The Lupa Lunch was a remarkable event that had been 50 years in the making! Despite some of us not having spoken in all that time, we all had stories to share, some with lost details and perhaps others with exaggerated details. This did not matter, the passage of time did not diminish the significance of these stories nor our reunion. It felt as though we walked out of school yesterday! 

It was also a pleasure to have Graham Steele (headmaster) Grant, Robyn and Chandre (all of WBHS) and Dieter Kriese (representing WOBA) join us and mingle with the blokes and hear some of the 50 years old stories!

I express my gratitude to all those who aided me in locating many of the members of the Class of 1975. Initially starting with a list of around 16 names with confirmed contacts, we managed to expand that to over 70 confirmed contacts. In the end, we had 36 attendees from the Class of 1975 present over the weekend. A significant number of individuals residing overseas faced challenges in attending the reunion. A special acknowledgment goes out to Mark Grierson (Australia), Lindsey Rees (Australia), Richard Akitt (Isle of Man), and Brent Buxton (England/RSA) for making the journey to join us. Additionally, there were several others who traveled from various parts of South Africa to be present, including the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Zululand, and beyond. I know I can on behalf of everyone say a big thank you to all of you.

Such a pleasure to meet up with fellow schoolboys of 1975. I was lucky enough to spend time with Rory, Darryl Vine, Grant Lister-James, Darrel Norris, Mark Legg and Mark Grierson in the days before the start of the Old Boys celebration but thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with everyone I got the opportunity to speak to. Conversations were not so much about the now but more of the when!! Laughter was heartfelt, as stories remembered were embellished by those present over 50 years ago. Thank you all for bringing back memories and making more.

What a rare pleasure it was to meet up, after 50 years, with old school chums, last week, and to rekindle those adolescent friendships that had flourished when we were schoolboys. It was especially rewarding to see classmates who were with me all the way from 2nd Form to Matric and to share stories about school and life thereafter, with them. A particular highlight of our brief reunion season was to re-establish contact, via WhatsApp, with Brian Tomlinson, with whom I had not spoken since we finished school. Tommy was a decent human being and good friend at school and it was very special to share messages and voice notes with him after such a long hiatus in our friendship. The highlight of our weekend, for me, was to see genuine delight on the face of each gent present when old acquaintances and friendships were rekindled, to see humbleness and sincerity where years before, there may have been the crassness and shallowness of youth and to come to the realization that Westville Boys’ High School, perhaps unintentionally, helped mold us into the men we have become.

It was a real eyeopener to see the numbers who turned out from 75 at the reunion lunch on Thursday, it was great to rekindle old acquaintances, shed past biases and enjoy the stories of the lives of those with whom we shared so many years at Westville. I am above all else blown away by my long time friend Bryan Randles who despite the ravages of a particularly aggressive bout of Diabetes type 2 managed to make logistical arrangements and grit his teeth to overcome and enjoy the afternoon with us. Secondly to those, like another long term friend Lindsay Rees, who just jumped on an aeroplane from Adelaide to be with us, blown away completely, what a pleasure to see that timeless smiling face walk in the room, Lindsay has always been the friend who keeps in touch with everyone, and to make a sacrifice like this to be part of the group, is typical, and fantastic. The school has grown, but also not grown, in the sense that its heart is still the same, I can still recall all the subject classrooms I attended school at, but the peripheral facilities, sporting and boarding infrastructure is beyond belief. The pupils are polite, friendly and helpful beyond the call, having raised two children through private school with great expectation, I can confirm that the manners and behavior of the students are top notch. I was surprised to see such a young and dynamic headmaster, I am more accustomed to the pompous and dictatorial characters I experienced in my school days, and clearly the dynamic approach and recent history of the schools development, is a reflection of the type of person now running the show, well done Westville, in a country where it is very difficult to have much confidence in the education system, WBHS shines and shines way above and beyond the model C schooling system expectations.

So proud to have been a part of the 75 group of students. We have all traveled different roads over the past 50 years but there we were bonding as if it were yesterday.

The most fantastic thing was making reunion with guys who you haven’t seen for 10/50 years and chatting as though is was yesterday.

Arriving at Westville Boy’s High the school entrance appeared unchanged, though it’s been upgraded with a security building and smartened up, the small car park inside the entrance area has been converted to a large paved seating area with benches and tables under dappled shade with panoramic overviews of the Bowden Fields and pavilion making this one of the most pleasant sitting areas at the school. The School Hall as we knew it is no longer the school hall, pupil numbers have vastly outgrown the hall’s capacity. The Hall is now the Drama production Theatre with terraced audience seating and an extended stage with the modern equipment expected of a Drama theatre. It was nice to see the Honours boards still displayed in the entrance dating all way back to the 60’s. The 2025 WBHS pupil compliment is approx 1300+ pupils that required a new multi purpose building that now proudly stands where the old tennis courts were. This new Multi Functional Building serves as the School Hall, Gymnasium, Indoor sports facility for multiple indoor sports of soccer, hockey, basket ball and other school purposes. We were impressed by the scale of the Assembly with 1300 pupils seated in groups of their grades and plenty teachers seated all around the huge assembly hall. 

The assembly was short, quick and concisely well run with an opening prayer, brief notices, sports results celebrated in quick succession and a short stirring motivational speech by Oscar Chalupsky after receiving the highest award of Westville Boys High School with a maroon school blazer.

It was a privilege and honour to be part of 1st team old boys from past years to award the 1st team hockey jersey to new 2025 team players. Grant Walker was also part of the 1st team old boys from past years that awarded the 1st team rugby jersey to new 2025 team players. What a memorable ceremony for these 1st team players and inspirational for the younger crop of players to aspire to. 

The Assembly closed with the ‘Westville’ war cry… the ‘Utini La – WestVille!’ of our time is gone. it is replaced with an utterance of unkown words and a loud ‘Westville’ at the end as one does a worm like body rhythm to lean back and shout ‘Westville!’. 😊 I found it quite humerous but contagious. I enquired at which date it came about but no one could say and what were the words which no one knew either. 😊 it will need some investigation.

I had previously attended a school assembly with around 30 old boys from various years, which was a humbling experience at the time. However, the 2025 assembly surpassed all expectations, with approximately 125 old boys from different years, including 23 from the Class of 1975. The entrance into the assembly was truly unforgettable, with heartfelt acknowledgments and the resounding applause of nearly 1,000 students and staff. This unexpected reception will forever be etched in my mind as a special moment for me. I believe it resonated with all of us, because I don't think there was a single person among us who didn't feel a lump in their throat or a tear in their eye.

It was also great to see three of the Class of 1975, Alan Down, Grant Walker and Gary Duminy hand jerseys to the rugby and hockey first team players.  Oscar Chalupsky (1982) gave a very motivational speech to the assembly after receiving a maroon blazer, the highest award of Westville Boys High School.

Attending the 2025 school assembly was a humbling experience that made me feel proud to be associated with WBHS since 1971 and to see where it is today, Incepto Ne Desistam. 

The assembly – I was blown away with the reception the old boys received when walking into the assembly. Having the honour of handing over the no 5 rugby jersey to the 2025 first team lock was a very special moment for me and will stay with me forever. Sitting on the stage facing the current scholars made me proud to be an Old Boy and still be associated with Westville Boys High and the amazing school spirit and decorum.

Each old boy, privileged enough to have enjoyed the 3 day reunion, will return home, replay conversations and interactions and hopefully store many positives from our joint experience. I love the descriptive language mingling, that is so unique to South Africa. Afrikaans, English, Zulu and other dialects combine words to deliver sentences that emphasise and enrich our culture. One word however stands out for me, and that is the Afrikaans word “Gees”. Gees has so much more expressive meaning than “spirit”. Westville Boys High School has always had “Gees”. The assembly on Friday exemplified this inbred “Gees”, that has prevailed and grown stronger over the years. Entering the hall to deafening applause, witnessing the collective singing and chanting of the young men and staff, and listening to the encouraging message of Oscar Chalupsky, reinforced this special inner core, that prevails within the spirit and “gees” of WBHS. Emotional, inspirational unforgettable - thank you.

One of the highlights had to be watching Westville thrash Kearsney on the rugby field — some things clearly don’t change! Hearing about everyone’s lives, families, and grandchildren was both heartwarming and entertaining. It was a weekend full of laughter, memories, and a real sense of shared history.

Whilst is was great to see the first 15 wallop Kearsney, I did come away feeling disappointed. Talk from old boys at the dinner on the evening prior, was that they had watched the game from the Bowdens pavillion on prior occasions, or had a section of the main stand roped off for the anniversary cohort. I was a little surprised to find a seat hard to come by, and ended up sitting on the section of the man stand nearest the pavilion, providing a poor view of the game. Our cohort was scattered so, it was very difficult to have any interaction, even after the game. I also thought there would be a stall where we could buy a school blazer, but it didn't seem to be in operation. It was a bit of a flat finale to what was otherwise an excellent commemorative celebration. 

Overall a great experience - the opportunity to reconnect with old friends is priceless. It was well worth the trip from Sydney and I can only pray that I can make the 60th.

The most fantastic thing was making reunion with guys who you haven’t seen for 10/50 years and chatting as thought is was yesterday.