Contents / Inhoudsopgawe 1. Dear Friends 2 2. Kendrew: Long Forgotten? 4 3. Graaff-Reinetse Sprokie 10 4. The Early Years of Aberdeen 11 5. Huis van Storms, Stryd en Smarte 19 6. Words to Ponder.... 20 ARTIKELS / ARTICLES: ANZISKE KAYSTER, JOHANNES HAARHOFF & HERMI BAARTMAN REDIGERING / EDITING: PETER WHITLOCK DRUKWERK EN PRODUKSIE / PRINTING & PRODUCTION: DENISE VAN WYK, KATRIENA BOOYSEN & VALERINE UITHALER VERSPREIDING/ DISTRIBUTION: JAMES VAN RHYNERS & ZENEVIN ISAKS 1 going out onto the bakkies just because we could. My father’s long time pals in Summer Holiday is not in my list of words Lamberts Bay, Uncle Willem and associated with the end of the year and Uncle Joubert, would see to it that the festive season. snoek, harders and crayfish were We rarely went where the sun was aplenty, and although we were never shining and the sea was blue. Not allowed the luxury of crayfish tails, everybody went on a summer holiday, we extracted that white succulent not everybody discarded their troubles meat from spindly crayfish legs as if for a week or two. No, we did not go on born to it. My Titte presided over the a summer holiday nor did we do the cooking of these creatures and would things that we always wanted to do. Yes, often call us to listen to their wailing we rarely went on the summer holiday whilst cooking in a church bazaar pot. that made our dreams come true. And just like that, our camping Instead, most of the families in our street experience magnified into the most (and all our friends from high school) wonderful time of the year, never mind packed in tents and gas stoves for a the Gollywog hair brought on by temporary move to Kogel Bay (just spending so much time in the sea. I around the corner). We also commuted later discovered that the Gollywog was between Wellington and Kraaifontein a black doll with frizzy hair and clown visiting our extended family on days lips, but instead of being offended, I when my mom had a short respite from applauded my Dad’s ingenuity as even Karl Bremer Hospital. She was a nurse, our dog Toby barked at me upon our of course, and devoted long hours to ease return home. Our family regarded it as the pain and suffering of others. sacrilege to spend Christmas or New When I was very little, about four or Year’s Day at a camping site and we five, we also embarked on the rare always departed in time for the massive exodus to sun, sea and sand. Christmas morning church service in In our case it was Lamberts Bay, Wellington. I suppose the extravagant Mossel Bay or Waenhuiskrans where Christmas lunch to follow was also we joined the ablution block crowd taken into consideration. and sacrificed our privacy for two The tent with the hole in it, and the weeks of swimming furiously, eating smell of gas, was later replaced with periwinkles cooked in seawater and 2 short pre-Christmas trips to Soverby, Sometimes my grandmother was blessed the farm of my grandmother’s roots. with a live chicken in a small coop. No, her family were never farm Chicken and I would eye each other owners, but the family home with a warily on the return trip home. The kraal out on the koppies and a dam, had boot was normally filled with goat and been in our family for generations and sheep. Back home, the plums would be said to have belong to the first Swart blushing, ready for picking as soon as we (as in the surname) girl who defied her returned. family to marry a person of colour. Some days the whole family: aunts, Notwithstanding the visits to Soverby, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces and the constant longing for family, and a grandparents, would pack picnic home rarely seen, became too much for lunches and travel to Strandfontein or my grandmother to endure and the St. James’ Beach. My grandmother yearning eventually culminated in a would don her crimplene bathing nine-hour long trip to Keimoes in my costume and swimming cap, a la Grace grandparents’ Volkswagen Variant. Kelly, and my grandfather and his Jack My grandfather had a small herd of goats Russel would enthusiastically run along and a little flock of sheep on Soverby. the beach; they were so alike – he and his They flourished and thrived during the dog. At the end of the day we were year under the watchful eye of Oom exhausted, especially my little brother Demas, blissfully unaware of their fate at who acted as chaperone for my sister the Wellington Christmas dinner table. and I, standing at attention with the On the farm, we would help ourselves to beach towel as soon as we exited the mounds of lentils and raisins, on the water. As teenage girls, our behaviour bordered on the bizarre! stalk, as we as the Gekomdes were treated like royalty. Sometimes a wedding, and Christmas Eve and New Years Day were sadly, a funeral, was thrown in the mix. the the highlight of our summer holiday. It was during such occasions that Aunt I delighted in the kinship and affinity of Christine convinced my grandmother family. Unconsciously my love for the that only motorcar oil would cure my past, shaped by earlier Albertus and de dry scalp. Needless to say Psoriasis was Vries generations, was nurtured there an unknown ailment then and their and then as ritual and tradition good intentions and efforts ruined my reassured the younger me. The evolution entire holiday. 3 of our summer holiday pleased me Wellwood and lush lucerne lands at greatly by then. Voetpad, advertising the plots for sale at I hope you too find, just as I still do, joy, Kendrew. These brochures were peace and blessings in your summer distributed in Great Britain in the 1920s holiday. where ex-servicemen of the 1914- 1918 war were finding it difficult to settle down or find employment. Thus with ex- servicemen gratuities available, many came to buy a plot at Kendrew – to seek a fortune in a colony. KENDREW They came from all walks of life. Some came from Port Elizabeth, where they had disembarked, by train to Graaff- Long Forgotten? Reinet and en route saw Kendrew on a hot, windy August day- saw the tumble In the early 1920s a Mr. Schlesenger, a weed (rolbosse) careering past and thick land developer and film magnate, clouds of dust, and promptly took the bought farmland (veldt) from Mr. Reg return train back to Port Elizabeth. Holmes and other adjoining farmland, and The African Irrigated Land Company was formed with Mr. Schlesenger as chairman. The Van Ryneveld Pass Dam, with built- canals, was constructed and irrigation water became available at Kendrew. The portion (with the best water supply) Kendrew 1895/6 taken by E H Short (North) was administrated by The African ( a CGR Photograph) Irrigated Land Company - known as the Many came and stayed a while but “Company”. The remaining ground was because of the dry seasons and divided into plots for sale. depression, left and settled elsewhere in A brochure was compiled (somewhat South Africa. A few stayed and remained misleading) depicting orange groves at 4 many years at Kendrew and some died flowers admired by them have become there. a curse beyond measure. Mr Schlesenger had a hotel built (really While the houses were being build and as hostel, for accommodation of the the fruit trees were not in production as settlers, as they were called) while their yet, there was a time of boredom. houses were being built on the plots Bridge and card games became the which they had bought. antidote. Bridge drives were held and went on from 10am - 2am. The ground was cultivated and crops and fruit trees planted. The “company” Some of the settlers had been stationed also planted fruit trees and in the 1930s in India and “tiffin time “was introduced. there was a dried fruit factory at The passenger train between Port Kendrew and truck loads of fruit- Elizabeth and Graaff-Reinet stopped at peaches and apricots were sent by train Kendrew about midday. to Port Elizabeth to the Jam and It was said that Kendrew station was Canning Factories. crowded on a Monday and the dinning A seven-teacher Primary school was saloon was packed as the Bar was open. established for the children of the A few times the dinning saloon was settlers and the personnel of the secretly unhitched to cause a delay and “company”. They included the Manager, a longer “tiffin time”. and Accountant, a Secretary, a Horticulturist and Managers of the fruit, Mr Schlesenger had the Kendrew country clubhouse built in the late sheep and Agricultural Sections. Mr Clem Cawood, Mr Oswald Cawood and 1920s. The clubhouse was built of zinc- as were most of the company buildings Mr David Stern were the most well – even the walls. There was a bar, fully known. There was also a Piggery. licensed, a library; a lounge, a dance It was in the pig food imported from hall and caretaker/ barmans cottage. New Mexico, that the very noxious weed “Satansbos” was introduced to Tennis courts and a dam for swimming Kendrew. Unbeknown to the people of were constructed and later also a golf Kendrew in the 1930s the pretty blue course. For a short while there was even 5 a cricket field. Tennis, cricket and golf who, when he left Kendrew, went to teams played for Kendrew. Port Elizabeth and started Anderson’s Nurseries. Mr and Mrs Wright, Mr and Mrs Twigg who suffered a great tragedy when their small daughter was crushed to death by a garage door.