KNYSNA NEWS - During an interview, a retired Anglican priest has reminisced about working with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and related some delightful, humorous anecdotes.

Reverend Winston Dickerson and his wife Lorna lived in Knysna for 15 years before moving to Fraaiuitsig, which is east of Mossel Bay, in 2022.

In Knysna, Winston was involved in the community as a retired clergyman, volunteering his services, and Lorna helped at the Friday morning knitting and sewing group at Leisure Gardens Senior Citizens' Home for 15 years.

Speaking about Tutu, Winston says: "Desmond and I got on like a house on fire."

"He and [his wife] Leah were two of the warmest people I have ever met."

Winston's first face-to-face meeting with Tutu was truly remarkable.

They met each other on the tarmac of an airport and Tutu said: "I know you. Wait, don't tell me your name. I'll remember. You're Winston Dickerson and your wife is Lorna and you have two children, Brendan and Carmel."

This was amazing because Tutu had 200 priests working for him and he had remembered Winston's face only from photographs he had of the clergymen and their families and his list of names.

Winston provided a photograph of him and Tutu, saying: "This is the only picture I have of Desmond, taken when he visited our Edgemead parish in 1987.

"Desmond did not like my brown shirt. He said I could have a yellow shirt or a black shirt or a white shirt or a green shirt but he did not like my brown shirt."

The photograph was taken at the moment Tutu said this to Winston, his eyes focused on the shirt, and shows Winston laughing, with his hand in front of his mouth.

Tutu made this remark "forcefully, but gently", Winston recalls.

"I still wear brown today," he exclaims.

Winston is not a name dropper or one who would befriend famous people to his own advantage. He contacted the newspaper because he has written a book, not because he wished to speak about Tutu. The newspaper asked him about Tutu.

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