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Newsletter compiled by the St David's Old Boys Association
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A Trip Down Memory Lane - 2020 Rugby Tour
A trip down memory Lane by: Gus Garcia – Old Boys St David’s
It is 2020 and I’m feeling totally nostalgic to reflect back on my years at St David’s, which ended 31 years ago, but whose memories remain as vivid as though they were only yesterday. Perhaps this is because my son Kiko is in his Matric year and I have been fortunate enough to relive a second school experience through his journey at St David’s. I have been frequently struck by the similarities of the school, then and now, in terms of the fundamental ethos and values, which have not deviated nor been altered in any way. St Davids has steadfastly refused to change its core character in a fast changing environment and results orientated world. The School has suffered and faced many challenges over the years, only to re-emerge stronger, brighter and wiser for having withstood these headwinds.The Marist Brothers ethos of family, community, simplicity, humility and reflection through prayer and mass, are ubiquitous in all aspects of school life. Whilst these values are not always apparent in ones early years, these essential truths reveal themselves as one progresses in age and consciousness. How amazing was it to discover that my son was being taught by 4 teachers who taught me. How satisfying to watch the accepting demeanour of our boys, truly representing our cosmopolitan nation, roaming the school and the playground.Walking the corridors after so many years brought in a rush of memories both good and bad. The laughs, the tears and the shared hopes and fears of my fellow brothers. Some have passed on, others are in far away lands and yet others remain close at hand, but all are remembered and loved. St Davids was never considered a top sporting school and yet every age group punched well above their weight in all categories. In fact being the perennial underdog resulted in a tighter knit group and forged friendships and brotherhoods for life. Representing the St David’s first team for rugby was a cherished moment for me and one I could share joyfully with my son when he was asked to join the touring team in 2020. It has been 18 years of wonder and joy watching you develop into a wonderful young man. I am excited for Kiko and his band of brothers who will embark on a fantastic adventure, irrespective of whether they win, lose or draw, so long as they cherish the endeavour and the journey and most importantly take courage to be men of virtue and value.
Egenrieder, Julie
Brother Anthony Remembered by St David's Old Boys
It was with great sadness that I received the news of Brother Anthony’s passing. Please convey my condolences
to the Marist Brothers’ community.
He was a wonderful headmaster who inspired great effort on the part of his students and he was central to the formation of the SDMOBA in 1964.
Clearly too, he was a very compassionate man and his work at Kuruman will, I believe, see him richly rewarded in Heaven.
God bless him and may his soul rest in peace while his memory lives on with those of us privileged to have been taught by him.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas Wickins
What sad news.
I've just seen your email and immediately guessed from the subject line that the news about 'Ornge' would not be good. As you say, he was a remarkable man, a superb headmaster and a wonderful human being. St David's owes him so much.
My memories of him are vivid between 1958, when I arrived at 'Inanda' as we knew it in those days, and 1962 when I matricu-lated. The name 'Ornge' is self-explanatory if one ever heard him say orange and, though probably not quite as well known, his invitations to all the parents to stay on for a 'bry flies' after Sports Day was almost his trademark too!
Orge will be greatly missed by those who were privileged to know him and especially those of us who were taught by him. If anyone made it easy to convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade (or Celsius as it is known now), he did! A wonderful man.
Please add my name to any book of condolences that you may set up.
Brian Austin '62.
Found on: http://www.ibo.org/ibworld/documents/nov03.pdf
The students established practices
that have remained the same
for subsequent trips throughout the
past decade. We are guided by
Brother Anthony, a Scottish Marist
brother who has lived in the
Kalahari desert with the local population
for over 20 years. Anthony
was headmaster of St David’s
Inanda, one of the most prestigious
schools in Johannesberg, South
Africa. He is now 76 and serves as
a presence, a symbol that someone
cares for these people whose towns
are still not marked on most maps of
South Africa.
Best Regards
Antonio Senatore
I left St Davids in 1955 and I am trying to think back all those years about Brother Anthony.
There are many things that I don’t remember too much anymore, but it sad to loose him.
We cannot be at the funeral, but will say prayers at home here in New Zealand.
Kind regards,
Derek and Gail Stansfield
New Zealand
I am sorry to hear about this. A lot of my success is a result of the disciple he instilled in me. Please send my regards to Brother Aidan …
John Ryan Old boy 1957 1963
I was at St Davids in 1971-1973 along with my 2 brothers as we lived in RSA while my Dad was assigned to Jburg with an Ameri-can Corporation.
I am now a Catholic priest serving in Afghanistan with US and NATO forces. I will be sure to remember Br Anthony at the All Souls Mass that I will be celebrating within a few hours.
It was Br Anthony who met with my parents in Oct 1971 when we began our odyssey of life in a foreign country. His manner did a lot to console my Mother who was up to that time, very concerned about our education in what was a unique environ-ment for us.
Br Anthony, along with the Marist order will remain in my prayers.
Fr. Steven Brosk
LC, Chaplain, USAF
Had heard ...that Bro Anthony was not at all well so his passing away does not come as a surprise but is nevertheless a sad event. I have very fond recollections of the man -- his humour; his patience when unmercifully teased about his accent by some of the boys; his sense of fairness. He taught us much; much more than the three R's !
Regards
Max Leipold
Matric 1959
My thoughts and prayers with all involved at St Davids - Br. Anthony was a legend. On a light note I was disciplined by him when only in Std 4 for a schoolboy prank - cost me 3 of the best!!
Sincerely
Mike Peel (Nelspruit)
I was saddened to hear of the death of Br Anthony Docherty. Both my brother Michael and I studied at St David's during his time there. We respected him greatly, as did our parents. One of the fondest memories that I have is of Br Anthony appearing at prize giving with bright red hair! - It seems that Br Bosco (afterwards Br Mario) convinced Br Anthony that his gray (almost white) hair could do with a bit of brightening-up. Br Bosco prepared a potion of red hair dye. There was no problem with the idea of a red hair dye. - It seems that Br Anthony's hair was originally ginger, before it turned gray.
The problem was with the shade of red. - Bright, fire-engine red!!! Obviously a source of great amusement for all the school boys. It took many months for his hair to return to its natural colour. Rest in peace Br Anthony.
Larry Griffiths
(pupil at St David's Marist Inanda 1964-1972)
St David's Marist Inanda
Constitution of the Marist old Boys Association. Annexure D
Undated draft of the Constitution of the St David's Marist Old Boys Association
St David's Marist Old Boys Association
Details of the old boys constitution compiled by the St David's Marist Old Boys' Association. (MOBS)
St David's Marist Old Boys Association
Gavin Jansen - email sent by James Harrewyn on the occasion of Gavin's funeral
1 A4 email printout
St David's College Inanda
1 A4 newspaper cutting
St David's Marist College
Interview with Adriano Iorio - Matric 1997
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
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
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 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
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 Allan Schwarer 1941- 1945
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
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
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 Andy Simaan 1972 Standard 9
Interview with Andy Simaan – 1972 Std 9
Andy really enjoyed being at St David’s and wanted to write his matric here but, due to a
disagreement between his father and Brother Anthony, he was transferred to Marist Brothers
Observatory. He hated it there and was bullied by both boys and teachers. There was great
rivalry between the two schools and they hated each other. The dispute between Brother
Anthony and his father concerned a boy who was initially denied his colours and scroll for rugby
but was eventually awarded both. This taught Andy not to interfere with his children’s schooling.
Andy would have loved to have continued at St David’s and knew he would have become a
prefect and would have been awarded his honours blazer, however, maybe he would not have
met his wife who was also a pupil at Rand Tutorial.
Andy began his time at St David’s in grade 2 coming from St Paul’s. His first teacher was Mrs
Scaafsma, Brother Anthony was headmaster, and Brother Andrew vice-principal, who was
Spanish.
He believes he was fortunate to have had the brothers who were very dedicated and the
boarders who brought a special spirit to the school. He was very sad when the boarding was
closed down as he felt that the boarders held the school together. It was great to be brought up
a Catholic in a Catholic school, the boys were exposed to other religions and other cultures,
boys both rich and poor which made them much more tolerant. The boys were passionate about
the school.
Andy and his brothers used to have to milk the cows in the morning and bottle the milk which
they then delivered on the way to school. They lived on a farm in Buccleuch and times were
hard.
Andy was no academic but loved his sport. Andy’s father coached 1st team rugby. Andy was
selected for Craven rugby and was also a good tennis player.
The boys used to challenge each other at the end of the year as to how many cuts of the cane
they had received during the year. They used to line up for caning. He and John Jacob were
caned by Brother Andrew with his chain and they both bled. However he feels they were
brought up as gentlemen and had the right upbringing at school but were very naughty.
He missed 7 months of school, and eventually went to Rand Tutorial College for two years
where he wrote matric and became head boy. On leaving school, he went into the army in 1975
and 1976 which he loved because of the sport. Then he started working in a motor spares shop
and at the age of 27, married with two children, he decided to work for himself and opened up
Retail Management Services. He has been in the business for 30 years and now employs 1000
people; his company represents 12% of the total non-food business throughout South Africa
and neighbouring states. He opened an office in Dubai 4 years ago, is involved in property
development, game lodges and hotels. Another not so happy event was the jailing, 7 to 8 years
ago of another former St David’s pupil Gordon Ramsey who embezzled him out of R16 million.
Instead of giving clients gifts at Christmas he and his wife used that money to open an
orphanage catering for 30 children and adopted a little boy when he was 3 weeks old. He is now
7 and has brought a lot of joy into their lives. He has two other children and three grandchildren,
his daughter Samantha taught at St David’s for a year and his son Gareth runs his own hotel
group.
Gareth was also a pupil at St David’s and Paul Edey supported him and because of that he
became a prefect. Paul saw in him what his parents did and Gareth idolised him. There is an
amusing story about him. He was the first Marist boy to win the Rotary award which he very
reluctantly accepted at a school assembly. He was reluctant as, on one occasion at the age of
16 whilst his parents were away, he “borrowed” his father’s Porche and, with a group of 4 other
boys, was caught in a police road block. They were locked up, some teachers bailed them out
and negotiated on their behalf, hence they were allowed to do community service instead of
being jailed, which is how he got the Rotary award. As he was the leader,he got all his mates to
help him and the other four to finish some of their projects. He didn’t want to admit to this and
only told his father much later when he was 21.
Another story which Andy told was very moving and occurred during the time when he and his
wife were recently married with no children and staying in a block of flats in Highlands North
Corner, Johannesburg. A cafe owned by Uncle Harry Nicolau was below the block of flats. At
the end of every month Uncle Harry noticed that Andy and his wife did not buy their usual loaf of
bread and bottle of milk. He then sent his young son, Stavros upstairs to deliver bread and milk
to them at no charge, at the end of each month. Andy questioned Uncle Harry on the first
occasion and said it was not needed. Harry knew that Sandy and his wife could not afford the
bread and milk and insisted that he wasn’t prepared to listen to any excuses and that young
Stavros would be bringing up bread and milk at no cost. Harry knew that one day Andy would
pay for it.
When Andy and his wife moved out of the flat it always bothered him that he had not thanked
Uncle Harry appropriately and made a mental note to do something for him to show his
appreciation. The bread and milk had been important to him and his wife when they had very
little else to eat. However, when he did go back to the cafe to see Harry it was to find out that he
had recently died.
During his later years in business, he and his brother interviewed many people for the position
of marketing director for their pharmaceutical company. Andy was adamant that an
inexperienced young man that they had interviewed was the only choice. Without knowing him
and recognising him they employed him and he proved to be a great success in their business.
One night at a conference, Andy related the story of Uncle Harry to his directors and clients and
made the point that everyone should ensure that they always thanked someone for assisting
them, no matter how small or large the contribution was and, that he had regretted all his life
that he was unable to thank Uncle Harry for the kindness he had shown towards his wife and
himself. He would never be able to pay him back as he had already passed away. The young
man they had employed responded and said that was not correct as he had paid him back, he
had employed his son. The young man’s name was Stavros Nicolau!
JE January 2012
Egenrieder, Julie
Interview with Angelo Haggiyannes 1974
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 Stanley 1968
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
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
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
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 Billy Williams 1949 - Standard 7
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
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 Boris Babaya 1950
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
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
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
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 Bryce Wray 2005
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
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 Cecil Thokoane 1985
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 Charles Fontaine 1966 (Standard 8)
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