Chronicle-1971

A. M.Foss 1927-33 r J. Slabbert 1928-29 The School 1932 in case someone had heard the crash and came to investigate. No one did. LIGHTS.There was no electricity supplied to the college so we had to provide our own, that is, the college did. The engine driving the generator had seen better days and on occasion broke down."When this happened in the early evening(which for reasons unknown seemed to be the favourite time) and was not fixed up fairly quickly we got off prep for that evening. FRUIT.In season we had as much as we like of mangoes,naartjies and litchisfromjhe old orchard. Paw paws also were fairly easy to come by. During week-ends we sometimes hiked out to a small river where we could swim in the deeper parts. What risks we took unthinkingly of contracting bilharzia but as far as I know none of us became infected. CASH.Pocket money? Well it mayseem a bit meagre by presentday standards butremem ber that was 45 years ago. The normal draw (weekly) by each of us,from funds sent by our parents to the Headmaster,was 1/-,6pence to spend and6pencefor Sunday church collection. 6 pence in those days could purchase quite a lotfrom the school tuck shop.Ofcourse we could draw more than lA if we had good reason to do so. SUNDAYS AT KEARSNEY.On Sunday mornings after letter-writing, it was time to get dressed for church and we had to fetch our suits from the tank room just below the tower of the school building. This was the one time ofthe week that we got dressed up in our navy blue suits, black shoes,stiff collars,with the school tie and cheese cutters. Before leaving for chapel, we were inspected by the master on duty,with the prefects fussing around the 70odd boarders to see that all shoes were shiny black and the collars snowy white. Then off we would march towards the chapel with Allen in front and Jack Hulett bringing up the rear. Occasionally some ofthe prefects and senior boys were invited for Sunday lunch to one of the beautiful homes surrounding Kearsney and belonging mostly to members of the Hulett family. This was always greatly appreciated as the sumptuous meals provided were a welcome change to the school fare. This fortunate few however, had to attend these functions in their church clothes and on a hot summer afternoon those lesser mortals that stayed at school were certainly more comfortable in their much cooler, casual attire. The rest of these Sunday afternoons were usually spent on cross country runs or just roaming around the open countryside and enjoying the mangoes,guavas and-other fruits that grew in abundance.(The "orchard", mostly citrus, was out of bounds however.) It is not very much known or recorded, but my father, the late Arthur E. Foss was the first Secretary appointed by Sir Liege Hulett to get on with the job of starting the School. In fact, it was at a discussion between Sir Liege and my Dad in 1920 that the idea was first conceived to found a second Methodist School in South Africa and Sir Liege readily granted his old home at Kearsney on the North Coast of Natal situated in the most beautiful surroundings of tea fields and gum trees. As a lad of seven years of age,I can at this moment still remember as if it had occurred only yesterday, Mr. Robert Matterson walking through the gates of our home, Duguza House,in Stanger to report to my father that he had arrived and was proceeding to Kearsney to take over his duties as headmaster. I still have a Bible in which is the signature of Mr. Matterson's father who was President of the Methodist Conference in 1915 and baptised me in the Kearsney Chapel on the North Coast in that year. NEW BOY.In the year 1927,with my mother,I boarded the train to Kearsney in Stanger very proudly wearing my maroon and white school cap and the school tie, for the first time. 30

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