The 2025 Chronicle

TRIBUTES TO STAFF LEAVING

TRIBUTE TO ANTONY CLARK

school and that the chapel is central to all we do here at Michaelhouse. It is therefore most fitting that we pay tribute to him today in our incomparably beauti ful chapel, recently enlarged to be able to accommodate us all. While we will be focusing on Antony’s con tribution to Michaelhouse this afternoon, it would be remiss not to mention his leadership at four other schools preced ing his arrival here. As a young man Ant ony took the reins of St Joseph’s Marist College in Cape Town before returning to lead his old school, St Andrew’s Col lege. After seven years in this role Ant ony spent an extended and highly suc cessful period in England, leading first Gresham’s and then Malvern College. When Antony leaves Michaelhouse he will have been a principal for a stagger ing 34 years. Antony, as a community we feel significantly blessed that you chose to include Michaelhouse in your lifetime of service to education. Of course, we be lieve you saved the best for last. Antony arrived at Michaelhouse in April 2019 and went straight into a lengthy ad missions meeting despite the fact that he had only recently alighted from an aero plane. Although the plane may have land ed gently on the runway, Antony’s first few weeks at Michaelhouse were anything but that. He had to negotiate a labour strike and a serious disciplinary issue within days of arriving in Balgowan. He took these in his stride and it became immediately

evident that we were being led by a man with significant experience and wisdom. While Antony’s leadership has been firm and decisive, it has also been collabora tive. As an exco we have met every sin gle morning to ensure we can all make our contributions and that everyone’s input is carefully considered. Although I was not part of the exco at the time, I understand that Antony hosted two on line meetings each day to navigate the troubled waters of the Covid pandemic. We are proud of how we thrived in those difficult times, and much credit must be given to Antony for this. A spirit of selflessness and service has been the hallmark of Antony’s leader ship here. While he has held each of us to high standards of conduct and con tribution, he himself has always gone above and beyond these. He has done so with distinction, but also with significant humility. We have seen Antony put the school’s needs ahead of his own each time. It has never been about Antony but always about Michaelhouse. Nowhere has Antony’s servant heart been more evident than in the annual induction of school prefects where, each year, Antony has washed the feet of a few boys here at the altar, role-modelling the service ethic he has been so successful in inspiring in others, boys and staff alike. Antony is a stickler for the small things – arriving on time, being properly turned

It is a pleasure and an enormous privilege to pay tribute to our retiring Rec tor on behalf of the Michaelhouse staff team.

Retiring Rector. RR. I will come back to that in due course. We want to use this opportunity not only to honour Antony for leading us with dis tinction but also to thank him for his ser vice to our special school. Antony has been a lay minister in our chapel and has been a significant sup port to our chaplain, Chris Meyer. At ev ery opportunity Antony has emphasised that we are unashamedly a Christian

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