BFFs for 80 years

IT has been a friendship that has stood the test of time.

Beulah Lange, Anita Woolf and Molly Smith, all 82 years old, have been friends for more than 80 years. And despite one living in London, another in Johannesburg and one in Durban, they have maintained their friendship.

The last time all three were in the same room together was seven years ago. But this weekend, after much planning, the three met for a long overdue reunion in Durban.

The women were all born in Durban and began their friendship as toddlers when their parents were friends. They spent their formative years in Durban, but went their own way after university, but still kept in contact through letters, telephone calls and more recently through e-mail.

Lange still lives in Durban and is married with two children. Woolf lives in London and is married with five children. Smith, a widow, lives in Johannesburg and has four children.

“We were never jealous of each other, but we cared for one another. We were always together through good and hard times. As much as we lived in different cities, we still managed to visit each other,” Lange said.

The three friends grew up in the same neighbourhood in Ridge Road. After university, Woolf and her family moved to London where she soon got married.

“I have a degree in finance and am an artist as well as a teacher. In the past 10 years I have dedicated my life to establishing and developing an art centre for disabled people,” Woolf said.

Smith was a qualified teacher who taught in some of the top private schools and helped build schools in disadvantaged areas in Johannesburg.

Lange served as a social worker for 40 years until she retired and became an estate agent.

Whenever they meet for their reunions, they reminisce about their youth when they were “beautiful and partying”.

“We have worked hard and we are proud we still share the same values, and we are always looking out for each other,” said Woolf.

The friends will go to the Drakensberg on Friday for a five-day holiday before Woolf returns to London.

They plan, in the not too distant future, to have another reunion in London.

PICTURE: SIBONELO NGCOBO Friends who have been together for 80 years met for a reunion in Durban yesterday. From left: Molly Smith, Beulah Lange and Anita Woolf, holding a picture they took when they were teenagers (inset).