This photograph is posted elsewhere on this forum of ours. I got to staring at it for a few minutes this morning, my aging memory filling in the kids, the splashing and above all the sound of one hundred kids laughing and shouting as water thundered beneath the Big Diving board as the latest volley of human cannonballs connected with the crystal blue waters....
This image captures everything that was the town pool to me..... this was the town pool that was tiled and not fibreglassed along it's belly.... this was the town pool that had a genuine channel that moulded into the edge of the walls, where the water would run along and disappear into those gaping holes along the edge.... and not the metal safety rail that we have today.. This was the pool that had a plug at the centre of the deep end.... a place at the depths of this massive swimming pool, where it was rumoured that many a young life had been lost as the drain had sucked and swirled causing a young submariner to be "vacumed" to the floor of the pool..... Above all this was pool that had the big diving board..... the diving board, was not just any old diving board, as many an adult might have thought, No Sir!, this was a launch platform, a runway, a walk the plank.... this was where many a young man's imagination could let rip, as he hurtled 2 metres above the raging crystal blue ocean below.... this was the launchpad, where if you had the right technique you could vault high enough into the clear sky and see the vast surrounding desert.... where sand meets ocean.... where forever I would be an astronaut about to hit the town pool.....
Mike is nostalgic again !!! ??? what does that mean to us ???
Sigh!!!!!!! I miss the 70's today..... bye1 bye1
Nothing remains as it was Mike.............. Happens to all of us.
I remember the late Frank Quirk tell me when we had just arrived in Oranjemund "Mike, he said, I'm sorry to say the good days have gone" and that was back in 1981
Not to mention the beautiful xmastree 's that surrounded the stone-wall. The smell of those branches that were cut from them before Xmas so everybody could have a natural cypress "tree" in their lounges for Xmas. Add the smell of the small Christmas candles lit in the tree ----- that was Christmas!
Mmm instead we had to contend with a spiked wall for our late night .. er uhm early morning dip ...
er.... Uhm, Sandy, I do not think I will be able to do that again on your next visit up here...
yellocard
Und vy not ??
And don't forget the nipping out the back door to pop into Cora's cafe to grab a sausage roll and a cream soda or raspberry drink that you would bring back to the pool and savour with your buddies. We were so fortunate !!!
Hey Mike, do you think you could post of a pic of the pool today? Interesting to see the changes...
Hi Mike
Just to let you know that I took that photo in 1972 or 1973 on one of my rare visits into town from Affenrucken.
Malcolm
Wow, it's amazing how just looking at that photo brought a flood of memories back.........i could literally feel being back there..........in the holidays me, jackie, paula, sheena, natasha, ........lying on the grass on left of the boys change rooms baking in the sun, smoking skelm, watching the guys......kevin, mark, steven dive bombing off the high board, a few us being brave enough to join them..........or just rolling into the pool to cool off..........i used to love lying on the side of the pool facing the water and sliding down into the pool..........as patricia mentioned one or two of us running thru the back door to cora's to get some grub............walking home afterwards looking like lobsters.......off to the session/moves at the youth club that night. Damn.......i miss those days............young and carefree..........no worries.
Thanks for that Malcom, I was not sure who had taken it, but it is a rare one, taken to include everything that was important of the pool in those days... ie. the asbestos buscket seats, both diving boards....
To True Delia.... I forgot that part.... soaking wet, lying on the hot cement next to the pool.....
yah, those bucket seats - so comfy to lie on and just check the goings on, lekker rustig - being asbestos they warmed the cold body nicely after coming out the pool. Oh man i could go on forever about that pool - played a HUGE part in my life.........my roots very much there..........learnt to swim in that pool with Mrs Lindhout, have photos of me as a baby in my carry cot under those huge trees sitting up checking out the happenings with the fascination that only a baby can have, eyes darting everywhere, my mom sitting protectively close, Linda & Lance running around the baby pool being about 3 and 5 at the time............all the years in between till closing my junior school years with the traditional jump, school clothes and all............high school holidays..........late night skinny dips..........cuts, bumps, bruises, battle scars from that pool.
23_11_61
Thanks Malcolm for posting that pic and resurrecting some beautiful memories i will treasure for ever.
Yep! I also learned to swim in that pool, I think it was MOira Lang that taught me..... vaguely remember having a red tube around my waist and being told to jump from the small board.....
Moira Lang now there's a name,her husband was Peter. They devorced years ago, remember visiting her in Jo'burg back in 1980's.
Realy back in the day we'd go off to Cora's cafe and then lie on the rock garden they had where the new library now is. I remember a lady that worked at the pool then, she had this ridgeback that she'd send to the cafe with a basket in its mouth with a note and the money in it. Then come back with the items and the change. I think Mrs Uytenhoven had the cafe back then.
Attached the rockery I'm talking about. I have posted these pics somewhere else before.
Remember the WOODEN boards we had to hold in front of us to practice "kicking". That part I really hated - would rather use arms without kicking! How many of us learned to swim there.... Those were the days.
Yup Bertie - i remember those boards only too well...........
What we also used to love doing was to "climb" down the ladder at the deep end using our hands rung for rung and lie and hover on the bottom of the pool hanging on to the bottom rung - we used to see who could stay down their the longest. It was actually quite difficult climbing down using your hands 'cos your body would want to naturally float to the top so your feet would fight to rise while you're climbing down with your hands.
Wonderful, wonderful memories!
While on the pool subject... Maybe Shannon can tell me, do they still have the "tennis ball rush" at the inter-house swimming galas?
In the 70's at the end of the gala a whole drum full of red, green and blue tennis balls were emptied into the swimming pool, and the team who got their colour tennis balls out first won!? Great fun.
QUICK QUIZ! SO HOW MANY RUNGS WAS IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DEEP END OF THE POOL?
Ha ha Mike - now you're really testing the gray matter - um, i say 12 - not sure where that number came from but as they say, go with your first gut instinct.
Bertie - wow, i'd forgotten about the tennis ball rush but as soon as i read your post, it came flooding back. Now that was cool fun - going after the GREENS!!!!
I say 8 rungs??????
I say 9!
I say 6
ANSWER: 8 Rungs.... It's only 5 today
Goodness, that picture brought back many memories.
The first person to look after the pool was Mr Seagers, when he retired my mom looked after the pool for many years. So, my siblings and I spent much time in or around that pool. The only difference to the picture and the one in my mind, is the size of the trees, they were much smaller then.
I also learned how to swim in that pool and yes I can also remember the trees being much smaller. I can also remember watching the bigger kids diving from the big board, it looked so easy. Tried it, fell flat on my stomach on the water. Took the wind out of me.
Tho old lady with the ridgeback was Auntie Murgie Robinson .. and yes if so correclty remembered at that stage the Van Uytenhovens had the Cafe then Cora ..
didn't Cora take the cafe over from her mother
Hard to remember correctly ... cos the Lindhouts and the Van Uytenhovens both seemed to be involved ... Mrs Lindout Coras Mother also used to manage the pool as well ..
Mrs Uytenhoven had the cafe while I was in primary school late 60's. Cora took over from her. they may have been partners for a short while???? Mrs Lindhout was the pool lady before Mrs Brunner.
Dont you remember Murgie Robinson Diana ...
Nope...was she the lady that had the clever dog?
yup ...
Cora and Mrs Uyttenhoven were partners for some time in the café. I used to work in the cafe during schoolholidays end of '60. Mrs Lindhout worked in the swimmingpool and in the café ( she baked most of the sausage rolls/pies/ and sweet cakes,etc.) My mom, Mrs. Brünner at that time, worked in the swimming pool when Mrs. Linthout had her shift in the café . My mom also worked at the café when she did not have to work in the swimming pool. What a lovely time I had in those years in Oranjemund.
The Cafe
A bit of history here. It was started way back in 1959 by Alf and Mabel (surname escapes me), a warm and friendly Cockney couple, in response to a big push by the ex-pats for a place for the wives to meet and greet during the day.
It was eventually permitted by the GM, Stan Devlin, with a dire warning that it was not to substitute as an eating place for those single men who usually went straight to the pub from work and stayed there until chuckout. The idea was to force them to use the company canteen and eat decent food.
The first menu was dictated by the company to discourage casual eating, limiting it to cream buns and biscuits.
I think King Canute tried a similar tactic in trying to hold back the tide, with equal success. The ban lasted all of ten minutes I think, before the single guys were popping in for a hamburger to stave off starvation.
Alf and Mable ran it successfully for two years before selling out to Doreen Wright and Edna Molloy. Doreen bowed out a year later and Edna - introducing a wide range of food options that made the cafe a central meeting point even after hours - ran it until 1967 when it was sold to Cora.
Regards,
Bob.
Great info Bob. How was Mrs Uyttenhoven invovled? I'm sure she owned it sometime in the late 60's.
Diana less red quickdop and read the postings .. cat3
catmusic
I seem to recall it being mentioned that the Gerards also ran the cafe at some stage when Phillip was in OPS???
Hi Leon,
You're right, it was Alf and Mabel Gerard who started the cafe back in the late Fifties. I think they'd had previous experience in the catering business back in the UK, though Alf came to Omund as a qualified diesel fitter.After leaving Omund they went to the Cape and took over a small supermarket in Hout Bay for a few years.
I worked with Alf for a period at Mittag. He was a very congenial character who had a fund of stories, certainly a natural for dealing with the public in any capacity.
Regards,
Bob.
now i know why ive had a great fear of plug holes or outlets in pools all my life.....think the story on here is the one i was told way back then.........well i still think its a dream that i actually got to dive of that board again after 45 years..and wish id have done it in day light sober too lol..... image201