The beginning of Uubvlei!
Worked in Uublvlei Auto electrical workshops from about '71 to 79.
Names that I remember:
Piet Steyn, Piet Liebenberg, Peter Poole, Jannie Smit, Jerry Kermis, Freddie Agenbag, Glen Hackart, Ronnie Young,
The late Peter Poole !
I worked at Uubvlei Mine Store, names that I remember, including those mentioned by Leon are Jan Badenhorst, Viv le Roux, Samma Schreuder, Eddie Haylett, Jimmy Dankworth, Aubrey Baker, Jimmy Longmore, Bill Slier, Kosie Krige, A German Guy, that also worked with Kosie in the office, I think his name was Hans, but cannot remember the surname. Then there was Susan Brownless, Vivien Worth, Sandy de Witt, Natasha le Roux, Elsabe Swanepoel, Appels Coetzee, Louwtjie Theron, Japie Wiese, Andries Coetzee, these are the only ones I remember.
Charmain
Charmain, was it perhaps Hans Gerster?
Dunja,
No that surname does not ring a bell.
I see the steel structures for the Engine bay workshop next to the compressor shop my old man moved from Engine bay town to Uubvley
Charmain, I worked a few varsity and school vacs with Appels, you, Sandy, Johnny and the others.
Mike Thurtell
Hi Mike
How can I forget you? The morning you ran the gauze door out of its hinges because you were late for the bus, is still fresh in my memory.
Charmain
I worked at Uubvley (planning) '83/'84/'85 - worked directly for Jack McBride but also in the offices with us were (who i can still remember) - Billy Summers...he used to love emptying my paper clips over my typewriter keyboard & I would then spend the next half hour trying to fish them out - he would also walk past my desk & pull the plug out of my typewriter so i would have to lean over to plug it back in - all that just to get a look down my top while leaning over .........took me a while to catch onto that one........ Fanie van der Westhuizen, Mark ? was the engineer (tall thin blonde guy - married Julie Yearling), Amor Agenbach, Denise Coetzer, Alta ? married Gawie du Plessis), Lesley Jenkins was in the oil lab and lastly our supervisor was a Mrs Pida (?) or something to that effect - then the workshop foremen that used to pop in were Dave Hockney, Aubrey Baker, Ben Havenga, Jan Smit, Jannie Schneider (he would always bring me his stories from the desert to type ie. the tale of the halfmens tree, etc) - there were others, can see their faces but can't remember names.
I remember Nick Coetzer would always be the one to bring the workshop requisitions for us to process to the hole in wall between the workshops & our offices so that him and Denise could sit there chatting through this hole - amazing what sticks in your head.
Dee! I think the Mark you are referring to, surname Bunyard (hope the spellings correct)
That's it - Bunyard - can see his face so clearly, just couldn't get to the surname.
Howzit Delia/Lance
Wasnt he a real boring piece of work. I seem to recall he had an office in the Central Mine Office too. Or is this another Mark?
Howzit Yvette - could be the same one, not sure........all i remember was the one i worked with had a very dry sense of humour- i was never sure whether to laugh at his "jokes" or not
laughpoint
u know what, come to think of it, there was a Mark Button and a Mark Bunyard, oh hell now I'm confused. One mining and one engingeering?? help?
Mark Button - mining
Mark Bunyard - engneering
Bumped into Mark Button about 6 momths ago - can't remember where though - sigh! old age memory loss!
Delia .
I believe that Jannie Smit , the auto electical foreman was murdered . Plse tell me if it 9is true ???
Hi Hennie - if it's the same Jan Smit I worked with at Uubvlei back in the early 80's then yes. Can't remember the exact year it happened - must've been mid/late 80's. Such a nice guy, i got on well with him and was saddened when it happened - whenever i think of him, i see him hurrying into our offices, clutching papers, always sort of bent forward in his haste to get somewhere, always with a smile on his face. There's another thread somewhere on the forum referring to his murder - can't remember where tho, sorry - you'll have to trawl thru them all.
hi . Thank you so much for the info . Gielie Nieuwoudt - field services auto Electrical mechanician , during the years 1970 - 1989 , told me the story about about Jan Smit , ea that he was murdered , But Gielie did not know why , or the circumstances.
Gielie and wife Babs now a days stays near Van Rhynsdorp on the Gifberg , and is farming with sheep and Rooibos tea . their farm name is Taaibos dam .
Jannie Smit used to do commando camps with me and the commando gang in the middle to late 70's. We used to call him Jannie Lollie because he liked to drive the army Bedford trucks when we were on camp. "Hey Jannie jy ry nie jou pas se skaape hier agter" was the cry from us troepe in the back when he started driving too fast on the bumpy desert roads somewhere inland of luderitz. I believe he became Auto Electrical Foreman at Uubvley eventually. I am saddened to hear that he was murdered. How bizarre. Where is the 'thread' about this tragic incident on the OMD w/site?
BTW those army camps were great fun. Played soldiers in the desert with Lt Mike Burgess giving us all a hard time (all in great fun ofcourse). Lots of braais and beer each evening after a day's military exercises. Mike was the real professional soldier type. Where is he now?.
Leon
Mike is still in Oranjemund
thanks Alfred.
Heard Mike is on his way next year!
msn emoticon (9)
er..... Uhm... Mike left... now lives in LuderitZ....
it took me years to find out what UUBVLEI means . original spelling Ub Flei - meaning underground vlei
I imagine a dry crust on the surface with mud deeper down . Georg - Help and correct me if Im wrong ?
Is'nt uub like uber.... above vlei...... like the vlei up above....?
Just my thought....
The German spoken in old SWA was quite different from the high , or plat Deutsch , as she was spoken in old Germany .
back to uubvlei - the boere thought it meant "oop" or open vlei .
but ref to Ub bahn = underground railway , or subway .
mmmh! Where's Georg when you need him.....
are-you-there
I posted a piece on here sometime ago about the word uubvlei and the meaning but cannot remember where..i will try and find it...