FLIPPING BOOK CHRONICLE 2024

ADDRESS BY THE RECTOR, MR ANTONY CLARK

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hairman, chairmen and heads of neighbouring schools, distinguished guests, parents, staff and men of Michaelhouse. Good afternoon to you all on the occasion of our 2024 Speech Day, a day on which we celebrate some of the key events of the year and have a focus on our A Block boys, who will matriculate in a few weeks’ time and move on to challenges beyond the Michaelhouse fortress. But before that focus, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our guest speaker, Ms Puno Selesho, who will be introduced officially at a later stage by Seth Segal, a young man who has represented South Africa in debating and public speaking. In short, Puno is a talented young musician and literary artist and I am sure that she will more than inspire you later on this afternoon. My aim today is not to traverse too much old ground and engage you in a blow-by-blow account of the past year, as so much has already been brought to your attention through our weekly eNews and in other ways, but I aim rather to present to you in just 15 minutes a kaleidoscope of images which have made a specific impact on us, and to thank those who have made a significant contribution to Michaelhouse, before commenting on a random selection of A Block boys who will soon have the privilege of walking down Warriors’ Walk as Old Boys. But first, I want to pay tribute to a boy who will never be honoured in that way as he recently died in a car accident with his parents. Garth Finnemore was a Baines boy and a talented sportsman, but will be remembered chiefly for being the spirited and engaging young man he was – a best friend to many from the E Block to the A Block, someone who carried Michaelhouse in his big heart. His sad passing also triggered memories of our mourning the passing of Zanda Cele in November last year. May the spirit of both boys instil in us a sense of gratitude for all that we have. A boy who has certainly had a big and humble heart throughout his five years here is Carlyle Hawkins, our Senior Prefect for 2024, and you will hear from him later as he considers some of the high points of his time at Michaelhouse. He has valued so greatly all that he has had, and that is a lesson to every Michaelhouse boy here today. Carlyle has worked in close alignment with Luke Kaufmann, Second Prefect, and the Heads of House in guiding the boys of the school. Thank you, Carlyle and Luke and the School Prefects, for steering this year’s leavers. As one of last year’s matrics said to me as he expressed his appreciation of Michaelhouse, albeit in an oblique way: “You don’t know what you have until you don’t have it anymore.” Certainly a true statement. A feature of 2024 has been the opening or re-opening of two boarding houses in Tatham and Pascoe, providing world-class boarding facilities and a much more homely home from home to the boys of those Houses; every boarding school needs to substantially upgrade its accommodation roughly every 40 years and we now only have Farfield, Founders, East and West

to go, with major redesign only required in Farfield.

Of course, work has begun on the vital task of widening our Chapel too, so that everyone in our school – boys and staff – can be accommodated in it and worship together. We hope it will be ready for early June 2025. Another special feature of this year was the publishing of Gary Ralfe’s remarkable Stars of the Morning , a history which at least matches that of any school in the world in its research and richness. It was a real labour of love for Gary over seven years and it has been extremely well received across our community and outside it by all who have an interest in education. Gary is one of the Michaelhouse “goats” and, just in case he gets to hear of this description and doesn’t understand it, I must hasten to add that goat means “greatest of all time” rather than a stupid animal which destroys fences and eats your best roses. Gary’s history is richly illustrated and finely styled, drilling down into the essence of Michaelhouse, our traditions and our purpose as well as our quirks and quiddities, and it enables us to rejoice in our successes and commit ourselves afresh to what we are – a school where the notion of service and re-directing privilege has long been seen as important to instil in those who walk our corridors and our cloisters. Walking our corridors and cloisters are, amongst others, our staff. Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to two members of our support staff who have now notched up 35 years of service. Having come to Michaelhouse in 1989, Raymond Duma and Sam Zuma have made a difference in the Science Department as a technician and in the Laundry respectively, and I would like Raymond and Sam to please come up to receive a special long service award which marks their 35 years at Michaelhouse. Amongst the administrative staff, sadly, Fish Ndlovu, a popular man in the Schlesinger Theatre, where he was a technician, retired on the grounds of ill-health a few weeks ago after 14 years at Michaelhouse. We certainly miss him. I would now like to commend and thank Miriam Bongiwe Mlotshswa, who retires from Michaelhouse at the end of this year after 36 years serving in our Laundry. I am not sure what you hang up in a laundry, perhaps an iron, but I want to thank you, Miriam, on behalf of us all for your long service and wish you a happy and restful retirement, and I ask you to please come up to receive a gift from Michaelhouse. We thank those interns who have completed their degrees and teaching qualifications and have gained valuable experience and are now off to make their impact on other schools before, hopefully in some cases, returning to Michaelhouse if and when we have a vacancy. Interns play a vital role in the lives of the boys here as junior mentors, and we are grateful for the significant contribution of Isaac Jarvis, Robert Pike, Minenhle Ngubane, Mvelase Mbambisa and Max Bekker. I have little doubt that our academic staff are amongst the strongest and most capable specialists and all-round teachers you could possibly encounter in any school, and we are fortunate,

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