The 2025 Chronicle

family, finally succumbed to the disease and died peacefully in his sleep. He will be sorely missed and leaves behind sister Sally in Durban, his beloved Tony and wid er family in England, and a huge circle of very close friends locally and abroad. RIP, brother Peter. Go join brother David (1957-2022, Baines 1974). Written by Mike Cartwright (Baines 1972) Peter was one of my oldest friends. I have a photo of us in Class 1 at Kloof School in 1958. I count 47 children in that class including Old Boys David van Maasdyk (Farfield, 1969), Fink Haysom (Farfield, 1969) and Roy Currie (East, 1969). We both moved to Cordwalles in 1962 and performed in various plays, and it was clear in those days that Peter had a great knack to make us all laugh. We both were witches in a short version of Macbeth . He always seemed to be a step above my fellow witch and I in performing. We started at Michaelhouse in 1966 and were again in the choir and various the atre productions. His best was perhaps as Falstaff in Henry IV . He was superbly over the top in his portrayal of his charac ter, and the audience loved it. I think this rates a mention in Stars Of The Morning . I left school in 1969 but he stayed on for VI Form and was head boy. He joined me at UCT a year later, where we were both in Driekoppen residence for a while. Although we were in different faculties, we would see each other periodically for a game of bridge with friends, or play chess, in both of which he excelled. He was immensely proud of his blue VW Beetle and gave me quite a few lifts between Durban and Cape Town. One different but memorable drive was with Roy Currie in his Land Rover. Roy had removed the roof and the three of us set off for the Sani Pass. The heavens opened up as we reached the top and we had more than a few anxious moments fording swollen rivers as we crossed Le sotho. Peter was his usual gregarious self and kept Roy and I well entertained with his stories. Over the years we kept in touch, although he was in the UK and I in Canada. We met in London and at various Old Boys’ days and gaudies over the years. When he was diagnosed with his horri ble disease we had many emails and WhatsApp chats as to what he was go

and then returned for post-matric when he was appointed school Senior Prefect while still head of Baines. Although he did not excel on the sports fields like many of the senior prefects before or since, he ex celled in other areas and possessed many traits and attributes from which his peers and juniors were able to learn. Peter did not agree with the age-old tradition that allowed School Prefects the responsibility of “applying the cane” to transgressors of some of the school rules. Under the newly appointed Rector in 1969, Rex Penning ton, and whether a popular decision or not, he was instrumental in supporting the abolition of corporal punishment by prefects, which he believed was the re sponsibility of senior staff members. From a very early age, indeed starting during his time at Cordwalles, Peter had a penchant for the field of speech and drama. He excelled at this and landed many of the lead roles in the variety of stage and musical productions for which Michaelhouse was well known. He pursued this talent at the Universi ty of Cape Town, where he obtained his BA, majoring in speech and drama. Sev eral years of employment followed af ter he joined the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) until his emigration to the UK in 1979, where he furthered his acting career with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and where he lived ever since. In the same way as Peter had a penchant for speech and drama, so too did he love travelling, whether from his home in Mis tley, Essex, to London or to the four cor ners of the planet. Indeed the only conti nent of the seven that he did not visit was Antarctica, but be it said that this was most probably on his travel radar. It was always a source of family amusement as to where we could contact Peter, or from which country we would receive our next newsletter. He enjoyed life to the full and was an exceedingly interesting person to be with, knowledgeable and amusing in his storytelling of his life experiences. His regular blog Pedro-of-the-Green and other newsletters were always awaited with eager enthusiasm from family and his many friends. In early May, Peter suffered a sudden and very unfortunate accident in London when he collapsed under a broken femur, which led to a lengthy hospitalisation and an eventual diagnosis of a very rare and ag gressive bone cancer. He was discharged from hospital after six months but after a brief period at home amongst close

Equestrian Tentpegging Association. I was also honorary member of the Aus tralian Tentpegging Association and hon orary life-president of the SA Equestrian Tentpegging Association, of which I was executive vice-president for many years. I live alone on this, the home farm, but have nine beloved dogs for company; six of them are greyhounds. Michaelhouse is forever in my thoughts, and my grati tude and affection knows no bounds for all that I learned and experienced there. Endnote My father, David Pickard-Cambridge passed away on 31 July on his farm near Beaufort West in the Karoo. A large me morial service was held for him on 14 August at Christ Church. He leaves his four children, Claire, Hilary, Caroline and Richard, and seven grandchildren. My father attended Michaelhouse be tween 1947 and 1952 and adored the school. He wanted to pay tribute to Mi chaelhouse and asked us on his pass ing to forward to the school the article above, which he wrote about his life. He was always sad he could not make reunions at the school because of the great distance involved (and later be cause of his failing health). Finally, I might add that the memorial ser vice was special in many respects. More than 20 riders held an equestrian parade down the main street on the day and formed a guard of honour outside the church to pay tribute to my father and the leadership role he had played in mentor ing them and promoting equestrian sport (particularly tentpegging). The equestri an parade resulted in the planned, tem porary closure of the N1 highway from Cape Town to Johannesburg! Written by Claire Pickard-Cambridge CARTWRIGHT, PETER JOHN HENRY Born 1952, Died 2025 Michaelhouse 1966-1970 It is with the greatest sadness that I re port the passing of my elder brother, at the somewhat premature age of 73, during the early hours of Saturday 6 De cember in the United Kingdom. Peter John Henry Cartwright was born in Cape Town in 1952. Following on from his time as a pupil at Cordwalles from 1961 to 1965, he attended Michaelhouse from 1966 to 1970. He was head pre fect of Baines in his matric year in 1969

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