A Tribute to Geoff Dennis (’36)
by Doug Brown
Since it is over 40 years since Geoff left the SACS staff because of ill health, those who remember him are shrinking in numbers; of his staff colleagues, I am the only one left that worked with him in the ‘fifties’; but I wish to honour him for the role he played at SACS in those early Whitefordian days. Robin Whiteford, in his mission to restore SACS to its former glory, kept a steady hand on the work of his staff, and very few passed his critical eye unscathed, as he groomed and moulded them. But Geoff always had a clear purpose in his geography teaching, and this one could read in his stride as he approached his classes. He was, unobtrusively, a good team man, as he made his contributions to cricket-coaching, stage-set building, organizing a junior library, or running the famous SACS mountain club; Geoff loved the outdoors, and working with his hands.
His SACS career started in 1933 as a newboy, and ended in the sixties as a respected senior member of staff. In 1934 he was a junior memorial scholarship winner, and elected a school prefect in 1935/36. Amongst his contemporaries were SACS icons such as Jack Cheetham, Tom Hugo-Hamman, and Sid Kiel.
It is no wonder, then, that 15 years later he was to return to continue his service to the school, after gaining early teaching experience in the Eastern Province.
I remember him as a very conscientious man in all that he did; he earned the respect of the boys because of it. He set himself and his pupils very high standards. Those he did not teach will remember his frustrated “No-oh-oh” response to a wrong answer, as it echoed along the school corridors of Orange Street and Newlands. That memory echoes affectionately amongst the memories of those that knew him, still.
by Doug Brown
Since it is over 40 years since Geoff left the SACS staff because of ill health, those who remember him are shrinking in numbers; of his staff colleagues, I am the only one left that worked with him in the ‘fifties’; but I wish to honour him for the role he played at SACS in those early Whitefordian days. Robin Whiteford, in his mission to restore SACS to its former glory, kept a steady hand on the work of his staff, and very few passed his critical eye unscathed, as he groomed and moulded them. But Geoff always had a clear purpose in his geography teaching, and this one could read in his stride as he approached his classes. He was, unobtrusively, a good team man, as he made his contributions to cricket-coaching, stage-set building, organizing a junior library, or running the famous SACS mountain club; Geoff loved the outdoors, and working with his hands.
His SACS career started in 1933 as a newboy, and ended in the sixties as a respected senior member of staff. In 1934 he was a junior memorial scholarship winner, and elected a school prefect in 1935/36. Amongst his contemporaries were SACS icons such as Jack Cheetham, Tom Hugo-Hamman, and Sid Kiel.
It is no wonder, then, that 15 years later he was to return to continue his service to the school, after gaining early teaching experience in the Eastern Province.
I remember him as a very conscientious man in all that he did; he earned the respect of the boys because of it. He set himself and his pupils very high standards. Those he did not teach will remember his frustrated “No-oh-oh” response to a wrong answer, as it echoed along the school corridors of Orange Street and Newlands. That memory echoes affectionately amongst the memories of those that knew him, still.