How many of you belonged to a "Gang" in Oranjemund, what was your area?
In the 70's , we were the Scorpions, and the E section of 1st and 2nd ave , including the bushes up until the Yacht club garage was our area, we also owned a large junk of the dumps...... Those were the days......
Then obviously we all fell under the "Soutjie or Rooinekke" Domain also........blerrie boertjies!
shooter
I never belonged to a gang. Just "freindly" with some of the guys in the "blue boy gang". I remember the Laubschers and Boltons there. They all lived on the north east side of town.
Those in the North East side of town controlled The sand Quarry, Afrikaaners in the 70's.....
:emot26:
The guys I meant were english. But that was the mid 70s. But I suppose you guys know their names.
We slept in the quarry sevral times. I remeber the sheeps heads lying near cold fireplaces.
Hi George, we never were really eng or afr guys,i think we were all a mad bunch thrown together for a short period of time and some of us elected to stay,while others wandered off to all corners of the world,yet here we are chatting away,where else are you going to find that idontknow .......
as previously posted,in standard 4 and 5 the souties ruled the boers,then the boers ruled the souties,it depended who turned out on the day,michael langford was the soutie hard man,leon trollop was the boer leader,all this in 1970/1,i remember being hauled up on stage by doc fenter and being given a harsh lesson in the rights and wrongs of re enacting the boer war,all this whilst having the little speakers in assembly churning out marching music from the 2nd world war,no wonder we were confused,on a brighter note,away from the quarry we were all best mates,i bet adriaan van rooyen remembers this,if i remember correctly he was good mates with a kid called zirky berg or van der berg,i hope you put me rite on this adriaan,i am sure i have school pictures of you and the athletic team from the early 70s.
Hi Adriaan.
Iwas wondering whether I know you. Dis you travel Namibia wizh the scouts for 2 weeks in 73 or 74?
Georg
gangs yes ... I remember we had a gang called Spectrum ... the english afrikaner thing ?? always reason for a scrap .. lots of times all forgotten and became friends .. tell more about that later .. here and extract from iscatterlings writings about the spectrum gang .. also I rmember me and Richard Wrethman being the two "billy the cats " from the comic series .. we wore black and would wander around at night in peoples gardens etc .. never got caught .. never got around to making the cat uniforms either ...
here the spectrum writing ...
I remember when I was crazy
about a comic series .. Spectrum there was Captain black Captain blue
etc .. we each had our name .. I was Captain blue ... we had our
spaceship HQ # 1 was in a tall pine in the trees . one had to
climb up ( head for heights ) and each perched in the top on one
of the branches .. once again miracle that no one broke any bones
......... alternate HQ was also the mule derby tower ... we could
survey our realm from the height /// one day I was cornered by
the Vrot bananas in the mule derby grounds .. they had got wind
that I belonged to a select group .. by that time I had largely
stopped the english afrikaner infighting ( tell more about that
sometime ) .. anyhow they proceeded to " torture " me to get the info
.. holding me arms behind the back and running me into one of the
stalls hitting me on my chest winding me .. finally I gave them
the "name" and they let me go .... I walked away smugly ... I
had told them the name was Spermem .. by that time we knew sperm
was something you did not talk about ... they would possibly
bandy the name about and get a Klap from an adult ?? good chance
I suppose ... ??
Hi George,Bobbysmith, na i never did like the scouts and voortrekkers i thought,what the hell we were going to the army anyway,i remember Trollop, Langford and theremust be plenty more oaks we forgot,like Jannie Pieters,Hugo Badenhorst,Frikkie Jacobs and so forth,hell i can't remember them all,but i think you guys were a few years ahead :emot98:Maybe you remember my mom and dad, Frans and Trish who are living in the Strand nowadays :clean4:
what about the voortrekkers, next door to the jukkskei baan.
was it near the tanks that side of town, near the soccer field, am I lost, maybe.......
There is a sort of private school where the voories were,you were right,just opposite the soccer field which is the hocky field today and the tanks nearby at the moths, remember now? bravo
iknow thnx
not got altzheimers yet then....
I only remember the tanks accros the road from the pobox.
Moths was behind the soccerfield as far as I remember.
Adriaan. May I ask how old you are. Maybe Barb can help me remember.
Georg Jnr, you will have to type louder, as Adriaan is deaf after driving over a landmine in the army........
bravo
hi adriaan,i am pleased you remember those names,yes i have forgotten a lot of names,i will post a few group fotos from our time in om,i am 49 yrs old,can i please ask your age,i remember your parenst,i was born in om in 1958 and left in 1972 after my dad passed away,some other names i rember are,norman buckley,brian ayre,piggy jackson,anthony haywood,jonny seibers,mike swanson,lesley myers,the two love boys,god i could be hear all nite,i will post again when i have some time,take good care,cheers bobby
Hi Bobby,i thought so ,you are two years older than me,i am now 47,as Mike so rightly said,deaf i think the word was.. bravo the name Zirky sounds right but idontknow,if Mike only knows the hornets nest he has stirred with this site,Surely would like to meet you guys back here in town :emot182:......
hi adriaan,was it zirkie van deberg,if my marbles are still intact,you were in rhodes[red house],mite be wrong though,brian ayre and me were allways together,not forgetting brians dog called simba,do you remember the names of the chips ,simba chilli chips and a name that came to me ,of the ice lollies we could buy in our youth,zoom lollies ,shaped like a rocket,take good care bud,hope to hear from you soon,regards to your family,cheers
Hi Bobby,i think your marbles is a bitstirred,i was in Barnato,do remember the chips and lollys,my wife Mariaan also recalls them and who will forget Simba and Brian..... gnite
We had a gang from 1972 to 1975, but I don't think the gang had a name. We were all English and lived on the East side of town. The names I can remeber are: Jackie Wilson, Christopher Vermaak, Julie Wilson, Craig Summers, Mark, Kevin and Phillip Laubscher. Can't remember the others. We had a den near the abattoir and also spent a lot of time at the foofy slide and the quarry. Most of the gang smoked skelm and/or smooched. We also had a swim and a braai at the log cabin. Mark Laubscher was my best friend in junior primary and Jacky Wilson in Senior Primary, I still think about them often, they were the best.
Chris Vermaark came from CT and landed in my class for a year. What's happened to him?
What's happened to him?
I remember the name Craig Summers???
Chris Vermaak was my boyfriend in std 4 or 5, he lives in Port Elizabeth. Looked him up about 13 years ago, but haven't had contact since. I heard Craig Summers lives in CT, but not sure. He had a brother called Warren, who should have been in your class, I think.
Warren was in the other class. I rember he was a good soccer player. A bit cheaky as far as I remember. hihihi
Hi Bobbysmith.... J.D van der Merwe sends his regards,he will hopefully join the site one of these days bravo.We had a MOTH meeting tonight and this site was :emot19_2:
hi adriaan,thanks for your last post,i was extremely pleased to hear that the moths are still going strong,even more pleased to hear that you are a member,my dad would be very proud of you,regards to all,take care,bobby
Bobbysmith,thanx for the reply and yes the Moths are still going although nobody knows for how long,i mean with the mine scaling down,most of us are all nearing 50 or are allready there,i hope that we will however keep going for another few years. bravo ..we are really scraping the bottom for new members,the army and other forces are all past memories now. :36_2_24: gnite
Hi Bobby and Adriaan
I stumbled onto this site by mistake and joined it straight away, the names are all familiar by I cant put faces to the names. I visited Oranjemund in 2001 (yes 30 years after Std 5) visiting JD vd Merwe. What happened to Brian Eyre? I spoke to Harry Viljoen a couple of years ago and he told me Brian was in Windhoek, but then he dissapeared of the surface of the earth. Adriaan I remembered you were in the same class than my sister (Renette) didn't you go to van Riebeeck in Cape Town? Bobby I havent seen you for 35+years still remembered you were in the "Rooi Span" doing athletics and cricket against each other. Remember the disasterous rugby trip we had to Keetmanshoop in our Std 5 year? Zirkie Bergh was in the green team he is staying on the West Coast and making a living out of music. I still have contact with Uwe Leube he moved to Australia after Uncle Bob helped himself to his farm in Zim.
Hi Andre' Welcome to the board, Just to let you know that Adriaan is on leave until late in January, so he will more than likely only reply to your post then. Yes! Adriaan did go to Van Riebeeck.
CHeers
Mike
hi andre,great to see you on the site,yes i remember the rugby tour to keetmans,i also remember the flight over the fish river canyon when that old dakota hit an air pocket and all us kids banging our heads off the roof of that thing,it put the fear of god into us,was your brother marius recently working in newcastle,uk.i met a south african girl who gave me his cell fone number,i rang him but he could not remember me,any way good friend,take good care and regards to your family,cheers bobby.ps,brian ayre came to visit me a few years ago,last i heard he was in jo,burg
Hi Adriaan. You are same age as me (Uwe Leube) I see - matriculated in 77. Your name and face seem familiar. I was friends with JD (send him my regards and tell hime to make contact) and Nuts (Andre Neethling) amongst others. Bobby Smith rings a bell - cannot put a face to the name though - blond hair?? My brother Peter would be a bit older than Bobby I think. I am in Australia and Peter is in the Carribbean - after a disastrous but yet good 8 years in Zim. I spent 14 years in J'burg and now seem to read here on the site that quite a few O'munders have moved there.
hi once again uwe,as kids in om we used to get into loads of trouble,can you remember norman buckley[lives in oz i think]michael and neville langford,lione trollopp,piggy jackson,ian swanson,poor guys dad committed suicide in om,niall bennennet[passed away,albert lisser,passed away,carrots wilson,brian eyre,ronny young,billy muire,lesley meyers,the list goes on,i have posted a few fotos of the boxing team and im sure you are in one of the fotos,take a look.cheers good bud,take good care,bobby
Hi Bobby
Yes, my brother was in Newcastle for a couple of months, forward me your contact detail I will be visiting the UK sometime this year. Maybe we can try and get together and have a couple beers and a chat what happened during the35 years.
Andre
hi andre,i will shortly be moving house,as soon as we are settled i will give you my new address and phone number,i would love to have a few beers with you boet,cheers bobby
THAT DEFINING MOMENT ...
I mentioned earlier about a defining moment in my life , gangs .. english /afrikaans rivalry ... soutie post toastie / afrikaner vrot banana.... etc etc
In our street 2nd avenue it was mostly english/ scots expat famililes ... I was about 8 or 9 then in moved the Dames family .. sort of diagonally across the road from us , house next to the alley where If I remember correctly the Gillow family stayed ... kids , we overhear our parents ... some with memories of the war ... combing all under the same comb .. the OB being german sympathisers during the war .. so we enact .. we do battle .. so we proceeded to terroroise the Dames kids ... untill one day we chased them and I had the one boy cornered ,,, dont quite know what it was ( soul talking , inborn conscience talking ?? ) it was as though the sky had opened up and we were the only two on a stage kind of in the spotlights ... In this kids eyes was the question " why are you doing this ?" and playing at the same time in my mind was the same question ... I just turned and walked away feeling kind of dazed ... the Dames kid now also had every opportunity to get me back but also just walked away as well .. I made a promise to myself to try my best not to get swept up in this kind of behaviour again ( not easy when there is sometimes peer pressure and you young and impressionable ) but was I resolute ... My first mission was to make amends so I thought the mother was the first in line ... I must have resembled the jackdaw of Rhiems ( barring the loss of feathers ) full of remorse when he returned the cardinals ring.. here was I , I had made up a present for the mother who worked at the toy counter and if I remember correctly was having a hard time fitting in and being accepted... I walked up to her and said this present was from me , no other exlanation , leaving her obviously puzzled .. and then making a point of always popping by and saying more Tannie or middag tannie .. she must have thought I was crazy .. then started befriending the kids .. not easy cos it makes you stand out ...
This I have never forgotten .. before you get swept up in anything ,, stop and ask questions ... In fact when I have found myself in moments of even judging people I now get a physical reaction of feeling very sick afterwards ... so the resolve grows as I get older and wiser ...
Sandy, have you been watching Little house on the prairie again ... e154
Nope .. just a childhood memory that has remained imprinted ... and pray tell why little house on the prairie came to mind ??
The name Bergh came up a few times in this thread. They lived diagonally across from us, in 2nd ave. Both parents were teachers at OPS (History and Geography if I remember right). The mother was quite a fitness fanatic. I remember one of their sons, we knew him as Sakkie, we played together a few times.
I remember the gang scene really took off after the introduction of TV in 1975. There was this show "Trompie" and we would all try to imitate their antics.
Another good site for gang warfare was the gun club on Sundays. After the adults got tired of throwing lead around and had retired to the bar, us kids would collect all the unbroken clay pigeons on the shooting range, form two gangs, and lob them at eachother. Those things really hurt, and many a tear was shed in the name of fun.
I remember collecting empty cartridges. The bigger the better.
Once I filled one of the with match heads. Then I hit on the thing until it went of. It was louder than I ever expected und I remember having this tingle in my ears for quite some time.
Remember looking for those clay discs that the guys had missed, bright orange and black ones....
One of my biggest memories was waking up on A sunday morning in the early 70's to the curtains in my room swirling around with the early morning sunshine, the east wind had arrived, and those warm gusts pulsated through the window inviting me to get up. My father would already be up making a traditional breakfast of Bacon, Eggs, French Toast and Potato Scones.... the smell wafting up the hallway and under my door, mixing with that smell of the east wind.... the whole time this was happening, I could hear the constant clap of the guns being shot down at the gun club, we lived at E 7-1st....
Just a memory......
Good eloquent rendidtion of a childhood memory Mike ....
I take a slight bow, as I head of to the Kitchen for another can of Windhoek Draught! :cibo4:
Slight bow ?? .. what now ?? the back also getting stiff with time ??
Actually Sire, it is indeed, I put my back out , trying to carry my wife around the garden and dipping her head into the pool..... and it ain't right ever since and is buggering up my swimming schedule..... I thought I was still 19 and like she said...I also thought she still weight 60 kg......
yougogirl
i ahve no answer to that one .. I take a deep bow .. and my lips are sealed on the 60 kg issue .. I think you in enough trouble already ...
Quote from: SandyB on March 30, 2008, 06:54:23 AM
Nope .. just a childhood memory that has remained imprinted ... and pray tell why little house on the prairie came to mind ??
You reminded me of the Sunday afternoons spent watching Little house on the prairie ... where Laura Ingals would play tricks on ... what's that blonde girls name again ... Nelly ... she'd go home and regret her attitude. After watching that series, I'd always get that 'do go around me' feeling, but of course it was always short-lived ... iknow
Sunday Afternoon TV also had the Waltons in Afrikaans, and Gentle on My Mind, the country music show.....
Then there were those extremely long aerial poles that were needed to catch any decent signal in the beginning years of TV in OM. Most of us had B&W Tv's in those days and would slip out to watch colour TV at the Rec club.
Carl, do you remember watching video;s in the sun room of the rec club, on Sunday afternoons....?
I remember watching the movie ..."the Wild Geese" , with Roger Moore there..... I don't think the video's were intended for the kids, but for the contractors.....
Quote from: Michael Alexander on April 06, 2008, 06:45:51 AM
Sunday Afternoon TV also had the Waltons in Afrikaans, and Gentle on My Mind, the country music show.....
The Sweeny was in Afrikaans too. I always wondered why, until I saw the origanal version. Every second word was F***
I think I watched a video there once. Mostly we just rented them. Just after TV began, somebody began a video rental business from home, they would rent out those massive betamax machines and a limited supply of videos. We only had a B&W TV then but it was better than nothing.
One evening when my parents were out, my brother and his gang of friends( Michael Dippenaar, Andrew Thurtell, Raymond and Pierre Gonzalez, Paul Mcarthy...) organized a naughty video from somewhere. During the movie Andrew kept complaining about the picture quality and how it would look better on their colour TV. Eventually Raymond Gonzalez got fed up and decked him right there with a vicious right hook. Despite their differences they all remained good friends though till after Matric.
Wow, I don't recall raymond being the violent type thumper Our families were always together (being French united us). Always spent Xmas and New Year together. We were like brothers and sisters. Raymond even came to my matric dance
This just brought back another memory ... the Archies ... with the Gonzales brothers and some other guys, we had formed our own Archie gang with Archie, Reg, Betty, Veronika and the rest. We would use Raymond's mom's old peugeot station wagon to ride around in, when it didn't break down and we'd be pushing the damn thing e180
Quote from: Patricia Lotte on April 07, 2008, 09:53:20 AM
Wow, I don't recall raymond being the violent type thumper Our families were always together (being French united us). Always spent Xmas and New Year together. We were like brothers and sisters. Raymond even came to my matric dance
Weren't they Belgiumd.? Are you still in contact? Raymond used to be im my class. Std. 3
No, definately French. They all moved back to France and are living in and around Marseille. The boys are all married and have kids. They're doing well.
Maybe I'm getting things mixed up again. I thought they had fled from a former Belgium colony, Zaire/Congo whaterver...
Ooh, the mystery deepens ... there were fugitives hiding out in Oranjemund shooter
Of course. Now I remember: Robert Gilbert. We#ve had his name on the board before.
Alan and Pierre are registered on this forum, although i have not seen them in here for a while....
Michael did you get Roberts adress from his brother recently at the wedding?
Sorry JNr, I mentioned it to him, but we never spoke again, I'll speak to Warren, he is Gilbert's Step Son..... and works here.... the last of the Weidemann's
Thanks Mike.
Hope I#m on the right track.