PROGRAMME 1962 SELBORNE MATRIC 50 YEAR WEEKEND DATE …

PROGRAMME

1962 SELBORNE MATRIC 50 YEAR WEEKEND

DATE

TIME

FUNCTION

DRESS

18/10/2012 17:30

SNACKS/DRINKS

-

Old Boys Club

Smart Casual

19/10/2012 08:45

CEREMONY OF THE KEY

10:00

TEA

-

Main School Hall

13:00

LUNCH

-

Neil Emslie Centre

17:00

RETREAT CEREMONY

18:30

OSA SPIT BRAAI

-

Neil Emslie Centre

20/10/2012

FREE DAY FOR SPORT AND SOCIAL

19:00

1962 DINNER Selborne Primary

Collar & Tie Collar & Tie Smart Casual Smart Casual Smart Casual

Smart Casual

21/10/2012 09:00

THANKS GIVING SERVICE Main School Hall

Smart Casual

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SELBORNE COLLEGE P O Box 11194 SOUTHERNWOOD EAST LONDON 5213 TELEPHONE: +27 437229591 FACSIMILE: +27 437437746 E-MAIL: headmaster@selborne.co.za selborne.co.za

HEADMASTER`S MESSAGE TO THE RE-UNION CLASS OF 1962

It is always a pleasure to welcome reunion classes to a special Founders Day on behalf of the current generation at Selborne College. Your presence with us over this founders period is a great encouragement. We hope your gathering over this Founders weekend will be memorable in every respect. We trust that the bonds you forged as a matriculation class all those years ago will allow you to connect easily again and that you spend many happy moments together, enjoying one anothers company and recalling those carefree days back in the 50s and early 60s. We also hope that you find your old school to be in good health and that your 2012 visit confirms for you that Selborne College continues to play an important role in preparing high quality men for service to our country and even beyond. We pray that you will all return safely to your scattered homes with a further store of good memories of East London and Selborne College.

Kind regards

MESSAGE FROM OUR HEAD BOY

Father Time keeps moving and before we realised it 50 years had passed us by since we said good bye to our alma mater ? Selborne College. Fortunately memories linger on and thoughts of those days are difficult to erase. Some entered through the cranium, others via Mr Barkers cane.

To have a gathering of over 50 members of our class of 62 together at Founders Day is fantastic. Thank you to all for making the effort, especially the participants who have come from the four corners of the world. Meeting the old faces will re-kindle memories and I am sure stories will come out of the woodwork cupboard, bringing with it many laughs. The committee consisting of Selwyn Goddard, Donald Jamieson, Norman Prentis, Mickey Harper, Jeftha Fetting and Keith Menday, together with other locals have organised an eventful week-end which I sincerely hope you will enjoy. Grateful thanks to them all for their planning and efforts. They made it easy for me to be involved from afar but still know that everything was going to plan.

Locating members was a time consuming task and Super Sleuth Fiddle Chapman was of immeasurable assistance in this regard. To those unable to attend, please enjoy the Year Book. To the attendees: have a great Reunion and a safe journey home.

Walter MacDonald

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FOREWORD

Born in the mid-forties, towards the end of World War II and known as the "baby boomers", many of us were the sons of ex-servicemen and certainly of parents who knew the deprivations of wartime. Now in the golden years of our late 60s and with most of us retired, this is a time of reminiscence.

The vast majority of our mothers were homemakers, while our fathers were the family breadwinners. Most of us commenced our formal education in 1951 in what was known as Sub A at Selborne Primary School, situated in Dawson Road. The Headmaster was Mr A. Lister B.A. At the time it seemed strange to us that a person should have two sets of initials! This was a time when a person with a Junior Certificate was generally considered to be adequately educated to commence earning a living. Those with a matric qualification were very well educated, while university graduates were really off the scale!

Mr Lister was succeeded by the esteemed William Alfred "Bunny" Stevens, an educationalist so far ahead of his time that even today he is remembered with much admiration and affection. It is also true to say that many of us have him and his staff including, inter alia: Miss Elizabeth Sims, Miss Peggy Clark, Mr Walter "Pop" Munday and Mr Laurie Greeff to thank for the wonderful start they gave us on the road which we were to travel. Who could forget our Hobbies Exhibitions, school plays, Sports Days, Galas and those exciting visits to "our ship", the Tintagel Castle. Less popular were the red Schonell Spelling Books, Lees, Gesels en Skryf and Times Tables!

Most of us lived in close proximity to Selborne, making it possible to walk or cycle to and from school. Thank heavens for Sturmey-Archer three speed gears! For those who lived further afield, in Vincent, Berea or Cambridge, there was reliable Municipal Transport. Most of us had bus season tickets, which were religiously clipped by a uniformed bus conductor. Better heeled families owned motor cars. Fussy little British Austins, Morris Minors and Humbers shared the roads with the likes of American Plymouths, Pontiacs, De Sotos, Fords, Chevs, Nash Ramblers and the iconic VW Beetle. The only Japanese cars were friction ones, obtainable from the OK Bazaars Toy Counter!

"Window shopping" along Oxford Street was a popular summer evening activity, while going for a Sunday afternoon drive along the Esplanade to watch the departure of the mail ship was a highlight! The Esplanade also doubled as a race track once a year for the Border Handicap Races, before the opening of the new Grand Prix track at Leaches Bay. East London was, after all, the motor racing capital of South Africa and host to the South African Grand Prix!

Rushing home from school to complete homework in time to catch the latest episode of Superman, Tarzan (AAAAAAAAAahahAAAAAAAAAAah!) Squad Cars or Mark Saxon on the wireless was gripping weekday home entertainment, while the 6d Saturday matinee at the Colosseum, after swopping Dell comics, was a highlight! This was prior to Decimal Dan! Remember Dan Dare, pilot of the future, who had a little black box with an aerial which enabled him to talk to anyone on earth? Cell phones were science fiction then!

All too soon childhood and Primary School days were over with entry into high school in 1958. Our first Headmaster was Mr J.G. "Jock" Perry, who was succeeded early in our high

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school careers by Mr Alan "Bones" Barker, ex-serviceman, university graduate in Latin, and the quintessential Headmaster ? highly respected and widely feared owing to his somewhat aloof and disarming presence.

Prior to our entry to the College, we had been suitably primed by our seniors with stories relating to the idiosyncrasies of the staff, many of which were certainly upheld! Strict discipline, corporal punishment, including "six of the best" and possible summary expulsion from school generally kept us in tow. Not that we never tried our luck, such that few escaped getting "cuts" at some stage of our high school careers!

On the staffing side who could possibly forget such colourful characters as dear old Champ, Charlie, Easel, Puffy, Smithy, Meaty, Gong, Flebus, Flabbyguts and Dronkie? Endearing nicknames without malice for men of integrity to whom we owe much.

Rugby was without doubt the most important sport at Selborne in our day and non-players were thought to be in need of psychological intervention. This was a macho world and to be a man you had to play rugby! Needless to say almost everyone played, enabling the College to field up to 10 teams in our time ? not bad for a school with under 600 boys! Against such odds the school also produced a number of outstanding soccer players!

Most of the girls we dated went to our sister school, Clarendon, not that we knew much about girls, and those who claimed they did, found themselves in demand for vital information, much of which was embellished for effect and peer prestige.

Rock ,,n Roll was in its infancy and dance sessions the order of the day at the Nutting Hall, Typos and St Albans. No self respecting male would attend a session sans sports jacket and tie, with sparkly white sports jackets, black "stovies" and "winkelpickers" in high fashion. The only dangerous elements at these sessions were "ducktails" to be avoided at all costs. School sessions were also held in the College Hall. The girls could wear party dresses, but the boys had to attend in full uniform, the only concession being that First Team, Colours and the prestigious Honours Blazers could be worn. This was a huge advantage to the elite on the social scene.

Bicycles gradually gave way to autocycles, which sounded like enraged road-going mosquitoes and were regarded as both the epitome of male, teenage transport and the bane of many a parent as medical aids were still a thing of the future.

After what seemed like an eternity at high school our final year, 1962, finally dawned. Our Class of ,,62 comprised 85 boys divided into three Std 10 classes.

1962 was a terrifyingly, exciting year. South Africa had left the Commonwealth and was now a Republic led by the Nationalist, "Architect of Apartheid," Hendrik Verwoed.

The Iron Curtain divided Europe and the Cold War was at its height, with nuclear testing taking place on a regular basis. John F. Kennedy was President of the USA with his counterpart being Nikita Krushchev of the USSR. World War III was narrowly averted, much to our relief, when the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved in the nick of time.

John Glen orbited the Earth and mankind made a planned crash landing on the moon! Earths population reached 3 billion and Elvis sang "Return to Sender." We went "Surfin USA" at Nahoon, did "The Locomotion" and loved to "Twist and Shout" because, hey, it was 1962 and we were "The Young Ones."

Set against this background our teachers endeavoured to educate us to be part of a world they would never experience. Walter MacDonald was our Head Boy and Custodian of the Key for 1962, while Richard Meldal-Johnson was our Vice-Head Boy.

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The 1962 cultural scene kicked off with the production of Gilbert and Sullivans Iolanthe in the City Hall and the comedy thriller, Someone at the Door, was produced later in the year. In the latter production Duncan Murray, Richard Rees and Roderick Burgess were singled out for their outstanding performances.

Under Duncan Murrays Chairmanship the Students Christian Association of 1962 sought to represent Christianity as a practical way of life, and this proved to be a popular approach, supported by the boys.

The Science Club, led by Walter MacDonald, enjoyed many interesting and informative addresses including inter alia, "Atoms in War and Peace" and one by Mr John Stonier on "Mental Telepathy", which could possibly account for his ability to discover those miscreants who had not done their homework!

With memories of World War II still vivid in the minds of our mentors, it was not surprising that the College Cadet Detachment was an integral part of life at Selborne! Outstanding Cadets from the Class of ,,62 were Richard Meldal-Johnson, Walter MacDonald, Duncan Murray, Stanley Palin, Gavin Staude and Jack Reeves Wood.

Richard Meldal-Johnson was our Parade Commander on Founders Day, with Michael Harper the Colour Ensign, Richard Rees the Old Guard Commander and Gavin Staude the Old Guard Corporal. The Founders Day address was delivered by Mr J.G Perry who was now an Inspector of Schools in Port Elizabeth.

In this military climate it was not surprising that shooting was part of the extra-curricular programme with Jack Reeves-Wood distinguishing himself in this regard.

On the sporting front, Jeftha Fetting had the unique distinction of captaining both Cricket and Rugby First Teams during the 1962 season and was the sole Honours Award winner of 1962.

Other outstanding sportsman from our class of 62 were Michael Harper (Cricket and Rugby),David Lewis (Gymnastics), Lyndon Hall and John Lewis (Rowing), Johan Wessels (Swimming), Stanley Palin (Athletics), Richard Meldal-Johnson, Lionel van Lill, Anthony Duncan, Richard Rees, Barry Jacoby, Fred Ericsen-Miller and Geoffrey Preston-Thomas (Rugby). Peter Kidson, Keith Menday, Selwyn Goddard, Terance Lutge and Brian Worsley (Soccer).

With such emphasis on sport it is hardly surprising that many of us, sometimes aided and abetted by Mr Emslie, who needed little encouragement to defer Geography lessons in favour of discussions on Rugby, lost sight of the real reason why we were at school in the first place ? to acquire an academic education!

Our top academic, First in Std. 10 and Dux of the School in 1962 was Jonathan Hellman. Second was Victor Miller. Third was Ian Wilson and Fourth was David Woods.

At the close of 1962, we went our separate ways often separated by new challenges and vast distances, but always bonded together by the cherished memories of our school days, memories which brought us together in 1987 for our 25th Reunion and again in 2002 for our 40th. This 50th Reunion in 2012, could probably be our last gathering and the one at which we will share our life stories through the medium of this Yearbook. It is our hope that readers will enjoy many happy reminiscences while perusing its pages.

Norman Prentis

September 2012

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