My Fathers Stories ... revisited

 Another Blog post I wrote back in 2006 was about some of the things I remember asking my dad when I as a kid which you can read about here 

If I look back on the conversation I had when I asked him about his family, he said he had 1 brother Peter and 2 sisters Irene and Elizabeth. 

From what I have researched he had 1 brother called Pieter (possibly Petrus)

His Mother's name was Elizabeth

Not sure who Irene was

Australia?  Yes he did live in Australia, according to my half-sister Billie (RIP) Billie was born 1920 - 1913, she said that they all moved to Australia in the late 1920's, I found a savings book from Sydney, NSW that belonged to my dad, however my sister took this when she visited at some stage. 

They must have moved back to South Africa during the 1930's at some point, still haven't found any documents in this regard. 

During the 2nd world war my father built military bases and hospitals in SA.

Who Am I? Part 2

 Back in 2006 I started this blog and my first blog post was about Me, "who am I"?  After many many years of doing research and Genealogy, I think I may have found out!  

It's all so very interesting and a very long story.

I decided to give up on trying to trace my fathers Heritage and concentrated on my mothers which all proved very interesting, the Marais and de Villiers families who arrived in South Africa in the late 1600's with the French Huguenot's via Holland - Over 300 years of history in South Africa where they encountered many challenges and my grandparents were even prisoners in concentration camps during the Anglo Boer War in 1901.   My great-grandfather on my mothers side (Marais) was sent to India to a concentration camp along with many other South African men.  My grandfather on my mothers side was in a concentration camp in Pietersburg with his half-sisters and pregnant mother, who died the day after giving birth to another son, sadly the son passed away 2 days later.   They were then sent to another camp in Howick until the camps were disbanded.

My grandmother (de Villiers) was in a concentration camp with her family in Krugersdorp.  

As for my father this is all the information I had: - 

My Father Harold Kemp was born 6.9.1896, the only clues I have from his past are what I have found on the South African Archives his 2 other divorces, a marriage certificate to his first wife in 1919, a copy of a  photo of his mother with the name Elizabeth Mary Kemp, his WW1 Medals, so I got his military records of which there were a few with name changes, and a Medal from Argentina.   Also in his Military records it said he had been to Buenos Aires. 

I then spoke to my half sister's daughter (my father's daughter from his first-marriage) and asked her if she would please do her DNA with Myheritage, that way I could distinguish the matches between her and I that would help me research my fathers heritage. 

Unfortunately there were a few matches but nothing that shouted at me as I did not really know what I was looking for. 

Then I received a message on the 5th of February from a Diego Dickason on My Heritage saying that I was a match with him, I automatically thought it must be a match with my daughter and probably on her father's side.  But on investigation I found that I was the match, he was my 1st cousin twice removed - 2nd cousin once removed, he doesn't speak English as he lives in Argentina, however get this he speaks "old" Afrikaans and Spanish, his daughter Becky kindly send the email on his and her behalf.

They thought I must be a relative on the "Dickason" side of the family, however, again after lots of searching and investigation and finding out about the "Boers at the end of the World" (Afrikaner's who left South Africa at the end of the Boer War" for a better life in Argentina (Patagonia).   However, i could not find one other Dickason that I was related to via Myheritage and a lot of them had done their DNA, so I thought okay so if I am not related via the "Dickason" branch I must be related via the female side. 

It turned out that his mother (Johanna Gertruida Margaretha Dickason (born Verwey)) her mother was (Johanna Gertruida Margaretha Verwey (born Grobler)) and working back from there, her father was Nicholaas Jacobus Grobler. 
 Now trying to fit in the pieces, his father was (Hendrik Christoffel Ignatius Grobler) and mother Maggel Anna Susanna Grobler (born Els)) and Grandfather and grandmother were (Petrus Hendrikus Hendricus Grobler, b5c4d1) and (Johanna Gertruida Margaretha Grobler (born Kemp)) aaah Kemp, my maiden name but could not  find a connection there. 

If Diego was my 1st Cousin twice removed then Nicholaas Jacobus Grobler would be a close relation to my father. 

So I went back on the records I had found, in order to get it all straight in my head and then put it down in myheritage I wrote down everything I found, matched up partners dates etc.  This took me a few evenings of working many late hours, some of the information I found was here: 

Hendrik Christoffel Ignatius Grobler (2.7.1829 - 9.5.1908) and his wife Maggel Anna Susanna Grobler (born Els) (x.4.1832 - 20.01.1910)  Diego's Great-great Grandfather and great-great Grandmother! And my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother. 

One thing we must remember is that most of the time Names were passed down the family line and normally the oldest son would be named after the father either on the Mother or the father's side of the family. 

Hendrik and Maggel had 6 children

Maria Magdalena Grobler              -     23.05.1851
Johanna Gertruid Margaretha         -              1856
Nicholaas Jacobus Grobler          -      21.5.1859 (Diego's Great Grandfather) 
Magdeld Anna Susanna Grobler     -              1864
Elizabeth Maria Grobler              -    30.05.1868 (My Grandmother)
Engela Gertruida Grobler                -    30.07.1870

According to the death certificate of their mother Maggel Anna Susanna Grobler (born Els), died 20th January 1910.  Elizabeth Maria Grobler was a widower her married name was Kemp and her late husband was Petrus Hendrik Kemp.  Another Kemp perhaps this is it?

I still wasn't sure of the connection until I did some more searching, In Familysearch.org I found a death certificate for a Elizabeth Maria du Plooy, formerly Kemp (nee Grobler).   On the Death Certificate (she died 18th September 1913) in Marquard, Senekal - it states that she has 2 children:

1. Pieter Kemp Born 6th July 1899
2. Hendrik Kemp Born 6th of September 1896 (The same date as my father) 

Alarm bells started ringing, could this be my dad?

The Death certificate was signed by the surviving Spouse Roelof du Plooy who would more than likely not have known the full names of the children as it seems they only married  March 27th, 1910

But my father was Harold Kemp, in the Military records I have the first one has him listed as Herald Christoffel Ignatius Kemp, the 2nd one is just Harold Kemp but both say he has a brother Pieter Kemp who lives in Thaba'Nchu.  These documents are dated 1914 and 1917. 

However if it wasn't for the Match with Diego I would have thought otherwise.

This would make sense if Nicholaas and Elizabeth were brother and sister, and Elizabeth is my Grandmother then Nicholaas would be my Great Uncle, his daugher (Johanna Gertruida Margaretha Verwey (born Grobler) would be my fathers Cousin, and therefore my cousin once removed (Johanna Gertruida Margaretha Dickason (born Verwey) would be my 2nd Cousin and Diego is therfore my 2nd Cousin, once removed (or 1st cousin twice removed).

Is this the end of the Road?

Unfortunately I cannot find anymore documentation and I have a lot of questions to which I have my own theories - Why did my dad change his name to Harold. 

His father Petrus Hendrik Kemp died in 1900 (during the Anglo Boer War), his mother had 2 small children aged 1 and 4. 

I still have so many questions?  

• Did she pretend to be English to avoid being captured and put into a concentration camp? 
• Did she perhaps call him Harold as a child and Pieter Peter?
• How did her husband die? 
• I cannot find any record was he captured by the British and killed? 
• How did she die at such a young age of 45?  I just discovered she died of Pneumonia, however interestingly she died  3 and a half years after her marriage to her 2nd husband Roelof Michel du Plooy (he was captured in 1901 during the Anglo Boer War and sent to Ceylon), his 1st wife died in the ABW Concentration camp in1901 he married 4 times 3 of his wives having died before him, just unfortunate or not? Amazing what you uncover searching through old records from 100+ years ago.
• The Certificate of death I found also shows a 3rd son who died at 2 months of age, when was this child born?
• Who was the father?
• Why are there not baptism certificates for Hendrik or Pieter?
• Why is there no Marriage certificate for Elizabeth & Petrus?
• Harold would have been only 17 when his mother died, his brother Pieter only 14.  Did this make Harold go off and join the war, an orphan at 17?
• On his Marriage certificate for his 1st Marriage, why does is say he was born in Buenos Ayres?
• Who does the medal belong to that I have from Argentina? (I know Jorge is looking into that for me) 
• Whatever happened to Pieter Kemp from Thaba'Nchu?

That is where I leave my investigation for now, hopefully I will find the answers to these questions soon. 

Apartheid .... Music

 I was brought up in Apartheid South Africa, however my mother and father never brought us up to believe that anyone was beneath that, and we never distinguished people by colour.  We learnt that from people in school or in the streets.  

Our "maid" who was more like a mother to me because my mom worked was just the lady who lived in the back room and cleaned our house, she watched TV with us and even went on holidays with us when we were much younger.    She was really well educated and knew about 9 different languages including English and Afrikaans.  She would help us with our homework and even helped the neighbors kids with Afrikaans especially as their parents did not speak it.

My mother always spoke to our Nanny in Afrikaans thinking that my father did not understand it little did she know. 

At school there may not have been so called "black" people but there were people of every race, colour and creed.  Unlike in other countries like Ireland where my friend said that 99% of pupils were white, catholic or white protestant.  We had refugees from Mozambique, in my class alone, there were Lebanese, Portuguese, Greek, Irish, English, all kinds of mixes i.e. Mother was French father was British etc.  It was a bit like the United Nations is now. 

I never knew about race classification until I started working, as I was in HR / Payroll when someone joined the Bank they had to be classified.  ABCD (That was maybe a PC way of doing it) A-Asian B-Black, C-Coloured and D-White.   I worked for a British bank and they employed people of every Race equally. 

I remember back in the 80's when we had a referendum to allow the A's and C's to vote and of course the younger generation voted YES why should anyone not be allowed to Vote, so luckily 10 years later the B's were allowed to vote and it was the end of apartheid! It took our generation to realize what kind of government we had! Even when my father said to me - always vote for the National Party or don't bother coming home ... lol well he is probably turning in his grave now! 

So why I started this post was because my first multi-culture band I saw in Concert was Mango Groove in Sun City, when my friends overseas were listening to Soft Cell, Prince etc, we had some brilliant South African Music. 

Jaluka, e-void, Mango Groove, MarcAlex, Bright Blue, Margaret Singana, Ladysmith Black Mambazo  - unfortunately not many of them got overseas hits, I mention their names in Ireland and the only name that anyone recognizes is Ladysmith Black Mambazo. 

It was like when the movie came out "Searching for Sugarman", about a musician called "Rodriguez", during the 70's we grew up on his music, especially as most radio stations banned the song "I wonder" the song and Album became more popular, then back in 2012 when the movie came out, because I was the only South African in my company, everyone was asking me if I knew of Rodriguez, I felt a bit like a Rock Star because I could tell them about him.  No-one in Ireland, the UK or America had ever heard of him.  

So I just realized how fortunate I was growing up in South Africa in the 70's, 80's & 90's the 3 decades that made me who I am today.  

Turffontein Racecourse - Did you know?

 Do you remember "Chappies Bubblegum"?  Well before I started to write this post, I thought about the wrappers from Chappies, we always used to read out the print on it "Did you Know?"  Which gave me the title for this post!

Coming from the South of Johannesburg, Turffontein Race Course was one of the grand racing tracks of South Africa.   Every Saturday we would go down to the tattersalls so that my mother and father could place their bets on the races.  We never ever got to go into the Racecourse and I only did when I was in my 20's and it was a great day out to dress up and go to the Races. 

So while I have been discovering my Heritage, I found out that both my Grandparents on my mothers side were in concentration camps in the Anglo Boer War in 1901.   My Grandfather "Johanne Francois Marais" was 4 years old when he was taken prisoner along with his family and sent to a Concentration camp in Pietersburg, Transvaal.    His Mother died in this same camp just after she gave birth to another son, who died the day after her.   Luckily he was with his half-sisters who took care of him.   They were later transferred from Pietersburg to Howick in Natal, I am not sure why this was, but I am sure that winter in a Bell tent in Pietersburg could be very cold.  His Father was shipped to a concentration camp in India along with a lot of the other Boer Men who did not join the war. 

My Grandmother "Annie or Anna Johanna De Villiers" was 3 year old when her family were put into a concentration camp in Potchefstroom. 

Most of the Camps were disbanded in 1902.  

So where am I going with this, well while researching all this history about the ABW I looked to see if their were any camps in Johannesburg, and loan behold there it was "The Turffontein Racecourse" was the Main concentration camp in Johannesburg. 

This is an extract from website for "The British Concentration Camps of the South African War 1900-1902"

Johannesburg was an unusual camp in that it was the only urban camp in the entire system. Like Pretoria, from the start of the war Johannesburg had large numbers of refugees who needed help, and these increased when the British arrived. 

While many people were housed in the homes of the Uitlanders who had left for the coast, some kind of camp probably came into being fairly early, certainly by December 1900. 

At the end of December 1900, writing to Lady Hobhouse, Emily Hobhouse noted that there were rumor's of ‘some sort of prison camps’ in Johannesburg with 4,000 women and children. With its mines and compounds, the town appeared to have plenty of accommodation, and, in the early days, some women were housed in the men’s quarters at Robinson’s Deep and Village Deep.1 In the end, however, the camp was located at Turffontein – the Johannesburg racecourse – where the people lived in the grandstands. 

While they may have been relatively waterproof, the stands were not ideal, being dark and stuffy, and it was not long before the superintendent was recommending bell tents for the inmates. In the meantime, some sheds were built while other people were housed in nearby suburbs, making administration very difficult. Nevertheless, the Ladies Committee was pleasantly impressed by Johannesburg camp when they visited it in September 1901, describing it as being in a ‘charming situation’. 

They were particularly struck by the quality of the accommodation which they considered better than in any other camp they had visited, and they regarded the superintendent as thoughtful and efficient. Dr Franks, visiting earlier in July 1901, commented that ‘If every burgher camp be as well managed as this one there is very small ground for complaint’.

There is also mention of a Grave site where Boers who died in the "Johannesburg" concentration camp were buried. 

There were 115 white concentration camps around the country, most of which were in the Transvaal. The biggest in Johannesburg was at the Turffontein Race Course, which originally started as a camp at the Mayfair School, but it soon ran out of space. It housed around 5 000 people, of whom 700 died and were buried in Maluti Street, Winchester Hills, on a farm called Kliprivier Berg, belonging to Piet Meyer.

 This cemetery was vandalized by an anti-Ossewa Brandwag group during the second world war and was overhauled and re-opened in 1961 by then Minister of Justice BJ Vorster. It now consists of a number of coffin-shaped terraces, with a memorial structure listing the names of the dead. At the entrance there are a number of the old grave headstones cemented into the wall, indicating amongst others, the death of a baby of eight months.

Now how many of us who lived and grew up in the South of Johannesburg or who even lived in Turffontein knew of this? 

Some more information on this can be found on the website for Joburg.org

There is also a fascinating article on Facebook 

One thing that is on my bucket list for my next Trip to South Africa whenever that might be is to visit these sites where the concentration camps were, specifically in the South of Johannesburg and in Krugersdorp.. 

My Genealogy - Marais / de Villiers / Rowe

 I was going to post my Genealogy in this blog but decided to create a new blog, if you want to follow the updates you can find it here > https://maraisdevilliersgenealogy.blogspot.com/ 

Sacha's singles Club

I just thought of another one, so I never learnt to drive until I was 21 or so but my friend C was driving from 16 and working.   She would always pick me up and take me out to clubs and places and that is how I got into clubbing.

It must have been around '82 that we went to a new club she had heard about in the Hyde Park Shopping center.  It was a very sophisticated nightclub and we really just went there to dance and to meet guys who would pay for our drinks.  Because it was on the northside of town it was also very Larney and Posh.

I don't remember why they had it in the shopping center, if anyone does please let me know!   But I do remember that they would always play the latest music, they had the greatest disco lights.  But the songs will always be with me, like "Can't take my eyes off you", Yazoo, Softcell, John Cougar, Chicago and just so many great songs.

They did eventually move out of Hyde Park Shopping Center, over to the Hyde Park Hotel and then later Sacha's became Blue Jeans and I think it all just went downhill from then on.  Probably around 1983.

I can't even find a photo on Google, could you imagine if we had mobile phones with cameras on in the 80's and 90's there would be so many memories we could share!

If my memory serves me correct, it did look a little like this:

Ciro's Supper Club - Downtown Johannesburg

Who remembers "Ciro's" Supper Club?  If I remember it was downtown Johannesburg in Claim street??? In all honesty I have never been there, however the ex used to frequent the place as they had strip shows at lunch time, and the apartments we lived in, in Randburg housed a few strippers as well.

I heard it was very tasteful, but then really how tasteful can strippers be?  The reason it came to mind was because someone posted a picture of Ciro's on Facebook and the name rung a bell.   From what I can gather it was a nightclub in the good old days, the time I remember it would have been round the early to Mid 80's, but it was around for a very long time before that.

Does anyone have any memories? photos?

I just tried to do a Google Maps walk down Claim street and everything looks so foreign to me, like the place has never been taken care of, the buildings look so derelict and the streets so dirty, it just feels like another world where I never lived, and yet I lived in Jo'burg for 37 years.



Both my mom and dad lived in Johannesburg before they got married, in separate places of course, and I know when they married, the stayed in Fortesque Road, just round the corner from Rocky street in Melville, Johannesburg.  They moved out of Johannesburg to the suburbs shortly after my mom was pregnant with my sister and then resided in Mondeor, which would have been 1957 / 1958.

I remember often on a Saturday my mom would take us to visit her friends that all still lived in apartments around town, some in residential hotels in Hilbrow.  I also remember my mom talking about going out to beautiful nightclubs, restaurants and theaters.  The Colleseum, His Majesties, wow how grand everything was back then. 

The James Hall Museum of Transport, Wemmer Pan, Johannesburg South

When we were growing up, I remember my mom always taking us to places of interest on the week-ends, if it wasn't the art gallery in Joubert Park, it was to the transport museum in Pioneer Park Wemmer Pan.

I used to love going and seeing all the old cars and buses it really was one of my favourite outings.

You can visit the website here, and you can even do a Virtual tour.

It's well worth a visit next time you venture to the South of Jo'burg!

Drive In Movies Johannesburg

In a much earlier post about Roadhouses, I did say I would write about Drive Ins' so here we are.  I can't remember when the last Drive In disappeared around Jo'burg, but I think it may have been around the late 90's, as I do remember going to the drive-inn with Derrick before we got married which would have been about '94, we went to see the "Aristocats".   I remember it was raining and by that time they had done away with the speakers that you would put inside your car to hear the movie.  Then you just tuned into a certain FM frequency and you would be able to hear the movie, however someone at work had broken the antenna off his car, and he spent the whole movie with his hand out

I remember many experiences from the Drive In, one with an ex-boyfriend who took me to Top Star, they always showed 2 movies and I told him I wanted to leave after the 1st Movie, well he refused to take me home or to my friends house after the movie, so I told him in that case I would walk!  And I did ... instead of walking down the road at the drive-Inn I just decided to climb down the mine dump.

the window holding the antenna to get a clear sound.

I got to Eloff street Ext. and my guardian angel must have been watching over me as a really nice bunch of people stopped and gave me a lift, hence to say that was like the last I saw of the boyfriend.

These are some of the Drive In's I remember from my youth:

Speedy's - South Hills
Panorama - Past Uncle Charlies
Top Star - Eloff street ext, Johannesburg
Veldskoen - Randburg
5 Star - I think this was out towards Honeydew
Hilfox - Between Roodepoort and Randburg

I am sure there are some I have forgotten, so please help me!

My Coronavirus Covid-19 Diary

I have been updating my status mostly everyday since we had to start working from home because of the Coronavirus, so I decided to copy those updates into my Blog that I have neglected for the past 5 years, you can find it here:  https://glorydaysindublin.blogspot.com/

The BIG birthday Concert

My Memory seems to fade me, but I do vaguely remember the Radio 5 birthday concert!  My BFF managed to get us VIP seats as her brother worked for Radio 5 at the time, I remember Mango Groove headlining the concert, or am I wrong, was that another concert?

Does anyone else remember the concert?

I remember when Radio 5 started was it the end of the 80's beginning of the 90's? No in fact it was 1975, those were the days we were torn between listening to Springbok Radio or Radio 5!

So I can only think the BIG concert bash that we attended would have been 1985 

I found my "Big Birthday Concert" program and it was held on the 14th of October 1989 at Ellis Park, the main acts were:

Mango Groove
Marcalex
Lucky Dube
Bayete
Brenda Fassie
Bright blue
Celtic Rumours
Chicco
Die gereformeerde blues band
pj powers
Phyco Reptile
Rebecca Malope
Ricardo
Sankomota
Sipho "hotstix" mabuse
The Spectres
Stimela
Wendy Oldfield
Zia

I had forgotten most of the groups and artists above, but then again it was 31 years ago!

It was probably one of my first multi-racial concerts in South Africa, and this was just the start - Music would play a huge role in bringing about the end of apartheid and the end of the National party rule! 

RABBITT - CHARLIE

Rabbitt

Do you remember the South African Rock group "Rabbitt" from the 1970's - You don't okay well then you are either not South African or too young.

When I was in high school, Rabbitt was the new up and coming South African Rock band, 4 boys (most famous bands always had 4 boys - The Beatles), the band consisted of Ronnie, Neil, Duncan and Trevor, very good looking boys that the girls all went gaga over.

• Trevor Rabin - Vocals, Lead Guitar and keyboards
• Duncan Faure - Vocals, guitar, keyboard
• Ronnie Robot (Ronald Friedman) bass guitar
• Neil Cloud - drums

Rabbitt had many hits and played many concerts at His Majesties in Johannesburg, I was never allowed to go, probably the fact the fact that my mom and dad thought I was too young!  I so wish I had been able to go.   Rabbitt mania was a thing and I remember seeing the photos in the Sunday Times the day after one of their concerts, girls crying, throwing their panties on the stage ... lol (still don't get that!)  Maybe I was just too much of a prude. 

I could not even afford to buy an album until I started working and they had broken up, my favorite Album cover was from "A croak and a grunt in the night", the picture of Trevor Rabin in the nude with just his guitar covering his privates :).  Trevor was my favorite, dark hair, dark eyes - I now have my own Trevor! 

They were so famous in South Africa and word has it that when they tried to break into the International market ( A White South African group during apartheid) it was never going to work!  So in 1978 when the band broke up, Duncan went off to join "The Bay city rollers" and Trevor Rabin joined the group "yes", they have both done very well for themselves, Duncan Faure is now living in Las Vegas and Trevor Rabin is somewhere in California, he has written many Movie themes.  And in fact I think he received an Oscar.  His life story is fascinating and you can read about him here : Trevor_Rabin 

Another of their best songs was "Charlie", a really romantic song that all the girls loved. 

A list of all their music can be found on the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbitt

Would love to know what happened to Neil and Ronnie, are they still in South Africa?

I found some photos taken at a Concert in Port Elizabeth and my dear friend Mercia who appears in 2 of these! 

Smugglers - Rabie Street, Randburg ... (Smuggies)

This is a blast from the past .... The late 80's "Smugglers Rest" - I had moved out of home and was living in Long Street in Ferndale, Smugglers was the place to find good music, lots of drink and a really enjoyable evening!

It was our hangout on a Friday night and any other night from about 1987 till the early 90's, I used to frequent the place with my friends.  The band who played always sang songs that everyone could join in, anything from the Beatles, Thin Lizzy (Whiskey in the Jar) and would always end the evening with "You'll never walk alone".

I met some really good friends there who I am still friends with today.  Mark, Deon, Caroline just to name a few, it was a great Jol, and even on a Saturday afternoon to sit in the beer garden. 

I remember at one point though, we decided to find other pubs outside of smugglers, Randburg always had good Jols - there was Buccaneers at the top of Republic Road, and a few places that for the life of me I cannot remember the names now.  So maybe one of you can help me - there was the bar / restaurant in Windsor East, the one near the Randburg shopping center where Ballyhoo played. - Remember "Man on the moon"?

I remember when I used to frequent smugglers, beer was R1 a bottle and a brandy and diet coke about R3.50, the barman was so nice, but they worked their butts off especially on a Friday night.

Would love to hear your memories of Smugglers!   

George Benson - Sun City 1982

Our radio station today was doing a Music Festival at home, what you could do is find an old concert ticket, take a picture and send it in to the Radio station and then ask them to play a song, so it got me to thinking what was my first concert that I ever went to.

Now my mom did take us to see Cliff Richard twice when he played at the City Hall in Johannesburg, once on his own and then once with the Shadows, which would have been back in the 70's.   My dream as a kid was to go to an Elvis concert, but alas he passed away before I left school.

So my first concert that I went to on my own or with friends, was "Georgie Benson", I remember meeting my friends in town and taking the bus up to Sun City to see the concert.   What a brilliant show, I still have the program from the concert.   

After the concert we went to "Raffles" night club and lone behold there was George himself booging the night away.   We got chatting to him and he autographed my program for me.  Wow what a concert and it was my first trip to Sun City as well. 

Sun city was the first Major Casino built in the homeland of Bophuthatswana because in South Africa it was illegal to Gamble, it was built by millionaire Sol Kerzner who recently passed away.  It was like the "Vegas" of South Africa. 



I will dig out my program and post a copy of his autograph as soon as I have a moment.

A Reunion ... or not!

A friend and I were talking about a High School reunion next year, which will mark 40 years since we finished school, it all sounds really awesome and we start a Whatsapp group where people can invite their friends they are all in contact with etc. etc.

Until the reality strikes, half the people in the Whatsapp group never liked me!  I was not the popular one at school, and then worst of all the School Bully is added to the group and starts throwing their weight around, kicking people out of the group and just taking over.  

After a bit of deliberation, I decided than and there to leave the group!

Why?  Do I really want to meet up with people I haven't spoken to in over 40 years, if ever?  Do I want to meet up with people who are only interested in, what you look like, what car do you drive, what do you do? How much money do you have!  NO!!!  I am better than that.   

I want to meet up with people I had something in common with, people who liked me and I liked them and those who are in contact with me!  So No thanks after all the planning and talking about it, I won't be doing a reunion thank you!    I seriously am happy with my own life, my own friends and the people who care about me. 

I am happy for you whatever path you chose in life!  Take Care and enjoy your life :)

Bury my bones in Jo'burg

A friend told me about this song by "Naming James", wow it really stirs up some memories - These are the words to the song

All lyrics copyright Naming James

Bury My Bones in Jo'Burg

From Houghton to Hilbrow, The Doors and The Doll House, Cloud9, The Sunnyside,

singing carols by candlelight, Bimbo's and Tempos, 206 and Tokyo

At the Waterfront and the Carlton to the Rosebank Rooftop Market, Rockey Street to Roxy's

Ellis Park to ESP, Heinrich's and the Skyrink and the cars at the Top Star drive-in

I hear Bassline and the Radium, bikers at the Bohemian, around Kyalami race-track

Cats Pajamas and Carfax, Melville and Yeoville, Kippies, Wits and Northcliff Hill

Zoo Lake, Truth and Bruma, the lights of Louis Botha, Fontana's and Jamesons

Morgan's Cat and the White Horse Inn, the Cool Runnings Dungeo, Castle Corner at the Wanderers

CH

The Sun will always Shine on this city of gold

So bury my bones in Jo'burg, let it forever be my home

Traffic, taxi's, Ponty, past Oxford street's prossies, City Deep, Main Reef and Westpark Cemetery

Sterkfontein and the JCE, the big top tent at the Boswell Wilkie

Gold Reef City and The Carousel, drinks at the Jolly til they ring the bell, Bulldogs and Bowl's Club

Billy the Bums and the Thunder Gun, cruising through Gilooly's to the crying sirens of the SAP

Emmerentia Dam and Wemmer Pan, chick pies from Riversands, the bridge we built for Madiba

Delta Park and the Market Theatre, the holding cells in Sun City, Lion Lager at the SAB

Leeuwkop and Liliesleaf, deep underneath the SABC, the M1 and the Jukskei

Bryanston to Braamfontein, the heartbeat that holds me, these old streets of Jozi

CH

The Sun will always Shine on this city of gold

So bury my bones in Jo'burg, let it forever be my home

The Forever 27 Club

The “Forever” 27 Club

I’ll never forget the day in 2011 when I said to my husband that Amy Winehouse is going to be another member of the 27 Club and mark my words on the 23^rd of July that year she passed away!

I often wonder what is so significant of that Age, I know that my best friend Morag passed away in 1991 just before her 27^th birthday, and I was being rescued from the Oceanos in the same year at the age of 1991, but luckily for me I am still here.

Rolling Stone Magazine says: “The 27 Club has become one of the most elusive and remarkably tragic coincidences in rock & roll history. The term became widely known after Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994, with rock fans connecting his age to that of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix – though it was notable to fans in the early 1970s when those four visionaries died within just two years of each other. When Amy Winehouse passed away at age 27 in 2011, it attracted even more attention to the significance of the age. While the club has been largely connected to musicians, it has expanded since, as many young actors and artists have lost their lives due to everything from addiction to suicide to freak accidents.”

Famous Rock Musicians Who Died at the Age of 27

·       Kurt Cobain

·       Amy Winehouse

·       Jimi Hendrix

·       Janis Joplin

·       Jim Morrison

·       Robert Johnson

·       Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones)

·       Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (The Grateful Dead)

·       Chris Bell (Big Star)

·       D. Boon (The Minutemen)

·       Richey Edwards (Manic Street Preachers)

Wouldn’t it be awesome to know that they have formed their own band in Heaven called the “Forever 27 club” and they’re making music just like they did before 😊

 

Eric Clapton and the Kings Concert - Swaziland 1989

A collegue was telling me at lunch time he is going to see Eric Clapton next week at the O2 in Dublin - I thought about seeing him, but honestly there are just too many concerts to see these days, but I was telling him about when I saw Eric Clapton in 1989 in Swaziland.

My BFF had gone to a Rock Concert with her brother the previous year in Zimbabwe to see, Bruce Springsteen, I was very jealous that I was not going with, she also came home with some amazing stories, that I will tell you about some day.  So when another friend of mine invited me to go with them to see Eric Clapton and a host of other bands in Swaziland, I jumped at the opportunity.

My friend and I were going with a mutual ex-boyfriends brother and his friend.  Well the friend that came with was a BIG marujana smoker and smoked in the car all the way up.  We left at about 10 a.m. on the Friday morning 21st of July 1989, the concert was on Saturday evening in Mbabane at the Somhole Stadium, it was the Kings Trust concert, basically a concert to celebrate King Mswatti II 21st birthday - he aparently had a private concert at the palace.

So we drove to Oshoek border and got through relatively easy, aparently that night and the next day there were 5 hour waits.  We had no accommodation, but a tent in the car and a couple of tins of tinned food, my friend had organized with some mates of hers that worked there that we could camp on their property or stay in the house, and this back in 1989 when there were no cell phones or email everything was done on trust and hope.

We eventually found the guys place, well the house that they stayed in was so filthy that we even decided it was not worth using the toilet as we did not know what we would catch, so we really roughed if for the week-end.

I don't remember too much detail but remember it was an awesome week-end, I am going to go and dig up my old photos and scan them in.  While searching the internet for any information about the concert I came across this newspaper article which describes everything to a T.

Travelling back on Sunday, we decided to go through Piggs Peak as again there was a 5-8 hour wait at Oshoek border post, which was probably a wise move.  We got back and I had to have 3 baths to get rids of the dirt, and my husband wants to know why I don't like camping!

 If you can't read the article I have posted here, here is the link which should be a lot clearer: http://samusicheritage.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/swazi-rock/

The Great Bank Tunnel Robbery

In 1977 (42 years ago now) the biggest and bravest bank robberies in South African History was staged in Krugersdorp South Africa, it was over an Easter week-end.  

The Standard Bank in Krugersdorp was robbed of over R400 000, which back in 1977 was a lot of money, considering we bought our house in 1996 for R100,000.    

A shop across the road from the bank was rented, they used a false name (Mr Nightingale) and an address in a Johannesburg Suburb.  Mr Nightingale said he was opening a photographic studio and therefore pasted Newspapers all over the windows of the shop.

In 1977, during the Easter weekend, the Standard Bank in Krugersdorp was robbed in one of the most daring robberies in the history of South Africa. More than R400 000 was taken.

During the day, the robbers dug a tunnel to the bank, placing the soil in bags which were then removed from the premises.

What counted in their favour was that the ground was relatively soft and there were no underground cables or pipes on the route. They even installed wooden props in the tunnel, leading people to believe they had mining experience.

They did their homework very well – they knew that compressors were being used nearby, enabling them to mask any sounds they would make during the excavation – in fact, the bank turned off its trembler alarms for that very reason.

The robbers tunnelled for three months, digging 21 metres under four adjacent shops until they struck the bank’s vault, without anyone knowing about it.

During the Easter weekend, the robbers broke through, took what they wanted and disappeared. No arrests have been made to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Krugersdorp_bank_robbery