By Gilbert Nii Okai Addy (Knight House, 1973)
May 1998

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Mr. J. Maxwell Awotwi, Former Teacher and Oldest Living Old Boy

What was possibly the high point of the whole speech day ceremony came when the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr. Stanley Pierre, asked the audience to give a round of applause to the school’s "rock of ages", the seemingly everlasting Mr. J.M. Awotwi, who just seems to go on and on. The old man, now in his nineties and naturally a little frail , retired as a teacher when we were in Form Two nearly thirty years ago. He is now the very much the oldest living old boy and former teacher. I felt privileged to be seated near the great man and be able to chat to him during the day. Chatting with such a grandfatherly figure was like going back in time. All of his own classmates are gone but , somewhat unbelievably, his "small boy" juniors and early students still alive that he recalls include such elderly elder statesmen like the Asantehene, Otumfuor Nana Poku Ware and Mssrs. Kojo Botsio and K. A.  Gbedemah who were ministers in the first post-Independence government under Kwame Nkrumah. He was a student at the school from 1924 to 1928 and came back to teach from 1930 to 1970. As we understood, apart from the handful of years when he was away from the school, here was a man who had been present at literally every Speech and Prize giving Day since 1924 ! When the old man, in his immaculate white suit and bow tie (who said standards had declined in Ghana?) slowly got up to slowly and majestically acknowledge the crowd, the standing ovation he got together with the flashing attention of TV and other cameras, fittingly seemed to go on forever. After the ceremony, we hosted a reception for the current and former staff of the school at the Acropolis. In the evening there was a formal dinner again at the Acropolis

Founder’s Day Service, Sunday 15 march 1998

The Founder’s day service was held the next morning at the school. For our group, this was preceded by another jaunt into Adisadel Village for another traditional local heavy breakfast, this time of "Emutuo" and Palm-nut soup ! The atmosphere was simply great. Some of us ended up being a bit late for the service but , thankfully, life has moved on for us and we did not get caned ; a fate which might certainly had befallen us twenty-five years ago ! After the very enjoyable service, we had the traditional Founder’s day Cement Party in the Dining Hall involving all the parents, old boys, staff members, students and other well-wishers. The main menu at the cement party of course is Gari "soaked"– liquid, of course – in milk. The "meal" was blessed with prayers in Greek and Latin by Mr. J. Anaman, popularly known as " Crafty" , who was English Literature Teacher and Elliott Housemaster in our days during the early 1970s. We said some very regretful goodbyes after the cement party and the baton was passed on to the Class of 1974 whose turn it will be next year.

Class of 1973 members enjoying a good "soaking" of Gari, Kenkey , fish and other local goodies

Upcoming Events and Projects

The next major events which some of us may want to return to the school for of course is the 90th anniversary celebrations in the year 2000 and the school’s centenary in 2010. For those unaware, there is an Endowment Fund which has been established for the centenary which, it is hoped, will generate enough funds to finance a number of major developments that will enable the school, as a primus inter pares, to meet the challenges of the next century. The major project ,according to the Headmaster, is the construction of the school Centenary Building. Plans for this have already been drawn up . It will most probably be somewhere in the valley near the staff bungalows . According to the headmaster, it will be a large complex that will house a new and modern administration block and a modern well-equipped library and an information technology centre. The fund however needs some more contributions in order to meet its target.

So again the catchphrase should be " Pay Up, Pay Up Santaclausians"

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