Gordon Brown?

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

I to am pleased to hear Gordons side of the story and found it most enlightening. I would not go as far as to say we were gossiping, guessing maybe. The site is about our memories,good or bad so being a high profile story or event in O'mund it was bound to come up at some point. It has been great that Gordon has come forward with his facts. Thank you.

[Gordon Brown]

Thanks those kind word you guys.And all the notes of encouragement. It means a lot. I arrived at O/M in June 1968. Ingi and I were married by Padre Cawthorne on 6 April the following year. Still happily together after 40 years. Ingrid, Paul, Tony and Ronny were the children of Dougie and Pat Freemantle, the nicest family one could hope to meet.They are salt of the earth folk, decent and honest people, full of fun and laughter and all things good in life.Sadly Dougie, Tony and Ronny have passed on but their memories remain behind. I worked initially as a mining supervisor on the mine mainly in 'G' Area on the screening plants and then on bedrock cleaning, overburden stripping and loading and hauling operations.Got my blasting certificate after a practical stint at Affenrucken (sorry Georg don't know where the umlat is on this contraption) and Mittag.Five years later I joined the newly established work study department which was incorporated into Management Services.The folks I worked with in these departments included Arther Snow,Gunter Salchow, Alex Cruikshank,Dave Lineker,Ernie Bester, Koos Maritz, Jackie Carr,Adam Swart, Leon Botes, Abel Barnard, Martin Gerber, Sakkie Burden, China de Jager,Brian Johnson, Hugo Krynow, Bob Ellis, Charl v.d. Merwe,Doc Thurtel, Hennie Jackson and a whole bunch of other great people I was proud to be associated with.In 1978 in was appointed Technical Assistant to the General Manager and worked with good folk like Jim McLuskie,Stef Olivier, Brian McGrath, Kieth Ric-Hansen,Ivan Morrow, Iggi van Gruenen,Doc Stocken,Malcom Mason, Laurie Thurgood, Ronnie Dyson, Edgar Selby and others too numerous to mention.My interests were soccer (Northerns team), tennis (moonlight league with Derek Moore and Gunter) squash for a short while with Charl v.d. Merwe et al and of course swimming with Mac McLaughlan, Clive Cowley and wee Jeanie. Wee Jeanie is not so wee any more. She is married to a wonderful chap Chris, an accountant and they have two lovely boys , Aiden (10) and Josh (7). Two boys who give their grandparents a great deal of pleasure and much to be proud of.I was asked to leave CDM in 1983 for having spoken out against the mine's overmining activity.The rest as they say....... Apologies for rambling on a bit. Best wishes and kindest regards to you all. Oranjemund sure had a special place in my life. God bless.   

Typo corrected by Georg 1883 to 1983

[georg ruf jr.]

I to am pleased to hear Gordons side of the story and found it most enlightening. I would not go as far as to say we were gossiping, guessing maybe. The site is about our memories,good or bad so being a high profile story or event in O'mund it was bound to come up at some point. It has been great that Gordon has come forward with his facts. Thank you.

Well said Diana.

[georg ruf jr.]

Wow! Thank you.
You mentioned several names even I know and some fellows I even knew well.

Thank you for your courage.
May justice rule and you and your family come to peace.

[Delia]

Gordon, thought u might be interested to know my mom's still working away (Steph Olivier) - she retired from CDM in 1989 but as you know is not the type to sit at home.  She's well and still going strong, living in Cape Town with the rest of us scattered here and there throughout CT - me, my sister Linda and Lance. I remember you so well from the swimming pool doing your practicing. As I said in an earlier posting, you always reminded me of Mark Spitz.........

Cheers, Delia

[Gordon Brown]

Delia please give your mum my best regards . The fastest typist and most efficient secretary I have ever come across. It was a great privilege and honour working with Stephanie Olivier for five years.I also knew a remarkable gentleman whom I met on many occasions on the mine. A soft-spoken mason with a heart of gold. His name was Ginger; a dad to be proud of.Best wishes. Gordon. 

[Jean]

Hi Uncle Paul, great to see you on the site too!  Enjoying all the memories that people evoke in their discussions...Mike has done an excellent job.

[Paul (Pepe) Freemantle]

Hi Jeany, thanks for the message and also great to see you here. Yes Mike has done an excellent job on the site and has done many wonderful things for all of us regards to connecting together again. Please send all my best to Chris and the boys and obviously you too:-))))) Have a lovely Friday and weekend.

[Delia]

Hi gordon, i'll send your regards to my mom - we see a lot of each other as a family, always getting together for braais, birthdays, etc.  Talking of her efficiency as a secretary, her current boss just ignores her age - he's a helluva nice guy but is so petrified of losing her, everytime her age and the word "retirement" comes up he just cocks it a deaf ear, doesn't want to know.

Thank you for those kind words about my dad - 30 years on and i still miss him every second of every day and yes, i know we all think our dads are the best, but he truly was a dad in a million.

[Carl Wrbka]

Hi Gordon, welcome to the forum. Beware, this place is addictive...lol.

Thanks for sharing your side of the story regarding your ongoing battle against injustice. Hope everything turns out OK for you eventually.

[Gordon Brown]

Delia as I recall both you and Lance were the most polite kids I met at Oranjemund. Sign of a good upbringing.Kind regards gordon

[Delia]

Thanks Gordon - go well and all the best.

Well done for standing up for what you believe in - as the old saying goes "If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything". 

[Claire Mc Cullagh]

hi all

It's so good to hear things this this.  One man can make a difference.  I think a lot of tend not to do anything to help others because we are too afraid of failure or think that because we are just one person that we can't fight for what we believe in.
Thank you    e154
If only everyone just did one thing to help someone else (no matter how small ) the world would become a better place..........

[georg ruf jr.]

What I find interesting is, that the people who started posting in the topic and those that usualy do so in political, social? (or what so ever) topics aren't around now. I'd like to hear your opinion too.

[Carl Wrbka]

Good point there jnr. I can think of at least one good candidate at this moment...