20 May 2016
As our hospitable driver, Mr. Ben Sithole in a very smart Mercedes bus ably negotiated the speed humps along Jacaranda and Main Drive from the Sommerville Cricket Pavilion to the lawn in front of Solomon House, my thoughts went back sixty years, when there was still an ox-cart powered by two placid oxen encouraged by a whip-bearing driver to move rubble. The gravel fields, today replaced by finely tended grassed surfaces and the first Astro-turfed hockey field in Pretoria. The boys in their formals were still as we were. Change is happening but happily most of tradition seems still to be in place.
In the absence of the Headmaster Mr. Tony Reeler (who was attending the funeral service of his mother in Cape Town where she had for many years served Rondebosch Boys High with her husband, the Headmaster there), the Second Master, Mr. John Illsley, officiated and from the steps in front of Solomon House welcomed the group of 68 guests to the celebratory occasion.
Due to the sundry ailments of many in the group, we were spared an extensive walk-about in the School grounds and instead were privileged to a sneak preview of the latest facilities which will be available to the boys after the opening of the Bill Schroder Centre. The music department will also be accommodated here with numerous sound-proof practice and tutorial rooms. No more acoustic competition for teachers against the sounds produced from the quadrangles and passages by instruments played in variant stages of accomplishment!
From the Media Centre the group proceeded to the fascinating collection of memorabilia and artefacts in the School Museum, where Mr. Keith Gibbs is the Curator and as a previous History Master at the School, well-equipped to share the many intriguing tales surrounding the preserved articles. Well worth a second visit by those close to the School. A consideration unlikely by those who made the great effort to meet from far. Aubrey Burer from the USA, Jan Hoep from Holland, resplendent in his school blazer, Bentley Novis from Israel and Bruce Argue from Kent in the UK. The only other guy from overseas was Jack Klaff who sailed from Messina! Many others went to great effort to attend. Those not there were either deceased, diseased, disabled or disinterested!
The assembly at noon revived many memories, for though the magnificent new Hall was a third edition and is now the largest facility pf its kind, paid for entirely from donations, the proceedings were reminiscent of our time there. Proudly we witnessed the allocation of many awards.
The address to the School by Trebot Barry consisted of three parts: Gratitude and acknowlegement to our hosts and convenors, secondly a brief historical overview of the origin of Loch Armstrong and a letter from Minky Gioia, with the handing over of a framed photograph which appeared in the Pretoria News on 26th May 1986, destined for the Museum, to the Head Boy, Matthew Glover.
An aphorism based on an acronym DADA (Dream Appropriately, Do All) ended the message from the Class of 1956. Warwick Krige our Head Boy, read Corinthians I, Chapter 13 and the Singing of “Forty Years On” brought on an epidemic of epiphora and lumpy throats.
The afternoon programme was compèred by Peter Good, with Robin Barker to say Grace, Warwick Krige to propose a toast to the School and Mr. John Illsley to respond in the presence of our special guests, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Schroder, Mr. Edmund Jones and his son Glyn, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Wilkes, Mr. Peter Bantock, Mr. and Mrs. John Illsley, and Mrs. Inge Paulsen-Liddle, Mr. Geoffrey Meyer (representing the Old Boys’ Association).
The memorable day ended with the serving of Port and Sherry as the playing of the Last Post from the West Tower rang across the fields to end a day of close cameraderie that is the Brotherhood of The Boys High.
– Trebot Barry – CONVENOR
