Semi-respectable...at last.	Standard 10F (12th grade) Mrs. Watson

Matric at last. Finally, the solid blue tie (worn with pride!)

Sporus

Part of the English curriculum, a poem entitled "Sporus," quickly became notorious--not only because of it's absurd name, but also because Mr. Seiger, who was known throughout the school for his very bad temper (even among the teachers) was also the head of department for English. He was promptly branded with this name. The night of the Matric Dance toward the end of the year (similar to the Senior Prom in the USA), a number of matric students put up a large "Sporus Sux" banner on the wall of the assembly hall. When Mr. Seiger saw this, he stormed out in a rage. 1988 was, unsurprisingly, his last year at PBHS (he apparently went to Amanzimtoti High School). This action had long been coming; some students had frog stickers (somehow representative of Sporus) with "Sporus Sux" on their motorcycle helmets months before this happened.

When the cat's away...

Fire hoses on reels were located at the ends of the second floor in each building. Once a year, when the teachers were in a special meeting (and prefects were the only rule), water hose fights would break out, with students in the corridors below getting instant showers.

Sabotage

Sometime during, or immediately after, the Matric Dance which went late into the night, some crafty individual placed some strategic items in the assembly hall piano, rendering its keys useless. The next morning when it was time to play the opening hymn for assembly, Miss Goodway tried to play the piano, and was at first dumb-founded and of course completely embarrassed, and then angrily pulled out whatever it was blocking the piano keys, to the muffled laughter of the students.

Detention

This was also the year that detention was introduced. Caning (or "Jacking" as it was known) was still going on, but was slowly on its way out. Too bad--discipline is a much needed thing (American schools are a mess). To some, it was considered a "macho" thing to get caned many times, but for most, it provided incentive to follow the rules. I personally got caned for eating a granola bar while we were lined up outside the classroom waiting for Mr. Seiger to show up.

Sundial

The sundial was given to the school as a gift from the matric students. A nice thing to do in providing a visual reminder of that year's student body. I believe it is still there to this day.

Leaving a legacy

The headmaster, Mr. Visser, and the noted German-born Mr. Oellermann, left at the end of this year. Mr. Visser was a headmaster to remember. He commanded respect, was a good leader, and also had a good sense of humor. I can't speak for the other headmasters that PBHS has had, but PBHS fit him like a glove--a lot was accomplished for PBHS during his years there. I have to admit that I probably would never have thought I would be saying these things; it's what happens when you get older. :) Mr. Oellermann was notorious for his "No excuses!" response in regards to hair-cut checks. Apparently some students thought they had a plausible explanation for their long hair. Although shoes were to always be polished, inspections were never actually carried out while I attended.

PBHS Choir

Under Mr. Seiger, the previously small choir of 35 students in 1985 more than tripled to 108 students in 1988. This was not due to Mr. Seiger's personal charm or natural way with people. It had everything to do with the fact that if you wanted to get out of Cadets or Immigrant Afrikaans on Thursday morning, all you had to do was join the choir. In addition, there was also no voice selection or requirements to meet in determining whether you could actually sing in the first place. This made for a badly motivated and (listening to the audio) very poorly sounding choir. To our credit though, we only practiced for 45 minutes a week on most weeks--some weeks no practice was possible. In the photo to the right, the non-student staff are (second row from the bottom, left to right respectively): Mr. Seiger, Mr. Visser, Mr. van der Ahee, and Miss Goodway.

PBHS Choir in 1988

PBHS Song Festival

Pinetown Boys' High School hosted a Song Festival in the assembly hall on the evening of April 8, 1988. It lasted approximately two hours, and the choirs that sang were (in order of appearance): Clifton Preparatory School, Berea Girls' High School, Benjamin Primary, Pinetown Boys' High School, and the Durban Mens' Choir. I had the rather dubious honor of leading our choir onto the stage. Before this festival, Mr. van der Ahee asked for someone to record the event, and my father (who worked with Trans World Radio, recording choirs for broadcasting) volunteered to do it. The evening of the performance, while setting up the recording equipment, my father was reprimanded by Mr. Seiger for placing a microphone at the front of the stage. Mr. van der Ahee countered by explaining to Mr. Seiger that the setup was correct, and to leave it where it was. Such was the quick temper that Mr. Seiger exuded during his brief stay at PBHS. The original recordings of this performance are available below. If bandwidth is a problem, and you would like the MP3 files on CD, please contact me; I'll be happy to send you a copy by mail.