GRAINS, SEEDS AND TYRES
A SATURDAY MORNING IN THE BOTS
A good crowd of runners, joggers and walkers turned out for parkrun number 411 in Makana botanical gardens (‘The Bots’) on Saturday, 93 in all.
Interestingly, 14 participants were below the age of 20 years and 26 above the age of 50, leaving 53 ’in-betweeners’.
The next occasion on which Stavie van Aardt takes part in parkrun, and presumably it will be in the local botanical gardens, it will be his 400th, no less!
Parkruns are held at 8am each Saturday from the entrance to the botanical gardens in Lucas Avenue.
KARATE SILVER
Congratulations to Emily Huxtable of the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) for her silver medal in the kumite (fighting) component of the World Union of Karate Federations (WUKF) Afro-Asia Open karate championships in Gqeberha at the weekend.
A LANE WITH AN OLD NAME
Makhanda streets were named, in the main, after mayors, councillors, governors, military officers and other persons of note.
There were exceptions, however, according to the official listing of local streets compiled in the 1960s.
The building on the southern side of Church Square currently occupied by Clicks once had Muirhead & Gowie and Checkers as its tenants.
Across the adjacent lane some decades ago was Hepworth’s men’s outfitters, and the lane between the two buildings became known as Hepworth’s Lane, even being listed in the “Streets of Grahamstown” back in the 1960s.
Hepworth’s has long since been gone suits, shirts, jackets, trousers and all! What, one wonders, do locals call the lane these days?
BY GEORGE, IT’S UNSIGHTLY
Not only are the verges in George Street, one of four main entrances into town, overgrown with grass and weeds, there are also several unsightly piles of building rubble and garden refuse on the pavement at the corner of George and Jackson Streets. Wonder how long it will be before that is removed?
TO COMPETE AT SPORTS FESTIVAL
Makhanda’s Mary Waters High School is one of 12 schools that will battle it out to be crowned champions in rugby and netball at a four-day sports tournament in Gqeberha.
The FNB Classic Clashes Festival will be held at Nelson Mandela University from March 29 to April 1. The tournament is being supported by Eastern Province Rugby and the Nelson Mandela Bay Netball Association.
Among the other schools taking part will be Alexandria High, Uitenhage High, Spandau Secondary, Booysen Park Secondary, Asherville Secondary and Molly Blackburn Senior Secondary.
COLOURS IN THE WATER
DSG colours for water polo have been awarded to Mia Jenner, Kimberly Kabiri, Angelique Myers, Anna Olivier, Lucy Rutherfoord and Jessica Stevens.
SHIPS AND POSTCARDS
The item “Ocean-going postcards” in last week’s column elicited the following response from a former Grahamstonian, now retired and living along the Garden Route.
“Your piece about shipping line postcards in days of yore brought back memories of how we used to write to shipping lines and corporate businesses when I was a pupil at Kingswood College in the late 1950s, asking for either postcards or blotters.
“First-day covers were also a favourite for us amateur collectors.
“Sadly, besides a few first-day covers, my stash has long since disappeared to goodness knows where.”
SEVEN IN THE SQUAD
No less than seven St Andrew’s College players have been members of the Eastern Cape U16 basketball squad taking part in the SA U16 national championships in Durban this week. They are Inam Hlobo, Nsofwa Kayula, Lukhanyo Kepe, Siya Macozoma, Caleb Pennington, Jared Rogers and Sam Stone.
EAGLES AND PROTEAS
A social media post last week gave details of the following weekend’s soccer fixtures in the Makana Football Association’s premier division.
The fixtures drew the writer’s attention, especially the names of competing teams. There were the Joza Callies, Makana Tigers, Lalibela Lions, Golden Brothers, African Spears, Xl Attackers, Golden Eagles, Rhodes University and Sophia Young Stars.
This took the writer’s mind back to the 1970s and 1980s when the Grahamstown Football Association (GFA) fielded two divisions first league and second league.
Clubs and teams contesting its competitions included Grahamstown City, Protea United, Wanderers, Olympics, Scott’s United, Mary Waters High School, Defence, T & G Security and Rhodes sides such as Oppidans, Drostdy Hall, Rhodes Law, Kimberley Hall, Founders Hall and Jan Smuts Hall.
ON THE ASTRO
Competing at the Union High School girls’ first team hockey tournament in Graaff-Reinet at the weekend, the DSG recorded wins over Volkskool High (1-0) and Riebeeck College (1-0).
A local publication carried an advertisement in 1997 informing readers that Phoenix Roller Mills at 6/8 Dundas Street were millers, seedsmen, grain merchants and suppliers of grains, seeds, feeds, hardware, clothing, veterinary products and stock dips.
The owners over the years were Bob Bonsor and Brian Bonsor, readers may remember.
These days the former Phoenix premises have taken on an entirely different look and feel the anchor tenant of the property is Tyremart Grahamstown, owned and managed by Robert van der Merwe.
They are suppliers and fitters of tyres, batteries, exhausts, bullbars, wheels, shock absorbers and brakes.
FROM TECHNICAL TO MUSICAL
These days the double-storey building at the top of the flyover at the eastern end of African Street houses the Kingswood College Music School.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s the building was occupied by Grahamstown Technical Institute which offered apprenticeship trade courses for motor mechanics (the name Godley comes to mind as an instructor would I be correct?), electricians and plumbers, all learning their respective trades.
An advertisement in a local publication in 1993 stated that the renamed Grahamstown Technical College in Watermeyer Street offered N4 and N5 management, secretarial and commercial courses, as well as National Senior Certificate business studies.