Leslie Peters

college’s closure.

During his 39 years as an educator, he received scholarships to study science teacher education in the US and Britain.

He was appointed director of the Hexagon Trust, established by Union Carbide – offering bursaries to eligible students from disadvantaged communities.

As a Christian priest, he was among those who felt the need to unite the five or six denominations in Reservoir Hills, along with other denominations to establish the Reservoir Hills Ecumenical Christian Fellowship.

This in turn gave rise to the inter-faith forum. This group worked together, trying to eliminate social ills, among them drug use, which was prevalent in schools and the community.

Primary and secondary school children were given a course on the ill effects of drugs and, upon completion, presented with badges and certificates, and sworn in as “drug-free marshals”.

From this forum, Peters also received an award on its 10th anniversary in acknowledgement of his dedication to promoting a drug-free youth.

Parting the velvet curtains of time, he transports us back 78 years, to when he was a boy aged 11.

“My mother, Lily, was very involved in Christ Church, Overport. She used to visit the homes of tuberculosis sufferers, along with the Reverend William Harold Satchell, to deliver hampers to the families. I accompanied her and it made an impact on me,” explains Peters.

His mother also collected two to three shillings a month from the Overport shop owners (a princely sum in those days) to provide these hampers.

Satchell (chairman), RD Naidoo (secretary) and Lily Peters (treasurer) formed a committee – calling themselves Friends of the Sick.

“My mother was meticulous in issuing receipts for money collected every month and distributing them to each shopkeeper. The Reverend Satchell was sent to this country by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He spent 10 years in India before coming to South Africa and was fluent in Hindi. You can imagine the effect that had on the locals.”

When Satchell returned to England, the Reverend Paul Sykes and his wife came from London and continued the project and Friends of the Sick became Friends of the Sick Association (Fosa).

When Peters’s father died, he decided to go out to work after matriculating so he could help his mother support the family. However, she dug in her heels, adamant that her clever son should get a tertiary education.

Being late in applying to go to university, he spent a year as a locum teacher. Then