Seasons Greetings to all our members as we fast approach the end of yet another busy year! Before the year draws to a close, I thought it would be appropriate to take the time to reflect on the year that was and thank each and every one of you for your ongoing support of the St Mary’s Old Girls’ Association.

This year has been a busy and exciting one and we are proud that the Association has played such an active part in many school activities - activities such as the annual Musical Picnic where we so enjoyed running the tea garden; and the Grade 11 Careers Evening where for this year again we had an astounding 12 Old Girls speaking on various career choices. In July we once again entertained the matric class with the most wonderful, warm and casual cocktail evening, giving the matrics a chance to understand what the Association is all about and meet some of our members. We always invite two Old Girls to come and share with the matrics the grounding they received at St Mary’s and what they have gone on to do since leaving the school. This year we had Zingisa Mtshazo and Kate Ludwig entertain the girls with amusing snippets of their memories of the school and the important role St Mary’s has played in their career and personal development. The year has been one of new beginnings for not only the school but also the country at large. From a peaceful transition to a new South African government, to the easy transition to a new head of St Mary’s at the beginning of the year. We would like to thank Deanne King for her ongoing support and enthusiasm for the Old Girls. The school has enjoyed a fruitful and successful year under her guidance.

The Old Girls’ Association continues to make its contribution towards the ever-increasing teacher shortage crisis the country is facing. Not only are teachers exiting the profession at an alarming rate but the lack of credible maths and science teaching staff is of grave concern to the future development of our children. It was with this in mind that the Old Girls undertook some 5 years ago to play a part, albeit small, in addressing this concern. Kendra Smith was the first recipient of the Old Girls Teaching Bursary and she is now making a significant and valued contribution to the staff of St Mary’s. We have identified a new candidate for the 2010 year to ensure the ongoing success of this initiative. Should you be interested in making a donation specifically to the teaching bursary, please contact Monique Adams ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 082 892 5999), and should you wish to make a donation to Project Edge or other capital projects in the school, please contact Gillian O’Shaughnessy ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) for further information.

We celebrated the most wonderful Old Girls’ Day on Saturday 26^th September and I’d like to thank all those involved in putting the day together. We were so fortunate to have a number of our ‘older’ members with us on the day, including Doris Rod. Doris was at St Mary’s Belgravia for only two years before returning to England and returned for the first time since 1931. The day’s activities included a guided tour of the school and our members were so impressed by the developments at the school including the new Astroturf, the Desmond Tutu Science Centre and  the building of Project Edge, a state of the art performing arts centre. It is incredible to think how far St Mary’s has come and how we have continued to remain technologically relevant for today’s societal demands. During the AGM on Old Girls’ Day, we officially nominated three new committee members to the Association Committee in 2010. I’d like to thank Les Vercellotti, Colleen Frost and Janet Webber for agreeing to join the committee in 2010 and I look forward to their valued input. I’d also like to thank Koo Montgomery for agreeing to take up the position of Chairlady of the Old Girls’ association as I will be stepping down at the end of the year.

For those of you who have already started planning your 2010 reunions, please take note that Old Girls’ Day will be taking place on Saturday 2^nd October 2010 at the school. Further communication will be sent out closer to the date. We will shortly allocate a particular committee member to look after your reunion year and will communicate their contact details at the beginning of next year but in the meantime, should you have any questions, please contact either Koo Montgomery ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )  or myself ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

We believe it is important to acknowledge and pay tribute to those Old Girls’ that have made a significant difference to society, be it in a small or grander way. We decided this year due to the number of sporting nominees we received to create an additional sports category for the awards. The 2009 Old Girls’ Awards were presented on Old Girls Day.

Category 1: The Arts

·    Fiona Ramsay: Fiona has appeared in numerous theatre productions, such as : Sleeping Beauty, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Fiona has worked as dialogue coach and consultant on films, and her knowledge of accents, regional South African and regional UK, US and Europe is unparalleled in the country. She has appeared in many stage, television, radio, cabaret and other productions.

·    Louis St Clair (rolfes – 1976): Louis is one of South Africa’s best actresses and has stared in theatre, TV and radio. She is a fantastic asset to South Africa and is constantly in demand.

Category 2: BusinesS & commerce

·    Cathie Markus (stuart – 1974): Cathie was an Executive Director of Impala Platinum Holdings Limited for some 9 years. All in all she was at Implats for 16 years, initially as Legal Adviser and then with increasing responsibilities related to stakeholder engagement (investor relations, corporate social investment etc). When she joined Implats (after qualifying and practicing as an attorney and then as a legal adviser with Dorbyl Limited), she found that the company was suddenly besieged with issues of a legal nature which seemed to be at the very heart of the business.

Category 3: Community and social development

·    Judy van den Heever (peterson – 1971): In 2003 Judy together with her husband Danie established a haven for hope near Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal. Realising the need for positive action they drove the process to form an inspirational organisation entitled ‘Focus on iThemba’, the isiZulu word for ‘hope’. iThemba is a non-profit, public benefit (18a) organisation restoring hope in people’s lives. Ithemba includes a housing, campus and community initiative based in KZN with a fundraising arm in the USA.

·    Kirsten Van Der Riet (elfrink – 1989): Kirsten studied a B Prim Ed through Wits and has taught at several schools in Johannesburg and London.  She now teaches part-time at a school called The Mitzvah School, in a ramshackle old house in Morningside, which is for pupils from Alexandra Township.  Mitzvah actually means ‘Good Deed’ and is sponsored by the Jewish community.   It is for Matrics only and they leave their appalling schools in Alex at the end of Grade 11 and come to this school to experience a year of major input. 

Category 4: Role Models

·    Sheenagh Harris (WISE – 1953): Sheenagh has worked untiringly for many years for the Old Girls’ Association.  She served on the Committee as the Chairlady of the Association, contributing a great deal of good work with energy and enthusiasm. Her loyalty to the school is without question and she continues to make a vast contribution to the school through her various trips around the world to connect with Old Girls abroad and her assistance with the Old Girls news in the annual school magazine. Sheenagh was recently appointed President of the World Federation of Rose Societies for the period 2009-2012 (WFRS is the umbrella society for the 41 member countries of which South Africa was a founding member).  She has been interested in and involved with roses for most of her life, and is committed to the development of knowledge in the field through her work, including committee work, for the Gold Reef Society.  Sheenagh was awarded the President’s trophy, by the President of the Rose Society of South Africa, for the most significant contribution and positive involvement in the promotion of roses. Other St Mary’s Old Girls that are members of the Rose Society include Barbara Cory, Di Kitson,  Jane Sproule (Lewis), Colleen Anderson (Mitchell), Wendy Braun (Le Riche), Debbie Cottino (te Groen), Georgie Currie (Shilcock), Elsbeth Galloway (Robb), Kim Goeller (Theron), Fiona Hoernlee (Hadfield), Julie Sargent (Volck),Val Stockden and Carol Zingel.

·    Rosanne Hawarden (NEALL – 1969): Rosanne has a B.Soc.Sc (Nursing) from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, together with a BA Honours and MA Psychology from the University of Witwatersrand. She has done research for Gavin Menzies, famous author of the book ‘1421: When China discovered the World’; has volunteered at a 15^th century archaeological dig in the Austral Islands (part of French Polynesia) and helped an American Phd student do climate change research on Easter Island.  Rosanne has Chaired the South Island New Zealand Association of Southern Africans organisation for ten years and stood in the local body elections in Christchurch in 2007, coming third. Rosanne is now completing a doctorate at Massey University in Business and Administration on Women on Boards of Directors and is known as an international expert on this topic. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Secretaries New Zealand.

Category 5: Sports

·    Claire Nitch (1989): For a decade Claire has been South Africa’s top ranked player, winning the National Championships 6 times since 1992. Until her retirement from the international arena Claire was ranked between 9 and 17 in the world. One of her greatest achievements was the lifting of the Liberty National crown in August 1999 – an achievement which clearly illustrates the attributes of determination, dedication, discipline and pure grit which have characterized Claire’s career. Nitch won her first national colours in 1992 when she represented South Africa at the World Team Championships in Vancouver, Canada; followed by further selection in 1994 in Guersney; in 1996 in Kuala Lumpur; and in 1998 in Stuttgart Germany. In 2000 Claire represented South Africa at the World Team Championships.

The school together with Tara Turkington will be attempting to update the history of St Mary’s over the next few years. We request that those members wishing to share insights and interesting facts about the school, to please contact Pauline Grainger on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 011 531 1863. Pauline is also asking that should you have any interesting St Mary’s artefacts that you are willing to donate to the museum (in particular a small blue flower uniform dating back to the 60’s) to please also contact her.

We have received some feedback from a number of our members enquiring as to whether we as an association should not be consistent with world standards and refer to the St Mary’s Old Girls’ Association as the St Mary’s Alumni. As we have a Constitution for the Old Girls, any potential name change would need to be agreed by vote either at the AGM or by a special vote. We therefore felt that before taking the steps to vote for a potential name change, we do a poll with some of our members to gauge the response. Please could you let me know via email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) whether you agree with the name change to the St Mary’s Alumni or whether you would prefer the name to remain as is. We will then let you know early next year whether we will be taking the voting procedure forward.

As I officially step down as the Chairlady of this association at the end of the year, I’d like to thank you all for your ongoing support of the Old Girls and your assistance with growing this Association into the reputable organisation it has become. I can only feel proud to be a St Mary’s Old Girl as I hope you do too!

Wishing you are your families a blessed Christmas, a happy and relaxed holiday and every success and joy in the coming year.

Kind Regards

Kate