Old Andrean International - Register details

The stories that roll in from Old Andreans of all vintages are a wonderful tonic. Mac has to admit to deriving much pleasure from producing this publication. Keep the information coming! Bill Tribe (U3841) sent Mac a couple of anecdotes from the early half of last century (Mac: I bet that makes you all feel old!). Bill says he remembers clearly the day that Dudda Ford came into Pud Lawrie’s class wearing glassless spectacles, and having assiduously cleaned, adjusted and played with them for most of the lesson, finally put his finger through the frame and scratched his eye. This at last caught the attention of Pud, who promptly sent him to the Headmaster for suitable punishment. He also said that Charles Fortune told him that by the time he was 25 he would be either wearing a dog collar or languishing in jail. 10 years later, working as a journalist in Leicester, he went into the press box where Charles was commentating on the South Africans’ match against the County XI. Standing behind him unnoticed, Bill said, "Neither a dog collar nor jail yet, Charles", and without turning around, Charles said, "William Tribe!" Such is the memory of some schoolmasters! Bill has his own webpage, and hopes that old contemporaries will contact him. Bill is married to Anna, a direct descendent of Admiral Lord Nelson. Ken Hodgson (A4447) sent a newspaper cutting describing her meeting with Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte-Wyse, to mark the 200th anniversary of the naval battle between their famous ancestors, when Nelson destroyed Napoleon’s fleet at the battle of the Nile, cutting off his escape route from Egypt, in 1798. Recently, wreckage of the fleet, including considerable treasure, has been discovered off the Egyptian coast, which has enabled historians to piece together a great deal of information about the battle. Bill and Anna now run a B&B in the UK. News of Robert Southey (U8690) is that he is in the asset consulting division of Alexander Forbes. He completed his BSc degree in agriculture at Natal University, then completed a post graduate diploma in management at the Wits Business School. After a year overseas he joined Alexander Forbes. Chris Berlyn (M9294) distinguished himself recently by winning the air force trophy for the Best Air Crew during an annual competition to gauge the operational capabilities of the country’s five helicopter squadrons. He and his flight engineer, Chris Opperman, pitted their skills against 9 other crews in a five day contest at Bloemspruit Air Force base, where they participate in a series of scenarios, including tactical navigation, night flying, fire fighting, gunnery, search and rescue, hoisting, precision hovering, and obstacle course. (Mac: beats shinning up the drainpipes at Mullins after a night out!) Chris distinguished himself greatly in the early part of this year when he was involved in a series of wonderful, daring rescue missions in Mocambique during the floods. (Mac: we salute you.) Alan Fairbairn (A8385) is currently living in Germany and working for an engineering company. He says he is having a great time with a pipe band that he and a friend "grounded" there. His email address is user 462462@aol.com, and he would be pleased to hear from OAs there. After travels in Europe and central Africa, David Melunsky (M7881), a practising advocate in Cape Town, marathon runner and keen cricketer, received an LlM degree in maritime law from UCT at the end of 1998. Brother Jonathan (M7982) is to be capped in 2000, having gained a doctorate in Politics at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. He is working as an accounting consultant in London, and is married to New Zealand-born Beverley. They have two daughters. He still finds time to play cricket soccer and tennis, and to take his daughters boating on the Thames. News from the Harare Branch is that the 1999 OA gathering was held at the home of Mike and Ann Butler with some 45 OAs and Old DSG girls attending. They have been meeting at the Butlers’ home for some 6 years now as most OAs have outgrown their dinner suits and can now come smart casual which has attracted more to come. Mike Butler was again elected Chairman with Brian Bostock as Secretary/Treasurer. Sarah Walker (nee Bayliss) is in charge of the DSG side. Without the help of Ann Butler and Brian Bostock it would be very difficult to continue these gatherings. The meeting was held early to enable Mike and Ann to go to College for the St Andrew’s Tide celebrations - Mike had to attend as the 1999 President of the OA Club. David Martin (U5761), after a post as Headmaster of Claremont Primary in Cape Town from 1989 to 1997, took early retirement, then spent the rest of 1997 and 1998 doing "contract" replacement work for the Western Cape Education Dept. in various Cape Schools. In 1999 he was offered a teaching post at St George’s Grammar Prep. The Principal at the prep was Jenny Mallett, sister of Springbok coach Nick Mallett (A7074), and David Mallett (A7476), Headmaster of Western Province Prep. Following Jenny’s sudden and untimely death in March 1999, David Martin was appointed as Acting Principal for Term 2. He then applied for the post and was appointed Head from Term 3. He is married to Diana (neé Baker) sister of Peter (U4852) and Graeme (U5256). They have two sons, Andrew and James. Mac is curious about the number of OAs who have become Headmasters. College has its own OA Head in Antony Clark (A7074), and his contemporary Philip Hawke (G7074) is Headmaster of Kingswood. Off the top of his head (intentional pun!) he can think of Paul Edey (M7074), Head of St David’s in Johannesburg; David Wylde (A5862), Head of St Stithian’s; and Jonty Driver (U5357) Master of Wellington in the UK. Peter Terry-Lloyd (U5559) retired from the post as Headmaster of John Ross College in the Empangeni region in 1997, but was then asked to found a new Independent School on a farm just outside Richards Bay. Grantleigh has grown from 7 pupils to 280 in two years. He hopes to see the first matric class go through in 2003, by when he feels he should have earned his retirement! (Mac: Perhaps those Heads not mentioned will write in and help compile a more complete list.) Roger Clark (father of Antony, and long serving member of staff) writes that he was listening to the radio one day and happened to hear Patricia Glyn interviewing two OAs in succession: Robert Bramwell-Jones (E6063), an artist in London who was visiting SA, and Felix Unite (G6768), who takes canoeing and rafting tours on the Orange River. Richard Morton (G9194) has recently started his own business, Advanced Website Technologies, building websites. He is based in Cape Town - his phone number is 083 3053481. News of Anthony Driver (U5255) is that he is retired from his career as an airline pilot, and living in Arizona. He married a Canadian, and they have 3 children and 2 grandchildren. Michael Cawse (A7882) has been working for Gordon Verhoef & Crause since the early 90’s, and has recently been transferred to Port Elizabeth as manager of the East Cape region. Hopefully he will become involved in the PE OA branch. Julian Goldswain (X8892) wrote that he was still studying (Mac: by now he should have completed this) at PE Technikon, doing a final year in photography. He did some graphic design at East London Technical College in 1993 before working for Rob Pollock (A6771) in his photolab until 1996. He hopes to freelance in Port Elizabeth during 2000 and plans to travel extensively soon. He hopes also to contact any OA’s who are Christians, and his email address is zooty@webmail.co.za. Ross James (M5559) writes from Cape Town that Tudor Lacey (M5659) jetted into the RSA with his family via Cape Town in February 2000 for a trip down memory lane at Western Province Prep, College, Wits, and a family wedding in Pietermaritzburg. The CT visit saw a number of OAs emerge from the woodwork: Steve Leith (A5659), Tony Mullins (M5862), Dick Ratcliffe (M 5459), Alan Simpson (M5458), Keith Hall (X5458), Brian Ratcliffe (E5357), Mark Russell (E5155), and of course Ross James. Alan Simpson was holidaying in Cape Town while completing a retirement cottage in Llandudno. News of Tudor Lacey is that he lives in Tucson, Arizona, and is a stockbroker – VP Regional manager for Wells Fargo Securities. His phone number is 091 520 529 5950. (Mac: there was no evidence of side arms, nor did he arrive by stage coach …) The July reunion in 1999 for 1959 leavers brought snippets of news from various OAs of that vintage. News of another star swimmer, Neil Oldridge (M5659), is that he has moved recently to Indianapolis. (Mac: why do all the swimmers end up in the USA? Or has he perhaps taken to motor racing instead?) Rob Inglis (M5659), after spending a number of years in the States, is now lecturing on the MBA programme at Harare University. Chris Valentine (A5559) is the National Vice-President of the SA Sport Hunting Federation. Rob Gray (E5660), is an orthopaedic surgeon in Canada, now in semi-retirement, which allows him time to coach cross-country skiing. His son, George, is the number one junior in Canada, and Rob, who is a provincial coach, had three trips in 1999, one with the national junior team to the World Junior Championships, and two with the provincial team. Rob would still like to do a couple more Iron Man Triathlon races if his arthritic knee will let him! Dave Crews (M5760) has moved around the country quite a bit since 1980, having worked in Gauteng and Kwazulu Natal, but has returned to Hougham Park (Mac: near Coega in the Port Elizabeth district, for those who have never heard of it!) in 1992. He says he has not attended any sort of College function for at least 25 years, but hopes to make the effort in 2000. (Mac: and you live just down the road! Come on, inspan the old oxwagon, and come on in!)) Alastair Weir (A5559) says he is reaching the end of his teaching career, and is intending to retire at the end of 2000, just before his 60th birthday. Chalky Hall (X5659) is living in Wellington, New Zealand, where he heads the largest wool broking firm, Brooksbank. Mike Schweitzer (M5660) moved to Switzerland at the beginning of 1999, where he works for CHIS Insurance services Ltd, Guernsey. His address is Rue de Rugin 2A, CH 2034 Peseux, Switzerland. Peseux is a village next to Neuchatel, north of Lausanne and Geneva. Email: mike@chis.ch. Mike Ethelston (X5054).has moved from Durban to Le Manoir du Fief es Neveux, Mont Felard, St. Lawrence. Jersey, JE3 1JB in the Channel Islands. (Mac: any other OAs also dodging taxes might care to look him up!) Rusty Gillett (E5457) sends news of his sons. Greg (E8387) is living in the USA where he is studying further to upgrade his UCT BA degree so that he can teach in the USA (Mac: shouldn’t that be "downgrade?"). Matthew (E8791) after finishing his articles in Toronto moved to London to take up temp work, with the intention of earning as much as possible while touring and playing even more! Giles (E8590) continues to teach at Milnerton – accounts and business economics.He is coaching the 1st XI cricket. Nigel Marsh (E7983) writes that he and his wife intend to emigrate to New Zealand, after some time spent working for Illovo Sugar in Durban. Sister Susie (ODSG) is a doctor in Christchurch, while father Paul (staff, H/M of Merriman) is living in the UK. Mother Ann, who spent many years treating rugby injuries at the College San is still a practising physio in the UK. (Mac: all that training should come in handy when dealing with the injuries amongst the football fans!) John Rance (X/G6266) writes: To continue the "Big-Bang" saga – it was around 1964, crackers had been banned for Guy Fawkes which was the best incentive the powers-that-be could have given us to have them! (Schoolmasters were (are?) so naive!). (Mac: … perhaps we should ban academic study??) We even made our own. "Moose" Matthews (L C Matthews G62/66) was our explosive boffin. He designed a particularly awesome bomb out of aluminium filings mixed with potassium chlorate (I think), detonated with a charge of gunpowder, ignited with a wick made of string soaked in a potassium nitrate solution and allowed to dry. If you kept the same solution strength and used the same string, you could make a pretty accurate time fuse. (Masters could never have taught us all this in chemistry!) I never asked him, but I am sure it was this type of fuse that Arsie used. A number of us had been caught bunking out to "blow-up" DSG with crackers. We all had to line up to get flapped six by Jock Cawse before assembly. Arsie was first in line and he vanished right afterwards, presumably to set up his "bomb". As Jock was ranting and raving (if you could call it that) in assembly about how the cracker nonsense should stop, the "bang" went off behind him on the stage. Everybody knew it could only have been Arsie, but he was sitting in the hall with us. Obviously he had used a time-fuse, timed to perfection. The masters appeared to be stunned with fury, but I can still recall the barely concealed mirth on the face of our cricket ‘pro’ (Alan Oakham I think). The culprit was ordered to own up and Arsie (true to form) finally did when it was revealed that the person would not be expelled. Peter Henderson (E7579) after leaving school began the production of TV Commercials and Documentaries, moving on to owning his own production company. In 1988 it was his company that was involved in the marketing video of SAC, DSG & SAP. The following year he moved to London, and began a career as an international news cameraman. He has established a considerable reputation in this field, and founded Newsforce, a company which provides transmission facilities to all the national broadcast companies in the industrialised world. His company employs about 50 people world-wide, with offices in Nicosia, New Delhi,Sydney, Singapore, London and Johannesburg. He describes his experiences as "a great adventure. I have been lucky enough to travel the world filming and witnessing history. I filmed the release of Terry Waite and John MacCarthy from captivity in Lebanon. I was in Baghdad, Israel and the Gulf during the Gulf War and covered the American operation into Somalia to help feed those starving people…. It has really been such a lesson in life."Norman Lucas (D3339) has recently moved to a retirement village outside Howick, after living in his home for 48 years. Following in the footsteps of his father, G.W., he had a long career as a schoolmaster. George Symons (M4851) writes that he has moved to the UK, honouring a promise made to his (English) wife when they married that they would move to England once he retired. Having delayed the move for some time, he finally could put it off no more. His younger brother David (M5154) was awarded special recognition by the SA Amateur Golfers recently for his enormous contribution to the game. He was for a number of years the Amateur tennis playing captain and then non-playing manager. Dan Cherrington (G6465) writes that at the time he left St. Andrew’s, he was the only person NOT to have matriculated who was allowed to wear the Old Andrean crest and tie, an honour of which he is still proud today! After his two years at College he was sent to live with his aunt in Idaho Falls, as his father had been transferred to Kingston, Jamaica. He currently lives in Kansas City (actually Fairway, Kansas - a suburb). His e-mail address is kccooking@sprintmail.com. Fred Lovemore (E4447) sent in this account of his last schooldays: By the second week in December 1947, only the matrics were still at College. By then, the rest of the school had gone home for the holidays. On our last morning at College, before the exam due to be written that morning, we had all gathered in the Drill Hall where Mr Currey, the headmaster, addressed us briefly and bade us farewell. After we had taken our places, Mr Currey walked briskly into the Hall, as he had always done in the past, accompanied by the Headboy of the school. As usual we all rose and stood in silence, witnessing for the last time the routine of a Drill Hall assembly. The usual prayers were said, and then the unusual happened, blasting us all into surprised muteness by the significance of the Headmaster’s opening words. "Good morning, gentlemen!" he began. "This is your last morning at St Andrew’s College as students," as if we had not by then begun to realise that, by those opening words, our status had changed for ever. I suddenly felt cold all over: I knew then that, when we left the Drill Hall that morning, a new life faced us all, with new challenges and responsibilities. How would we … how would I shape in meeting this new life? Mr Currey reminded us of the traditions upon which College had been founded and the principles by which it had been directed. And here, I recall clearly the gist of his message, couched in words similar to these: "Great men have passed through the school, to leave their stamp upon the world. Will you do the same? You have a choice when you leave here to be as great as those who have gone before you, or greater. Or you may choose, through your circumstances, to be less. (And the following words I have never forgotten!) But gentlemen, whatever you do, for God’s sake don’t behave like cocks and hens in a barnyard!" Some laughed, others stared mutely ahead. Both gist and words have tramped up and down, loud and clear, through the labyrinths of my mind and life. I thought you might like to tell everyone what "Rook" said to us that morning over fifty years ago! News of two of our Rhodes Scholars, Halvar Mathiesen and Dougan MacKellar, is that they represented the Trinity College 2nd VIII in the annual "Torpids" Boat Races and the crew did very well, achieving 4 bumps and earning themselves the traditional oar. In a bumps race, 13 boats line up 11&Mac218;2 lengths apart, and chase each other up the Isis. If you manage to catch up and bump the boat ahead, you score a bump. If they score 4 bumps, the crew is then entitled to buy a wooden oar blade and have their names and the boats they bumped painted onto the face of the blade, along with the crews they bumped. Dougan also won his blue for squash, playing at No. 5. He reports that he plays a great deal of squash, for Trinity College, for a club in Wallingford (in the Oxfordshire County League), as well as his match for the university. Julian van den Berg (X6165) writes that he is still at Eskom, having left the Civil Service some 13 years ago. Here he has held several posts, and is currently the Employee Assistance Programme Co-ordinator for Gauteng. They provide services to some 8500 employees, primarily counselling and the implementation of preventative programmes to ensure that personal and job related problems do not have a negative effect on employees’ performance. He is curently enrolled at Rand Afrikaans University, studying for his Masters in Clinical Social Work. He continues: "At College my nickname was barrel, as I was pretty overweight when I arrived, and although I did lose some weight I was never what one might call slim. Some 24 years ago however I started to run, and have over that period run most of the major marathons in and around East London and Johannesburg, and have also completed the Two Oceans and the Comrades. I am no longer running competitively … but do run daily to keep fit and remain at 59 kg, which means I am a slip of my former self. (Mac: wow! "Barrel"? Sounds like he would hardly qualify as one of the staves these days!) Just out of interest, when I was in my mid thirties I actually ran a standard marathon in under 3 hours on two occasions. On these occasions I looked back on how I suffered going up Cradock Road as a newboy, and would have loved to challenge some of the seniors who made my life so miserable to try to keep up with me." Over the past ten years he has served on the board of St George’s Children’s Home, where Mike Denoon Stevens (A6064) is the chairman, and Lance Japhet (M3839) is also a member. Peter Bryant (M3539) sent us the accompanying photo, taken with a Brownie box camera in 1936, of a half term picnic on the beach of Salt River. The trip was undertaken on the back of Mr Edge’s lorry. The three young masters are Centre, Charles Fortune; 2nd from right Danie Craven; and far right Peter Harvey. Peter Bryant is squatting in the front, centre. He can only recognise one other person, Peter Newton. (Mac: though the reproduction is poor here, perhaps some other OAs will be able to identify themselves from this?) Grant Fowlds (U7579) writes that he has been living on the Natal North Coast since 1991, farming sugar and bananas (Mac: I bet he has a good recipe for banana liqueur!) Hugh Duncan Brown (A5963) sent us this photo titled "not much worse for wear" (Mac: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder …). l to r Richard Birch (A5963), Hugh, John Lake (A5963) and Vince Lockwood (A5962), who were all newboys together in Ingleside. The picture was taken in Port Alfred just before the 19th hole. (Mac: Ah! He means "not much the worse for wear – yet!") Richard still farms at Dordrecht, and John farms at Alexandria. Vince lives in England, but comes out in Dec-Jan to find the sun and Hugh lives in Johannesburg. JR Starkey (A3637) reports that he has not visited College since his son Anthony (A6266) left Armstrong. Anthony is now Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty of Durban Technikon. JR spent the war years in the Royal Navy and the SA Navy. He married a V.A.D. Nursing Sister in Ceylon, and recently returned to the spot where they spent their honeymoon. He is now retired and living in Durban North. He says he thinks often of his days at College, being taught by such wonderful characters as Harco Iwema, Scopie Lucas, Ashley Brooker, the Murrays, and Foxy Knowling. Hugh Amoore (G6468) has been the registrar at UCT for some years. In the photo he stands on the lawn in front of the UCT buildings, displaying a very special number 1: he holds the permanent number one for the Two Oceans marathon, won by his being the first participant to run 10 consecutive Two Oceans events. Our man formerly on the QE2, Craig Hammond (X8790), decided after 2 years service (12 hrs/day, 7 days a week, 3 months at a time) to call it a day,and decided to leave on 16 April 1998, 86 years to the day after the Titanic sank. He says he didn’t fancy his chances any more! He moved to Zambia, and opened his own restaurant, the Copperpot, at Copperfields Guest House in Kitwe. 6 months later he decided to move on, as the market was very slow. He took a job in Ireland, but at the time of writing was due to fly to Maine, USA, where he has been accepted as a head Server at the White Barn Inn, a small luxury hotel. The hotel’s restaurant has recently been awarded North America’s Highest Rated restaurant for Fine Food and Dining. The 5 star deluxe Inn is home for George Bush during the summer months. Brother Paul Hammond (X8589) is still running his own Bar/Restaurant in Wigan Lancashire, where he has been for the last four years. He is now the proud father of a baby girl. Craig tells news of a number of other OAs: Clive Shenton (G8893) is flying in Luanshya, where he is studying for his pilot’s licence. Corry Hartman (G8888) is apparently running Mfuise Lodge in the Luangwa National Park, where Peter Cornelius (G8790) and his wife bumped into him. Peter later opened his own Pizza delivery and bar/restaurant. The pizzas are still thriving, but Peter is now in Dublin, where he is working as a financial adviser. (Mac: his Irish clients are likely to plough their money into the potato fields ...) In Mazabuka, Craig ran into Shane (X8489) and Charmaine (ODSG) Coventry, who run a restaurant there. (Mac: clearly OAs developed a healthy liking for food while at school!) Kevin and Mark Coventry (cousins?) are apparently in the States studying Agricultural Science. He also bumped into Mark Graham (X8890), and Bobby (X8891) and William (X8790) Guillum-Scott, now in Cape Town. He also describes running into Malachy McNamara (E8689) at the Springbok – Ireland match in November 98, in a crowd of 61000! (Mac: I bet he wasn’t the only other OA there!) Craig also mentions the "Annual General Meeting" of ex Zambians or "when-wes" in the UK, which takes up a long weekend in a chosen hotel, where they drink, then drink some more, and meet up with old friends. Numerous OAs show their faces, such as Thomas Fagan (G8384). (Mac: where there’s booze ….) Richard Blake (E8184) writes from the Netherlands about the school website as follows: As an old boy, I finally got the opportunity to loo (sic) through the site. Although a little slow from here in The Netherlands, it made for some pleasant reading. (Mac: he probably reads the Bagpipe in the same room of the house …) Alastair Campbell (E8185) writes of the UK OA branch and its activities: I do not know the exact dates of the AGM and the braai, but as a general rule they are held on the following dates. Braai: 1st Sunday of June AGM: last Thursday of November. Graham Louden-Carter (G6569) writes that he and his family are now living in Miami, Florida after his company transferred him there in 1998. In late 1997 the Company was working for, Grand Metropolitan, merged with one of its major competitors, Guinness, to form a new Company called Diageo, which now consists of: United Distillers&Vintners - the world’s largest drinks company; Guinness Brewing, The Pillsbury Company, and Burger King. He continues: "You noted in your piece on me (Bagpipe No. 25) that I have stayed very close to alcoholic beverages most of my career - well this is to let you know that I am still afloat!!! I am now Human Resources Director for the recently merged drinks company, United Distillers & Vintners, with responsibility for our Latin American markets. Our major brands, some of which you might possibly have partaken of yourself (Mac: you bet!) are: Johnnie Walker, J&B, Smirnoff, Gordon’s, Malibu, Baileys.......and the list goes on!!! Our headquarters is in Miami because it is the best "hub" from an air travel point of view - Miami is very much the "capital" of Latin America!! Having discovered that not much Afrikaans is spoken in Latin America, I am now learning Spanish, which is pretty much essential if you are going to be doing business in Latin America (even the Brazilians understand it, even though they speak Portuguese). Not exactly a tough assignment, Mac - Miami, Latin America, Johnnie Walker.............?!!!! (Mac: sigh!) I would be interested to know if there are many OA’s in Miami, and if they ever get together? (Mac: just advertise in your local press a party offering free samples of your company’s product, and you’ll find all the OAs very quickly (and probably quite a few Old Kingswoodians too!) It is 30 years since I left College...............how can it have gone so quickly (yes, I know, it’s all that booze!!). (Mac: you took the words out of my mouth!) Chris Read (A6568) writes from Perth Australia "I do stand-up and after dinner talks. Good laugh guaranteed - ask thePerth OA’s. If any OA associations are looking for something different for their dinners I will go anywhere for free. Sadly I am a poor man and they will have to meet my modest expenses ex Perth." He continues with a tale of the 1967(6?) National Youth Science Week. "Since the Official Secrets Act binds for only 30 years it is probably now safe to prise open the crypt and exhume the story of the 1967 National Youth Science Week in Pretoria. Five College boys qualified among the top hundred or so science students in the country. I went with Andrew Judge, Hugh Amoore, Simon Susman and Graham Douglas (or was it Phil Womersley?). We met the sole Kingswood qualifier on the train to Pretoria and he joined us in the six bed dormitory at the hostel. "We enjoyed Professor Julius Sumner Miller’s (remember the "glass and a half" of full cream dairy milk in every bar of Cadburys?) thought provoking presentations and the visits to various places of scientific interest, but I won’t bore you with the details. The most memorable moment for this cynic came when a rather overwhelmed laboratory assistant opened the back of some new seismological device about which he had considerably more pride than knowledge, to the extent that he seemingly exhausted his understanding of the technology when he disclosed to us that the cylindrical components marked "Eveready" were the batteries. "I must digress briefly to explain an issue which will be significant later. Although the convention was based firmly on bilingualism, tacit warfare raged between the English speakers and the kerels with the savagely cropped short back and sides, gaudy striped blazers emblazoned with honours in "kultuur" and complexions which spoke eloquently of the unpopularity of Phisohex on the Plattelande. (Terry Stevens once told the Armstrong boys that we were a bunch of "valetudinarians" (he didn’t explain it so I won’t) because, when he was at College, the only cosmetic product the boys used was Lifebuoy soap. Good on you Boet!) Being a Zambian, I didn’t speak Afrikaans at all (until 6th form when I spent some time in Arie Blacquiere’s Language Lavatory) and, much to the chagrin of the boere, we played this trump card repeatedly during the Week to ensure that all the presentations were conducted or repeated in English. "But what you really want to hear is the shameful story of our depraved nocturnal activities. To avoid embarrassing subsequent heads of Graham, Upper and College, several captains of industry, a venerable cleric and a prominent academic administrator, let me adopt the convention that I will refer to "we" and you can decide for yourselves to how many and to whom I might be referring. OK? Nobody gets "outed". "Cutting right to the chase, there we were in the lounge bar of the Railway Hotel in the throbbing heart of downtown Pretoria, sampling various concoctions in which vodka may have featured prominently. One of us was properly attired in College uniform but discreetly hid it behind a newspaper all night. I think it was the first experience of alcohol for some of us and we monitored our deteriorating mental states by reciting poetry and Newton’s laws of motion. All in all it was rather tame in comparison with what we have all done since and what probably passes for a quiet night in the Junior Prep Room these days, but it is an absolute certainty that Canon Aubrey would have expelled the lot of us had he ever heard a tenth of it. "The following morning we awoke to find that the Kingswood boy (no, honestly) had experienced an adverse digestive reaction during the night and the whole room stank of vodka. In the best South African tradition, we went off for our day’s excursions confident that someone else would deal with the malodorous mess, and we thought no more of it. After dinner that evening, the chief organiser of the convention, who would have fitted smoothly into the role of camp commandant at Dachau or Belsen, proceeded to tear strips in Afrikaans off two miserable boys who had overslept and missed the day’s tour. They both ended up in tears, pleading for mercy, at which stage Herr Hitler, eyes ablaze and with flecks of spittle starting to appear on his lips, glowered round the room and asked rhetorically if there were any questions. If I had had any inkling of what was to come I would have kept quiet but, smart ass even at that age, I asked him to repeat in English. After the customary enquiry why I didn’t speak Afrikaans, he simply suggested that I ask one of my friends. " ‘And now I turn to something rrrrreally serious’ he boomed. ‘The following boys will stand.’ And he proceeded to read out the names of the five College boys. As I recall, he didn’t specify what we had done but he said that we had disgraced a great school and our sins would be reported. I suspected that he would take particular delight in terminating the academic career of the Zamboon/Englander. Hugh had previously scored some brownie points by complimenting Adolph on his comprehensive bilingualism and he was chosen to seek to defuse the situation. In his best Afrikaans (which was probably not spectacular) he explained that, in fact, it was a boy from another school, who for some reason had not registered in that room, who had caused the affront. Adolph made some enquiries and found out that six beds had been slept in and we heard no more about the matter. Just as well, or the 1967 Matric results, which went unsurpassed for many years, would have been short of about 14 distinctions. "The final twist came on the way back to Grahamstown when I took Andrew Judge to the pie shop near Bloemfontein station. I was used to the train from Zambia and Botswana being shunted repeatedly in and out of the station so I wasn’t concerned to see our train heading off as we returned. Hugh was bellowing through a window at the top of his stentorian voice and we waved back as the train headed south and kept going and going and going. It seems the Pretoria train didn’t need so much shunting. We later learned that Hugh was telling us to find his father (the Bishop of Bloemfontein) on the platform and get him to overtake the train. So there we were, stuck in Bloemfontein in the middle of a Saturday night with a pie each but no ticket, identification or money. We talked our way onto the East London train and Andrew’s parents drove us up, arriving in Grahamstown a few hours after the others. Which is why we were sitting in a Grahamstown café in our civvies eating hamburgers during Evensong, thereby breaching a further 3 school rules, and, shortly after, we snuck back into our respective houses and suited up. Apparently when Terry Stevens had been told of the disaster, he simply responded that I was old enough and certainly ugly enough to find my own way back and whenever I did would be too soon. Ah the "time of our lives"!" Nick Smit (M7478) writes that after university he worked in France, England, and for the last ten years in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he is MD for a company manufacturing and marketing biotechnological feed and alcohol ingredients around the world, but is shortly to move to Guelph Ontario. His brother Robert (M7273) is managing their farm in Velddrift. Nick reports that he sees a lot of Peter Kleinschmidt (M7478) who is a very successful banker in Toronto. Ryan Froman (X8488) is now living in Perth, Australia, where he studied computer Science at Edith Cowan University. His address is 2/ 44 Michael Street, Yokine, Perth, WA, 6060 and his email is ryan@gic.net.au – he would love to get in touch with people from his year, or other OAs in Perth. Another far-flung OA is Antony Northcote (X6872), who is now also living in Australia. David Steck (X8588) spent a year and a half in the army in Lohatla (about 100 km from Upington). He then worked for Standard Bank for a while, and then went into Dry Cleaning. He left Bloemfontein in 1994, and has a dry cleaners in Johannesburg. (Mac: this sheds a new light on being "taken to the cleaners" !) David Gardner (Day 3741) sent us information on all his family. His father, Charles Gardner (U18981903) was the first Rhodes Scholar in 1903. He returned to Grahamstown and practised as an advocate. In 1916 he became a Captain in the Royal Field Artillery and won the MC. He returned after the war, and eventually became a judge, then Judge President. He served on the College Council. His 5 sons all attended College. Murray Gardner (Day/M2731) became a Lt Col. in the SA Airforce, but transferred to the RAF during the war as a Wing Commander. He won the DFC and was awarded the OBE. He came back to Grahamstown, and became his father’s registrar until he qualified as an attorney. He is now living in a residential hotel in Durban, and wrote a book about his air force career. Christopher Gardner (Day3036) followed his father’s footsteps in winning a Rhodes Scholarship. He qualified as a doctor, and worked at Guys Hospital.During the war he joined the South African army and was posted to Italy. He settled in Jersey in the Channel Islands, where he has practised medicine for 40 years. Julian Gardner (Day3437) was in the SA Airforce during the war, and settled in Durban afterwards. John Gardner (Day3539) was seconded to a British anti-tank regiment. He was twice mentioned in despatches. He was in business in Port Alfred in the late 70’s and early 80’s. David Gardner himself joined the airforce as a pilot and flew Wellington bombers, hunting U-boats from Ghana up to Dakar and down to Point Noire. After the war he qualified as a doctor at UCT. He sent his 3 sons to College: Robert (U6164) married an Australian and practises as a doctor in Sydney, having qualified at Wits. He ran 11 Comrades Marathons, and was placed in the top 10 on 4 occasions. Charles (6367) went into journalism, and is now a sports editor living near York in the UK. He too has run the Comrades several times. David (U6871) is an accountant in London. He ran several Comrades also, winning a Silver Medal in 1974. John Robert (Tim) Wiley (X4651) is still farming in the Hopetown district, where he has been ever since leaving College. He writes that he has got to know George (M7174) and Louis (M6973) Steytler quite well – they farm 15 kms from him. He sent a newspaper article from the Volksblad written about the Steytler brothers, which Mac’s feeble bilingual abilities probably misinterpreted badly, but the gist of it seems to be that they were chosen as the North Cape finalists for the Potato Farmer of the Year competition. (Mac: first translation had them as Potatoes of the Year, but a second try produced this interpretation!) The brothers were given a sum of money by their father in 1977, and they pooled it and took out a bank loan to buy a farm. Today, 22 years later, they are making their mark in the farming community. They farm a 1100 ha farm near Hopetown, raising mielies, wheat and potatoes. Louw studied at the Elsenburg Agricultural College and Louis spent two years studying in Minnesota in America. Both of them are members of various farming committees in their area Alan Higgs (E4750) writes that a disease rendering his hands and legs numb, for which doctors can find no cause, has restricted him to a wheelchair since 1995, and he has had to give up farming. He has taken to writing a "best-seller" instead, reasoning that if his old schoolfriend Jon Burmeister could, so could he. (Mac: we await publication!) He continues that his brother David (E4853) has also retired, from the veterinary section of Pfizers, following a bad car accident in which he broke his leg. He is much better, though both of them are temporarily retired from the tennis court. They hope to play tennis for the OAs against College in 2002, at the Espin Centenary, and drink a toast to their father WA Higgs (A/E1900/03), a founder member of Espin House. The Old Andrean Club President for 1999 Michael Butler (E4146), President of the OA Club 1999, comes from a family with long connections to College. Mike’s father Edward was at College (in Espin) from 1917 to 1920. Mike began his College career during war years too. He took over the running of their Shamva farm as his father was badly wounded in North Africa. He married Ann Strong, and they had three sons and a daughter. His eldest son David currently has two boys in Espin, making them 4th generation Butlers. Apart from being a very successful commercial farmer, Mike involved himself in numerous organisations where his expertise and leadership were greatly appreciated. In 1974 he was presented with the Commercial Farmers’ Union Farming Oscar for 1974 for outstanding contribution to Agriculture. Mike was a popular and natural choice for President of the Old Andrean Club for 1999, the last year of the century, at a time when he has three of his grandchildren at College and DSG, with more to follow! Anthony Bateman (X5659) writes : It was good to read in the 1998 Bagpipe of ‘Chalky’ Hall in NZ, along with Mark Haythornthwaite. Chalky, Russell Edey and I were promoted rather precipitously to share a small study in Merriman when our elders and betters were ousted for heinous crimes. I rather think that they had taken to using other people’s cars to race up and down the EL road after midnight. The last I heard of Russell was that he was something big in the City (of London, naturally) as is/was our fellow Merriman contemporary Jonathan Mervis. My wife Susan and I moved permanently to England in 1979 and our English born daughter and son love coming to the Cape on holiday every few years. Your notes on the elevation of my brother Philip (Mer 59-63) to No.1 Creative Thinker of the Universe in 1997 (No. 5 in 1998 and in 1999, I believe) set me thinking. I came across the 1959 matric results of my entire year at College recently and was surprised at just how badly even the presumed brainboxes had fared. My own dismal double failure in Add. Maths, despite the ministrations of ‘Drac’ Lucas, rather offset a distinction in English. Despite this, I won a bursary to Rhodes after spending a year at the Naval Gymnasium (Saldanha & Gordon’s Bay) along with two or three College contemporaries. I lasted just three weeks at the Rhodes temporary campus in the PE Snake Park before signing on as a cadet aboard the Safmarine flagship. This led on to twenty years service in three navies (RN, SAN & the Sultan of Oman’s Navy). In time I came to regret my distinct lack of intellectual achievement, and I shall be graduating (probably for the last time) in 2000 in the beautiful cathedral of Ely, near Cambridge. My sum total of full time university study is just one year and four weeks - three weeks at Rhodes (PE), a year’s MBA at Cranfield and a one week Open University summer school in experimental cognitive psychology. The rather rudimentary education provided by the 1959 vintage JMB matric has stood me in good stead, nonetheless. My seven matric subjects have provided a workable foundation for a BA, BSc(Hons), postgrad. Diploma in Psychology, MBA and MA of which all but the first were completed at UK universities. The English system of taking just three or four subjects at ‘A’ Level seems much too restrictive with children having to make choices at 14 or 15 in order to enter for specific degrees four years later in a highly competitive academic environment. I discovered that letters after one’s name are important factors in securing international consultancy assignments. I spent half of 1998 in Addis Ababa helping to reform the Ethiopian civil service on a UN funded programme. The family joined me for Xmas in my Hilton apartment and we flew to the remote north of this vast country to visit the Crusader era churches hewn out of solid rock at Lalibela. The art, music, religion and culture of the ancient Abyssinian civilisation are fascinating but my return for a third assignment was frustrated by a border war with Eritrea. The contribution made by 50,000 South Africans to ousting the Italians is remembered still, and there is a Smuts Avenue in central Addis. Obituaries are no longer printed in the Andrean Magazine, and as the Bagpipe is a lighthearted publication, it is not intended to devote much space to obituaries here, so Mac intends to record only the very briefest and most important details of those Old Andreans who have answered the peal of the great slave bell in the sky. Obituaries will be recorded only if Mac is sent information. Victor Llewelyn Pringle (U2529) spent most of his post schooling years farming and involved in nature conservation. He served with the First City during the war. He served on the Bedford Divisional Council for 26 years, and was chairman for 3. He was one of the earliest game farmers in the Eastern Cape. The museum and conservatory at his fam, Huntly Glen contain what is probably the most comprehensive privately owned collection of birds’ eggs and succulents in the country. He discovered two new species of succulents and rediscovered two others thought to have become extinct. Thebutterfly collection there is the most complete collection of Cape butterflies in the world. He and his son discovered no fewer than 15 new species, and two of these were named for them: Thestor pringlei and Lepidochrysops victori. He was also honoured by being made an honorary Life Member of the Wildlife Society in 1976, and in 1990 becoming the third recipient of the East Cape Game Management Association Conservationist of the Year award. He died on 13 October 1999 at the age of 88. Noel Hugh Robertson was in Mullins from 1924 to 1929, finishing as a College Prefect. He played for the 1st XV in 1928 and 1929. He subsequently represented Border at rugby from 1931 to 1938. He played in the Springbok trials in 1931 and 1933, and was selected for the Junior Springboks in 1932 in the side that toured the Argentine. At the time of his death he was the longest surviving member of this side. He practised as a Chartered Accountant in the North Eastern Cape, retiring in 1980.
Old Andreans mentioned in this issue
[A] Anthony Bateman (X5659) Hugh Amoore (G6468) [B] Peter Baker(U4852) Graeme Baker(U5256) Chris Berlyn (M9294) Richard Birch (A5963) Richard Blake (E8184) Robert Bramwell-Jones (E6063) Peter Bryant (M3539) Michael Butler (E4146) [C] Alastair Campbell (E8185) Michael Cawse (A7882) Dan Cherrington (G6465) Antony Clark (A7074) Peter Cornelius (G8790) Shane Coventry(X8489) Dave Crews (M5760) [D] Anthony Driver (U5255) Jonty Driver (U5357) Hugh Duncan Brown (A5963) [E] Paul Edey (M7074) Mike Ethelston (X5054) [F] Thomas Fagan (G8384) Alan Fairbairn (A8385) Grant Fowlds (U7579) Ryan Froman (X8488) [G] Christopher Gardner (Day3036) Charles Gardner (U18981903) Charles Gardner(6367) David Gardner (Day 3741) David Gardner(U6871) John Gardner (Day3539) Julian Gardner (Day3437) Murray Gardner (Day/M2731) Robert Gardner (U6164) Rusty Gillett (E5457) Greg Gillett(E8387)	[G Cont.] Matthew Gillett(E8791) Giles Gillett(E8590) Julian Goldswain (X8892) Bobby Graham(X8891) Rob Gray (E5660) Mark Graham (X8890) William Graham(X8790) [H] Chalky Hall (X5659) Keith Hall (X5458) Craig Hammond (X8790) Paul Hammond (X8589) Corry Hartman (G8888) Philip Hawke (G7074) Peter Henderson (E7579) Alan Higgs (E4750) David Higgs (E4853) WA Higgs (A/E1900/03) Ken Hodgson (A4447) [I] Rob Inglis (M5659) [J] Ross James (M5559) Lance Japhet (M3839) Hugh, John Lake (A5963) [K] Peter Kleinschmidt (M7478) [L] Tudor Lacey (M5659) Steve Leith (A5659) Victor Llewelyn Pringle (U2529) Graham Louden-Carter (G6569) Vince Lockwood (A5962) Fred Lovemore (E4447) Norman Lucas (D3339) [M] Nick Mallett (A7074) David Mallett (A7476) Nigel Marsh (E7983) David Martin (U5761) L C Matthews (G62/66) Malachy McNamara (E8689) David Melunsky (M7881) Richard Morton (G9194) Tony Mullins (M5862)	[N] Antony Northcote (X6872) [O] Neil Oldridge (M5659) [R] John Rance (X/G6266) Brian Ratcliffe (E5357) Dick Ratcliffe (M 5459) Chris Read (A6568) John Robert (Tim) Mark Russell (E5155) [S] Mike Schweitzer (M5660) Clive Shenton (G8893) Alan Simpson (M5458) Nick Smit (M7478) Robert Smit(M7273) Robert Southey (U8690) Anthony Starkey(A6266) JR Starkey (A3637) David Steck (X8588) Mike Stevens (A6064) George Steytler (M7174) Louis Steytler (M6973) Sister Susie (ODSG) George Symons (M4851) David Symons(M5154) [T] Peter Terry-Lloyd (U5559) Bill Tribe (U3841) [U] Felix Unite (G6768) [V] Chris Valentine (A5559) Julian van den Berg (X6165) [W] Alastair Weir (A5559) Wiley (X4651) David Wylde (A5862)