* During his term of office as principal, Mr RG Reddy recorded the date and height of flood waters that ravaged the school. This calibration played a pivotal role when governmental teams visited the area to assess the feasibility of building a dam on the Klip River.
* Windsor High withstood almost 80 floods during its illustrious history. In the 80s, there were plans to demolish this august institution and build a secondary school in Acaciavale to absorb learners from that area. Financial constraints by the then Department of Indian Affairs aborted that notion. From then onwards, these plans remained a pie in the sky.
* The Group Areas Act also impacted on Windsor. When the Indians were forced to move from the CBD, Forbes Street was the boundary.

No Indian was allowed to live in or conduct business west of Forbes Street. In the late 80s, Forbes Street was rezoned ‘White’ by Ladysmith Municipality.
It sent shivers and anger within the Indian community, whose objections fell on the deaf ears of a supercilious council that purported to operate within the framework of a national directive. A study conducted by the National Department of Education (white) established that in order to bring Windsor up to the standard of other ‘white’ schools, R2 million worth of renovations were necessary.

And this was to a school that the Indian community virtually ‘worshipped’ and which was seen by the Indians as one of the most elite Indian schools in the country. And R2 million in those days was a colossal amount.

Fortunately for the Indian community, the Klip River came to its aid. Regular flooding jettisoned the idea of forcing Indians off Forbes Street. Once again, Forbes Street was rezoned for Indian occupation and Windsor remained an ‘Indian’ institution.
These facts were highlighted aggressively during the ‘Don’t-Vote’ campaigns against the Tricameral Parliamentary elections.
* Windsor was the first Indian school in the country to have a bugle band.
In 1965, this band and a bevy of drum majorettes brought Durban traffic to a standstill as they marched from Grey Street up Alice Street into Curries Fountain as part of the Republic Celebrations.

Once again the school received glowing reports and lured national attention.
The band and majorettes also performed at the Kandahar Avenue sports field when Northern Natal played Southern Natal for the Daniels Gold Cup.
A crowd of 15,000 saw Northern Natal beat Southern Natal 5-3. During the march, the salute was taken by the president of Northern Natal, Mr EO Khan. Yours truly was the drum major who gave that salute!
The master of ceremonies on that day was the inimitable Mr AC Naidoo. The earlier coaches of the band were Mr Naidoo and Mr Wolf, who travelled regularly from Pietermaritzburg. Others who helped immensely were Mr van der Merwe from 5SAI and Mrs van der Merwe, who treated Windsor as her second home.
Of course, the driving force was Mr NG Chetty, who had vision second to none and who ensured military perfection from the band and majorettes.
* An urgent request is made for photographs of the Windsor Bugle Band and Drum Majorettes. Kindly forward these to labqi_khan@yahoo.com