Memories

[Bev Walker (coates)]

Does anyone remember how we all kept white rats and silk worm as pets during the 60's along with all the tortoises an  I had 2 of these rats that i adored, and used to take to the bioscope with me....1 day i got home from school and was told by my mum both rats had run away...but would be really happy as they loved the desert....i wasnt happy, but knew the rats would be........only to find out just a couple of years ago that the company had said everyone had to bring the rats in to be destroyed.............

[Robert Bruce]

I had my shoeboxes and mulberry leaves with silkworms. Wonderful hobby for a kid innit?!  :D

[Rebecca19101969]

We still did silkworms in the 80's.  There was a huge mulberry tree in that weird long ally that runs all the way vertically up 7th avenue (I think).   Mulberry's are great but they sure do stain!!

[Michael Alexander]

My house is on that long alley, down 7th avenue and there is a mulberry tree in the garden, in fact my girls were keeping silkworms in the pantry about 2 months back, funny how the wheel goes around!

;D

[Bev Coates (Now Walker)]

The Sound of Music ..I went to see that film at every showing at O/M and we all thought at that time we would grow up to be nuns...... :D
I was in Rhodes at school.....isnt it funny how you never forget these things....i can still sing the school song  IN AFRIKAANS !!!!  but cant remember a word of it in english!

I dont ever remember a school pool....was this after the 60's......
The bushes were the best place ever to play....we buried treasure there ........but me and nicolene barrett nearly wore the see saw out...
The brownies...i still remeber the sign language i learnt there at 7.....thats been very usufull throughout the years..

[Michael Alexander]

The school pool was built in the late 70's and is situated diagonally across from the Voortrekkers, next to the netball club, opposite the hockey field. The school started to have the Gala's there as opposed to the Town Pool.

Then somewhere in the 90's a swimming club was formed, that used the school ppol, and they decided to construct a builing over the pool, thus making it an indoor heated pool in the middle of the desert.

The swimming club is called the Sandsharks, and to this day Oranjemund still produces some of the best swimmers in Africa.

If you google earth then look for a big blue roofed building at the edege of the school, where the big Christmas tree foofie slide ended...

If anyone had a photo of that big black structure that was there before the new school was built, I'm interested..

Mike
;D

[Ann Gander (nee Greenway)]

I remember the silk worms and the tortoises. They were very common in the 60's.  Mine was a real baby one but I remember Mrs Lindhout has a real farm of them in her front garden.   The dogs seemed to happily roam and "enjoy" themselves, and were responsible for the white pooh which Robert mentioned which was everywhere.  We all became quite adept at outracing them on our bikes.  I also remember a black bird - I think it was a crow - which used to live in the gardens of the General Manager.  When you cycled past his tree he used to fly down and attack you (or try at least!).

[Robert Bruce]

The Devlin's introduced him. Pedro the crow. Pedro.

[Ann Gander (nee Greenway)]

Amazing when you think that Pedro was a pet!  We have crows by the thousands in the UK but no-one ever thinks of keeping one as a pet - and fortunately they don't attack you as you walk or ride by!

[Robert Bruce]

Ann,

Remember The Birds, that Hitchcock movie? Well behind my house in a field are two tall trees which are a rookery. Hundreds of crows live there. Winter and summer. It really is spectacular when they all take flight as one.

They attack the Red Kites. OMers in SA and Namibia might not know the Red Kite. It is an eagle (?) type bird that was almost killed off in the UK except for in Wales where they survived. So they decided to see if they could introduce the Red Kite back into England. Ten years ago they set pairs free in selected areas.

The breeding plan has worked so well. Now the Red Kite competes with the Buzzard. The kite has a V shaped tail configuration. It is a beautiful bird. So is the Buzzard.

Meanwhile the crows do not like the Red Kites so 'escort ' them away from their territory.

[Michael Alexander]

Oranjemunder's I give you Silkworm Alley, or The Long alley that ran down 7th avenue, the longest alley in all of the town. Blueberries, Mullberries , apricot were all for the picking down this alley....

[Vikki de Jager (Summers)]

Yes, we also had silkworms at some stage during the '80's. We also used to collect mulberry leaves in the 'long' alley, and there were two mulberry trees with branches hanging over the fence in our street (4th Ave) - one had small berries and the other huge one's. I remember my hands being covered in dark purple stains. When James is a bit older I guess Jacques and I will continue the tradition, though with the number of people in town chopping down trees nowadays (or the gardens not being watered), hopefully there'll still be mulberry trees around.

[Claire Mc Cullagh]

Does anyone remember the swing in the first ave bushes - up near the Field's house? And the tree house at the top of it?

[Michael Alexander]

I remember that swing, that rope was like 10 m long, or maybe I was just shorter back then. It was directly opposite the fields house and the petrol station...

;D

[Paul Alexander]

Hello Claire,

Yes, I remember the swing quite well, we all used to play there quite a lot hey? The Fields, Alexander and McCallugh (??? Geez I just know that spelling is out of kilter - my Irish isn't that good). I also remember the braai's at your house, and your dog (what was its name again - a real Irish name) I also remember your dads obsession with gun safety, if you so much pointed a finger at him you'd get a lecture... oh and Laurence's dinky car collection as well...

wow