Bernard Mizeki College, located to the northeast of Marandellas* in what was then Southern Rhodesia, was opened in 1961 as a private school to serve the growing middle classes of the Central African Federation - Southern & Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It was intended to be a multiracial, elite boys' school, an 'African Eton', and was strongly supported by the Anglican Church and a number of Federation businesses.
When I first went there in 1963 it had two boarding houses and about 140 students working towards Cambridge Overseas 'O' Levels. I did some teaching, spent a great deal of very happy time, under the supervision of the estate manager, Basil Farrant, working on some 5,000 acres of beautiful musasa and munondo woodland, and....
....had the privilege of coaching the school's first and second eleven soccer teams. The first eleven, pictured, were hugely successful, beating every team except one, coming to be known as the White Wizards for their skills.
I only spent a few months at the school, working with two young VSOs and a dedicated staff - which included David Witt, Arthur Collishaw and Blair Murray - under the headmastership of an ex-Ghana civil servant, Peter Canham, and loved every moment.
* Now Marondera.
Details of the school's history are here.
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