This blog was written by the pupils of the Class of themselves. It would be great to hear from everybody. Two photos of Then and Now would also be super. There are no rules about how much or how little you would like to share or indeed what you would to include. The latest submissions will be included at the top of the blog thereby making the unread entries at the top of the blog.
I would imagine that this is for everybody to read, so perhaps I should leave out my time as a male escort? Before we track my working career, a few words about my time at Alex. Arriving at Alex in Standard 7 from Cape Town, I fell very comfortably into the vibe of the school and the peopleβ far preferring coed to single gender institutions, of which I had experience with both β schools that is, not genders! For certain medical reasons, [which we need not go into at this stage], I had never been able to fully participate in sports.
I was drawn to and enjoyed other extra-mural pastimes, notably on the stage- which was considered by some to be a bit left of centre. This lack of sporting ability or prowess never bothered me, but it certainly did not sit well with some of the staff β particularly the PT teacher. In hindsight I see our years at Alex as a period of change and transition in the approach to teaching. We were certainly extremely fortunate to have such talented and innovative educators as Bob Welch, Paul Ellis and Flippie van der Merwe, whose whole approach to teaching both inspired and motivated, as opposed to the somewhat dour approach that our headmaster seemed determined to maintain.
Perhaps, not all of this time out was spent actually doing that! It did not take long for me to realise that the stage and I were not meant for one another, unlike my good friend Philip Godawa, who would go on to achieve much in the theatre. A short foray at Springbok Radio as a studio tech, working alongside some of the stars of radio, led me to realise that I needed some sort of qualification to kick-start a career.
After graduating as radio and radar technician [go figure], I was fortunate to join Sonovision Studios in Johannesburg. At the time Sonovision was one of the largest recording studios in the country, specializing in the recording of radio dramas, commercials and music.
