WANDERING THROUGH WESTVILLE

This week’s pictures were submitted by Westville resident Mark Levin whose research shows the astounding growth of Westville between 1945 and 1970.

Until the 1930s, the area remained largely a small farming community which began to change when smallholdings were sub-divided for residential development. The building of the roads was a facet of the mushrooming growth of the area.

The first photograph shows the original Wandsbeck Road in 1948 with a Mrs Chalmers walking her two sons, Ian and Andrew, to the small farmhouse school where Westville Boys’ High School now stands. When the school acquired the land (to the right of the photo) in the 1950s, the road was decommissioned so the boys would not have to cross the road to play sport on what is now Bowden’s Field.

The second photograph shows the remains of the original road. Standing in what is now just a path are twins Kyle and Josh Forsyth. Both boys are prefects and will be playing in the school’s 60th First Rugby team.

The third photograph shows Wandsbeck Road as it is today, servicing a school of 1 250 boys – as opposed to 50 pupils in 1941.

The Independent on Saturday appeals to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration. If any readers are featured in the old picture, we will do our best to recreate the scene with them in it again. Readers sending pictures digitally – images should be about 1MB – can address them, with the relevant information, to satmail@ inl.co.za If the pictures are in hard copy format, they can be posted to The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.