John Mason

Cedric Parker

Thanks for your encouragement John. I find that the closer I get to eternity the more I want to try and make a difference with what's left of my mortal life. Other issues seem so puerile when stacked against God's purpose for us this side of eternity. I have been profoundly enriched by my interactions on this site - and by observing significant interactions between the Classmates.

Denzil Andrews

Hi John

If I recall some time back you made mention that you had previous contact with Derek Nelson-Esch

I have sent emails to him on an address his brother Mike gave me but have had no response - he could well not be interested or possibly I have the wrong email address

I believe he has done exceptionally well in the States and I think mention was made of him having a property in Cape Town which he sometimes visits.

Whatever the outcome of your contact with him please extend my best wishes to him particularly with his life's success - great stuff Derek 

I have been in contact with Mike Lalouette but to date he has not registered, altho I am confident he won't slip thru our clutches!!

Kind regards

Denzil

John Mason

Hi Denzil, I have been in email contact with Derek. I have reiterated how much you and others valued him during his time at DHS, and would appreciate his being at the celebrations. As you know he is very much the strong-willed character he was at school, and like many other Old Boys has mixed feelings about his school experiences. Your information on his success and various achievements is accurate. I sense that I may already have pushed too hard to get him to the reunion. Nevertheless, you can rest assured that whenever I email him I shall remind him that this get together should be like no other, and definitely worth the effort.

Cheers, John.

Denzil Andrews

Thanks for your feedback John

I fully understand and appreciate anyone who has negative thoughts either on their school experience or in not wanting to attend the reunion.

There are always those individuals who have a special place in your heart because of their fighting spirit, those that have overcome adversity and as in Derek's case, been highly succesful post school.  In saying that riches and success are not always a true measure of a man but rather their inner qualities and strength of character.

I really wish Derek continued success and will miss his participation at the reunion, but do understand

Kind regards

Denzil

Ted Browne (Class Of 1967)

Cedric Parker

For those of you that didn't see this article - it represents the positive values that DHS now embraces. When Jiggs Gray was initially exposed as a paedophile (thanks to Graham Bell's relentless crusade) there were heartfelt concerns by senior management at DHS that this would reflect very poorly on the school. These concerns have been quenched by subsequent events. Click here:  /000/1/0/1/28101/userfiles/file/DAILY_NEWS_120216_cropped.jpg

Guy Frawley

On the lighter side: i felt that I should share this photo with you all.

I recall purchasing these beer mugs in the centenery year and was actually amazed that I still have them. They no longer serve their purpose but one remains next to the bath and is used to was my grandaughter's hair when she visits.The other is used by a friend of mine for their tea when they visit!

Really have difficulty connecting to the 50 year time warp - it feels like yesterday!

Geoff Caruth

Howsit Guy!

I agree with you 100% about the 50 year time warp. It is just unbelievable. If we had been talking about this during break back in '66 we would all have been hosing ourselves trying to picture the battered survivors hobbling around muttering about the good old days and remember when you could buy a Coke for a tickey and Maritzburg was a Nommer Asebelief trunk call! haha varicose veins and dodgy prostates,hip replacements and attending funerals.

What a Hoot!

Hope you are well

Cheers

Geoff

Denzil Andrews

Well done Guy on even retaining the mugs - believe it or not I still have an old ashtray and I never even smoked!

It rarely comes out unless someone visits who smokes.

I sincerely hope you can make the cocktail party and looking forward to sharing old memories. Now with the phoito I'm sure to recognise you - very dashing in grey!!

Larry Butchins

Guy - nice to see you!

What struck a chord with me was your comment about your grandaughter using a Centenary mug to wash her hair! We are all grandparents, (I guess a good many of us anyway), and the 50 year "time warp" as you aptly put it was beautifully summed up by Clyde Bartel in a message to me when I turned 60 (and THAT was already a few years back): "from 16 to 60 in a heartbeat!" Also, to paraphrase Paul SImon: ""How terribly strange to be (almost) 70." But somehow I still feel as young as ever, keeping fit and busy with a dozen projects on the boil...enjoying my two grandsons and being fully involved in my kids lives: they are all three of them "millenials" with wonderful, bright, intuitive, creative, even disruptive opinions, attitudes and approaches to life. Keeps me and my wife alert and on the run!

Best

Larry B

Stan Coffey

Geez Guy, please tell us what elixir you are on. I want some!!

Geoff, what do you mean? Battered survivors hobbling around, varicose veins, dodgy prostrates, hip replacements!!! If you want to be silly by completing 30 Duzis, speak for yourself! (LoL)

Gary Maas

Great coctail party guys it certainly a memory wake up good to see gus like Roy Neal John Wallet Rod Coleman Densil,Warren,the list is endless even a mention for Hilton Langauge i have a letter his mom wrote to me in 1964  and i quote his death was by devine wish for devine reasons .Thanks guys for the memories i will end it by wishing you all this message .FOREVER YOUNG I WANT TO BE FOREVER YOUNG!!!!!!!!!!!

Denzil Andrews

Thanks Gary - it certainly was a great evening altho the festivities continued well into Sunday pm

I surprised you mentioned Roy as he tells me he out fished you regularly!!

I'll be following up with Candice tomorrow when I see her - a complete shambles but I'm sure she will get it corrected to save further embarrasement

 Thanks for the Forever Young wishes - to one and all as well

David East

Hi - here's a short tale that added to my respect for Wrinkles who put many a stripe on my backside.

I and 3 other classmates had committed yet another heinous crime and were sent to Wrinkles for disciplining. The prefect who has caught us, told Wrinkles what we had done (I cannot remember what it was) and left.

Wrinkles looked at us and started with  the boy furthest from me. "What's your excuse, boy?"  The  boy launched into a complicated excuse with me watching Wrinkles. The next boy burbled another far-fetched  tale.  And, the last boy before me did likewise. I realised that Wrinkles had not bought any of the excuses and he seemed to be getting more and irritated.

Then Wrinkles looked me.  I immediately deleted the cock and bull story I had concocted and said: "I have no ëxcuse, Sir."

He got up, and advised the three storytellers that they were getting 3 cuts each. I was rewarded with 2 cuts.     

Larry Butchins

Wonderful article about Alan Turton. I took art with him and was on of of the trips to Sunnyside (I think Doug Drysdale was also with us) - I was either in 3rd or 4th form. I vividly remember setting out very early one morning for a hike up the nearby mountain: it was bl...y freezing and we had been given warm goat's milk on starting out. Felt sick all the way there, up the mountain, and back! I also clearly remember the river and the firs along its banks, sketching them, trying to catch the evasive light...Reading this article clarified why Alan loved that place so much.

Anybody else remember that trip? Or similar?

Larry B

Dave Geary

Hi All, I have just finished reading Larry's recently published book Train in the Distance. I copy below my five star review on Amazon and would urge you to purchase it either in print or on Kindle. Well worth the read and it will help sustain our "impoverished author".

The title of Larry Butchin’s first novel is from Paul Simon’s song “Train in the Distance”. I must admit that whilst the title vaguely stirred a memory the lyrics were lost in the mists of time. Intrigued as to why he had chosen this title I looked up the lyrics and the final stanza was a revelation:

What is the point of this story
What information pertains
The thought that life could be better
Is woven indelibly
Into our hearts and our brains.

There could not be a more apt title. Larry Butchins was a cohort of mine at school in Durban and post school, during a successful journalistic and PR career, he consistently voiced his opposition to the heinous system of apartheid.

The book, based on biographic fact, is a riveting read. At times it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction as the main protagonist pursues his ideals. Never maudlin it draws one into the South African apartheid era where the regime became increasingly oppressive using both the military and police to brutally crush opposition.

Disillusioned with the situation he and his family seek normality in Israel only to find that man’s inhumanity has no geographic boundaries. It would be remiss of me to elaborate further on the plot suffice to say that the book is full of intrigue and tension and it caused me to introspectively examine my own views. Well worth purchasing.

Regards to from a wet York.

David.

John Mason

Hi Cedric,  I note that Maurice Presley is not listed on this site. This I’m guessing is because he was not in our cohort but was a year ahead of us. He was the son of a Baptist minister and I think he lived on the Bluff or thereabouts. He was in Blackmores and I seem to recall that he used to cycle home on Sundays. I was not a close friend, but have regretted not making an effort to get to know him better when I had the opportunity. I have often wondered how his life worked out after school. I do have one very vivid memory of him taking a spectacular catch to dismiss Garth Joyner in an inter-House cricket match on the oval one afternoon.

I hope you are well and have come to terms with the contrasting weather conditions that can be typical of Tassie. I once took a touring cricket team on a week’s tour of Tassie, and we barely got to bowl a single over throughout the week in late January owing to persistent rain. Cheers, John Mason.

Cedric Parker

Hi John

Lovely to hear from you! Sorry it took so long to respond.

We're used to the weather here, and the experience you had with the cricket team you brought here doesn't surprise me at all! Apart from that we're really loving our season here. We've found a wonderful church in Ulverstone (Life Christian Church), and we're leading a life group in our home - and I'm in the worship team there. I've tried to keep busy by teaching bridge at local schools. Here's a link to an article (and video) that The Advocate published on this earlier this week:  https://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/5931622/finding-the-next-generation-of-bridge-players/?cs=87.

What Felicity is finding very frustrating is that the two year 457 visas that we came here on in August 2017 for her 3 year contract expires at end July, and the visa doesn't exist any more. She can apply for a different visa in order to complete her contract at North West Regional Hospital, but she's been told that she'll have to resubmit all the copies of her qualifications - even though they were provided when she applied for the original 457 visas. Whilst she's been here she's performed really well, and we'll be flying to Malaysia in late April - where the Australian College of Anaesthesiology will confer fellowship on her.

In spite of this she has found that it is now virtually impossible to obtain Australian citizenship due to our age, and thus we'll probably return to South Africa next year.

I think I've found Maurice Presley on Facebook! Look here: https://www.facebook.com/maurice.pressley.5. He's now living in the UK and he's listed as a DHS old boy. He looks the right age from his photo. Ask him to be your friend on Facebook so that you can catch up with him. If he's interested I'll create a Guest membership for him on our website. Let me know if you'd like me to do so (would he have matriculated in 1965?)

Do you ever visit Sydney? We go there fairly often, and it would be great to catch up with you if ever we could coordinate our visits. Alternatively, come and visit us in Tassie! We have excellent accommodation. Here's a link to a drone video a friend did which shows our wonderful environment. Our house is the one with washing on the line - close to the end of the clip: https://vimeo.com/299999436. The password to watch it is cedric.

Best regards

Cedric

John Mason

Hi Cedric,

The drone footage brought back some nostalgic memories. We couldn’t help but note the caravans on the foreshore - presumably using this pristine coastal setting as an overnight free camping site. Many years ago we travelled around Tassie in a rental winebago and remember quite clearly the seascape. For some reason I found the drone perspective quite hypnotic. One of the appealing features of Tassie is how so many of the older homes and cottages are retained and cared for - especially in the central parts of Launceston and Hobart - the latter reminds me so much of Cape Town.

Thank you so much for the details concerning Maurice’s Presley - I am trying to establish whether he would like to reconnnect with someone he may only vaguely recall. And yes, I have no doubt that it is the Maurice that was a year my senior. As you may guess he was given the nickname Elvis - something of an inevitability given his surname. I suspect he may have been very ambivalent about this given that he was in every way the antithesis of the superstar rock idol.

Val and I have been trying to think of some way of assisting you with your visa applications. What is about bureaucracy that it always seems to complicate that which should be so simple? And why can’t merit and the human dimensions of a case be the determining factors? Unfortunately, this particular issue has become So politicised in recent years that the individual merits of a case seem no longer to be a consideration. Val says that you should appeal in person to Eric Abetz - a conservative politician who professes a strong Christian faith. One good thing about politics in Australia is that the politicians are generally very accessible.

We have also spoken to Barrie and Di Irons. Barrie taught with me at DHS in 1980, and I was able to help him secure a position at Mentone Grammar thanks to a dynamic headmaster who was able to orchestrate matters at that time. Barrie retired last year after several years as deputy headmaster at Hutchins in Hobart - a much-loved teacher and cricket coach. Last year the school, renamed its main oval The Barrie Irons Oval. Unfortunately, they too are bemused and frustrated by current immigration policies in Australia.

On a more positive note, my daughter Sarah’s husband Peter are very close friends with an anaesthetist who is specialising in transplant anaesthesia - Louise Ellard. Peter is a paediatrician and he and Louisa completed fellowships in Toronto about four years ago during which the two families formed a very close friendship. Sarah texted Louisa today and it turns out that she is presenting two lectures/ papers at the conference in Malaysia. We got to know them quite well during our various stays in Toronto and were hugely impressed with her and could easily see why our daughter had such a high regard for this dynamic young woman. She would me more than happy for Felicity to contact her. Her mobile is 0437742820 and will be staying at thenHyatt. Sarah also told me to mention that she’ll have Whatsapp.

Thanks again for the info on Maurice and I shall certainly let you know if he is interested in a guest membership on the 1965 website.

Best wishes and we will certainly be praying that something can be done with respect to your visa aspirations. Unfortunately, we tend to bypass Sydney two or three times a year on our various migrations north to Byron Bay where we have a beach property. The climate and beachscape north of Byron so reminded us so much of parts of the Natal south coast that we bought the beach house about twenty years ago - a blessing for which our children and now grandchildren are wonderfully grateful. If on the other hand you have reason to come to Melbourne you would be most welcome to stay over with us. 

Cheers,

John.

Cedric Parker

Thanks for your comprehensive response John.

I'll pass Louise's contact details on to Felicity. I'm certain she'll enjoy connecting with her.

Thanks for the invite to stay if we visit Melbourne. We may take you up on this.

Cheers, Cedric

John Mason

Hi Cedric, Just heard on the ABC morning news that the Aus government is introducing a new category of extending visas for rural dentists and anaesthetists. So perhaps there is yet hope.

John.

Cedric Parker

Hi John. Thanks for the heads up on the new visa. We'll investigate this further.

Have a great day!

Dennis Gurwitz

Hi Cedric

I have to change my email address. Where to I go to do it?

thanks

and thanks for all your hard work

regards

dennis

Cedric Parker

Hi Dennis. In order to change any of your personal particulars click on the "head & shoulders" icon on the top right of the screen - and then select "Edit Contact Info". Thanks for your encouragement. Have a great day!