Well, I eventually got time to watch the DVD that John had put together from his return holiday to Oranjemund with Leila..... (The benefits of Sick leave), Well done! It's nicely done. I was just thinking or wondering, as they drove around the town, filming and photographing all the streets and buildings, if this is what might befall our little town in the decades to come, abandoned buildings, sand covered streets..... perhaps the new Kolmanskuppe of Namibia, tourists roaming the streets.... I hope not......
I did hear on one of the clips, John pointing out the Old Bakery.... and then Leila responding that it was also the dairy... I never knew this..... when did this building only start producing bread..... was the milk just stored there?
In the 70's, where was the milk being processed?
Just some thoughts! msn emoticon (9)
Fresh milk was only made available to the townsfolk from the early sixties (approx) and then, initially, only for families of new born babies. My two sisters and I grew up on Nespray powdered milk until we were well into our OPS days. The fresh milk was brought in from Beauvallon (Beautiful Valley) Farm in large containers and dropped off at the Bakery. At the birth of my youngest sister, Lesley, in 1960, our "house boy" would go to the Bakery with a jug ,or similar container, and collect the allowed quota (I believe it was two pints a day), which was distributed free of charge! As to when the Dairy and Bakery became seperate entities, I am not sure, but will try to find out!
Seasons greetings to all, and may 2009 be what you wish for.....................
Free Milk, I remember seeing those big metal Urns around somewhere....... The mine still distributes free Milk to their employees for tea time, UHT Milk bought via Spar..... and I can tell you that it is rather large quantities......
I remember at OPS in the 70's , I think the teacher was called Mrs. Mallow..... we were shown how to turn Beauvallon Milk into Cream and then cheese at a later stage..... strange those odd memories one recalls....
WOnder if there was ever a horse drawn milk cart in Omund..... cl1
I recall a school tour to the dairy in town next to the bakery.. the milk was brought in from beauvallon in the big cans and pasteurised in the dairy and bottled .. they then also introduced the first sachets of milk ... the quote in the newsletter was the sachets were virtually unbreakable .. so clever me proceeded to test this claim ... I took sachet outside threw it into the air .. it landed with a thud , unbroken ... a few more such tests .. still intact ... Mmm its indeed unbreakable so i spent the next hour idly tossing it around waking around the house and whenever the fancy took me tossed it up into the air again .. then.. i gave it one very hard toss ito the air that it hit the ceiling in the house passage way very hard ... well it appears i had "tested " the sachet to destruction .. it had had enough ., burst as it hit the ceiling and sent milk in all directions down the walls and soaked the carpet as well .. Oops in throuble again .... I did the best cleanup I could but of course you can imagine the passage carpet was still slightly damp when my folks got back from work .. i got by that one by explaining to my mom that i had spilt some water ... secret out a few days later when the sour smell of rotting milk started to emanate from the carpet ... then I was on the red carpet again... made to shampoo the carpet over and over till the smell disapeared ... silly ape
I was under the impression that the milk came from Swartkops, the farm on the SWA side of the river. The cattle that were destined to be slaughtered, were also kept at Swartkops to recover after their long trek from Grootfontein.
Could have been either .. we just always thought of beauvallon as the main farm ..
The school tours in the 70's were always to Beauvallon farm, the cows were milked at the Dunvlei Dairy... perhaps prior to the establishment of Beavallon the cows were milked at Swartkops?
We never crossed the bridge unless we were xrayed, so we only went to Beauvalon (don't even know how to spell it) to fetch our cars to go on holiday.
After the bridge was built, we never went there, our cars were kept in garages on the SWA side of the river. Or we went by bus to the airport. Is it Kort Doring or Klein Doring, the A'bay aerodrome (perhaps landing strip is a better name)
Mike
I might want to get a copy of that DVD when I see you. From all the comments and observations on the forum, things are changing fast in O'mund. And not for the better.
Malcolm