the
Marist Brothers had spoken to Br Aidan’s father who was a bank manager and asked if he thought his son
would be able to cope with the job. All his father stated was that he was not in favour of his son joining the
bank!
The brothers at this stage moved into the admin block from the house near the swimming pool but the
configuration of the new ‘house’ was not really suitable as offices and living areas. Br Aidan had installed a
safe in the office but there were only two burglaries in all the years he was bursar and each time nothing of
value was taken. Br Anthony had a secretary, the first ever – Mrs Macfarlane? Br Aidan remembered Phineas
Selima who worked with him.
The first year was tough but the second year was even worse. The accounting system that was used came from
France as they had to report to the Mother House each year. In 1965 the Provincial moved him to Pietermaritzburg
and then on to Walmer, PE from 1966 to 1967 where he taught and looked after the boarders.
Br Ephrem, the new Provincial, recalled Br Aidan to pick up the pieces and he stayed at St David’s from 1968 to 1984.
Piet was the first cook in the kitchen,then the school had a series of cooks including a Scottish couple with the wife in
the kitchen and the husband as groundsman. This didn’t last long and they were followed by Mr and Mrs Erdis. Once
they left there was a gap of many years before Willem van der Merwe was appointed. To begin with there was conflict
between the work force and Willem. The ground staff were really left to their own devices because Brother was far too
busy with other matters. The problem was solved and they have become a cohesive unit now.
Br Anthony appointed some parents to form an advisory committee (first mentioned in 1968), they were the
forerunners to the board of governors. Messers N Herber, P Paizes and T Marneweck were the first parents selected.
The Marist Provincial Council took the decision that each school should be governed by an appointed board
comprising people of varying expertise due to the declining numbers of Brothers. The old boys, especially Alf Smit
were very involved and wanted St David’s to continue.
As time went on Br Aidan found that it was increasingly difficult to keep the books. He was not proficient in double
entry bookkeeping and therefore suggested that the books should be outsourced. This was done and Mr Viera came
in once a week but this process was too slow so his services were terminated. Towards the end of the 1970’s Mrs
Audrey Williams, a school secretary, was employed as a bookkeeper.
In the early 1980’s the Marist Provincial Council felt that employing a brother to be act as a bursar was counterproductive.
Mrs Anne Evans, the bookkeeping teacher, took over as bursar in 1984 with Br Aidan taking the year to
hand over the reins.
The financial position was not good as the fees were not very high. The Science lab had been built as well as the new
swimming pool. The board were not happy with the way in which the brothers allowed some children to attend the
school without paying. The brothers didn’t give cash bursaries only book entries.
A huge financial boost to the school finances was the expropriation of the land adjoining Rivonia Road. The money
from this should have gone to the Marist Brothers as they owned the land but instead Br Anthony used the money to
pay for the building of the Science lab (Opened in 1972 together with the Br Urban auditorium).
Br Ephrem moved into Maryknoll once Mrs McGill Love went to a retirement home.(The property was purchased in
1963) The McGill family were hoping that the will could be revoked and that they would get the land back. This of
course did not happen and the superiors put pressure on the school to sell some of the land as they felt the school
would have no need for it.
An embarrassing moment was when the school started accepting black children. Br Aidan was so used to seeing
people waiting in the passage applying for work so this one day he greeted this gentleman and asked him what job he
was being interviewed for only to be told that he was there to enroll his son in the school!
On another occasion Heather Joseph and Carol Ansell were talking outside Br Aidan’s office window not thinking that
their conversation could be overheard. It was just after the holidays and Heather was bringing Carol up to date with
the holiday. Heather had been to Port Alfred and said the surf was great but on one occasion she had lost her bikini
top in the surf and had to run back to the beach. Br Aidan decided to use this episode and told Heather that a lady had
arrived at school with a green bikini top which she felt belonged to someone on the staff. Of course this wasn’t true but
caused Heather much embarrassment.
After Br Aidan left St David’s he was sent to Holy Cross in Soweto run by the Holy Cross Sisters in 1986. Here he
taught which he thoroughly enjoyed, however the year was very disruptive due to the 10th anniversary of the Soweto
riots. The sisters felt that their work was not being done and they decided to close the school and the Bishop decided
that the diocese would take over the school. The opening in 1987 was slightly delayed but the school finally opened
with over 700 pupils and very few suitably trained teachers. Br Aidan wasis still at Holy Cross at the time of this
conversation and was slowly handing over to lay staff but unfortunately once they are suitably trained they leave for
greener pastures.
In conclusion Br Aidan felt that all the effort that was put into the school in the 60’s and 70’s has been worthwhile. The
area around the school and the catchment area changed dramatically but he felt very proud when he returned to the
school.
November 2010

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Andrew 1960 - 1974 (via email)

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  • 2012

Interview with Brother Andrew – 1960 – 1974 (correspondence by email)
Br Andrew was a member of the staff of St David’s from January 1960 to 1974. This period covered Br
Anthony’s headship; a period in which Br Andrew said he had the honour to be the vice-head. It was the
beginning of the boom of the college of which the main highlights were the acquisition of forty acres of land
where the cricket oval and four different levels for rugby fields were laid thanks to the generosity of Mr
McGregor of Dowson and Dobson. In addition the administration block, the wood work block, the Art block,
the Science block and many other things were added to the school campus during that time.
In about 1962-63, Br Andrew was in charge of C dormitory with 44 boys about ten, eleven and twelve years
old. It was a Saturday morning, suddenly, at about seven o’clock; Br Andrew heard a kind of revolution
among the boys, running barefoot, jumping on the beds, climbing on the windows etc. He gave them
enough time to return to their beds placing the key in the lock making as much noise as possible and took
his time to open the door but, unfortunately he still caught several of them up on the windows. He punished
them without asking for any explanation and sent them back to bed. Br Andrew never forgot his senseless
attitude as the poor boys had never seen snow and he did not realise that that was the reason for their
excitement. He then made them dress and allowed them to enjoy half an hour playing in the snow before
showering for breakfast. Br Andrew has never forgiven himself for being so strict with them and believes
that Willy Castle was in the group.
Around about 1970 there was another snowfall but this time on a week day. Classes were due to begin at
8.30am and from 8.00 to 8.30 the quadrangle was a real battlefield with pupils and staff throwing snowballs
in all directions. Five minutes before the bell rang for the morning assembly, at 8.30am “Op die Kop”, Br
Andrew blew the whistle for line up and the morning prayer. Br Bosco and Br Andrew went up to the
veranda on the first floor and Br Andrew placed himself in front of the microphone when suddenly the boys
began to throw snowballs at them both, some on target, others off target until they had no other choice but
to take shelter in the nearest classroom. Snowballs were continuously striking against the window panes
but none broke. The fun came to a sudden end and they left their shelter to see Br Anthony strolling
peacefully amongst the boys. He was the only one who could control the situation so successfully, with his
mere presence and pleasant smile.
Br Andrew taught Maths and Geography to matric students (standard 10). It was in 1966 when John
Buckley-Jones and Mike Smith were in the group. When Br Andrew entered the classroom he saw that all
the desks had been turned around, facing the back wall and the teacher’s desk and chair had disappeared
but in their place was a toilet seat in all its glory. Br Andrew left his books on the platform and began the
explanation of the lesson as if nothing had happened. The explanation lasted 35 minutes and when one of
the pupils turned to follow the explanation he seriously commanded them to look in front of them, obviously
to the back wall. All of the boys could hear clearly but none of them could see the blackboard which Br
Andrew filled with infinite numbers and formulae. When he had finished he then erased all and stood in
front of the boys at the back of the classroom and assigned them the homework which consisted of a heap
of exercises which, the best of the class would take more than two hours to complete. The following day,
the classroom had been restored to its normal aspect and Br Andrew revised, one by one, the homework
asking them the time they had taken. The best student had required two and half hours but none of them
had left the homework undone or partly done. He supposed that they felt guilty. Then Br Andrew stood up
in front of them and, with the smile and satisfaction of a winner, asked them “Don’t you know that yesterday
was April fool’s day?” There was tremendous laughter and exclamations in response and Buckley-Jones
told him later that he had won the challenge and asked what he would have done if they had refused to do
the homework. Br Andrew’s reply was “I never expected you to do it, how could I know that you ignored the
fact that it was April fool’s day?”
Br Andrew also wrote two poems in French – “La Nuit” and “L’Automme” which appear in the Yearbook,
1971 p54.
JLE July 2012 – Br Andrew’s sight was then fading and he could no longer communicate via emails.

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Anthony 1957 - 1975, 1982

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  • 2009

Interview with Brother Anthony 1957 – 1975, 1982
When he first came to St David’s, Brother Anthony was in charge of the senior boarders
in the boarding school. He recalls that the boys used to go to the Jukskei River and have
mud fights over the weekends.In those days the Maristonian club was on the main road
to Pretoria.
Brother Anthony was particularly proud of the development of sports facilities at the
school. The 45 acres (18 hectares) where the cricket oval, rugby fields, astro turf and
CEO’s house now stand were originally owned by a Scotsman, Mr McGill Love. The
gendtleman in question owned a company, Haggie Rand, which sold cables to the mines
and he gave the school fist option to purchase the land. In 1963 the school bought the
land for R150 000. The municipality then wanted some of the land to widen Rivonia
Road. Ronnie Walker was chairman of the school committee and Watson, the mayor (he
had a son at St David’s). The municipality paid R127,000 the land, 10% of the property
purchased. The money made was used for building the Science laboratories. ater,
McGregor, Dowson and Dobson leveled the fields for R14,000 and in 1966 the grass
was laid. McGregor’s son won 7 gold medals in the SA championships the cricket oval
was named after McGregor.
There was some debate whether there was enough space for a full cricket oval, and
indeed there was. Pete Springer a professional cricketer for England came together with
the Bishop Hugh Boyle to officially open the oval. Brother Anthony recalled that the
Bishop’s opening prayer was for chastity!! A party followed in the dining room which now
houses the college library.
The current CEO’s house, a Herbert Baker house was used at that time to
accommodate the professional cricketers – Dickey Bird, Dobson and for boarders
upstairs. The remainder was used for storage and for an office for the PTA. Don Wilson
saw a ghost of a woman at the top of the stairs. What was the A Dormitory is now used
for the grade 6 classrooms.
The first black child was admitted to the school in 1976, the son of the Malawian trade
commissioner.
Headmaster Murphy only lasted 6 months and Brother Anthony came to the rescue as
the new head was having difficulties in adjusting, there was no prep headmaster as Mr
Monolias had left to go to a school in Benoni after coming to St David’s from Bryanston
High School. Br Anthony checked out the rumours of Murphy’s wrestling career whilst he
was in Cape Town. Using the public library Br Anthony finally came across an article in
the Durban press relating to the wrestling. Br Anthony had to step into the breach and
was headmaster from 1981 – 2. He then escaped once more to the desert in Slough.
Outstanding boys that Br Anthony remembered were Roberto Amato , matric 1960. His
father was Rhodes scholar, he was a wonderful boy and was instrumental in starting up
a school band. The matric class of 1961 was a small class, a group of six boys, three
became surgeons and one a professor. B Haakman, Malcolm Fenzman, Nigel Sloane.
Prince Ipsolante who was related to Prince Phillip.
American field scholars used to come to St David’s as exchange students in the 70’s.
Br Anthony remembered another mother who was particularly angry with him and it
reminded him of being back in Glasgow watching a Celtic/Rangers match.
Fulton a US golfer was a former pupil.
One boy came to school with a gun and wanted to shoot a couple of the teachers
however, the next day Br Anthony managed to confiscate the gun and called the boys
father. It turned out that the gun belonged to the father and had been acquired during the
war from the RAF.
Another rather funny incident was when Br Anthony caught a boy coming out of the cold
room in the kitchen with a rather large stomach. He was hiding a watermelon under his
jersey!
In 1966 the first boy to become a drug addict was expelled after a debate with parents
on the issue.
There have been only three matrons in 70 years.
An amusing incident occurred when a teacher, Ms Janosch collapsed in the toilet, Br
Anthony went to her aid and managed to get her onto a carpeted area, whereupon she
grabbed his crucifix and pulled him down on top of her just as Br Andrew walked in!
There was a flourishing riding club with stables where the grade O block is now. Ken
Booth, the Queen’s chaplain was a keen rider and took teams of boys to the Hickstead
trials where they achieved first place in the second year of competing. Horses were on
the property and there was a riding club until 1980
There was a teacher named Zacharovitch, a former priest who Bro Anthony found
working in a local bottle store. Bro Anthony acquired the permission to employ him as a
teacher and he turned out to be a good one.
Br Anthony’s nickname was Oranges and Br Andrew – Drac. Br Irwin was the first head
after Br Wilson and only lasted 6 months – the auditorium was named after him.
Teachers – it was a priority that the school had to have good teachers but there will
always be those, a small percentage, who are no good.
The first board of governors included parents such as Moni, Herber and Paizes. School
fees were GBP4 per term in Bro Anthony’s time. They tried to keep the fees down but
the board of governors said that the fees needed to be adjusted. A proposition was
made to the regional council who gave the Ok to raise the fees. The local schools
followed suit. Subsequently there was a protest at the school gates and a Mr Emberton-
Smith and Mrs Hogg protested against the increase and handed out fliers.
Br Anthony coached rugby, there were 8 open teams and he preferred to teach the
weaker teams. He remembered the first time the school beat Jeppe (1000 pupils, St
David’s 238) the boys were enraged at being called Catholic Jews. There were quite a
number of Jewish pupils at the school during this time.
Br Anthony remembered two dogs, a female called Lola Brigida and a Doberman
Pincher called Dagwood. Dagwood was a very friendly dog who used his jaw to grab Br
Anthony by the hand but never bit him.
Brothers and Priests included Father Plestus, Br O’Brien who accidentally killed a
woman who ran out in front of him and was very upset also by the police comment “One
less” Br Anthony consoled him and gave him brandy but he was never the same after
that. They also had a Dominican priest for a while who had a nephew at the school.
The first chapel was next to the first classroom. Br Rowson, who was often “unwell”,
would light a candle to indicate his presence. Br Rowson only lasted 6 months.
The second chapel was in fact built as a library; the architect was Klench. The donation
for the current library was made by Mr Pinero now living overseas.
Vatican 11, 1967 was a significant and very disruptive time for all Catholics, there was
great upheaval in the church and many priests and nuns were looking for jobs. Some
priests were laicized and there was an exodus of brothers, Jesuits, Celesians etc. De La
Salle Brothers took in some of the priests.
Br Anthony remembered the school plays and one very good “Thomas More” in
conjunction with St Teresa’s. The schools didn’t have the numbers for big productions.
Musical evenings were held although there was no hall and the dining room, now the
high school library, was used. One production was held at the civic centre with Paddy
O’Byrne as MC.
There was a band competition which St David’s won and Peter Moni was the drum
major.
A big walk was held to raise funds for the blind, St Teresa’s Guild for the Blind with Br
Paul coming across for this fundraiser.
JLE April 4, 2009

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Jude

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  • 2015

Brother Jude
Br Jude started teaching at Marist Observatory in 1963 and subsequently from 1965 until 1974, he was
stationed at Walmer, Port Elizabeth. He was appointed Brother Provincial at the end of 1974, at a time
in when the brothers were grappling with a number of issues. Among others, there had been a drop in
the number of pupils attending the schools, a declining number of brothers and discussion about the
possible consolidation of some schools. Already in the second half of the sixties, to assist with the
running of the schools, advisory committees were introduced. These were followed in due course by
administrative boards and finally the board of governors
In the early 1970’s there was discussion among the congregations of sisters and brothers running the
Catholic schools in South Africa about the desegregation of “white” Catholic schools .While already in
1957 the Catholic Bishops Conference had declared that “Apartheid was intrinsically evil”, other than
attendance at Church services and gatherings, Catholic institutions had, by and large, remained racially
separate.
While a few schools had already admitted black children at the start of the 1975 academic year, ironically
it was the South African government itself which provided a catalyst. In the early 1970’s,the government
was desperately trying to establish diplomatic relations with other African countries and eventually
managed to do so with Malawi. This however presented a problem for the government when it came to
considering where the children of diplomatic staff were going to go to school. They could not be enrolled
at a “black state school” because of the dire standard of schooling in these schools nor at a “white state
school”, something which would have been completely contrary to state policy. The result was that the
government gave “permission” for the children to be enrolled at “white “Catholic schools. As a
consequence St David’s and St Theresa’s Convent School, Rosebank, were among those who admitted
the children of Malawian diplomatic officials in March 1975.
See article “Focus on the black child in search of education” by Linda Vergnani -Sunday Tribune, 16
March 1975.
Attempts to meet with the administrator of the Transvaal, Mr Sybrand van Niekerk, to discuss the
admission of local black pupils to “white” Catholic schools proved futile. This resulted in Catholic schools
in the Cape and the Transvaal quietly admitting black pupils.
Early in 1977 the media broke the story about the number of black children that were being educated in
“”white” Catholic schools in the country. This resulted in the administrators of the Transvaal and Cape
Provinces both issuing statements that all children admitted illegally should be removed immediately and
the schools would face deregistration. The then minister of national education, Piet Koornhof, intervened
and a series of meetings followed. These finally resulted in a cabinet decision in December 1977 that
while the government could not condone what Catholic schools had done, the children who had been
admitted illegally could remain in the schools but there would be no more admissions without the
express permission of the provinces. Application with full motivation had to be made for each and every
pupil. The Catholic schools were informed of the cabinet decision and were encouraged to submit their
applications before the beginning of the new academic year in January 1978. In the Cape all but one
application, due to reasons of age, were accepted. In Natal there were not many applications but all
submitted were accepted. In the Transvaal, by the day before schools were due to reopen, no response
had been received from the provincial authorities. At a hastily convened meeting of the provincials and
principals concerned a decision was taken to go ahead with the admission of all pupils whose names
had been submitted. On the day that schools reopened, school inspectors descended on the school to
check on admissions.
This resulted in further meetings with both the administrator and the minister with the Catholic schools
standing firm on their admission of children regardless of racial classification. These meetings continued
over the next few years with the Catholic schools continuing to admit pupils with ongoing opposition from
the Transvaal authorities. Finally, towards the end of 1982 legislation was passed which allowed the
admission of black pupils to schools registered with the provincial education departments.
For years the private schools in South Africa registered with the provincial education departments had
struggled with the government for school subsidies, these were finally granted in the early 1980’s. Not
long thereafter the government attempted unsuccessfully to use the subsidies to enforce a quota system
on the admission of black children.
From mid-1980 opposition to apartheid and its structures increased significantly resulting in the
declaration of two states of emergency. In an attempt to crush opposition the state security forces
targeted the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the South African Council of Churches and the
Catholic Bishops Conference. Within a space of months COSATU House, Khotso House, the
headquarters of the South African Council of Churches and Khanya House, the headquarters of the
Catholic Bishops Conference were destroyed.
The 70’ were tough times for the brothers and the Marist schools in South Africa, times requiring much
consultation and discernment. The brothers looked at their number and ages (at the end of 1974 there
were 68 Brothers in SA) and realised that the majority were likely to lose, through death, the majority of
the brothers in the province at the time within the twenty years or so. The situation was aggravated by
the small number of local vocations and the fact that there were no longer brothers coming to South
Africa from Europe. They were also faced with the fact that there were fewer brothers available to take
on positions of responsibility. Also of concern were the very significant discrepancies in facilities between
black and white Catholic schools. They were also conscious of the call of Vatican 2 for lay people to be
given their rightful place within the church and church structures and felt the need to honour it and allow
lay people to take on positions of authority within their schools. This eventually resulted in the first lay
headmaster being appointed to a Marist school in South Africa, Linmeyer in 1977. This proved to be very
controversial and took some years before the appointment of lay people to senior promotional posts was
accepted. Another move was that of withdrawing brothers from senior Marist school positions and
making them available to work within black Catholic schools where there a significantly greater need.
Thus Br Anthony left St David’s and together with Br Christopher, went to set up a mission in Slough, a
resettlement area on the edge of the Kalahari. Some people incorrectly interpreted these initiatives as
signs that the brothers were abandoning the “white” community.
The brothers also had to face two other significant challenges besides the matter of opening all
promotional posts to lay people and the withdrawal of brothers from the other schools to make brothers
available in areas of greater need, namely the issue of co-education and the desegregation of the
schools already referred to earlier. With the pending closure of several convent schools in the 1980’s
because of the declining numbers of religious sisters, the question arose whether the brothers would be
prepared to admit girls to what were at the time their “boys” only schools. The brothers were open to the
schools becoming co-educational institutions, a position not shared by all the members of the Marist
family. The first of the Marist schools in South Africa to become co-educational was Sacred Heart
College, Observatory. This followed decisions taken by the Ursuline Sisters and Holy Family Sisters to
close their schools and link up with what was at the time Marist Observatory. When the La Rochelle
Convent school was due to close there was some initial opposition from the board at Linmeyer but this
gave way and Marian College, Linmeyer, became co-ed as well. In the 1970’s and 80’s pupil numbers
dropped at both St David’s and Rosebank Convent and the respective school authorities looked into
integrating the two schools. For a variety of reasons this was not pursued.
Brother Jude was Brother Provincial from 1974 until 1983. In 1985 he was asked by the Catholic Bishops
Conference to set up the Catholic Institute of Education which thirty years on, continues to provide a
great service to the Catholic schools in the country. At the time he was a member of the St David’s
community. In 1988 he was asked to take over as Secretary General of the Bishop’s Conference of
Southern Africa, a position he held until 1995 when he was again appointed as Provincial of South
Africa. In 1998 a series of consultations took place within the Southern African region to form a single
Marist Province in Southern Africa. In April 1999 these resulted in the formation of the new Province of
Zambia and Zimbabwe. A year later Angola became the sixth country to be a member of the Province.
Br Jude served as Provincial of the new province from 1999 until 2004.
The issue of the sale of land where the “Inandas” now stand was in reality necessary as the brothers and
schools were experiencing a very tough financial situation at the time. The school was only using a
portion of the land available to it and the question was whether the school would actually need the corner
section in the future. The property was in fact zoned as agricultural at the time with its corresponding
property evaluation. The brothers looked at various ways of handling the sale. What was finally entered
into was an agreement with a developer which allowed for the brothers to benefit from the progressive
development of the property. In terms of the partnership arrangement that was entered into, the brothers
gained not just from the initial sale of the property as agricultural land but from each successive stage of
the whole development process as the land was rezoned and the units were finally sold.
July 2015

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Mario 1963 - 1976

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  • Item
  • 2014

Conversation with Br Mario at St Henry’s 2010
Br Bosco changed to Br Mario July 1973.
His 1st year at Inanda was in 1963. His qualifications were a BSc in Maths and Physics,
however he taught Latin in his first year at St David’s. He taught Latin in Matric and Maths in
1963 then later Science to standards 8 to 10, with Physics and Chemistry as separate subjects.
Latin was phased out in 1977.
Br Anthony finished his BA degree while headmaster. He was schooled in Ireland and he had to
get SA matric – Mario helped him with the Maths. He wrote his exam at Hibberdene and Mario
covered his Maths book in brown paper so no one could see the title of the book.
Br Mario remembers Br Michael Bailey, then the Provincial Bursar, throwing a miraculous medal
over the fence onto the land which they wanted so badly. Br Ephrem , Br Provincial at the time
only wanted to buy piece of land but the parents said that they should buy the whole piece @
R152 000,00. The M1 and the Brixton Tower were built at this time.
Incidentally there is a mistake in the Afrikaans foundation plaque.
Mrs Kempster was originally employed as a temporary teacher in 1943 for 6 months.
At the opening of McGregor Oval in 1970, the board wanted the Bishop to open the oval. Bishop
Boyle was not formally invited as no one took ownership of this item! The day dawned cloudy
with drizzle. When the Bishop finally arrived he read the blessing from a book which had
nothing to do with opening a cricket oval but once the blessing had taken place the rain stopped
and play could begin! Paul Edey found the plaque of the opening at his home Maryknoll.
Br Patrick Carrey was very into charity work and organized a big walk which was sponsored on
29/7/69 over a 20 mile course. The then mayor of Sandton started it and R7000 plus, minus was
raised. Three charities benefitted, one being Br Paul who was blind. The press was invited to
the presentation of money and arrived at school to find Paddy O’Byrne handing out notices to
the parents to object to the increase in school fees. A meeting was subsequently held in the
Sandown hall.
Political refugees hid at both St David’s and Sacred Heart during apartheid years. (Br Neil
McGurk knows more)
1966 when the silver jubilee was celebrated the crest was found to say 1940 so this had to be
changed to 1941.
Leo Theron made the stained glass windows in the auditorium. Original cost R150 per window
then increased to R250.
Conversation with Br Mario at School on Friday 14 May 2010
Terry O’Mahony playing cricket vs St Stithians, Wed pm 8 Mar 196. The Saints headmaster
arrived at St David’s at 14:45 to find St D’s batting with the score 10 runs for 0 wickets. The
head sat next to Br Anthony and remarked that St D’s were batting very slowly only to be told
that St Stithians were all out for 17 runs – Terry O’Mahony had taken 4 wickets off 4 successive
balls! Br Anthony announced the following day that the ball would be mounted and presented to
Terry later. At the end of 1974 when Br Anthony was packing up to leave, a ball was found in a
drawer, he realized that ball had never been mounted. The ball was duly mounted and given to
Mrs O’Mahony to give to Terry.
In late June 1964, there was a very heavy snowfall. Dracula (Br Andrew) and Br Mario went to
the top balcony for assembly and the boys started hurling snowballs at the two. Br Anthony told
the boys not to throw snowballs at brothers unless the brothers had started first!
Br Anthony did not like paperwork but preferred to walk around the school looking to see what
the boys were doing.
In 1962 young Irish Br Ignatius did not see eye to eye with one of the boys in standard 7.
Rumor was that the boy in question had a gun and one of the boys told Br Anthony. Br Anthony
went to the classroom walked around, put his hands into the boy’s jacket and found the gun,
then quietly took the boy out of the classroom and disarmed him.
There were 44 beds in each dorm and 4 dorms. The brothers then lived in Willem’s house.
A priest came every day to say mass for the brothers in the old chapel and once a week for
senior boarders at 6:30. School started at 8:30.The mass for silver jubilee was held outside on 6
June but it was unfortunately not a nice day.
Vatican 11 realised that the world had changed – up to then there was still a feudal culture in
the church. The church now began thinking of it as being a community..
Br Aidan was in charge of the junior boarders and taught Latin in standard 9. He then became
the bursar. Br Timothy taught Biology and RE from 1967. The first secretary to the headmaster
was appointed in 1963. There were no staff meetings Br Anthony told brothers at breakfast
what was due to happen that day. The timetable was the same every day in high school.
In the late 1960’s Beyers Naude was invited to give a lecture during a period of Lenten lectures
or talks for the boys and staff in the chapel. Beyers Naude, a member of the Broederbond made
a deep impression on Br Mario. The lectures were organized by Br Patrick Kearney who was
once detained and became a director of Koinonia.
In 1970 the 1st rugby team beat Obs and planning started for the Science wing with a R30 000,
00 grant from Anglo but the building eventually cost R188 000. Prof Fassler was the architect
and Joe Stravino was awarded the building contract with a R50 per day penalty clause and it
took much longer. In 1971 building started in 1st week of January and Br Mario planted trees in
the quad. The Science wing was opened in Aug 1972 with a Science expo. Br Anthony was very
good at delegating tasks and never wrote anything down, made appointments verbally and then
forgot about them. The auditorium was handed over before the rest of the building.
In April 1971, Br Anthony gave permission for a mixed cricket match to be played on the rugby
field at St David’s. There followed a controversy which raged on for a week with articles
appearing in many of the newspapers including Die Vaderland and issues were raised by a
white activist Kane-Berman. An article appeared in the Rand Daily Mail, the newspaper which
railed against apartheid questioning why sport could be played in the Homelands but not a
mixed team.
The boarding house closed in 1972 after a decision was taken at a brothers chapter meeting. It
was becoming too taxing to look after the boys. The brothers decided that one boarding house
should close in Johannesburg and Br Neil stated that Johannesburg did not need a boarding
school.
Br Anthony went on leave in 1974 leaving two acting heads, Br Timothy in charge of boys and
Br Mario in charge of admin. Br Mario played a trick on Br Timothy when some parents applied
to have their child admitted to the school which had no discrimination; unfortunately the child
was a girl!
1972 was the 1st year that Champagnat mass was held at Rosebank Catholic Church initiated
by Br Mario who also instituted the collection for the poor and the Champagnat mass is still
going today.
The Rand Daily Mail had a competition to raise money for bursaries for children in Soweto at
R30 per child. Br Mario set this as project for Lent and the grade that brought in most money
would visit Soweto. The matrics brought in the most money and visited the Morris Issacson High
School in Soweto. Very cleverly the boys were paired off in 2’s and 3’s to walk around and in
this way the boys could get to know each other.
Br Mario spent 2 months at Berkley University in the USA on a Science teacher’s course which
cost 10 dollars per day because he was a brother and couldn’t afford the fees.
Br Ephrem, the Brother Provincial, gave the house the name of Maryknoll and used the house
as his office. The farm was originally called Zyferfontein.
The school was known as Marist Brothers Inanda but the PTA wanted to emphasize St David’s.
Br Anthony used the words St David’s Marist College at a swimming gala in 1963. The school
magazine was the Inanda Review until 1959, then became St David’s College Inanda 1960, St
David’s Marist College Review in 1989 and the school, was renamed St David’s Marist Inanda
in 2001.
Br Mario is currently acting as a personal secretary for Br Jo and is based at Sacred Heart in
Observatory.
JLE 2010 and November 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Sean Quinn 1963 -1968

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  • 2013

Interview with Br Sean Quinn – 1963 – 1968
Br Sean first came to St David’s in 1963 and initially taught a primary school class. He thinks that Patrick
Quarmby was in that class, also Ivan Bensimon and Ian Skinner who is now married to Patrick’s sister.
Other names were R Adair, Clive Schoombie, N Jarvis, T Tribe.
Through his involvement with sport coaching many other names came to mind: Terry Rosenberg; Terry
Lavery; Errol MaCauley; Lee McGregor; G. Simaan. The latter’s father Mr Nassey Simaan helped with
coaching rugby and Sean learnt a lot from him and became a fanatic of rugby. He also said that Br Jude
taught him a lot in Maritzburg too. It was a game Sean never played in Ireland where G
gaelic football and hurling were the sports. He took cricket teams and umpired, and took students out on
Saturdays and Sundays with the “Cycling Club”. He never managed to lose anybody, thank God, but when
he thinks of it now, it frightens him. They used to go a long way sometimes and once through the city to the
southern suburbs and beyond, unknown territory.
Sean thought that we would know that some of the names mentioned went on to play at a high level ; Terry
Lavery represented the Springboks and Sean met him briefly at White City athletics stadium in London. Lee
McGregor was a Springbok swimmer whose parents were good people who helped Sean in his transition to
“civvy life’.
Remembering the brothers was easier for Sean in many ways – Br Anthony, Br Aidan, Br Lewis, Br Neil, Br
Andrew.
Br Neil was the nephew of the Br Provincial, family name McGurk. He and Sean once cycled to Pretoria
and back, very tired and thirsty at the end as one could imagine.
Br Ignatius, Br Aidan Burns and Br Sean once walked to Post Shepstone from Hibberdene along the
railway line. They got a few rand from the bursar to buy some food and drinks which they lost on their way
to Port Shepstone. They went back down to the beach and retraced their steps to the shop and eventually
found the money on the ground next to the door. Lucky! They then hitched a lift back to Hibberdene and
two men in the car took them right up to the door. Lucky again!
Br Sean liked distance running, having run up World’ s View in Maritzburg many times but Br Ignatius (aka
Paddy Collins) took it to another level later running the Comrades many times and he is still running full
and half marathons in Ireland now about 74 – 75 years old!
Br Sean stopped playing rugby at 40 and took up running – he completed 2 marathons and numerous half
marathons, but not in the same league as Br Iggy! It might say something about their lives with the Marist
brothers, but what it says, he is not exactly sure.
Another person that Sean remembers with great affection was a Zulu man. Piet, a big man who was in
charge of the kitchen, he was always cheerful and tried to teach Sean a little of the Zulu language and
talked proudly of Dingaan, Cetswayo and Shaka. Sean looked him up many years later on Google. When
Sean went to the kitchen for coffee, Piet would always address him as nKhosaan and Sean regrets not
talking to him more.
One funny incident Sean recalled was when they tried to hear a world title fight from America on the radio.
They tried to get it by rigging up the aerial on the tennis court net at some ridiculous hour in the morning
and by the time they got the broadcast the fight was finished. He couldn’t quite remember who was fighting,
maybe Joe Louis or Floyd Patterson. There were, of course no replays in those days!
On a more personal level, Sean taught Geography in the secondary school from 1964. He can remember
threatening his students that he would cane them if they failed. He now thinks that was a stupid thing to do
but he had seen this in Ireland as par for the course. He had to cane about 4 or 5 students and was sick of
himself by the time he had done two. One student, Gabriel Simaan cried and was still crying when they
went to Ellis Park for an inter-school tennis match. Sean thought that Gabriel liked him as a teacher and
was friendly with Gabriel’s family and was disgusted with himself and his stupidity. He never used the cane
again in all his teaching life of over 30 years. They were a very good family and Sean still has regrets.
Sean finished his degree whilst working on a mine in Rhodesia and later did his HED again at UNISA. He
went down to Johannesburg to do some teaching practice for exam purposes and did it at St David’s in
familiar surroundings and all that went with it.
Sean has some fond memories and some questions he would like answers too, but the past is the past and
he thinks it is not good to dwell on it too much.
After Sean’s wife died in 1996, he was at a loss and very disorientated. He quit his teaching job in a Jesuit
school in the north of England where he had taught English and Geography to “A” level for 10 years. He
went to Southern Ethiopia with the VSO for 2 years to work as a teacher trainer. He then had work at the
University in Newcastle upon Tyne after which he took off with a backpack to SE Asia, Australia and New
Zealand - a bit old for it at 60 but he didn’t care. Sean loved Thailand, the people, the weather and food so
went back and stayed. Sean had a TESOL diploma and an MA in Linguistics from Leeds, studying whilst
working. He developed an interest in the English language but all he did was work doing seminars for
teachers helping them with their methodology and English.
Sean’s son (who was born in Rhodesia) and 3 grandchildren live in Melbourne, Australia and Sean visits
them fairly regularly.
Sean currently lives in Thailand and has done so for the past 11 years, about 350kms NE of Bangkok in a
very rural area with a good wife who looks after him very well. He did some voluntary work teaching for 3
years but then had enough and now reads, works on his wife’s small farm, cycles a bit and relaxes.
I gave Sean Gabriel Simaan’s email address and he got in touch with him. Gabriel had no recollection of
the incident and said he was caned on several occasions but it certainly didn’t do him any harm. (JLE)
JLE November 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Timothy 1967 - 1981

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  • 2010

Interview: Timothy McCrindle (Br Timothy) 1967-1981
Br Timothy taught at St David’s for 6 months in 1963 and returned again in 1967. Initially he was junior
housemaster and in 1972 assistant senior housemaster when the boarding closed down because of the lack of
brothers to supervise.
Br Timothy taught Biology to std 8-10 and RE to std 8-10 and also taught Maths and Science. For extra-murals
he coached swimming and worked with Lee McGregor the Springbok swimmer; he was also the athletics
coach and Inanda won the Inter Catholic athletics for 6 years running. In addition he was the rugby coach for
the younger boys.
Br Timothy took over in 1975 from Br Anthony as headmaster. He maintains he was never an innovator but
highlights during his term of office were the building of the swimming pool, tennis courts and the development
of the sports fields. He also focused on academics and in 1981 Michael Urban was the first boy to achieve a
full house of distinctions in matric.
The one aspect of extra murals which he did not enjoy was cadets. He attended a cadet officer’s camp and in
the end Br Anthony asked him to take the cadets over. Mrs Moni was very pro-active and helped a great deal
as her sons were very prominent cadets. When he took over as head, Br Timothy decided to stop cadets at St
David’s.
Some of the staff he fondly remembers are Trudy Elliott, a wonderful English teacher who had an excellent
way of teaching boys. Gavin Nefdt, Tom McFadden, Ken Lipshitz, Bill Carew, Wendy Schaafsma, Father
Plesters and George Manolios was the prep headmaster.
Reflecting on Br Anthony, Br Timothy felt that Br Anthony had a wonderful gift of inspiring confidence in young
people and was very good at handling difficult situations and parents. He had a wonderful way with people and
was the person who built St David’s up. Br Anthony was never overbearing and worked very well with young
brothers guiding them and giving them responsibilities. He always checked up to see how they were
progressing. Br Anthony was not a very orderly person but here Br Andrew, deputy headmaster, helped him.
During his time, Br Anthony introduced the advisory council which later became the board of governors
St David’s first headmaster was Br Urban, followed by Br Edwin, Br Benedict, Br Anthony and finally Br
Timothy. Br Andrew and Br Bosco (Mario) were prominent brothers.
Notable parents who went the extra mile were: Mrs Moni, the Kourie family, Nassie Simaan, Steve Muller, Vito
Rugani, Darko Vidas, the Allem family, the Reeves family, Slavens, v d Handel, Paizes, Marlowe and Marsay.
The sale of the Inanda’s land:
Br Michael was Br Superior at the time and was very friendly with the McGill Love’s who owned the land next
to the school. There was a fire which the boarders helped to put out and following that, the McGill Love’s had
an agreement with the brothers that they would have first option on the property when they decided to sell their
home. When the sale went through there was an agreement that should Mr McGill Love die first his wife could
continue to live in Maryknoll until her death. Mr McGill Love died first and his wife stayed on in the house but
eventually the brothers offered to pay for her to move into a retirement home and the property reverted to the
brothers. For the acquisition of the property an amount of R150 000 was required. The parents decided, under
the PTA Chairmanship of Mr Walker that they would pay the extra R150 000 needed in the form of a levy
however, in 1971, the Sandton council needed to widen Rivonia Road and the school was reimbursed (R50
000) for the land that was required which covered the shortfall on the land.
The brothers later decided to sell off a piece of ground because they felt that the school would not ever need
the land and they were in a tough situation financially. The land belonged to the brothers not the school. Mr
Tim Marneweck, a parent, who was involved in property helped with the sale of the land. Sadly the parents
and old boys were angry because they felt that the money should have come to the school.
(See Br Jude’s Interview and Finance Weeks articles – October 14-20, 1982 p.100; 30 October 30, 1982 p.4
and August 22 – 28, 1985 p.509)
The school reputedly had two ghosts. Peter Stringer, the cricket coach was given accommodation upstairs at
Maryknoll once Mrs McGill Love had left. He maintains that he saw the ghost of Mrs McGill Love at the foot of
the staircase. The second ghost was that of Br Pius who is said to have wandered around the house where
the sickbay was situated. The brothers used to live in this house but once the administration block was built
the brothers moved in there. If there were any boarders who had to stay overnight in the sickbay then one of
the brothers would have to go down and stay in the house. One of the brothers was in the house one night and
heard a strange noise and went from room to room looking to find the source of the noise. He eventually found
a coat hanger moving in a cupboard! But the brothers always maintained that it was Br Pius walking around.
Br Timothy felt that Br Andrew was a very strict disciplinarian and an excellent Maths teacher who got on well
with Willy Castle. Willy came back to complete his matric and fitted in very well with his new class while most
other boys didn’t mix with the class below them. Br Pius was an excellent gardener and because of him the
gardens at school were well laid out. Br Aquinas enjoyed his whiskey and every Sunday evening the brothers
used to get together and would have a drink. Br Aquinas always had a whiskey and one evening he was called
away and left his drink. The other brothers replaced his drink with diluted Coca Cola while hiding the whiskey
behind the chair. They watched as Br Aquinas returned and continued to drink the diluted Coca Cola without
noticing the change. The brothers were too ashamed to say anything and never told Br Aquinas about the
incident.
Br Timothy left St David’s at the end of 1981 after many happy years at the school. He was appointed
headmaster at St Owens on the Cape Flats. This school was a far cry from St David’s and he taught std 8 –
10’s.
He later went on to help Br Anthony at Slough for a while, becoming Brother Provincial in 1989 until December

  1. He was then sent to the United States on a course and it was here that he met his future wife. After
    much soul searching he decided to leave the Marist Brothers and his future wife left her order as well. Timothy
    now works for the Catholic Schools Office who look after the affairs of the 10 schools run by the diocese in
    Gauteng.
    November 2010

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Brother Vincent 1969, 1987 - 1990

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  • 2013

Interview with Brother Vincent – 1969 and 1987-90
Brother Vincent joined the brotherhood in 1965 at the age of 18, based at Hibberdene together with Br
Joseph who is now Brother Provincial.
His Postulancy and Novitiate years were spent close to Stellenbosch in 1967 and 1968 respectively. These
two years are set aside for his receiving the Habit and making First Vows.
In 1969 he came to St David’s and stayed there whilst undergoing a spirituality course called “Fons Vitae”
at the Good Shepherd Centre in Oaklands together with other brothers and nuns. He and Br Joseph went
daily from St David’s. At that stage Br Anthony was headmaster of the high school, V Kempster principal of
the junior school, and Willy Castle was in matric. Willy’s mother Dorothy taught Br Vincent piano. Br Vincent
taught the junior catechism to a standard 4 class. During the holidays he spent a lot of time planting grass
on the field and was involved with a lot of physical work at the school, cutting trees and grass, working
together with Aggie Simaan. He remembers the many regular teas, biscuits and chats with Aggie Simaan in
her little office near the cricket oval at the time when he helped in great measure planting the grass on the
newly-levelled oval and fields. He regularly cut the fields with the old red tractor, which is now in the preschool
playground!
His bedroom in the brothers’ House was upstairs and faced the inner quad above the then bursar’s office.
One of his duties was to ring the bell at 5am every morning to wake the brothers.
Again, whilst he was studying full-time at JCE from 1987 to 1990, he stayed at St David’s and became the
community superior. During this time became very friendly with Willem, the estate manager, whom he
frequently assisted during his holiday breaks. In his third year helped out by teaching Technical Drawing to
two grade 7 classes.
In 1991 he was the asked by the brothers to work in their mission outreach programme, and he went to
Slough in the Kalahari Desert. The St David’s Marist co-workers, run by Tom Oliver, used to come out once
a year bringing mostly clothing and blankets.
Br Vincent enjoyed his time at St David’s and still keeps in touch with many of the current and former staff
members. Past pupils and parents taught by Br Vincent in the other Marist schools and who are currently
associated with St Davids are Bruce Eyles, Franco Guiliardi, Dr Roger Gibson, Chris Elfick, Allan Young
and Marius Khoury.
Brother Vincent has been at Sacred Heart since 2007 and is currently the estates manager.
JE September 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Bryce Wray 2005

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  • 2014

Interview with Bryce Wray – 2005
Bryce came to St David’s in grade 8. Bryce was formerly a pupil at King Edwards School being the third
generation of his family who attended KES and the school pavilion is named after Bryce’s uncle. Bryce
elected to attend St David’s for high school as he had already befriended Justin Rodrigues and Sibelo
Sithebe at junior city council. Also Paul Edey was the headmaster who had taught Bryce’s uncle and other
family members at KES and was highly regarded.
On his first day Bryce was fortunate, already knowing many of the St David’s boys from playing primary
school sport and James Morrison also accompanied him from KES. In spite of this Bryce was nervous and
concerned about the change from a government to a private school. His first camp was at Glenmore and he
recalls Mr Rod Smith making the boys stand outside in the rain.
Bryce was a member of The Bishop’s with Simon Fry as his housemaster. Bryce regarded him as a great
housemaster and History teacher who developed his passion for the subject. He recalls that Mrs Van der
Merwe was particularly good as his English teacher in matric and Mrs Kennedy for Maths. He also held
Alex Gitlin in high esteem through his contact with him playing hockey and still keeps in touch with him.
Bryce also coached 1st team hockey after leaving school.
Bryce always wanted to play hockey and initially Mr MacMillan was more pro rugby than hockey but this did
not stop Bryce playing hockey in grade 8 without having to play rugby. Bryce put a lot of time into his
hockey more so than academics. At that time pupils did not need to get such high matric marks to study law
at university although that is no longer the case. He played provincial hockey U18 until 2010 and was in the
Gauteng U21 side from 2006 to 2008 and was in the men’s Gauteng hockey team from 2009 until 2010.
Unfortunately currently pressure of work does not allow him to be as involved.
Bryce was fortunate to go on the hockey tour to Malaysia which was a great experience travelling with other
boys and experiencing a different culture. Bryce still plays hockey for Old Eds in the premier league with
Mark de Jager.
Bryce also participated in the school plays and public speaking and in inter-house debating in grade 8 and
9 and in grade 10 and 11 was involved with the SMILE programme.
Bryce decided from grade 8 that he wanted to become a lawyer. He believed the judiciary to be
independent and wanted to be part of such a legal system which is formulated on Roman Dutch law and
now influenced by the constitution. It intrigued him the fact that law ultimately influences everything.
Bryce received honours for hockey, was vice-captain of 1st team hockey and was a house prefect.
After he matriculated , Bryce attended..................................................University for a degree.
Bryce worked for his articles in 2010 until the end of 2011 with Hogan Lovells and then was retained as an
associate. He resigned in 2012 to pursue an opportunity to work in the commercial field. However he
decided that it wasn’t for him and Hogan Lovells gladly took him back. He now specialises in commercial
litigation for the construction industry and administrative law.
For Bryce the camaraderie with his grade was great and the loyalty they had for each other. He still meets
up with 8 friends from his year once a month and they are all very proud to be St David’s boys.
JLE September 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Byron King 2007

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Carol Ansell 1975 - 2016 Staff

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  • 2013

Interview with Carol Ansell – Staff – 1975 - 2016
Carol was interviewed by Brother Mario at the end of 1974 as there was a new grade 0 position
available and Brother Anthony (who was headmaster at the time), was on leave. In fact Br
Anthony had gone to see the Brother Provincial as he wanted to work in a less privileged
environment. Carol was John Jamieson’s sister, John had matriculated from St David’s, and she
was immediately appointed and told to start the following year – 1975 with no indication of
where she would be located. Carol recalls that she asked if she could see her classroom and if
she could please have a key. Carol and her family lived in the same road in Parkwood as Mrs
Kempster who had alerted her to the fact that this new position was available. Carol had initially
wanted to teach at Keps, which was her father’s old school and she was offered a job there but
decided to go to St David’s.
Mr Manolios was head of the prep school and Br Timothy was appointed head of the high
school in 1975.Carol’s classroom was next to the old swimming pool which had been filled in to
make a playground for the new grade 0 class. She was given free reign with the grade 0 class
with Br Timothy visiting her on a couple of occasions. Some of the boys were intrigued with him
and one asked him why he was so hairy and another, whether he was a boy or a girl as he was
perceived to be wearing a dress!
There was a large sandpit in the playground, which Carol used for some of her outside
activities. Sadly it had to be covered up as some cats began to use it as a cat box! She recalls
that the school, was very contained and she likens it to a village which has now grown into a
city. Carol had no supervision at all, everything was based on trust. She was only twenty years
old and in charge of 25 young boys. Carol visited other nursery schools and spoke to the
teachers to gain a further understanding of 4/5 year olds; she was also greatly assisted by Jack
Friedman of “Play and Schoolroom” who helped her a lot. It was quite lonely but the parents
were fantastic and supportive. There were two cousins in the class Brian De Decker and
Michael Luyckx whose parents took her under their wing and helped her. Michael Luyckx now
lives in Australia and Carol is still friendly with the mothers. Parents in those days didn’t
challenge teachers at all and tended to have a huge respect for them.
At the end of 1975, the grade 0 class was declared a tremendous success and the school
decided to open another class. Mrs Carolyn Hughes joined her and became the other grade 0
teacher. They had a good relationship with each other and could feed off each other’s ideas and
support.
One of the parents pointed out to Carol that one of her pupils (eye) was larger than the other
and suggested she have it checked. It was discovered that she had a tumour on the pituitary
gland, which was operated on and she subsequently had to have three months leave. A feisty
boy, Fabio Morettino had told his mother that Carol had died; so on Carol’s return the poor
mother saw Carol and thought she was seeing a ghost. Marilyn Middlewick decided that she
would like to swop from grade 1 and Mr Manolious was fully in agreement so Carol moved from
grade 0 to grade1.
Carol, had a good relationship with Darryl Boswell, Heather Joseph, Trudy Elliot, Prue Johnson
and many others. Another headmaster she worked with, Mr Freilich was a good man. As for Mr
Murphy, Carol didn’t get off to a good start with him as, at his welcoming cocktail party, Carol
was laughing together with some colleagues and for some reason Mr Murphy thought they were
laughing at him. The next day she was called into his office where he reprimanded her. Murphy
was eventually found out to be a professional wrestler and vacated his position as headmaster
of the College.
Carol was married to John Ansell in her fourth year at the school. Some years later she was
sadly diagnosed with a second tumour and left as a full time teacher, although she stood in for
teachers on long leave etc, filling in for Sue Harwood, the remedial teacher, in 1985. When Sue
returned from leave she resigned and being concerned about having 3 different teachers in a
remedial class Carol was asked to return. Carol was pregnant with her son Nick and returned
when Nick was 6 weeks old. Andrew Castle was born in the April and Nick in the June and the
two maids looking after the boys would get together and have fun with the boys. The boys were
often seen in the back of Julius’ trailer behind the tractor. A space was made in a corner of an
office for Nick whilst Carol was busy and Nick grew up at St David’s going on to a play school
for two years then to Limber Lost in Rosebank.
Carol eventually came back full-time although she had in the meantime franchised the
“Bookworm Bookshop” in 1985 when Nick was born. She recalls Cynthia Hildyard advising her
to move her classroom to the warmer one where she remains now.
Carol remembers brothers such as Br Bernard who was very artistic, a photographer and
woodcarver and together with Carol and Heather Joseph had pottery classes with one of the
mothers, Mrs Heather MacLeroth every Friday afternoon. By the end of the class it was late
and Carol and Heather were very hungry. Br Aidan was in charge of the stores and had a
wonderful, dry sense of humour and would tempt Carol and Heather with a packet of marie
biscuits, trying to satisfy their hunger, giving them one biscuit at a time. Carol remembers Br
Aidan embarrassing Heather with the story that he was present at Port Alfred beach when
Heather lost her green crocheted bikini top at Kelly’s beach. Carol and John had been invited
there and Heather was also holidaying there at the same time. Br Aidan had in fact overheard
Heather recounting the story to Carol whilst they were in earshot of his office. Br Aidan also
nicknamed Heather “Queen of the Visigoths”.
There were good memories of Jackson the cook who cooked for the brother’s community. One
day a divine smell was circulating around the brothers kitchen and Carol asked what he was
cooking and managed to get Jackson to write his recipe for ox-tail stew out for her. Carol
forwarded this recipe many years later to Br Aidan. She still has the recipe today. The
groundsman Barney Erdis had a wife who used to cook/bake a variety of muffins or scones with
cream and jam at first break and then make mock crayfish and avocado or pumpkin fitters or
fish and chips for the staff to enjoy at second break.
JLE May 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Cecil Thokoane 1985

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  • 2012

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Cedric Du Trevou 1989

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  • 2014

Interview with Cedric Du Trevou – 1989
Cedric joined St David’s in standard 1 (grade 3) and his brother in grade 0. Cedric came from Sandown
primary school. His father was Swiss and his mother Mauritian. His brother was already at St David’s when
he left Sandown and, even being a quiet, reserved boy it didn’t take him too long to settle in.
His first teacher was Mrs Orford followed by Mrs Anderson and Mrs Hurley. He enjoyed the sport especially
tennis and remembers Mr Castle who coached soccer. All the boys were scared of him as he was very
strict and tough on discipline, however his bark was worse than his bite, he had a good heart and all the
boys respected him. Cedric recalls some camps whilst in the prep school and one camp in particular where
he got up to some mischief with Jason Benater and was suitably punished by Mr Castle. Jason and his
brother Lee are now Cedric’s brothers in law.
Cedric was average academically and loved to go home and get involved with electronics.
high school was very different from the prep, a big open space but he eventually settled in and began to
enjoy it.
He was a member of Benedict house and went on the grade 8 camp. It was a bad year for discipline in his
group and Cedric remembers the headmaster a Mr Murphy, the wrestler and a dictator of note. Mark
Reeves was head boy that year and Br Anthony came back until a new headmaster, Mr Frielick was
appointed. It was a difficult time for the school and Cedric experienced two more headmasters, Mr Boswell
and Mr Davies before he matriculated.
Cedric enjoyed the hockey, tennis and swimming but was not a member of any 1st team. He had acne and
was teased quite badly. He now really enjoys his sport and cycles, runs and swims on a regular basis.
There were not any cultural activities in those days but Cedric helped backstage with the lighting for some
school plays.
Of the teachers he remembers Mr Egan who came from the UK, he was obviously unsure of himself and
the boys used to make fun of him. There was an incident when one of the boys caused a minor explosion
destroying half a desk, Mr Egan got such a shock and fell off his chair. The boys got quite a shock too as
they were only expecting a spark and not such a big bang. There was a Mr Cotze who was very strict.
Heather Joseph taught him Art in the prep school and he recalls that she was a nice, genuine person whom
the boys could talk to up until matric, she always had time for them.
For the matric Dance most of the boys invited girls from the Rosebank Convent and Cedric recalls that his
partner ended up with 7 distinctions. The after party was held in Bryanston and there were a number of
boys rather the worse for wear the following morning. Cedric still cannot understand the need to drink so
much which is still prevalent today.
There were only two classes in his matric year. It was a tough time for Cedric as his mother was diagnosed
with leukaemia before his final exams and died a month later. The teaching staff were amazingly supportive
of the family and without their help he would not have coped.
After matriculating, Cedric joined Motorola and was sent to the technikon and for training in house and
overseas. After 8 years with the company he left and joined his father in the hotel business and the
Formula One Hotel Group. He is currently the CEO for Ecomotels a new more price conscious group of
hotels based near OR Tambo Airport.
Cedric married Marianna in 1998 and has two children, a daughter at De La Salle and a son in grade 10 at
St David’s. There was no doubt in his mind that his son should attend St David’s whatever the cost.
Cedric is a member of MOBS and can remember donating a brick for some fundraiser whilst he was a pupil
and is happy to assist MOBS when he can.
JLE April 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Charles Fontaine 1966 (Standard 8)

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  • 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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Charles Robinson 1981

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  • 2013

Interview with Charles Robinson – 1981
Charles first came to St David’s in 1973 as a day boy although he had boarded in the UK at the age of 5
and then again at Michaelhouse. He preferred day school as he spent more time with his family.
Charles enjoyed the sport and was captain of the 1st tennis team; captain of 2nd cricket XI; 3rd rugby XV; a
member of the athletics and swimming teams and was awarded a scroll for tennis. He recalls winning the
inaugural school golf championships at the Wanderers.
Charles remembers Trudy Elliott trying so hard. He remembers being initially told that he wouldn’t have to
learn Afrikaans as he had arrived from the UK, only to be told in standard 8 that he would need it for matric.
Charles hated exams. He enjoyed watching Br Timothy rant and rave.
He took a girl called Angela to his matric dance which was a low key event. He recalls being quite excited
on his last day at St David’s even though he still had no idea of what he was going to do.
On matriculating, Charles was exempt from army service as he was from the UK and studied for a National
Diploma in Hotel Management and at the Institute for Financial Studies. Charles is currently self employed
as a financial consultant and lives in Natal. He is married with two sons aged 17 and 14. He is involved with
church community projects.
He last visited St David’s this year for the first time since he left whilst he was in Johannesburg attending a
reunion organised by Sven Arp.
JLE November 2013

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Charles Rowlinson 1972

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  • 2012

Interview with Charles Rowlinson – 1972
Charles was a day boy and one of four children, his two younger brothers attending Marist and an elder sister
attending Parktown Convent, with a mother who was involved with catholics all her life. Charles’ mother joined
the Holy Convent Sisters as a young graduate teacher and ended up as headmistress of Parktown Convent.
Charles actually attended grade 1 and 2 at Parktown Convent before starting standard 1 at St David’s, Marist
Inanda.
Some teachers he recalled from prep school days were Mrs Scaafsma - standard 2, Mrs Janusch -standard 4,
Mrs Kenesovitch – standard 5 and high school, Andre Malan – Afrikaans in standard 7 -8, Bob Blyth – Maths,
Mr. Zach from Eastern Europe who taught History and was a great character and Mauve Hartman who taught
English.
Charles got on well with the Brothers – Anthony, Mario, Aidan, Andrew, Vincent, and Timothy, most of whom
also taught him at some stage in his 10 years at Inanda.
Charles recalls how he and his younger brothers, Greg and Anthony cycled to school from Craighall Park. He
states that many of the boys cycled to school and Charles remembered the bicycle shed which housed around
500 bicycles. Parents didn’t play such a big role in the school in those days and the boys were in fact very
independent and self-reliant. Charles and his brothers got to school very early each day playing soccer before
school. He recalls always busy with some sport or other during breaks. There was a very good and healthy
school ethic.
Charles thoroughly enjoyed Inanda and participated in most sports, rugby, playing in the 2nd and 3rd team,
tennis – 2nd’s and athletics he ran the 800m and long distance events. He recalled that 1972, his matric year
was actually a great year for the school, it was a top rugby school winning every game but one when they drew
with KES. He recalls the game very well, as the sun was setting. George Nichas, an outstanding rugby player
missed a rather simple kick to put Marist in the lead and win this game. The school also did very well in
swimming, athletics and tennis. Besides being well recognised as a very strong sporting school in this era, it
also produced outstanding academic results.
Having a boarding school meant than many boys came from the far reaches of South Africa and from
neighbouring countries.
Charles said it was great watching the 1st team rugby play and other special events. Nolan Springer was a
great sprinter, one of the greatest in Marist history. He was outstanding and broke every record.
Academically Charles was usually in the top ten. Charles feels that he was very privileged to have attended
such a school and is pleased that it is still today such a great school.
After acquiring a JMB matric, Charles went to Wits University on a part-time basis while doing his articles at
Ernst & Young, to study accountancy and after qualifying as a chartered accountant, undertook an MBA.
Charles’ own children 3 sons and a daughter didn’t attend St David’s as the school was going through a tough
patch at the time his eldest son was ready for school in the post Br Anthony period, so his sons went to St
John’s, Hilton and St Stithian’s. Charles was a long serving member of the St.Stithian’s council and became
chairman of the inaugural St Stithian’s foundation. He was very close to David Wilde the schools headmaster
and later school rector. He had contact with Paul Edey when he was setting up the St David’s foundation.
Charles has a background as an entrepreneur and is currently executive chairman of WIZZIT Bank, banking
for the unbanked which led to the creation of the globally recognised WIZZIT model which utilises cell phone
banking in reaching unbanked markets. Formerly he built up his own group from the age of 29, Renwick
Group, which became part of the listed group EDUCOR, where Charles was CEO and chairman. When
Charles left, after the group delisted in the early 2000’s he felt that he wanted to put something back and
wearing a social entrepreneurs hat, together with his partner, formed WIZZIT. He has also been C
chairman of the Rosebank Catholic church finance committee for the past 32 years and a member of the
archdiocese finance committee advising the Archbishop on financial, administrative and property matters for
the past 20 years.
Charles is a member of MOBS but is not as involved as he would have been had he been a parent at the
school, however he has been actively involved in organising reunions for 10, 20, 25, 30 years and now 40
years. He is pleased that 30 boys will be attending with 6 coming from overseas.
JLE October 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Cheryl King 200 - 2015 Staff

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  • 2014

Interview with Cheryl King - Staff – 2000 to 2015
Cheryl was interviewed by Rick Wilson, prep school headmaster and Mike Forder, bursar and was initially
employed as a secretary to the deputy headmasters Willy Castle and Darrel Webb, taking over from Robbi
Orr who had been employed in the position for 5 years. She shared a very small office in the grade 1 block
next to Carol Ansell’s classroom together with Pam Groenewald who was Rick Wilson’s secretary. Cheryl
recalls that when she was interviewed she said she was familiar with Ms Word etc but then went and did a
course. She had to find her way and sink or swim, organising her own space her own way.
Cheryl and Pam had to share the grade 1 toilet with the little boys! Cheryl remembers hearing Carol Ansell
often saying “Excuse Me” to her pupils which she still does to this day. Cheryl’s younger son Calvin was in
gr 2 with Carol Ansell as his teacher, and found it convenient to come and visit his Mom whenever he had a
problem.
In those days there were no emails or internet and Cheryl was inundated daily with phone calls from
parents as communication was very difficult. Working for Willy was a shock to the system as he and Darrel
Webb were like a pair of Duracell bunnies, always on the go. At the time Glenda Anderson was head of the
junior primary phase, Paul Edey was headmaster of the high school with Malcolm Williams, deputy head
with Lindsay van Heerden and Dawn Arnold as their respective secretaries.
Cheryl saw to all the little boys’ aches and pains sending them to matron when necessary. She was
responsible for the newsletter which was printed every thursday working from pieces of paper which was
very time consuming. In addition to this Cheryl also had to help Norman Cahi, the chairman of the PTA with
all his work and often helped Ron Thackwell. Cheryl also typed out exam papers including Mike Mitchley’s
Maths paper which was quite a challenge with an old computer, entering all the symbols and formulae. As if
this wasn’t enough Cheryl assisted teachers who were not computer literate with their termly report
comments
Cheryl also had to deal with the grade 7’s and the pupil development programme which had different tiers
that the boys worked their way through. The grade 7’s then had responsibilities which were good for them.
Darryl was making huge strides in the prep school introducing a new curriculum in addition to the
implementation of Edu Admin. Previously every child had a file; everything was printed and went by pupil
post or more official documents by the postal service.
Cheryl enjoyed Rick Wilson as a boss he was lovely to work for and then the secretaries used to get one
half day off per week. Being a working mom at the school was great in that she could go to the various
assemblies and sports events that her sons were involved in.
Willy Castle was given a cell phone, he then phoned non-stop for everything and anything and would often
call and ask Cheryl to come to the field where he would then tell her what he needed. However they both
worked well together, working hard with long hours often until late at night. Cheryl had to attend all the
functions, there were 75 boys in each grade and each received a personalised letter signed by Rick Wilson,
Willy Castle and Darryl Webb. Copies had to be made and it was all very time consuming.
Cheryl also organised the tours for each age group, grade 3 to 7, booking transport and tickets. There was
no school driver and Red Arrow coaches were utilised. Willy Castle also had a full teaching load followed
by sport in the afternoons.
Cheryl moved to the current prep secretaries’ office in 2003 when Pam resigned and Coleen Donaldson
took over as secretary to Rick. It was exciting then to receive emails but Cheryl still had the responsibility to
call all the schools to confirm venues for all the sporting fixtures. Willy used to put all the fixtures on an
enormous sheet of paper and Cheryl then had to type it up.
Cheryl remembers the fantastic end of year and end of term functions, with parties accommodating all ages
with everyone having good fun.
In 2005 Chantal Ratcliffe was employed as a consultant to the school .Tony Chappel was then chairman of
the board and an advert was placed for the foundation post for which Cheryl applied. Paul Edey, who had
been appointed executive head in 2002 and Chantal interviewed Cheryl. Cheryl was nervous about taking
the job and making the move and discussed this with Willy appreciating his advice. She and Chantal
started working in what is now the deputy head’s office and for the first four months Cheryl updated the
MOBS data base inherited from Stephan Contardo. Patrick Busschau was chairman of the old boys
committee at the time. In 2006 they moved offices again and were in what is currently the admissions office
and the Foundation trust was officially launched.
Initially Cheryl and Chantal’s focus was raising money for the chapel which was completed in 2007. There
were so many events to organise to introduce the Foundation around which there was a lot of negativity.
Functions were organised for old boys and many didn’t arrive. The old boys were pessimistic about the
Foundation and felt that they were just being asked for money.
In 2008 Chantal and Cheryl moved once again to an office in the admin block. Chantal left in 2010 and Lara
Klement was appointed Foundation and marketing manager. The marketing then almost took over, but
MOBS was getting stronger. Lara had a huge task on her hands, introducing a new corporate identity and
she bought in new marketing material with the gazebos, banners and hand outs. Cheryl also had to work
hard with the old boys getting them back into the school. Paul Vidas took over from Patrick Busschau as
chairman of the old boys and now with Willy Castle in that position he has brought a new energy and
enthusiasm with him. The database is now sitting on 5000 old boys, the Grahamstown and Cape Town
events are very successful and Mike Greeff has also made visits to the UK and to Australia. There was a
different vibe this year at the Cape Town reunion with a sit down dinner at St Joseph’s. Facebook is a great
media giving MOBS and the school exposure. Before he left, Malcolm Williams was very supportive and
was instrumental in introducing the old boys assembly, in particular the memorable assembly in 2003 for
old boys of 1973 and 2003. Mike Lamusse organised a get-together and dinner for the 1973 MOBS which
was incredibly successful. In 2007 the Matric Rite of Passage was initiated which was a positive move to
introduce the current matrics to MOBS.
Cheryl finds her role very frustrating at times but is passionate about MOBS and the potential of the
Maristonian and acknowledges that she couldn’t cope with all the events without the help of the support
staff. The highlights of the Foundation and MOBS functions were this year’s rugby festival with the St
David’s 1st team rugby beating their opponents, St John’s. It was an emotional and unforgettable day
seeing the old boys and the school boys together doing the war cry with Willy Castle standing under the
rugby post.
Relationships have been built over the years with parents, staff and MOBS. The old boys have been
tremendous and it is very special now with Willy Castle being prep headmaster and chairman of MOBS.
It has been a difficult decision for Cheryl to resign and to work on a part-time basis although it is better for
Cheryl and gives her more flexibility but still enables her to continue to pursue her relationship with Willy
Castle and 2016. Carey Fisher is now handling the marketing so Cheryl can focus on the alumni. Fiona
Budd’s focus is on fundraising , strengthening the Foundation and bursary funds especially the Willy Castle
bursary fund, having already introduced Snapscan and insituting debit orders. The years ahead will be
challenging and difficult but Willy will be happy as he will always be remembered with his bursary fund.
Cheryl will also be working on the MOBS bursary fund raising more finance, but MOBS will be Cheryl’s
major focus and Willy Castle is very supportive.
The school has grown substantially and it is comforting to see MOBS bringing their sons back to the school.
It’s all about relationship building and is almost like a circle within the school – admissions – prep – high
school – then MOBS.
JLE November 2014

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Chris Busschau 1965

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  • 2011

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Chris Daras 1976

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  • 2012

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

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Christopher Emmanuel 1994

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  • 2010

Interview with Christopher Emmanuel - 1994
Chris feels that school was the best and worst time of his life. He left St David’s as rather
insecure. The one thing that St David’s did not do is discover his singing talent - he is about to
release his first disc. He feels the brothers did well in introducing children of colour into the
school. He enjoyed having black children in his class from grade 0.
St David’s has helped him to where he is today and he feels that the boys leaving school now
are far more emancipated, more free, than his class was when they left St David’s. He feels that
the reunions are an excellent idea and it is a good way of integrating the older old boys with
those who have just left.
Chris was a prefect and head of The Bishops in Matric. On teachers through the years:
Mr Kotze – very strict and used to use the ruler often.
Mrs Schaafsma – he will never forget her
Ms Henning – she was inspirational and a wonderful person
Mr Rankin – Maths corporal
Mr Girdwood – was a brilliant English teacher
Mr Lambe – The Bishops housemaster
Mrs Marais – a lovely person
Mr Norton – the best teacher he had at school
Interview: 13 October 2010 GA

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Christopher Stanley 1973

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  • 2012

Interview with Christopher Stanley – 1973
Chris joined St David’s in 1968, standard 6 as a boarder. He remembers his first day vividly with
his mum and dad unpacking his things and making up his bed in the rather large dormitory. It
was quite daunting not knowing anybody other than his four other brothers also joined the
school, with his younger brothers becoming day boys as the boarding closed after 1972.
Some of the teachers and brothers he remembers are Mrs Haines, Mrs Hartman, Br Bosco, Br
Anthony, Br Aidan, Br Timothy, Br Andrew and Br Bernard. They were all good teachers and he
recalled that everyone was terrified of Br Andrew nicknamed “Drac” who was a good Maths
teacher.
Chris enjoyed his time at St David’s and being a boarder meant that he was able to really
participate in the sport playing 2nd team rugby and cricket. He also swam in the inter-house
swimming gala but wasn’t in the team. The boys sometimes used to play golf at the Wanderers
on a Wednesday and one of Chris’s memorable moments was when he beat Fulton Allem.
Discipline was strict but even so some boys used to bunk out regularly. The boy in the next bed,
Mark Agar used to jump out of the window after lights out and returned at about 2am and never
got caught. The boys only got one weekend off a term and had some visiting Sundays. The food
wasn’t too bad but rather predictable. Chris also enjoyed mowing the school lawns with the
tractor.
He remembered doing a skit with some of the boys at the Sandown civic centre.
Academically Chris did very well until standard 8 when he became lazy and as a consequence
didn’t get a very good matric.He initially went into the navy and did his year’s national service
before going to Wits University to study for a BComm. He didn’t complete his degree and got
married in 1977 and went to work in Secunda on the Sasol 2 Project. With hindsight he regrets
not completing his degree. He now runs his own business selling printing, stationery and office
products.
Chris has one child a daughter now aged 15 who attends Fourways high school. He often visits
the St David’s to watch the rugby and has been to several MOBS dinners and will be attending
the 1972 reunion in November this year.
He is still in touch with many of his contemporaries – Billy Cotton , Harry Curtis and Terry van
Heerden who all came from Zambia, George Nichas, Trevor Maher, Ross and Gary Hunter,
Nolan Springer, Trevor Maher, John Williamson, Martin Rumpelt, Mike Mac Farlane and Vince
Mahoney.
JLE October 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Clare Hedding 1996 - 2014 Staff

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  • 2012

Interview with Clare Hedding Staff – 1996
Clare started teaching at St David’s in the middle of the first term in 1996 when she took over
Glenda Burn’s class whilst she travelled to New Zealand.
Apart from the usual curriculum, Clare also taught Religious Instruction throughout the term
which was new as no-one had been teaching the subject at the time. After being at the school
for only two weeks, and having been approached by parents who were unhappy about their
children not being taught RI, Clare attended an executive meeting and presented her point of
view.
The following term, Rick Wilson phoned her as Yvonne Sandie the grade 4 teacher had had a
stroke following an attack on her son. Clare ended up teaching until the end of that year but, as
her children were still quite small she normally preferred to do relief teaching.
Mitzi Claasen, together with Sandra Tarlie, was the remedial teachers and Mitzi asked if Clare
would join the remedial team teaching remedial Maths. She remembers teaching in what is now
Magda Ceruti’s office for 4 years, mornings only.
During this time she had thought that maybe her son James could attend the school but was
rebuffed rather rudely by the then prep headmaster’s secretary.
Willy Castle then approached her and asked if she could supervise the retreats for each class,
holding them in the brother’s chapel. Then Marilyn Middlewick the Music teacher resigned, she
also taught Religion to grade 7 and Clare was asked if she would cover that too. Shortly
afterwards Father Brewer was diagnosed with cancer and struggled to say Mass. Clare then
assisted him in distributing the communion. Father Brewer subsequently retired in 1998 and
died in June1999.
Once again Rick Wilson called her in and asked if she would consider becoming the RE coordinator
when, at the time she was not even a member of staff! Darryl Webb joined St David’s
and, together with Glenda Anderson wanted to start a bridging class. Clare then started a grade
3 and 4 bridging class and went to have a look at the way the Ridge school organised theirs.
The classes began in 2002 and two years later reverted to grade 2 and 3. Clare was also
teaching RE to grade 7 and was running the chapel. Cindy Cronje eventually joined the staff,
teaching the grade 2 bridging class followed by Helen Mills.
In 2004 Clare had a break from St David’s and went to Grahamstown to support her son whilst
he was studying for Matric. She returned to St David’s again the following year and retired at the
end of 2011, her position being taken by Libby Hill. However Clare was not allowed to languish
long as a retiree and Rick called her the following year, 2012 and asked if she could possibly
teach Afrikaans to the grade 4 and 6 classes. She found this hard in the beginning but now
loves every minute of it.
The amazing thing about Clare’s career at St David’s is that she didn’t actually ever apply for
any post but was always asked to step into the breach and she felt that God just wanted her to
be there.
Clare had strong links with St David’s as a child. Her brother John was a pupil at CBC in
Kimberly 1949 -50 but was expelled and eventually became a boarder at St David’s as transport
was a problem. Clare remembers the dormitories as being huge with so many beds in them.
She also remembers an occasion when she was very young and she came to the school, John
took her to his classroom holding her hand. The brother asked her some questions and then
proceeded to pick her up and placed her on a desk, she then recited “Mary had a little lamb”,
the boys all cheered, which pleased her no end.
John was a very good sportsman, superb runner and top of his league for many years. In his
Matric year, 1954 he played the role of the admiral in the “Pirates of Penzance” and was
awarded the victor ludorum. John was very much a people person and became a prefect. His
nickname was “Doc” after his surname Livingstone.
The bell in the Chapel of Mary is there because of John. The nuns of the Carmelite Convent in
Wynberg gave him their chapel bell when the convent closed down.
Clare’s younger brother Brian, matriculated at St David’s in 1959 beginning his career there in
standard 2. In 1954 their parents went overseas for 3 months; Brian became a boarder and so
enjoyed the experience that he stayed on. Brian had a friend Derry Moore of an Irish catholic
family and Clare was introduced to Derry’s sister Coleen which was the beginning of a firm
friendship which continued until Coleen became a nun with her brother Derry taking up the
Marist Brotherhood. Derry did his training in Melbourne, Australia and taught at St Charles for
many years.
Clare’s mother was very involved with the ladies committee and organised fetes as a fund
raiser. She also supervised the matric dance and the catering. Clare remembers accompanying
her mother during school holidays and recalls that Piet the cook gave her biscuits. Her mother
was a keen gardener and used to take slips for Brother Pius and helped him to build the rockery
by reception. Clare’s father retired in his 50’s and used to “consult” with Brother Edwin regarding
maintenance and building for St David’s.
When the school needed some stalls for a fete, Clare’s father built them on the back lawn at
home and the school uses the same design to this day. Clare’s mother ran the handicraft and
needlework stall and made fairy dolls.
JE August 2012

Egenrieder, Julie

Interview with Costa John 1973

  • ZA ZAR STDS 202000744
  • Item
  • 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

Egenrieder, Julie

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