On page 71 Dad describes the news of the passing of his mother when we were are at East London. I am afraid I did not join him on the sea shore. Perhaps I felt he needed to be alone and what would I have said? Of course I missed Grandma and Granddad but they were distant figures. Dad wrote to York every Sunday evening and he maintained this correspondence with Auntie Nellie who stayed at 22 Park Grove.
On page 74 Dad describes the Guild of Church Musicians. It was unfortunate that there already was such a Guild in the UK. I became President of the Guild. Ronnie Jones and I were exact contemporaries as we learned the organ and we enjoyed organ crawls and later giving recitals at the City hall and the Catholic cathedral. Once a year we would visit the Delens in Pretoria. Pieter was Dutch Reformed and a great organ enthusiast. He had an organ and piano in his home and on one occasion "The Holy City" was played, His mother was unimpressed describing it as poor music.
page 78/9 gives Dad's take on St John's college. The maths teacher he confronted was Doggie Chamberlain who commented that he had no idea what went on in the Prep. I ended up having extra maths lessons with him on Saturday mornings and the result was a B in Maths in Matric. It is true that I hated having to watch rugby and cricket on Saturday afternoons. I would much rather be reading or playing the piano. Once I had said my "Adsum" at rollcall at half time I would slope off and Dad would pick me up near the A field. This exercise was supposed to instill school spirit - in my case it did not achieve its aim!
On page 74 Dad describes the Guild of Church Musicians. It was unfortunate that there already was such a Guild in the UK. I became President of the Guild. Ronnie Jones and I were exact contemporaries as we learned the organ and we enjoyed organ crawls and later giving recitals at the City hall and the Catholic cathedral. Once a year we would visit the Delens in Pretoria. Pieter was Dutch Reformed and a great organ enthusiast. He had an organ and piano in his home and on one occasion "The Holy City" was played, His mother was unimpressed describing it as poor music.
page 78/9 gives Dad's take on St John's college. The maths teacher he confronted was Doggie Chamberlain who commented that he had no idea what went on in the Prep. I ended up having extra maths lessons with him on Saturday mornings and the result was a B in Maths in Matric. It is true that I hated having to watch rugby and cricket on Saturday afternoons. I would much rather be reading or playing the piano. Once I had said my "Adsum" at rollcall at half time I would slope off and Dad would pick me up near the A field. This exercise was supposed to instill school spirit - in my case it did not achieve its aim!
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