The transition from " Closed Town " to '' Open Town ".

Michael Alexander · February 28, 2009, 02:04:05 PM

Who remembers sometime in the 70's when the company/somebody made a mistake on the markdown specials in the mens department....it was a madhouse, the prices were marked way to low.... on every item in the mens dept...... it was unbelievable, but they went ahead and let the community buy the lot....remember the DALLAS straw hats going like hotcakes......

pam spackman · February 28, 2009, 09:34:51 PM

That's right,I had a shopping trolley,I use to hook it on the back of my bike

over the carrier and sit Sonia,my youngest,on the carrier and off we,d go

no problemo, yeh, you can laugh but it worked.....and there were NO HILLS!!!!!

Pam

georgswa (Georg Ruf) (RIP) · April 04, 2009, 07:24:06 AM

As far as i remember the town openend in 1975
I see Harold is posting too

Diana Rudd (Boehme) · April 04, 2009, 07:51:33 AM

I think Daddy Georg is right 1975.....the year I fell in love with Stephens car "Dodge Colt." then went forth to find the owner.

SandyB · April 04, 2009, 08:06:17 AM

Mmm so you did have a teenage shallow moment ??

.. just as well you did .. you got him ..

haroldhester · April 04, 2009, 08:32:24 AM

I well remember the change from closed town to open. It was 18th October 1975. There were only four people who knew about the pending change. (There may have been five) The four were John Mackenzie GM, Jim McLuskie AGM, Jim Turner Engineering Manager and Steve Meyer, Security Suiperintendent. They kept it very hush hush and no one had an inkling about what was to happen.

They ordered the security centre design from a construction company in Johannesburg. It was called a hospital for Bulawayo, so no one would be suspicious. Kleinzee opened on the same day.

I remember the huge cars which drove into town on that first Saturday. Huge jaguars and Mercs. The roads were too narrow for them.

So many people had left there personal effects on the mine when the gates were closed and they had no way of retrieving them. people were both happy and sad. They would live normal lives from then on, but they lost the paternalism which the company provided. Everyone's status was defined by what size carpet they had in their lounge. After October, it did not matter as people could bring in their own furniture and carpets.

John Roberts · May 03, 2009, 11:35:56 PM

Yes Harold,I was in the Rec club that Friday afternoon and one of the the engineers said to me "John, if you have a car on the other side of the fence,you will be able to drive it into town tomorrow morning,the town will be open!!".
Yes there were five who knew that the town would be open and the person was Mr O'Brien (I am sure that was his name,could someone find out for me Anton Muller would know) a fantastic fella who was head of the survey dept.He was out by himself surveying the new fence line after work before the town was open.I was working in the drawing office and actually saw the drawings of the "hospital" at a later date.
PS My status was that I was not allowed wall to wall carpet,did not matter anyway because there was no carpet on the other side of the fence to bring in. !!!!!!!!!

Gordon Brown · May 04, 2009, 09:29:50 AM

Pat o'Brian was head of the Survey Department at the time. His 2ic was John Townsend. Super guys.

John Roberts · May 07, 2009, 05:56:59 AM

Thanx Gordon,yes Pat 0'Brian was the name I was looking for,fantastic guy.I was at his send off when he retired and the GM and others gave him the greatest wrap and Pat's opening reply was " after all these years I have been here and the great wrap I have been given, how come I am still the Head Surveyor " which brought the house down.