The Easter festivals on the go at St Stithians,
St John’s and King Edward at the moment don’t happen by accident. The planning
for the next year’s event typically starts the week after this year’s event
ends. In fact, I’m sitting this week in the organisation’s offices at King Edward’s
and I’ve been hearing the indefatigable and ever-cheerful festival organiser, Derron
van Eeden, talking about next year all the time. The schools are already
beginning to accept their invitations for 2024, which will be KES’s 20th
festival.
There’s an army at work in and around the
organiser’s office. Some are new faces to me, but most I’ve been seeing every time
for years. They are all volunteers, their sons all long gone from the school,
and yet they stick their hands up every year, and it’s them that have made the festival
a long-term success story.
As I walked down Oak Avenue on the first
morning I heard whistles blowing on the rugby field and hockey Astro, which
meant the boys were playing, which is the whole point of the exercise. And I could
smell the braai fires starting up, which is almost as important.
And that’s where I came across one of the
longest of those long-serving volunteers, Pat Cotter. The apron he was wearing
has ‘Mighty Pat’ embroidered on it, and that’s about right – you can ask anyone
at the school.
Pat is a braaier, he’s been doing it on Saturday
mornings in the rugby season for 22 years, he tells me, and that includes all
19 Easter Festivals so far.
Pat is a King Edward Old Boy, and the grandfather
and father of old boys. He stands four foot-something tall, but he’s a giant in
his loyalty and service to the school. He has served on all sorts of committees,
including at Old Edwardians – the old boys society.
In his autumn years he is still at it and always
the first, according to Derron van Eeden, to put his hand up to do the fried onions
again at next year’s festival.
Comments
Post a Comment