Life-changing; In the beginning; background; (Recollections)![]()
Having lived over half a century in the same home in Johannesburg and for nigh on half that time, having coached tennis on a tennis court laid out by my dad, I thought that was how the rest of my life would continue. One hears of people having a life-changing experience which makes interesting reading, but does not apply to oneself, but that is what happened to me.
Dear friends Michéle and Warwick Tarboton invited me to visit a town called Wakkerstroom, still then in the Transvaal Province – literally on the border with Natal and although I was a bit hesitant, I went along — and — fell in love with this funny little town.
At that time, I just thought of having a place to go for weekends but after mentioning it to friends, we decided to go into it together. So, we found a site alongside the wetland and had At kotze build a little cottage which was named Crane Cottage. The partners were Ann Walters, her daughter Debbie and son-in-law Cristian Cottino, sister Jean Bleloch and brother Doug Gilfillan, who also came to live here.
It was not long thereafter that I realised, 22 years of coaching tennis was losing its glitter and it may be time to make a change and a move away from the past. The hardest part of making a big change, would be leaving my home and many friends. But the decision was made and in 1993, the house sold, goods packed up with great help from my cousin Ian Dustan and his wife Scotty, and in a variety of vehicles driven by the three of us, I relocated to “Wakkers-where”? Few people had heard of this place in outer space! My dogs, my furniture and I moved into the Tarboton house to give me a chance to 1001< around for somewhere to buy and call home.
START The third revival of A funny little backwater village —
And so I began to get to know what had now become my new home town, little known and a bit scruffy, Wakkerstroom. The village boasted a bank, a library, an hotel that had seen its heydays many year before, a café attached to the one filling station and Paruk’s General Dealer. There were a few other Indian shops like Solly’s which had also been here for ever and that was about it.
Dominating the town on a large central block of land is the lovely NG kerk which has a long history and was the centre of life for the farming community in the area. For such a small village, this church has a magnificent organ, one of only three in South Africa and also has the unusual configuration of the bulk of the pews facing the alter, being curved with the ones at the back and sides being the usual straight rows. A farmer’s wife from Groenvlei, Yolande Joubert, a very passionate and I<nowledgeable gardener with a wonderful garden on their farm, took control of the church gardens and the rose garden was magnificent with masses of bushes blooming in spring and enticing a lot of people to walk around the garden. The church also did not have a fence around it then and everyone could walk across the grounds and stop to admire the building and garden.
It must have been a festive and happy time for farmers coming in on their ox wagons, to set up camp on the plein and meet up with friends not seen for many months, to swap tales of life in the harsh grasslands; many children running around with friends, laughing and playing, camp fires burning, with the smell of fresh baked bread and braais filling the air. They must have been good times although life on the farms, no doubt, hard.
One memorable year, there was a heavy snowfall and the church grounds were calf-deep in snow and most of the village folk and lots of kids, built snowmen, had serious snow fights and generally enjoyed the novelty, the village rang with laughter and happy faces – often with red noses! It could have been a scene from some European country. The snow lasted a full day and a bit but then the skies cleared and were beautifully blue and crisp and the wonderland melted away, although spots of snow in deep shade, stood for many days.
Surrounding the Church:
Opposite the NG kerk extending along the main road, Van Riebeeck Street, travelling east/west, is the post office not the original one, the pleasing town hall built in 1938 and much newer municipal offices and on the corner, the lovely little library built in 1890, which was very well stocked and patronised. Marie Van and then Lesley Lavarack were librarians and took great pride in “their library.’
Turning into Badenhorst Street bounding the “big Church” on the west side, is the “main shopping” street where at that time, the only “working building” — sort of — was the hotel which had a bar, well supported by the towns two resident traffic officers who were very free in handing down tickets for any offence. Just about everyone in town got a ticket for something, especially during December as funds collected were reportedly to pay Christmas bonus’s! Today they would have had a field day every day and made a fortune. When the Portuguese owner was at the hotel, he made, according to local legend, the best peri-peri chicken ever tasted in the whole world!
The Bank
At the end of that block, on a corner of kerk and Badenhorst streets, is the Bank building which was a working First National Bank in a lovely building and the interior was — a “real bank” – beautiful wooden counter and brass poles dividing staff from customers and huge, solid doors one entered through. It was a terrible day for the village when we were told the bank was going to close and a number of us got into John McAllister’s “Volksie bus” and went to keep an appointment with FNB head office — where the case was put forward mainly by the very articulate Elna Kotze, a force to be reckoned with, and we won that round and the bank lived on. One day I went into the bank and must have left it some 10 minutes before there was a hold-up and one of the ladies working there, Maria Bekker was bundled into the trunk of the waiting vehicle and driven away. In those days BP Greyling had a well-trained outfit and as soon as he was alerted, all roads were covered and they stopped the car and released Maria some 25 kilometers from town. She was obviously very shaken but otherwise none the worse for the experience – but it did make us wonder if that would be the excuse for the banks to close. And some years later again, its proposed closure came up and was the cause for heated protest. The bank set a date for a public meeting in Wakkerstroom, and we wondered if those poor men from FNB, in Johannesburg had ever anticipated such a public meeting as met them in the town hall which was full to capacity — and once again, it remained open — but as we know, third time was unlucky.
Moving along Kerk Street….
On the north side of the church square running parallel to the main road is kerk Street. Starting along this street from west to east, are a couple of houses, then came an interesting building which could have once been a tea-room and right alongside was the pharmacy that had ceased being such not long before I moved to Wakkerstroom. These two shops were bought by Warwick and Michele Tarboton and me and I turned the one into a shop which Dee Milstein, Barbara Neal and I started and we called it the “Wild Turkey”. It was a gift shop and we carried a great variety of items that appealed to especially overseas visitors. As many visitors did not cater clothing-wise for the fourseasons-in-one-day climate, we made sure we had warm, branded clothing which was gratefully snapped up when winter arrived in December! We had bird books and the famous Wakkerstroom Bird Guide, maps of crane and Bald Ibis sightings and encouraged visitors to take lists and information with them and return their recordings before leaving. We hired out bicycles and jigsaw puzzles and sold second hand books – and one of our best sellers was Mampoer which Nic Botha made — we just never had enough of that! Jams and chutneys mostly made by farmers wives were also popular. We also served tea and coffe, and Brian Charlton’s most wonderful scones served with a variety of jams, cheese and fresh cream. Toasted sandwiches were popular as was, in winter, soup and fresh rolls from the bakery. We kept a large pot of soup bubbling away on the iron wood-stove we kept burning during the cold months. And on a couple of occasions, Barbara and I even did dinners. They went well, dim lighting, warm stove burning, wine flowing. It was a popular place for visitors and locals who did Christmas and other shipping there.
The night of the opening of the Wild Turkey was memorable for us as Warwick and Michele were here because a friend of Warwicks — the founder of the International Crane Foundation, Dr George Archibald was in town with a group of crane supporters and they all piled into the shop on their second evening to enjoy snacks and wine and George and Warwick pronounced “the Wild Turkey has fledged”! Warwick signed a couple of his books that we sold there and George had an impromptu auction with his group buying lots of them — it was great fun and a good off for the little shop.
For a few years, the other building next door, was the head-quarters of the Wakkerstroom Natural Heritage Association (WNHA) and it was where most of the lectures and demonstrations for the guide training course took place (described further on) and committee meetings and tall(S by visiting experts in a variety of fields, were held.
Then came a gracious old house, with original wooden flooring and pressed ceilings and was in good repair. It had been built as their “town house” by a farmer in 1890. This became my first Wakkerstroom home which I bought from Graham Sutherlands sister, and when I sold it some years later, Henk and Jane van Capelle bought, and still own it.
Then next to my house, was a shop owned and run by Noela Ellis, described later in more detail together with other people of that time in the village.
The old lady of the village — Greenacres
The only double storey building in the village came next, which had been “Greenacres’ Department Store”, during the towns “glamour years” — where “old-timers” recalled “the lady who gave them piano lessons in the Greenacres’ building”. When I lived next door, this building was in great disrepair with a tree growing through the floor in one part and often people going inside and using the tonnes of paper, records from the old station, municipality and much besides, to make a fire on the lovely wooden floors — and many a time I went in to clear the building before it could destroy those floors and blacken beautiful pressed ceilings. Noela Ellis and I often went for walks of an evening, and one such time we saw the handrails and masses of the balustrades, ??? lying outside, loose and in bags, obviously destined for fire-wood. Little Noela and I carted them all into my garage for safekeeping against the day when someone may buy and renovate the building.
As previously mentioned, I lived next door and an old man who was not altogether with it, squatted in the outside shed at Greenacres’ and sang and burned fires well into the nights and often times of a morning, I would find him doing his “washing” on my lawn-and hanging out masses of rags to dry on the bushes!
Greenacres’ building had one last night of frivolity and merriment in its sadly run-down state. Di Osborne was having a special birthday, I think it was a sixty fifith, and John her husband, rounded up “the pals” to put together a surprise party for Di in the old, but dearly loved building. Obviously there was a lot of cleaning up to do in that enormous ground floor room, tables were set up with newspaper table-clothes and bales of grass for seating. Electricity was run from my house to enable lighting and keeping pre-cooked — by the friends – warm. It was a most fantastic surprise, and delightful evening for Di to remember as the old building once again echoed laughter and song before again retreating into a memorial of yester-year.
The “old grande dame” of Wakkerstroom with her years of “stories” tucked away in walls and ceilings just kept slowly going downhill. There was one other story to add to her memoirs as she featured in a film made in Wakkerstroom, “Inside Out”.
There was a time when through the WNHA a sponsor to buy it was found but the amount they were prepared to put up would not have done more than perhaps, paint it. Then it went on auction and a number of people came to bid but again, that too failed and it slumbered on. Interestingly, one of the men who made a bid was a well known birder Deon Coetzee who had had a lot to do with BirdLife, Wakkerstroom. He, with Warwick Tarboton, founded the Whitewing Flufftail project, and spent a good deal of time here. Deon had experience in renovating old buildings hence the interest in Greenacres’. Some years later when it was owned by Henk, Deon was staying with me and met Henk and it turned out that his family were from the same town in Holland as Henk’s!
The wonderful news that the old building had been sold was received with joy. Henk and his wife Jane Van Capelle had come to visit the village with a friend who owned a house here, Prof ‘Hoffie’ Hofmeyer. Hoffie had studied theology in Holland and had stayed with the Van Capelle family and of course kept up the friendship. Henk had been to South Africa to attended auctions of 17th century Dutch painters work, he being a leading expert on this subject. But on this occasion with Hoffie, they visited Wakkerstroom and obviously were shown around the village. Henk told me “we were leaving after a few days and were nearing Volksrust when I said to Hoffie can we go back, I want to see that old building again”. So they did and the rest is history. Henk had been involved with restoration of old buildings in Europe for other people but had always wanted to do one for himself but financially it was not possible in Europe. So this was a dream which he felt he was able to achieve, fortunately for Wakkerstroom, as it is so beautifully restored and maintained with details which may have been overlooked or not thought of by another owner perhaps with less experience and artistic flair.
When Henk’s appointed a building company from Volksrust the renovation began, I told him the story of the little treasure in my garage which was a great delight to him as he was able to give the bulastrades to Bobby Barnado to copy for new ones and refurbish the old. A lucky day.
He also bought Noela’s shop, so that was the end of the “wedding window” although Noela rented and opened up again.
There are other historic old buildings on the east side of ‘Greenacres’ which Henk wanted to purchase but was unable to get them — a pity as when one sees the wonderful renovations he did to the three building he got, it would have beautifully completed that block.
Henk always stayed with me on his regular visits during the renovations at Greenacres’ and when I was selling, he bought that house as well.
Last road of the block …
And finally, the road, Engelbrecht Street, bordering the Church on the east side, there is a typical-of-its-time little shop on the corner, belonging to Hadjee, built in 1900, and had its moment of glory when a film, using Wakkerstroom in the story, was made here. The film company paid to have the little shop painted and spruced up to feature in “Inside Out’. Next to that is a little Mosque where Indian men still gather for Prayers.
Paruk’s General Dealers’ store, typical of country stores of long ago, was famous and a must” for visitors who loved browsing around amongst something of everything! Then owned and run by Ahmed and Farida Paruk, this was where you could get most things to keep you going between visits to the closest “big town”, – Volksrust. Visitors loved the o/d Paruk shop, where shelves reached to the ceiling and were packed with all sorts of necessities, and zinc baths, blankets etc hung from the ceiling – and when you saw what you needed, a ladder was brought along to get it down. Many visitors of those ‘renaisance’ days spent lots of time on every visit, browsing around the shop and chatting with the ever friendly Farida. Farida was also well known for her wonderful curries and samoosa’s and made them to order. For a while, when people who had a house here and were coming for a weekend, they would call me and order a curry for Friday nights’ dinner which I would collect, together with rice and salad, from Farida and leave in their house to await their arrival often quite late. It was a much appreciated service, and all that needed doing, was the very important job of open a good bottle to go with a tasty dinner!
One of the saddest days for the village was when Ahmed and Farida’s son Joseph who was by then taking over the shop, went to open up one morning and was shot and killed.
There was nothing from there to the main road but then a farmer who farmed where the Wilkie’s now live, Mr Van der Merwe, built koetjies en Kalfies on the corner, intending it to be a milk and other dairy products outlet. It did not last long, his great idea was a few years too early, there were just not enough people to support it adequately.
Some old buildings that were/are still in use.
The village boasts other lovely churches besides the large NGK in the centre of the village, described in the first part of these “memories”. Small, beautiful, and interesting churches which at this time, are all being used for services.
All villages have a “town character” at some time, and from about the mid 1990’s, Fr Ivano Bertolini was ours! He was an Italian Catholic Priest and between he, Pietro Corgatelli a friend from Italy, and Joe Nagel, they bought the lovely little church and Ivano named it St Joseph’s.
Fr Ivano was an animal lover of note, and whichever was his home – he lived in a few different houses – he had numerous cats and dogs, a few horses and goats, chickens and ducks and anything else that needed – or did not – a home.
One of my pet hates then, still is, are the outcrops of Poplar trees, so I could not believe my eyes when, one day I came across Ivano in the wetland digging out poplar trees “to plant all over the village”. After a good chat, he had the grace to say he did not know what a problem they were and immediately gave up that idea.
He was a man of many talents and a good baker of Italian bread which, in exchange for a meal, he supplied to the hotel, and it was very popular with diners. He also taught Theuns Du Bruyn to make cheese – and we know how far he has come in that field!
A story has it that as the bread, called the “host”, in the Catholic church, and eaten at communion, is very expensive, Fr Ivano decided to make some for up-coming communion. The church was full of a lot of children from eSizamaleni and Wakkerstroom town and as adults went up to receive the host and bit on it, there was a very loud crackling sound throughout the church which had the children – trying not to laugh – rolling around! First and last effort at saving on that item!
At a lunch that the Dennett’s held, Jessie saw her daughter talking with Ivano and he, putting down his plate, opened his mouth wide and pointed inside. Later Jess asked her daughter what that had been about and learned that Ivano proudly, never went to a dentist but filled any cavity with an epoxy glue which seemed to work for him!
I decided that Wakkerstroom needed to have a Christmas Carol evening and we had the first few in the town hall with Fr Ivano playing the organ with great gusto. There were many talented people in the village, and I asked them to participate, and it was wonderful to see and hear what local people could do, sing, play various musical instruments, read beautifully, and so on and we all sang many of the well-known carols with enjoyment and enthusiasm. This event moved to St Joseph’s with the same format. One year Rinette Boardman told me her daughter, Marynza, played the piano which she did at the Carol service. From then on Fr Ivano took her under his wing, encouraging and helping her and giving her access to the church to practice. She went on to do music for matric and then passed all the required exams and has for many years taught music at a school in Volksrust.
On the walls, are beautiful sconces which hold candles and for the Carol evenings, Fr Ivano would light all the candles with one of those special lighters of old, and the gentle glow of candles gave a lovely warm atmosphere to the church, and after the carols, when all had left, he walked around with the old candle tamper extinguishing the candles with a bit of a wistful look on his, cheery, bearded face.
One of the Wakkerstroom “revivalists”, Elna Kotze, and her husband At, had a very tragic year losing two sons and Elna losing two nieces in a ten-month period, and Elna decided to paint a stained-glass window for Fr Ivano’s church – a therapy to help her get through that dark period. She used the wetland of Wakkerstroom as her theme, something very close to her heart, depicting how it was home to a large variety of animals and beneficial to man and beast alike, and one felt her love in that window. Sadly, it was not a leaded and baked window and over the years faded. Some years later the church agreed to replace it and commissioned Clare Honey who lived here and had done many windows and much else in that line, to replace the original. She kept Elnas’ theme and produced a beautiful window which is admired by many especially from inside when the sun hits the right spot at the right time.
The village missed Fr Ivano when he passed on very suddenly.
Pietro Corgatelli was a friend of Fr Ivano in Italy and him, married to a South African woman, Rona, visited Ivano often and helped him a great deal. He bought a very neglected house with great potential, now where Wendy?? lives and restored it beautifully giving it grace and a new life and then bought the next-door house, now Carol’s home which had been lived in by Joe and Muriel Hazelhurst so was in relatively good shape, but he did a lot of work on it and again gave it a glimpse of its past glory. He once told me he would like to buy the whole village! Quite pleased he did not as after Ivano passed on, we did not see him again!
St Mark’s Church
Built as an Anglican church in 1890, stood sadly empty and unused for many, years. It was then bought by a delightful young man, Louis Hofmeyer, whose mother was a Hazelhurst so there was a long association with Wakkerstroom. He visualised it as a weekend house, but he never used it thus as he was studying medicine and afterwards, Wakkerstroom was out of his life. It was sold to the present owner, and it has again had life breathed into it as the spiritual home for a few different denominations who have a roster for services.
In this little church is a magnificent window featured at the front of the church behind the pulpit.
The church was built of local stone, ouklip with sandstone quoins and blouklip base. The original entrance doors as well as Oregon Pine ceilings and floors are still in place and in good condition. Sitting quietly in this old, small church, – and if you have an imagination like mine – one may ‘feel’ the history of the building and picture the weddings, baptisms and regular services attended by towns folk and hear whispered, interesting stories of days of yore!
eSizamaleni Church
On the western periphery of eSizamaleni is another Church, built as an NG Kerk in 1938 in a quite unusual style. It is the home of many church followers in eSizamaleni and it too, with its lovely view, must have seen some great changes and probably also holds close, a lot of interesting tales in its confines. I attended a couple of meetings there in my earliest days here, mostly discussing cattle and wetland issues. For me, the building had a warm and friendly feeling.
The Court House
In Engelbrecht Street, just off the main street, is the beautiful, sandstone Court House, built in 1897 which would do many larger towns proud. It is still in use to this day where cases are heard by visiting magistrates and one can sit on the lovely old, wooden benches, and listen to in – and let your imagination take you back many decades. Cases of petty theft, cattle rustling, financial disputes, land disputes, murders and the rest were put before the magistrate to preside over – and they would no doubt fill many books and make for interesting reading.
There is still a strong link to those years when the courthouse was a hive of activity on the days when cases were to be heat; through Anton Roets. Anton is a lawyer practicing his trade in Johannesburg, but having the old family home here in Wakkerstroom, he spends many weekends in the village. Anton’s great grandfather Mr Willem Schuurman, was transferred here as Magistrate in 1915 and his grandfather, Mr William Schuurman served his articles with Mr C.K. Barry whose offices were the building where today the shop, “Twice is Nice” is situated. The building had always been law offices. He later became a partner with Mr Barry and still later, took over the practice from Mr Barry with a new partner and it was then called Barry, Schuurman and Klein. Lawyers, or as they were called then, solicitors, took on cases covering every aspect of the law.
Anton’s house here, was bought by his great grandmother in 1919 after her husband died in the Spanish ‘flu epidemic. Sadly, she died just a month before her son married. He and his bride moved into that house where Anton’s mother, sister and brother were born. They went to the Marthinus Wessel School up to the start of high school when they went away from Wakkerstroom to complete their higher education.
Mr Barry was on the Village Council in 1906. He married the daughter of Dominee Knobel of Amersfoort who was in a concentration camp during the Boer War. They had two children, Rhoda, and her brother Peter, who were born and schooled in Wakkerstroom. They lived in the old Bank House (where Cor lives) and then in the stone house at 86 Badenhorst street, the lovely sandstone building behind Theuns’s cheese shop, and it was there that Mrs Barry became famous for the 150 rose bushes in her garden. Rhoda studied in Illinois and worked in London and New York and then as a librarian in various places such as Pietermaritzburg, Caledon and the SABC amongst others before returning to live out her years in the law office building which her father had left to her. That building is owned by Anton Roets currently.
A very old general Dealer shop:
The Old Police Station building
Towards the top end of Engelbrecht street heading south – sort of – is the Police Station which until about one or so years ago, was still the delightful, small, corrugated iron and stone building which can be seen on the corner with Uys street. It was an irritation to many when the ugly, new police station was built but one realised that the tiny building could not hope to cope with what comes with the burgeoning growth of a town. At least the little building and the huge trees still stand and reminisce!
There were just a handful of police officers who staffed the old police station. Gys Roos and Chris Maritz were amongst those police officers and still live in the village – Chris Maritz’ son Jan, is still in the Wakkerstroom police force. One of their colleagues was a smiling, large Zulu man with the name of “Speed fire” (l am never sure if it was Spitfire or Speed fire) who with them patrolled the village and answered calls for assistance. Some of them, when a call came from a nearby farm or if searching out a suspect in the mountains, rode horses to get into difficult places. The work was hard and done with dedication by fit young men who started policing because they wanted to help and make a difference to the village and surrounding farms. The area was vast from the KZN border – and if necessary, into KZN, down to the Dirkiesdorp region and in the other direction, to Volksrust and out north, to farms many kilometres – miles – away! Again, one recognises that those wonderful people would have many a story, both humorous and sad to tell.
Gys Roos, who during his training years was a mounted police officer, was chosen with fellow mounted police officers, to ride at the opening of parliament in Cape Town in 1965.
Gys recalls a coloured man, Phifand, and another man who lived here and were both held in high regard for their honesty and reliability, were entrusted with the very responsible task of escorting prisoners tried and sentenced in this court, then transported by train to prison in Volksrust.
The School
There was one school in the village, the Martinus Wessels School in the main road – now 103 years old – with the boarding house and sports grounds at the top end of Englebrecht Street. For many years, classes ranged from grade 1 to standard 8 (standard ten in today’s grading) after which most of the pupils finished their schooling at the Volksrust High school. The pupils were obviously the children of the village and surrounding farms, and being a boarding school, had a sizeable number of pupils averaging around 250 for many years. However, times changed, and children began attending schools in other towns and this school eventually had to close its doors. The boarding building stood vacant for year with a Dr Oosthuizen wanting to turn it into a hospital. The buildings were offered to the police, but fortunately, none of these ideas saw the light of day. Sport was a big part of school life and of course rugby topped the popularity pole with a very famous Springbok player, Hennie Muller, emerging from this little village school. Athletics was also popular as was netball but the tennis court in the centre of town was not used much and most swimming was enjoyed in ‘special’ pools along the river rather than in the pool which was near the tennis court at the municipality! The number of former pupils, still living in Wakkerstroom, is shrinking with the passing years but the likes of Gys Roos, Bets Maritz, a farmer, Michael Moller, and slightly younger than them, “Lang” Chris Smit and paante Oosthuizen, look on their school days in Wakkerstroom with good memories.
Today the school building in the main street is again used as a school for children from eSizamaleni. A lovely building where every classroom had a fireplace – much needed in the cold climate of those days.
Dana Tehuis:
… Is at the end of Engelbrecht Street past the police station. The boarding house and playing fields of the school, were unused as mentioned above, which was very fortunate as otherwise there would not be the retirement village now existing there. When a wealthy lady, Dana Oosthuizen donated a large amount of money, a Retirement Village was established, making use of those grounds to build some cottages and her donation enabled the board to change the boarding house into a frail care centre, administration block with lounges and dining room as well as having a library and community room.
A few local people also then built cottages to set the wheel in motion and it did not take long for others to follow suit and today there are many cottages, single bedroomed going through to quite large houses all with good space around them and lovely gardens all over the complex named.
Kana.
It has become a very popular retirement destination and many people from outside.
Wakkerstroom and surrounding areas have come to see out there years in the peace and quiet of this town and its excellent retirement facilities. I often wonder how many small villages in South Africa can boast such a wonderful retirement complex!
The Old Mill
Towards the western end of the main road, Van Riebeek Street, is the beautiful old Mill which was a working mill up to about 20 years ago, owned and run by Joe Nagel. Farmers brough their maize to be milled and even people with just a few mealies were welcome to have them crushed and to take home a bag or so of ground mealie-meal. The machinery in the, not very attractive building, is what is beautiful being mostly wood which was well maintained, and the wood always gleamed. The owners, Joe and Pam Nagel were an Irish couple who were very well liked, being kind and generous people always willing to help anyone in need. They lived in a lovely house on a small farm near where Graham Sutherland lives. Pam was a very keen golfer playing league for Volksrust and as there were very few women players, she was keen for me to join the club as I had played a lot and had a low handicap. Although I played a few times, I did not get into it and the last game I ever played was on the Volksrust course with Pam!
When they left Wakkerstroom to retire to the KZN south coast, the mill sadly closed as a working mill. It is now owned by BP Greyling and hopefully someday he may see fit to give it a new lease on life even if just for some special occasion.
The Butchery
Also in Van Riebeek Street, is a very old little building built in 1890 which has always been a butchery, until quite recently, it was owned and run by Jan and Rita Oosthuizen and was the only “slaghuis” in town – they made the very’ best borewors! At various times, other butcheries opened – and closed! They retired and sold it from which time it has stood empty but is now owned by a man who will undoubtedly find a use for it in time and give it new life.
The Filling Station and Mini-Mart
Loutjie Joubert owned the only garage in town, so obviously there was always lots of activity around there, especially as the shop attached, known as the Mini-Mark, owned and run by Chris and Tossie Smit, was an outlet for bread, milk, newspapers and those smaller items of food needed between visit to Volksrust – and for some take-away food for passing travellers. It was a pleasure to go in there as Tossie and her fried Valerie, were always friendly and helpful and ready for a story and a laugh. Around the early 1990’s, ‘Lang) Chris Smit was the mayor of this village while his namesake ‘Kort’ Chris Smit was the town clerk. Chris and Tossie sold the shop but the Total garage and the Mini-Mark, with its new owner are still a hive of activity – the garage still being the only one and still owned by Loutjie Joubert the son.
De Oude Stasie.
On the opposite side of the wetland from town, is the old station building which was used by the weekly passenger and goods trains up until the early 1990’s. The train would leave Volksrust early arriving at Wakkerstroom around 8a.m to drop off post and other goods and any passengers on board then leave for Amersfoort to do the same thing. It would then turn around and do the same trip back to Volksrust, passing through Wakkerstroom around 3 p.m. picking up post etc. and passengers. Passengers were taken to the station to catch the train by donkey cart from the village, a service run by an entrepreneurial woman named From Volksrust one changed trains to carry on the journey to Durban or Johannesburg – it was well used a long time ago. One of the amusing stories as to why the station was built there and not in town was people objected, saying, cattle would not give milk and chickens would not lay eggs because of the noise if trains came through the town! The trains stopped coming on this line and the building became something of a dumping area with masses of old papers littering the rooms – many from the station itself but also lots from the municipal office.
Some 20 years ago, a lawyer from Ermelo and his wife managed to acquire the building and did some alterations enabling them to turn it into a most delightful breakfast and lunch venue. They added the deck on the wetland side with its great view and as there were [very few eating places then, it was extremely popular, indeed a delightful place to sit and have a really good and reasonably priced breakfast in peaceful surroundings. It became a bit onerous for them to come through every weekend and it changed hands.
I cannot recall the name of the next couple who took over. It was still popular, and an added attraction was their little railcarriage with a small motor on it which ran on the rails to around where Kathy and Bobby Bernard live, before going back to “the station”. It was such a popular innovation with guests as they went for a ride of a couple of kilometres enjoying a great view of the wetland and village on the far side.
And it was that gentleman who told me one day that he had seen a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes walk from the wetland, go through the fence, cross the road, through the next fence and with them were three tiny chicks. He said he was working on the little “carriage,” so he watched the procession and when they reached the railway line, the chicks were too small to clamber over the slippery rails, so he went and picked them up and helped them on their way. I was astounded at this story so went and sat hidden but with a view of the rails, and waited and watched the re-enactment of his story – except by then the chicks had grown a bit and they managed to clamber over the rails – it was enchanting! After that, for many years, this was a highlight for me when I knew that pair, known always as the Roos pair, had chicks!
De Oude Stasie has had a number of people running the restaurant but mostly not lasting very long until now, the present incumbent has been there for some years and it seems to be a popular place to visit for a meal and a drink or two.