SACS Class of 1966 - 40TH Reunion
The matric class of 1966 held a reunion to celebrate
40 years since leaving school. It was the first major
reunion since our 25th in 1991.
Our reunion kicked off with the annual Old Boys Dinner
on the Thursday night, where about 25 of us enjoyed a
very pleasant evening. It was sometimes difficult to put
names to faces one hadn't seen for 15 years, and in some
cases, for 40 years. After a while, people were renewing
old friendships and recalling incidents almost forgotten.
The dinner itself was extremely well-organised, and I
thought that Dennis Davis struck just the right note as
guest speaker.
The following morning, some of us who weren't too hung-over
met at the school and were given a conducted tour of both
schools and the boarding houses. Our thanks to Nic Koch
for lending us his expertise as tour guide.
At Forries - Stan Davis and Bernard Saven
Lunch at Forries was extremely relaxed, except for a
couple of unlucky people who had to earn a living, and
either arrived late or left in a hurry. For the rest,
it was a chance to meet the wives and partners of our
classmates and to sit and chat about the good old days.
Sitting there enjoying my fish and chips, washed down
with Windhoek draft, I wondered why we hadn't done this
more often while we were at school. Oh wait, now I remember
- we weren't allowed to!
And finally, we had a dinner for the Class of ‘66
on the Saturday evening at a restaurant in Claremont.
Once again, we opted for informality, and many of us were
accompanied by wives, partners and, in some cases, children.
Here we had quite a few people who had not been able to
attend the OB dinner, and once again we tried to put names
to faces with varying success. Towards the end of the
evening, we suddenly realised that we hadn't taken a group
picture, so everyone gathered together and posed for a
few photos. I couldn't help remembering Mr "Happeeee"
Smith from Akkersdyk Studios who took every school photo
that I recall. Even without him, we managed to look fairly
happy. As the evening ended, most people were already
looking forward to a 45 and 50 year reunion.
At the OB Dinner
From L to R Keith Engers, Hallie Druker, Mike Baister,
Nils Warner, Donald Foster, Chris Poole, Keith Steele
In 1991, no-one from overseas came to the reunion. This
time we had three: Harold Joffe from Israel, Trevor Kaye
from the USA, and Ernie Kirsten from Australia. It was
really great to have them. Ernie actually brought his
whole family to the dinner, which I'm hoping will set
an example for future reunions. It can be a problem for
wives and families because, unlike us, they don't have
the common interest of shared schooldays. Mental note,
think of some ways to ensure that non-classmates don't
find the evening boring.
Our class is spread quite widely around the world, but
there is a strong concentration in Australasia, totalling
nearly a dozen of the 1966 class. Unable to attend the
reunion in Cape Town, Norman Levin and Alan Lipman organised
a dinner in Sydney to coincide with our OB Dinner. From
the reports and photos I've seen, it was a resounding
success. We had hoped to do a video linkup between the
two reunions, but due to the time difference, and other
logistic problems we didn't manage it. For our 50th reunion
we'll get it right or, better still, we'll get the overseas
guys here.
At Kosmos Taverna on the Saturday night
Back row
Nils Warner, Keith Watkins, Gavin Hillyard, Rollo Ravenscroft,
Michael McBride
Second row
Peter Human, Peter Dembitzer, Harold Joffe, Ernie Kirsten,
Terry Ortlepp, David van Duyker, Harold Druker, Anthony
van Huyssteen
Third row
Trevor Kaye, Neville Burt, Chris Poole, Peter Pretorius,
Keith Engers
Front
Fram Malan, Peter Theron
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SACS Class of 1966 - 40TH Reunion
The Matric Class of 86 had a very successful reunion
on Friday 21 April and on the morning of the Saturday
22nd. The Friday kicked off with assembly at the school
which was a great way to
reunite with the school as we remember it as well as to
see all the fantastic changes which have taken place and
are taking place to make sure that SACS remains amongst
the top few schools in South Africa. The welcome we received
was great and thanks to Ken Ball for hosting us to tea
as well as to Jeff Olivier for being our official tour
guide, our only connection from our year.
We then proceded to the Old Boys Club where John Ince
was, as usual, friendliness personified and he treated
us to our first beer of the day at about 9.30.
We then moved on to Forries where it was good to reminisce
and catch up with some of the guys who had made a real
effort to be there including Kerri Brass, all the way
from Toronto, Barry Doo from London, Neil Collett who
made it down from Jo'burg and Nic Dicey all the way from
Wolseley. The Stormers victory proved to be almost as
rare as our reunions.
Golf at the River Club was a bit of a wash out but that
didn't stop some of the guys testing their skills on the
driving range with Steve Roberts showing all his tricks
by landing his club on the
second level of the tee area directly above him.
The main function was at the Wild Fig and the guys made
a really great effort to be there. We numbered 56 on the
night (compared to 37 for the ‘15-year’) with
guys from all over including Neil Falconer who was out
from London along with the guys mentioned before, specifically
for the occasion.
Trevor Hughes ('85) and family did a great job of hosting
us at the Wild Fig and the meal in particular was out
of the top drawer. John Ince & Ken Ball were our special
guests for the evening and both said a few words with
Ken making sure that all those present had no doubt that
SACS was the place to educate their children.
Thanks must be extended to the sponsors Collett Mining,
BAMR, Standard Bank, and Nic Dicey for some excellent
Wolseley wine, Mike Wilson for organising wine, Paul Zacks
for the sponsored Canterbury Caps, as well as Wendt Saurma-Jeltsch
for the Programme. James Lennox was our very able Master
of Ceremonies and Gordon Miles toasted absent friends
and read out some messages from guys who would have loved
to have been there but couldn't make it due to family
& work commitments with Mark Price almost being a
surprise attendee from Canada.
The closing War Cry was led by me. We kept the Wild Fig
staff busy to the early hours and made sure that it was
a case of Go Big or Go Home with the vicious Jager Bombs
ensuring this. The following morning a few of us with
family & kids gathered at Forries for breakfast &
Leo Benning managed to pop in.
I look forward to an even bigger and better 25 year reunion
and hope that all those who couldn't make the occasion
manage to get there in 5 years time.
Check out the following site for more details :
www.bamr.co.za/sacs86.htm
Cheers, Graham Duk
Class of '86 with High School Headmaster Ken Ball
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