Fidler in the Hood: ‘Kings of the Road’ hit the town

GREETINGS, friends and out-of-town visitors, especially the motor-bike fraternity. Unfortunately, our ‘champagne weather’ fizzled out with rains tumbling down, but hopefully, not putting a dampener on the festival. The CO and I popped along last Saturday to the South Coast Bike Fest, which was in full swing.

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Great occasion

Models of motorbikes on display were jaw-dropping and I’m sure the price of some bikes is more than our homes. Somehow, I can never see my CO riding pillion, complete with crash helmet and leather gear. But there were hundreds of tough-looking bikers with their tough-looking ‘molls’, who travelled long distances to take part in the event. A great occasion for the South Coast and something to be proud of, don’t you agree?

Full house service

Business was brisk at last week’s mass at the Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Margate. The CO came home to tell me that the church was ‘full to the rafters’ with ‘house full’ signs everywhere. Only kidding! But there’s always room for one more at any church service.

Meeting Stephan

However, this time there were some 48 pupils from the De La Salle Holy Cross College, Linmeyer, Johannesburg, celebrating mass.

The CO singled out vice-principal Stephan Germishuys to compliment him on his star pupils and their good behaviour in church, before suggesting to me that there might be a story in there – thanks for the tip-off, boss!

I tracked down Stephan and the girls and boys staying at the Brackenmoor Estate Hotel in Uvongo.

Now there’s something new: we’ve been here exactly three years and didn’t even know it existed. The hotel was recently taken over by Boet and Grace Fourie of Margate Sports Tours. One learns something new every day down here.

The college

I remarked that I knew De La Salle College from days gone by: It was and still is a leading college in the UK and my old school, Chetham’s in Manchester, were not-too-friendly rivals when it came to rugby. A good friend of mine, sports writer Tommy Ballantyne, was educated at DLS, Barranquilla, Colombia, South America, so it was fair to say I knew something of De La Salle Brothers being a teaching order.

Teacher’s pet

Stephan is married to Veronica, who teaches at St Catherine’s College in Johannesburg and the couple have two children. He was justifiably proud of the pupils at DLS-HCC: This year, the college achieved 100 percent matriculation bachelor’s degree pass qualification for university-entry level – an outstanding achievement.

Sports tour

The party of 48 pupils were making a pre-season sports tour of the South Coast, taking in Kingswood College, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh High and, nearer to home, Port Shepstone High, in preparation for the winter season – including rugby, hockey and netball teams. Your scribe commented just a couple of weeks back that today’s generation of school pupils are friendly, polite and respectful, including the De La Salle Holy Cross College’s own ‘cream of the crop’. On the other hand, maybe I have that ‘old geyser’ look and they felt sorry for me?

Last match

Stephan invited us to watch their final match against Marist Brothers College that evening at Douglas Mitchell Sports Club. No hardship; it is rumoured the club has an area where one can imbibe the local ale. We went along to cheer the college on, welcomed by Stephan and his band of brothers. De La Salle won 24-7. Cheers! See you, Rob.

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