Teamwork. Precision. Perfection.

W (Bill) Lennox

Vincent Maphai was unequivocal. ‘We had no facilities at my township school all those years ago,’ he told 74 engrossed delegates, including myself, at the Allan Gray Conference at Henley on Klip last week, ‘ and we definitely had no text books. But what we did have was a committed and passionate teacher…’

Now many years later, Dr Vincent Maphai is the recipient of numerous awards from overseas universities including Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. He is currently Executive Director of SAB and on the boards of innumerable companies.

I heard a similar comment a few days after this which was made at our recent reunion luncheon of Cadet Band Drum Majors. David Richardson (1962) had flown out from Canada to propose the toast to Major Bill Lennox who resuscitated the Wynberg Cadet Band in 1951. For the next thirty years of his teaching at Wynberg, Bill Lennox inspired generations of boys to reach heights which they did not believe they were capable of achieving.

Dr Vincent Maphai

Appointed as a Maths teacher to the school, he took the Cadet Band to unprecedented levels and the results proved that they were a band without equal. From 1953 to their eventual disbanding in 1993, they won the Western Province Cadet Band Competition an unprecedented thirty times. The 1985 Drum Major, Ian Wilkinson says : ‘We had the best team in the school….we were mates with each other….friendships were forged that have endured to this day.’

 This quote is taken from the interesting booklet entitled ‘Teamwork, Precision, Perfection: The Wynberg Cadet Band’*. It was written by a previous Deputy Headmaster of the school, Ray Connellan assisted by Mickey Lumb of the Old Boys’ Union. Ray remarked in his Foreword that he wanted ‘to record this remarkable history of the Wynberg Cadet Band before it disappeared into the mists of time…… Bill Lennox needed to be recognised for his massive contribution.’

 He wrote to a number of past Drum Majors asking for their memories of the band. All these have been recorded faithfully in the school museum with some of the anecdotes finding their way into his booklet.

Vincent Maphai would nod his head in approval if he saw the depth of feeling and appreciation shown by some of the past Drum Majors when they wrote about their beloved Bill (Shorty) Lennox:

Hennie du Plessis (1958): He was a tremendous influence on my life in more ways than one. He taught us discipline. He demanded complete dedication. Second best was not in his vocabulary.

David Richardson (1962): Bill Lennox taught me more than mathematics or how to play the bugle. He taught me deep lessons about people; about values; about life.

Denver Coleman (1960): Every year he used to offer some so-called ‘breekers’ a place in the band. He usually managed to turn all of them into useful citizens and good team players.

Bruce Probyn (1966): I will remember with enormous fondness his patience, understanding and genuine concern he showed for every single one of us.

Brian Rookledge (1968): He had a fantastic knack of understanding all the boys he was teaching. His encouragement made you believe that you could do anything he was asking you to achieve. His principles and teachings have helped me enormously in my working life.

At the opening of the Cape Town Festival

Stephen Fay remembered that Bill Lennox introduced the Drummers’ Salute into Wynberg’s repertoire. It was appropriate that the luncheon on Founders’ Day this year had two side-drummers (Gary Beckman and James Hilbert) from the 1987 band who were invited back by Johan van Rooyen to give a loud rendition of the Drummers’ Salute. This summonsed the invited Drum Majors into the Bill Bowden Pavilion for lunch. Long standing neighbours must have thought that they were in a time-warp as their drumming echoed off the Wynberg Hill.

The memories and the reminiscences continued for the next few hours. The booklet was declared officially launched as was the Cadet Band Wall in the school museum. These are fitting tributes to a Golden Era in Wynberg’s history.

Many of the stories in the booklet were read out eliciting hoots of laughter.

Val Sutcliffe, mother of Grant (Drum Major 1976) wrote that she remembered Grant marching them through puddles of water, his reasoning being that if they could do that without flinching, then they could do anything!

Grant himself recollects marching down the streets of Paarl behind Paarl Girls’ High drum majorettes. Acknowledging that the ‘view was too good to be true’, he lost concentration on his primary job and it was only when he realised that the music was getting fainter did he glance behind him to see that the rest of the band was unable to keep up!

Andre Badenhorst, Drum Major of 1963, suffered from a similar affliction. He recounted that it was tradition to march back from the Wynberg Military Camp passed the Girls’ School. They would receive a warm and noisy congratulatory welcome from all the girls on the pavement. To seal the adulation, it was customary for the Drum Major to throw his mace into the air while marching, catch it and march on triumphantly. The 1963 Drum Major, to his undying and unforgettable embarrassment, dropped the baton in front of hundreds of girls and their parents…..

'Band Mothers' show the way ...

Helen Wilkinson, who took on the duty of Drum Major’s mother on two occasions, recollected that the post-competition band braais were always memorable events. In one year, the mothers decided to dress in the uniform of their sons and march up and down playing the same instruments. ‘We wanted to show them exactly how we thought it should be done!’

Knowing boys as I do, I doubt that many boys hung around to witness their mothers cavorting in their son’s uniforms…

The role of the mothers was a huge factor in the ongoing success of the bands. Steph Yates, Chairlady in 1989, sent out a note to all mothers inviting them to the staff room on a Saturday afternoon for an ‘ironing demonstration’. The mothers were given pages of detailed ironing instructions.

Here is one point for ironing of pants:

‘At the waistband at the back of the pants, using centre of seam as a starting point, measure 1.3 cm on either side i.e. 2.6 cm’s in all, mark with a pin and that is where your back crease commences. Hold pants by front creases, shake to straighten and back crease will fall into place NOTING 2.6 gap at waistband.’

Brian Wilkinson, whose own son is currently a Gap Year Student in Scotland, did not remember the process fondly. ‘Come the Big Day and my mother insisted on dressing me. Pins would suddenly appear in places you would not think possible….’

Members of the 1947 band still recall that the Wynberg band was chosen to lead the Royal Procession of King George V1 from Wynberg station to Youngsfield. The current Queen was Princess Elizabeth back then and Fritz Bing when he sat next to her at Lords as Manager of the Proteas in 1994, hopefully reminded her of her Wynberg connections!

Bill Lennox and many other band masters gave hundreds of boys over the years a glimpse of something greater than themselves. He showed them there are no short cuts to success. He changed lives.

Dr Maphai, just like your teacher all those years ago, Bill Lennox was also an inspiration to a multitude of Wynberg boys.

*Copies of this booklet are available at the school museum. Past Band Members who wish to obtain a booklet or who wish to contribute to the Cadet Band Display at the museum, or add to the memories, may contact Hugh Rowles or Ray Connellan in the Old Boys’ Office.