The Old Diocesan Issue 10 - Magazine - Page 26
CAUGHT
ONLINE
Most of us don’t look back
too fondly on the pandemic
years, but for Gareth Anderson
(2014O) lockdowns were a
boon for business. Launching
South Africa’s first online
seafood store, Caught Online,
before Covid hit, he and
step-brother Calvin Davis
(RBHS old boy) were ideally
placed to fill the gap when
it opened. Having secured
a round of investment, they
now supply sustainable
locally caught and imported
seafood to more than 30,000
customers across the country,
all of which is ordered online
and delivered the next day.
A growing reputation has
garnered them thousands
of five-star online ratings
as well as coverage on KFM
from DJ Carl Wastie. Two of
Gareth’s school friends have
played a crucial role in the
company’s growth: Daniel
Toy (2014K) is FD, and
Seamus Murphy (2014F)
handles IT and online strategy.
The Caught Online team:
Calvin Davis, Gareth Anderson
and Seamus Murphy. Find out
more at caughtonline.co.za.
22 | THE OLD DIOCESAN
THE MIGHTY FALLEN
The deaths of two great ODs within a month of each other in 2023
made both local and international headlines. In its obituary last August
of mining magnate Julian Ogilvie Thompson (1951F), The Times wrote,
“His genial insouciance and liking for understatement belied a steely
determination to steer Anglo, then by far South Africa’s biggest company,
and the diamond producer De Beers Consolidated Mines, through the
transition from apartheid.” It went on to note that he “was head of house
and senior prefect at the exclusive Bishops school in Cape Town, where
he was strongly influenced by the headmaster, Hubert Kidd, a Latin
and Greek scholar who encouraged debate.” Former MD at De Beers,
Gary Rolfe, was quoted in the Financial Mail: “By virtue of his height and
bulk, JOT had a commanding presence. His intellect was formidable, his
memory elephantine, his leadership inspiring and his industriousness
legendary.” (See p82 for a tribute by Rupert Pardoe.)
In the case of our Union’s most recent Patron, Raymond Ackerman
(1948S), Christo Wiese was quoted in an interview on RSG: “Raymond
should be remembered as a ‘man of worth’, and as ‘a South African of
worth’. He certainly left the world a better place than he found it. He was
one of those people who not only recognised the problems, the challenges,
but also the opportunities. He never lost faith in South Africa, or in South
Africa’s people. He did what he could to try to make life a little better for
everyone.” His passing also made a memorable Zapiro cartoon, as featured
in Daily Maverick in September. (See p80 for an encomium by Paul Murray.)
And then, shortly before we went to print, we heard the news of another
departed OD great, Robert Frater (1946O). From his obituary in the New York
Times: “Professor Robert Frater remained a tremendously proud alumnus
of Bishops, and was awarded the school’s inaugural Robert Gray Medal
for his contributions to cardiothoracic surgery research. He also funded
a Bishops scholarship for the education of African students in the hope
for a new South Africa.” (See a short obituary on p78.)