I took these snaps of the abattoir for Joco, who recently joined the forum. George worked at the Abattoir in the late 60's... As a few of you know , the abattoir has not been used for the last 17 years or so. One small corner is being used a Braam Van Tonder, who buys in carcases to process a few polonies and sausages.......(Nice stuff).... otherwise the rest of the plant is in ruins. Braam actually lives down there now.... It was sad to see the lawn dead and dry , with the christmas trees going the same way, there was a tap next to one of them, that still has water, so I quietly turned it on to drip away, in the hope nobody will notice and at least one tree will remain green.
:-\
and a few more....
and....
So sad to see the trees being left to die .. have they not heard of plant a tree and save the planet ? .. obviously they/them in charge have not one drop of bunnyhugging blood in their veins .. further to that trees beautify our surroundings ... we have here in CT the tree taliban that just want to chop all the beautiful trees down and turn it into a wasteland .. the arguments for and against all have their merits .. and yes we should return to our more indigenous forest .. but slowly ... so well intentioned but oh so misguided they are ...
I see the smoke room ( the one with the chimney in the pics ) is it used by the Braam guy ??
Hi Sandy, No I don't think so, if I'm not mistaken, Braam does his smoking in a room on the west side of the building. I was in there with him when he was showing me his salami's and smoked meats and it was all hanging in a room on the west. He only occupies about 10 % of the premises...
:)
mike,norman buckley,niall bennet,albert lisser ,anthony haywood, brian ayre and myself used to have over night stays in my pondock at e.23/9th and get up at 4 in the morning at weekends to go to the abatoirs and watch the rituals of the slaughter,as horrendous as it was,it hasnt put me off meat,in fact after watching and sometimes helping,by herding the animals ,we were rewarded with the best biltong and droer worse that ive ever tasted.upon our return to home,us little shits dicovered an out building that housed all [the waiting to be cured biltong and worse,]so a decision was made to help ourselves and bypass the horrors of the abattoir,nothing like a free snack
Hi Mike, thanks for taking these pics.They brought back lots of renewed memories for me too. I spent many hours here, as morbid as it may sound, with Richard Gerstner. His Dad Jimmy was the health inspector, so we were always " Helping Out ", and the reward was also Biltong or Smoked Sausage to name a few. It was sad to see the animals being slaughtered, but there was always this driving fascination which would always draw us back. That European guy George was also quite a character. Richard was a good friend of mine during my youth, and I am wondering if anyone knows where he or his Mom Jenny are these days. I have heard that both Gregory and Jimmy have passed away. I was saddened by this news.
Nicky, Jenny is living with richard in dubai, I think he is in air traffic, she emailed 2 weeks back to add Jimmy's name to the Lost diamonds.... I'll pass on her email if you want!
:)
Richard Gerstner lived in 13th avenue, correct me if I'm wrong? Somewhere near your house Nicky? Last I heard about Richard was that he was air traffic controller in Dubai too. Nice guy. I was very shocked to hear about Gregory, can anyone tell what happened there?
Yvette
Mine accident, not to sure if it was a bus or a truck that drove over his works bakkie! :-\
Hi Mike, thanks for that info on Jenny and Richard. I knew that he went to live in in the Middle East somewhere, but that was years ago. I wasn't aware that he was still there. If you could pass Jenny's email on to me, that would be great. Thanks.
You are quite right Yvette, Richard lived virtually across the road from me in 13th avenue. How do you still remember that? That was our first house in O/mund, a very long time ago.
Ok Nicky will do that 2morrow as it's on my laptop at work.......
;)
Hi Nicky,
We lived in 26/13th avenue. Somewhere between your place and ours was Lorna and Freddie Ahrens' place too. Shane Leisegang lived across the road from us and next door to them on the corner were Ruth and Stephen Claasen. Do you remember Lesley McDonald? she lived at your end of 13th avenue. We were best friends, now this is going way back. She was killed by a bakkie when she climbed off the bus in 13th avenue. She must have been around 6 or 7 years old. She was an only child.
Yvette
I worked with Angus McDonald in the drawing office & remember the incident. He took to drink & got divorced after his daughter was killed, it realy affected him.
Mike we stayed in 12th Ave during the early 1970's and I will always remember the trucks bringing the animals for slaughter at the abbetoir
I remember those trucks, I think there were two of them, big green things, horse and trailer, as they drove past you could see and smell the animals.....
Cheers for that Mike !!
Thanks for that info Yvette. I can now, albeit vague, get a mental visual of where you lived, as I was always at the Ahrens' house, and I know where the Claasens lived. Where is Ruth these days. The last I remember, she was in love with a Jewish guy called Kyle. Did she end up marrying him?
Yes, I can remember little Leslie McDonald. What a sad tragedy hey. She was always a happy thing, and I have this image of her getting all excited just before a Saturday afternoon matinee was about to start, etched in my head. I think the guy that was driving the bakkie worked for Parks and Gardens if I remember correctly?
Nick
When working at the abattoir as the 1rst polonymaker the butchery had, from 1958 to 1965 we,Bill Harper in charge of the killing and distribution of all the meat and chicken and me, both usualy started at 4 o´clock pm. Health inspection of all the slaughtered animals was carried out by us,as well as grading the carcasses.The lawn was always well watered and always watered all day long.We grew plenty of mushrooms on the lawn,enough for us and some of our friends. Bone and blood meal was produced for the garden dep..Nothing was wasted, every thing was used.What was not used in town, went to the farm.Smoking the sausages was either done in te smoke house at the entrnce to the place or in one of two in the back of the building.There were appr.20 workers doing all the slaughtering and 8 the meat processing.The cattle was tranported from Kolmanskop by truck,the pigs and chicken delivered from Beauvallon. I loved to work there.Plan to supply some photos.
I must correct myself : we did not start working at 4 pm but am, usualy finishing at appr.2 pm.
Joco, how did you feel when you saw the recent photo's of the abattoir?
???
Hello Mike,
To look at these photos makes me sick! What a bad change. The photos I will send will show the difference, only the smoke tower is still the same,used by me for salamis and other things that had to be smoked for a longer period,it was always padlocked. Why and when was the slaughtering stopped? Joco
Remember by the mid 80's Oranjemund was almost self sufficient , thanks to Beauvallon farm, we had fresh fruit and veg, cream, yoghurts cheese and milk, oranges, the meat was slaughtered and cured, the meat was brought in from the local area... then true to form along came a new group of managers for the mine, as they do every 5 years or so, bringing along their new ideas..... and before you knew it, it was cheaper to bring the meat in already slaughtered..... the fruit and veg and dairy to extent went the same way.... In a way the Power Station was part of that "outsourcing excercise", with independence looming things started to change and the Oranjemund community once again had to rely on the outside world...... The mine m, through Sodexho, still gets sachets of fresh milk from Dunvlei ( beauvallon farm), but on a lot smaller scale..... The desert could have bloomed and Oranjemund could have been the breadbasket for the South of Namibia...
1lt of UHT Milk in luderitz costs just over N$17.00 , Spar Oranjemund at N$11.65 and just over the border in Port Nolloth, R 6.45..... Government has imposed a 40% additional tax on Milk products to try and rescue the collapsing Namibian Diary industry.... imagine, CDM had kept and expanded their agriculture ambitions....
:'(
publicly hang and flog those " managers " I remember My dad had a healthy disrespect for university graduate engineers .. as they had not worked their way up . and had not lived as he said .. .. and had no empathy with the " common man " thank god this was instilled in me ,, I like my dad used to get into trouble regularly cos I never forgot my roots and am accused of being at times whimsical and yes although I am in essence a " business manager " now I have never forgot the importance of people and the importance of their role in running a company ... If only those dumb " bean counters " could been been brought to wisdom .. sady so they move on up the ladder having scored a few corporate " brownie points " for cutting costs , streamlining or what ever you call it .. instead of seeing the opportunity of making Oranjemund a viable entity in perpituity instead of facing a Kolmaskop scenario .. Uuugh !! I get so angry ..
Sandy, remember STRESS MANAGEMENT:
I agree with what you say, before independance a number of us listed all our concerns at the way we saw things changing and predicted wht was a likley senario. Sad to see we were pertty spot on.
We even suggested that the Daberas farm be extended to accommodate the short commings expected when the border was closed- when travelling along the North bank road ons can still see the neglected fields along the river bank.
A number of people even offered to farm the area.
lesley macdonald? was this about 1975? i remember a girl being killed then, just outside coras cafe'. what a tragedy.
Just joined the forum and was glad to see the abbattoir photos. My dad (Hermann Leube) worked there from 1967-81. I spent many a holiday "working" and helping out. Sure brings back the memories.
Welcome on board Uwe..... The abattoir is run down now, but I know of an outside meat supplier to Spar, that is trying to get the grounds back into shape...... how much biltong did you consume in your time there.... heheheh!
Biltong is something i miss here. Tried making some myself a couple of months back. Slightly smoked, first hung up to dry outside and the used the electrical dryer my wife uses for fruit and herbs. Was.n't to bad. It just doesn't get dry enough to keep it longer. I'll try again...
HI Michael - Dad never seemed to bring biltong home. Always had to beg for the stuff. Even braais at the beach - there never was meat in the house! Strange isn't it. The baker's kids never had bread either...
billy mckay was the town fitter who did planned maintenance once a month one the biltong slicing machine.Of course he had to test it to make sure it worked ok.So once a month the scotsmen in caseys had a big bag of biltong to sample,aaah those were the days but to much biltong makes your lager go flat!
Georg, I may be mistaken but I think Lesley died earlier than 1975 and it was closer to the East side of town, not near Cora's cafe. I remember Lesley's freckles and smiley face. I think she was an only child and her parents were older than the average age of our parents. They doted on her. She should have been about your age because she was a few years younger than me.
If we're talking about the same girl she was younger than me. I remember her parents being older, yes.
Are you sure you're so much older than me? ;) Thought there's only one years difference...
leslie live a few doors away from the worths. She was an only child, dont know how old she was but she was young when she died
I think Leslie was about 7/8yrs when she died,she did live near the Worths and if I'm not mistaken was knocked down outside her house.Not sure of the year now but well before 1975.Her mom Vena is now married to Ronny Young. Diane's dad.
Yes Diana you are right it was just outside her house I think it was 1974
Georg, how old are you, not sure if you told me (Alzheimers again), I turn 46 in September.
Quote from: Florrie on February 09, 2008, 08:39:17 PM
Georg, how old are you, not sure if you told me (Alzheimers again), I turn 46 in September.
I have nor problem about that Florrie, you can see that on my profile, i was born long time ago in the 2. WW 1941
I am what you call a fossile in this forum, i dont know any other my age that is involved like me LOL
I hope to slow down Mr Alzheimer with that yesno He is waiting round the corner to get me....the bugger notfair
No :wow1: Georg you are our resident silver surfer.
Wish more of your kind where on board.
Georg snr, you look good for your age, need wisdom on this forum. How old is Georg jnr?
Thanks Florrie, wisdom must still come.........
Georg jun is my eldest he turns 44 this month, you can see i started early, is also an advantage but definitly to young looking at it retrospective. But i do not regret anything. Came down south at the age of 26 with the whole family, the youngest was less then a year old.
We can never know if the decision we make in life were realy the right ones. Started early to.
So who knows...
My husband constantly has to make decisions about when to sell the wheat etc. It sometimes happens that after he has sold, the price climbs and he beats himself up about it. I always remind him, you made the best decision based on the information you had available, and I think that counts for most things in life. If you think this way, there isn't much room for regret.
with a wife thinking as you do florrie,your man has hit the jackpot anyway,you are spot on,you can only go with market forces,hope you have a bumber harvest and make sufficient to bring the family over to the uk,you will always be welcome to stay with us,heres hoping,xx
Bobby you are still so sweet, thanks. Don't think my husband always feels so lucky, when I am good, I am good, but when I am bad, I am terrible, a real pain to live with sometimes. Thanks for the offer, we will definitely take you up on that. I was over there about 6 years ago, stayed with a friend of a friend in Kingston-upon-Thames, did sightseeing in London only. Pity the forum wasn't up and running then, could have met with a few ex-Oranjemunders. Wilhelm and I have plans to do more travelling so will definitely see you then. If you ever want to visit SA, not much to see here in Kimberley except the big hole, we would love to have you visit us. Wilhelm can "kuier" and always makes my old friends feel welcome, even my first husband and his wife come from Nelspruit to visit us. I think actually, I am the lucky one to have the husband I do.