The Bernard Mizeki Staff

I have many memories of my first time at Bernard Mizeki College, where I worked as a volunteer teacher and odd-job-man from early February until August 1963, but I didn't have a camera with me and didn't, at the time, feel the need for one. Fortunately, the BMC Facebook page does have pictures of a few of the people with whom I worked.

It was the first headmaster, Peter Canham, right, who made Bernard Mizeki College such an exceptionally good school. As a private school, it was his task, along with the governors, to raise the money to build, staff and ensure the future of the school. An ex-colonial civil servant, he ran the place with superb efficiency, leaving the teachers free to get on with their jobs. He had strong views on what an 'education' was. In the days when 'blacks' (the other racial groups were 'whites' and 'coloureds') were only allowed into one of Salisbury, the capital's large hotels, he took the prefects to the Ambassador's and made them sit down to a full evening meal - so they could learn the etiquette of 'public' eating.

It was because of my experiences at the school that I later went in to teaching but I never again came across such an inspirational headteacher. Later, it was the lack of true leadership skills which made so many of the schools at which I taught for almost 30 years such disappointing places.

The teaching staff included Blair Murray, left, while at centre is Arthur Collishaw, also a teacher but one of the two priests at the school. At right is a man we simply knew as Dokwani, who worked with Basil Farrant, the estate manager.

Wilf Stringer, left, ran the primary school, where I did some teaching, but the VSOs and I found ourselves frequently at his house as it seemed to contain an inexhaustible supply of beer.

The school had lent us an ancient Lambretta as a means of getting around its extensive campus but it was extremely unstable on the dirt roads. Since all three of us, and sometimes more, piled on to it to drive the mile down to the primary school to visit Wilf of an evening and, more challengingly, ride back again, we became quite used to ending up in the dirt.

David Witt taught maths. He was unusual in that most of the European teaching staff were single men while David had a wife, Bibi, and three children. The family were wonderfully kind to us young men. Their front door was always open and I fear we probably trespassed far too much on their warm hospitality. I recall David building a balsa wood model 'plane complete with spirit engine. Since I trained the school's cross-country team, and the school owned 5,000 acres, David used to launch his 'plane into the air and the team would set off, across the bush, to retrieve it.

All of these people, and others beside, were great fun to be with, warm-hearted, dedicated, understanding, and generous. We young men, who came for a short time and then went upon our several ways, benefitted hugely from the experience they gave us.

Many thanks to BMC Facebook members for the photos.