The Chronicle 2022

OPENING OF THE TERRACES

18 MARCH 2022

result is here today for us all to see and enjoy. Thank you, Nick.

Remarks by Graham McIntosh, (Baines 1960) on the inauguration of “The Archangel Michael slaying the dragon” sculpture.

My reasons for donating the sculpture were threefold. Firstly, it is very good art. I also think that our Michaelhouse boys should have around them, things of beauty and worth. This sculpture will be an enhancement, not only for Michaelhouse but for the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, indeed, for South Africa. The quality of the casting and the bronze is world class. Thank you Robbie. The second reason was that I could not think of a gift to Michaelhouse that would give Santie more pleasure. For her, the artistic value of the sculpture made any financial considerations irrelevant. Every boy at Michaelhouse has a mother and Santie was the mother of three. It is right that this school should honour a mother in this way. Jesus honoured his mother and even, as he hung on the Cross. It is a joy that Michaelhouse has allowed our family to pay our respects to Santie by accepting the gift of this sculpture but also for so enthusiastically embracing it to unlock the landscaping of excellence, which now enhances the front of school. That development was totally unexpected by me, but a complete delight as we can all see. My sincere thanks to Jamie Inglis, Tim Steyn and Shaun Renton for their vision. Robbie believed deeply in the message of the account of the Archangel Michael fighting Satan. Both Santie and I do too. There is good and evil and every boy who leaves Michaelhouse should know that. Choosing what is good and right and just, is not always easy. Sometimes, like the Archangel, one has to be fierce and tough but while never abandoning grace and love and peace. The last verse of Revelation 12 records that “the Dragon went to wage war against those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus”. Michaelhouse boys need to be aware of that every time they enjoy this Sculpture and that is, for me, the third and the most important reason why our family gave it to the school.

T

hank you Rector for giving me this opportunity to speak. Some 25 years ago Robbie Leggat submitted a maquette to the Board of Michaelhouse, of which I was then a member, with his interpretation of “The Archangel Michael slaying the Dragon”. It was a careful representation of the events described in Revelation 12, which Google nowadays easily directs us to. Santie and I were enjoying ten happy years of seeing our three sons, Angus, Cameron and Lachlan move through the School. Robbie is an exceptionally gifted artist and he is truly, as a boy with serious dyslexia, a tribute to Michaelhouse, indeed a trophy of grace. The school saw him through to matric. Santie had an MA in History of Art from the University of Pretoria and her thesis was on bronze sculpture. When she saw Robbie’s maquette of the Archangel, she immediately recognised it as a fine, indeed an outstanding work of art. Some four years ago, instead of making a further five year pledge to the Chairman’s Club, I wondered if I couldn’t make some other contribution to Michaelhouse. A thought came in the night that I should contact Robbie, and ask him if, after all these years, indeed decades, he might still be able to cast this very large Sculpture. He replied in the affirmative and I knew that Santie, who had developed a dementia four years before, would be thrilled to know that and she was. First, I had to ask the school if they would accept such a donation. Anthony Hewat, as Chairman of the Board, said they would. I was delighted. I had no idea where the School would place the Archangel but I did ask that Robbie, as the artist, should have the final say on all the artistic elements including the water element which is integral to the account in Revelation 12. Nick Grice, as our school architect went along with that and the

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