A trophy with a special story…

When we recently discovered this trophy in the school trophy cabinet, the engraving immediately caught our attention: “Frank Hayward Trophy for Afrikaans Redenaar.” Naturally, we became curious about the story behind the name and began investigating its history.

We discovered that Mr Frank Hayward was an Afrikaans teacher at the High School from 1971 to 1984. He was also a keen tennis and squash player and coach. Sadly, Mr Hayward passed away in 1984 on the tennis court.

What makes this discovery particularly special is the connection that Mr Hayward still has with our school community today. He is the grandfather of Aiden Lensley, a current Grade 10 learner, and the father of Elaine Lensley, one of our parents.

It is wonderful to see how a trophy from the past has found new meaning in the present. The Afrikaans Department has decided that, in future, this trophy will be awarded annually to the best Afrikaans public speaker in Grade 7. As we already have a trophy for the best public speaker in the High School, this provides a fitting opportunity to extend the tradition to our Junior School.

In this way, Mr Hayward’s contribution to Afrikaans and to our school will continue to be remembered. What began as the discovery of an old trophy has turned into a wonderful story of history, family and tradition; connecting a teacher from the past with a pupil in our school today.