View the photos of the Flag’s journey from WBJS Arnold Lorie Hall to the South Pole
07h45, Friday 12 January 2024: The Wynberg Boys’ High & Junior Schools’ flag at the Geographic South Pole, and 30 minutes later, at the Ceremonial South Pole, proudly unfurled by Wynberg Old Boy, Andre Conradie.
Follow the Wynberg Flag was launched in January 2014 and enters its second decade of taking our Wynberg Pride to all corners of the earth, strengthening the links in our endless chain, and reconnecting our Wynberg families around the world.
In August 2021, during Wynberg’s 180th year and with the pandemic abating, the opportunity arose for the former WBJS Estate Manager, Andre Conradie, to carry the Wynberg Schools’ Flag to Antarctica. Destination: the South Pole.
Thwarted by the narrow ‘weather windows’ for just over two years, in true Supera Moras spirit, Andre messaged us on Friday 12 January sharing the photos so many months in the making. Wynberg Boys’ can now claim to be the first South African school (if not the first international school) to have planted its flag at the southernmost point of the globe.
The Follow the Flag project was envisaged as a build-up toward the Wynberg Boys’ Schools’ 175th celebrations and saw the Flag criss-cross towns, cities, and continents carried proudly by students, Old Boys, staff, and our extended Wynberg community – all recorded in photos, words, and videos. Ten years ago this month, our flag arrived in Malawi, the first stage on an incredible journey that would see it return officially during the Wynberg 175 Heritage Week in August 2016.
Ceremonial moments in 2014 saw the flag presented at WBHS Founders’ Day in the Clegg Hall and then carried by the Matrics of that year to the WBJS Flag Raising Ceremony in the Arnold Lorie Hall. Press interest followed and the school received an invitation from the Western Cape Premier’s Office for an official send-off. With the blessings and wishes of the Premier, the WBHS cross country team ‘hit the road’ from Leeuwenhof bearing the flag in a relay back to Wynberg and through the Memorial Gates – the journey had begun in earnest, flying our flag to Old Boys’ dinners in London, Johannesburg, and Sydney, and across the world proudly carried by our Flag Ambassadors, all members of our School Community.
Andre Conradie attended both Wynberg Boys’ Junior and High Schools, matriculating in 1980. A former WBJS Estate Manager, Andre’s wife works at Wynberg Girls’ Junior School, and his daughters attended both Wynberg Girls’ Junior and High Schools. A true Wynberg Family. Andre is part of the ‘White Desert‘ team that ‘brings scientists and tourists into the heart of the most remote continent on Earth.’
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