PBHSOB ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
Dear Old Boy
After completing his postgraduate studies in architecture at the University of Pretoria, Old Boy Christopher MacClements has established himself as a multi-talented creative.
Although he did not study at a formal art school, Christopher found himself drawn to the art forms of graffiti and illustrations.
The up-and-coming artist explains that his creative journey began at home with his grandfather sparking the artistic side of him. “I can say that my creative beginnings were heavily influenced by my grandfather, Ian, who is also an architect. I recall spending countless hours and nights at his side sketching. He would sketch on his drawing board, and I on my desk adjacent. We would use these hours to collaborate [and] discuss life and the creative realms,” he says.
C. MacClements. Back Row (L-R) G. Manicom. (The Pretorian 2009)
Christopher has created four series of work to date, spanning four exhibitions – with three of them solo showcases.
He says he is inspired by a range of creative mediums including street art, film, graffiti, animation, motor design and more.
Click here to view his portfolio
Christopher matriculated in 2009, was a School Prefect and was the head of Arcadia House.
“The school, due to its incredibly diverse array of what it has to offer, provides a young man the opportunity of personal growth second to none. Diversity, manners, sports and culture, and a keen focus on discipline are what truly set Pretoria Boys High School apart from any counterpart. This has been evident in my recent years moving forward as a professional architect and artist.”
The tools of his trade are ink, spray cans and a pencil, but for his architectural hand sketches he utilises drafting pencils and pens.
As a trained architect, Christopher explains that his knowledge in this sector has influenced his recent pieces.
“As an architect I try to employ as much of my architectural knowledge in to my works including technique, hatch styles, composition and perspective. I believe this formal training has greatly assisted my ability to construct my works, not only from a technical perspective but also from a level of applied rigour.” A recent showcasing of his latest series titled ‘Late Night Sketch Tales’ was displayed on a recent Cape Town First Thursday at Ground Art Caffe, located in the heart of the CBD. These illustrations not only detail the structures of the Mother City but also create a sense of emotion and curiosity in the viewer.
“Pretoria Boys High School’s emphasis on discipline and hard work were instrumental in pushing me to focus on my career.”
Chris says that Mr Mansfield inspired him for reasons outside academia and Mrs Gioia definitely had an influence on his love for languages. “My fondest memories were the train trips down to Maritzburg College, Kearsney College, Grey College, and our fixtures against Affies.
Christopher recalls receiving his Honours Athletics Blazer for shotput whilst having to compete with a severe knee injury sustained during hockey season as one of his biggest highlights at Pretoria Boys High School. Christopher also played cricket and was an active member of the Outreach Society. “Culturally, my favourite and fondest memories were the Inter-House plays and visiting Mohau Child Care Centre with Social Outreach.” Chris recalls.
Christopher was recently been chosen as an Emerging Creative for the Design Indaba’s 25th year to represent the Architectural and Spatial Planning sphere. The Design Indaba will take place in Cape Town in February this year. Read more here >>
Article adapted from HOUSE & LEISURE: The Inspiring Sketch Drawings Of Christopher MacClements | Text Ishani Chetty
4TH ANNUAL CHESA NYAMA
Date: Saturday 7 March 2020
Venue: Jackbudha,
Mashabela Street, Mamelodi
Time: 12:00-17:00
RSVP: 4 March
2020
Free entry –
Cash bar available
We are looking forward to a wonderful turnout of Old Boys! This event is only open to Old Boys of Pretoria Boys High School.
“UP A GUM TREE”
One of the science masters became a little confounded when, while explaining a chemical reaction on the board, he was told that the equation was “up a gum tree.” One spinning around, he was faced with a sea of innocent faces. This would appear to be a bit out of the ordinary routine, but the fact of the matter was that it was not a boy in the class who had made the remark.
The remark came from the ventilator, high up the wall. This ventilator proved to be one and the same ventilator which opens out at the foot of the steps leading to the gallery from the matric veranda.
K Blake – The Pretorian 1950
OLD BOYS IN THE NEWS
NEW ‘OLD BOY’ GREGARY HASSENKAMP TAKES HELM AT PRETORIA BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL
Pretoria – There’s a new sheriff – or rather an old boy – at Pretoria Boys’ High School. Having previously been deputy head of the school, Gregary Hassenkamp will take over from Tony Reeler as headmaster.
Reeler has been appointed to a similar position at Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town. According to the governing body, Reeler’s decision to accept the position at Bishops was in line with his original intention of holding the Pretoria Boys’ High headmastership for around a decade.
His philosophy is that this is the optimal period to remain effective in leading a high school.
“The decision to accept a new position was not taken lightly and it’s with mixed feelings that he contemplates the next move in a career that spans more than 30 years,” the governing body said.
Hassenkamp, on the other hand, is no stranger to Pretoria Boys High and was a boarder in Solomon House. He matriculated from the school in 1990. He was also an athlete, swimming for the first team and receiving half colours for athletics, and full colours for rugby. After matric he got a higher diploma in education from the Johannesburg College of Education, and a Bachelors in Education Honours degree from Unisa.
He also holds a number of sporting achievements which he attained after school, such as playing for numerous 1st XV rugby sides as well as completing two Comrades and Two Oceans ultra marathons.
Hassenkamp started his teaching career at De La Salle Holy Cross College Junior School in Johannesburg, and returned to Pretoria Boys High in 1999. At the time, he taught geography, was the master in charge of rugby and later settled in Solomon House as the senior boardinghouse master.
In 2005, the old boy was appointed into the position of deputy headmaster, one of his portfolios being the management of the school prefects and day-to-day discipline issues.
In 2014, Hassenkamp moved to take up the position of headmaster at Hermanus High School, where he instilled “Boys’ High Magic” not only in the school, but in the Hermanus community.
Governing body chairperson Erhardt Bahlmann said that shortly after the announcement of Reeler’s resignation, they formed a sub-committee to deal specifically with the selection of a new headmaster. The interview process consisted of both a presentation and a set of interview questions.
Once the scores were tallied and deliberated on, a recommendation of the preferred candidate was made to the Department of Education.
“I can say that the passion and vision that our new headmaster has for all-round education and Boys’ High was very clear from the interview process.
“During the course of last week, I spoke to the new headmaster on a number of occasions.
“One of the key impressions I have is that he is a person that we can trust, and I am sure that he will be a big asset to Pretoria Boys’ High School as the new headmaster,” said Bahlmann. Hassenkamp will start his duties on July 1.
SOURCE: PRETORIA NEWS / 18 FEBRUARY 2020, 07:25AM / SAKHILE NDLAZI
BOYS HIGH SET TO TAKE ON TOP SA RUGBY SCHOOLS
Together with the coaches at the school, he led his boys to a victory for the first time in 11 years against Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) last year.
A local school rugby team director and coach is focusing on passion for the sport and having his players feel like they are “part of the system”.
Director of Rugby and first team coach of Pretoria Boys High School (PBHS), Paul Anthony, together with the coaches at the school, led his boys to a victory for the first time in 11 years against Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) last year.
After 80 minutes, the scoreboard read 38-21 in PBHS’s favour.
“I saw it as a great opportunity to complete the circle when I was appointed as director of rugby at PBHS. I am not young anymore and I still have a lot that I want to put into place at school rugby level,” said Anthony.
“At the end of the day, tradition and culture is massive. A school like PBHS has an amazing culture. Rugby is not a do or die. At the end of the day, education comes first – it is the beginning and end.”
This year, PBHS is set to play Paarl Gym at Loftus Versfeld as well as Paarl Boys later this season. Anthony’s focus is not just on the first team beating Paarl Gym or Affies.
“I want all the teams from PBHS to improve. I want them to get better and play more games. The boys must feel that everyone is important.
“The main idea is to show the boys the standards we want to reach and how hard we will have to work to be able to compete with proper and massive rugby schools.”
Anthony matriculated in 1976 at PBHS. He was part of the U14 E squad and went on to play in the first team for three consecutive years. After 43 years, where he once ran onto the field as a player, he now coaches on the exact same field.
AUTHOR: Carli Koch – Pretoria East Rekord – 4 February 2020
BOYS HIGH BOOKIE-EXAM EDITION
Chances of:
Pitching up for the wrong exam 10:1
Not noticing and completing the exam 20:1
Still not noticing, even though the exam is in a foreign language 60:1
The exam you were meant to write being Maths Lit 1:1
Sitting near the front of the exam hall 100:1
Teachers at the front of the hall talking, thinking you can’t hear them 2:1
You actually hearing them 1:1
A teacher remembering where you are sitting if you ask for more paper infinity:1
Your scarf hiding your mullet: in formals 30:1, in summers 0:1
A teacher remembering your name if your hair is too long 8:1
These jokes being identical to the ones I wrote last time 2:1
Your noticing 2:1
Greg Lavagna – Boy’s Highlights. Number 15 – November 2010
LETTERS
In response to the announcement of the new Headmaster at Pretoria Boys High School. (Issue 5 2020 – 17 February 2020)
Thank you for the good news. May our magnificent School carry forth its legacy in its leadership, service to the community, and inspiration to all scholars who receive its excellent foundation in their youthful forming years towards adulthood.
Best Regards
Dr. Erik Schmikl(1958)
Warm congratulations to Mr Hassenkamp!
My goodness… I must have been about 30 when he was born.
Ladd de Villiers (1960)
Great stuff!!
Alan Cook (1952)
Delighted, Wish him all the Best and Know he will be Taking Boys High to
New Heights Being An Old Boy.
John Griffiths. 1966’r
Hi,
Please can you forward my congratulations to Greg Hassenkamp.
I was a boarder in Solomon house up until 1992 so had the privilege of spending three years with Rackety as he was know to us at the time.
One of the highlights of my school career was in a staff versus pupils game of sevens rugby, where as I recall, he tackled Ms Scott with a absolute haymaker.
Not exactly what the rest of the team
were doing as they cautiously played around her!
Kind Regards
Ray Deftereos (1992)
What wonderful news
I remember Mr Hassenkamp as a geography teacher and his sharp wit and irreverent style made him inspirational.
I look forward to seeing the school develop under his leadership
best,
Uzayr Jeenah (Matric – 2004)
Congratulations to Gregory on his appointment. There is no doubt that he is an excellent choice to lead the School to even greater achievements.
Trevor Beddy 1951/55
That is fantastic news for the school. A bright future ahead for Boys High.
Pierre Rodgers (2009)
It is good to have an Old Boy back in
the saddle! My very best wishes go out to Mr. Hassenkamp for a highly successful
tenure at “School”!
Regards,
Colin Hultzer (1952)
MUSIC AT PRETORIA BOYS’ HIGH
(Reflections on a time long gone!)
During my second year at the school, the music room was refurbished. A beautiful stepped wooden floor was built and to celebrate its opening, Bon managed to obtain a harpsichord on loan from Lucas Pianos. An evening concert was held at which he showed off the instrument with an array of baroque pieces for harpsichord and for oboe and harpsichord which his oboist son played superbly.
The Pretoria Combined High Schools’ orchestra rehearsed on Friday afternoons and as we neared the concert date on Friday and Saturday evenings as well. It was populated by a motley bunch of parents, teachers, musicians from other schools and of course a substantial Boys High contingent. It was led at times by the redoubtable and somewhat cantankerous Noèl Pollock, an old headmaster of the school, now maths and Latin teacher, who winced each time he drew his bow across the strings of his violin. So did we. At other times it was led by the somewhat eccentric Manya de Moor whose colourful presence gave the first violins character and verve. Madame de Moor as we called her, would dress in gypsy garb, long colourful flowing robes, wore her salt and pepper hair down to her shoulders and sported a heavy Russian accent. She was a mystery to us, so rumours flew that she was a Russian Princess whose family had escaped the Revolution. She played with heart and passion in keeping with her eccentric appearance. Her son, an Old Boy, was a very good flautist and would often join us for concerts.
A reliable stalwart of the section and one of the few boys to consistently occupy a place in the first violin section was Garth Brink who went on to become a medical doctor. André Meiring, by then an Old Boy studying engineering would also join the section fairly regularly and would do me the great favour of playing the first movement of Saint Saens’ Rondo Cappriccioso whenever I asked during interval. No mean feat.
One cannot write about the orchestra of those days without mentioning the Schulze family. The entire family participated. They represented the German musical tradition at its best: father played the horn, mother the viola, one son the oboe and the other the cello. They were all very accomplished. The cellist Friedrich, was particularly gifted and in 1961 played the Goltermann cello concerto.
A Mrs Kuyper played the viola. Her son was a swimming star at the school and went on to become a well known attorney in Pretoria. Mrs Meltz was sub-principal violinist – another parent whose son Ronnie also became an attorney. The cello section was at times boosted by the presence of two charming ladies, Mrs Patten whose son sang in Ruddigore and was a member of the respected Patten dynasty of journalists and Mrs Arundel, a revered cello teacher, who introduced many young people in Pretoria to the cello and chamber music.
The horns were made up of Ted Jones, more about him later, “Blub” Howell, science master and Mr Schulze. I learnt that although the instrument was fiendishly difficult, you could always blame spittle if you split a note. They were forever shaking and emptying their instrument.
Christian Gilfillan, played the double bass, the trombone and helped with admin.
Girls’ High and DSG also contributed players – Gail Benjamin on violin from the former school and Ruth Thackeray, a cellist, from the latter.
I could go on and on – the orchestra was full of characters. Playing an instrument was regarded an eccentricity in those days so to do so required some character. The parents contingent played a huge role in keeping up the orchestra’s feasibility.
– Ugo Paladini (1963)
Part 2 of 3
One of the best South African players of his time
Gentlemen,
The cutting below on Eddie Barlow was kindly sent to me by Tom Brown’s daughter, Bronwen Bamford, following Stan’s passing.
Barlow, of course, was nicknamed ‘Bunter’ because of his supposed resemblance to Billy Bunter.
Bespectacled, he was both a popular and easily recognizable figure in South African cricket from the 1960s onwards. A prodigious run-maker and frequent wicket-taker, he was one of the leading all-rounders on the world stage in the 1960s. Cricket commentator Louis Duffus said of him, “He did more than anyone else to break down the timid defensive tactics which for so many years kept SA a second-rate cricket country”.
Edgar ‘Eddie’ John Barlow was born in Pretoria in August 1940, played first-class cricket for Transvaal and Eastern Province from 1959-60 to 1967-8 before moving to Western Province for the seasons from 1968-69 to 1980-81. During this time he also played three seasons with Derbyshire in the English County Championship from 1976-1978. He completed his first-class career in Boland in 1982-83, and was named as one of the six South African Cricket Annual players of the year in 1962.
In 30 Tests, he scored 2,516 runs at an average of 45.75 and took 40 wickets at 34.05. Five of his six Test centuries and 33 of his wickets came in 14 Tests against Australia. His highest score of 201 came in the fourth Test of the 1963-64 tour, in Adelaide, during which he helped in a devastating third wicket stand of 341 in 283 minutes with Graeme Pollock. This apparently is still a South African record for any wicket against Australia and the third highest against anyone. In 1970, playing for the Rest of the World against England, an unofficial series that replaced the South African tour of that year, he took a hat-trick.
Bizarrely, Peter Walker, cricket coach at Wits University in the 1950s and 1960s, apparently walked up to Barlow who was batting in the Wits nets and asked the youngster whether he played any other sport. Eddie replied that he played a lot of rugby. “I suggest that you concentrate on rugby then”, was Walker’s response.
Not an unfamiliar comment in the PBHS nets.
Few may or may not know that Bunter was forced to leave SA for St Helier in Jersey in 2001 after a local insurance company (known to the writer) refused to pay crippling medical bills for treating a massive stroke. He was only 61 at the time.
Perhaps not surprisingly in the present context, the United Cricket Board and the Western Province Cricket Association appeared to have turned their backs on his plight. The full story has yet to be written.
Eddie himself however remained phlegmatic and said he did not feel South African cricket had snubbed him in his hour of need: “No. I’ve never felt deserted, ever. I don’t think anybody deserves handouts and I’ve got a lot to be grateful for. I’ve had a privileged life and a great innings as a cricketer too”.
Said Hylton Ackerman at the time: “Eddie’s my best friend and to see him in a wheelchair is so sad. I burst into tears every time. He’s the strongest guy, the nicest guy and the hardest bugger I’ve ever met… and also the best all-rounder I ever played with.”
Despite all this, Bunter became Bangladesh’s ‘father figure’, director and coach and played a leading role in elevating its cricket side to test status. He worked hard day and night with its cricketers to change their mentality and approach towards the game, injecting aggressive intent, determination and professionalism. One of his greatest moments was when he witnessed Bangladesh’s first ever Test match whilst sitting in his wheelchair.
Barlow passed away on December 30, 2005 in Jersey.
P.S. Barlow’s first wife, Helen Wheelwright, picked up Anthony Coldrey and myself in Cape Road, Port Elizabeth, during our ‘ infamous’ July-holiday hiking trip around SA and SWA in 1962. I was wearing my partly disheveled School House ‘Dinner Blazer’ which caught her eye. A strikingly beautiful woman, she said that her husband would never have forgiven her if she hadn’t done so. They met at the Johannesburg Teachers Training College. – Leon Kok (1964)
A researcher is trying to record the names and dates of all PBHS boys who received SAAF “Wings” and were trained in the SAAF at Dunnottar or Langebaanweg from 1946 through to the current time (WW2 pilots were trained under the Joint Air Training scheme managed jointly by the SAAF and the RAF).
If any Old Boys can help, please send the information (dates and course numbers) directly to Andrew Embleton whose email is andemb@hermanus.co.za or to Mr John Illsley at the school john@boyshigh.com The information is for research purposes only.
IN MEMORIAM
DOLF FOURIE (1946)
Dolf passed away in Plettenberg Bay in November 2019 at the age of 91. He was the first of three generations of Fouries who have had the privilege of attending Boy’s High.
He was an outstanding tennis player and captained the 1st team for a number of years. After obtaining his MBChB at Tukkies he specialised in anaesthetics and was recognised as an expert in paediatric anaesthesia which he had studied further at children’s hospitals in Cape Town, London and Liverpool.
His son Philip, who followed in his father’s footsteps, but as a radiologist, has many “Old Boy” colleagues who were very special friends of Dolf and shared many happy and memorable times with him.
– Denise Fourie
LAWRENCE DE WET (1952)
Lawrence De Wet, (class of 1952 and School House) passed away in Pretoria on 21st January 2020 at the age of 86.
He had farmed for decades on the family farm outside of Standerton before retiring to Pretoria. At school he was a keen sportsman and member of the cadet corps.