Reader Rob Caweg noticed a contribution from Bob Gooderson which included a menu from the Mandarin Room at the Edward Hotel. That menu dates from 1981 and Rob recalled that his father, a Dutch sea captain had dinner at the Mandarin Room about 10 years earlier and kept the menu from that occasion. At that stage the complete dinner cost a princely R3 per person which had gone up to R4 by 1981.
Rob kindly photographed the menu and sent it along.
My earliest memories of Durban’s Trolley buses goes virtually back to the days when we first arrived in Durban as immigrants in 1948. I had never seen a trolley bus before as in Alexandria Egypt, their public transport was single decker electric trams. Read More
Share this:
No doubt wherever you lived in Durban, I would say the majority of you experienced going to school by bus unless you lived across the road from School. My memories of bussing to school date from 1954 through to 1961. Read More
Share this:
Arthur Gammage has asked if anyone knows where the Tongaat Locomotive that used to stand in Bulwer Park is now or if you have a picture of it. Arthur tells me that Eric Lupke obtained permission from the Parks Department to remove the loco in order to restore it to running condition. Eric died not long after after his retirement from City Electricity Department and Arthur doesn’t know if the project was completed or what happened to the engine.
I’d also be very interested to hear what happened to the locomotive seeing that I spent countless hours playing on it on walks around Bulwer Park in my youth.
Share this:
I’ve just added a lot of information sent in by my informant Zak Coombs about the Great Smith Street Fire of 1884 and about William Milne whose NGR volunteer fire brigade was instrumental in fighting the fire.
The new stories are linked from the Fire contents page
For many years we’ve had a page on the wreck of the Ovington Court which occurred off Addington on 26 November 1940. We’ve been keeping it updated as new information comes to hand and the latest is a submission from Alan Young in which he talks of the aftermath of the wreck and which I’ve added to the bottom that page. Click the link above and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Share this:
I have just received this photo from a friend of mine that grew up in Woodlands. Apparently during the 1950s, this man would walk the streets of Woodlands beating his drum asking for donations. When given a donation he would beat his drum and do a bit of a soft shoe shuffle before moving on. Just recently on FB someone was asking if anyone remembered him. Part of the passing parade.
Share this:
We have had a request from Robert Timmerman to put out the word about a reunion next year of a platoon from the Durban Light Infantry who were involved in a contact 35 years ago. He wrote:
Hi, this is a very different request for assistance on the site. Please bear with me as the widespread diaspora of Durbanites has left us with a dilemma.
Us being Durban Light Infantry, with a need to locate members of Platoon 1 who were on Beacon 25 North of Eenhana on 25 may 1984 with Lt. Deon van den Bergh and Sergeant Mark Whitson (later Lt. Col and Officer Commanding D/L/I.) when we were in contact with a band of SWAPO operatives for a period of about an hour.
Next year is the 35th anniversary of the event and we are attempting to trace as many members of the platoon as possible to attend the gathering at the Drill Hall in Greyville Racecourse.
If you could post this – the contact email is beacon25reunion@gmail.com.
The DLI’s story is a fascinating one and I’m the proud possessor of a two-volume history of the regiment containing what is believed to be one of the most accurate accounts of the surrender at Tobruk and detail about the regiment’s most illustrious part-time soldier, Brigadier-General James Scott Wylie. I’d be very happy to hear details of the regiment’s more recent history including this incident. Perhaps we could work towards having a DLI page on this site and contributions will be most welcome.
Share this: Lawrence Somasundram has written to ask if anyone knows of a Point School which would have been in operation around 1903 and would have either been solely for Indian pupils or had them in its numbers. The school was mentioned in a letter written by his grandfather who was apparently employed there as a teacher. He is keen to know where the school could have been located.
Share this: Now here’s a real treat for all you Durban fans. Angela Romain saw our post on the Aimee Lykes which ran aground on the Aliwal Shoal in 1964 and had some movie footage and stills of the vessel shot by her parents John and Meradel Romain during a visit to Durban. She quickly put the images together in a movie for our pleasure and I was the second person to view it. Who’ll be next?
I remember those days very well when you could walk right up to edge of the dry dock to see what was on going on and I can still get a bit of a cold shiver just thinking about it. Driving round the docks was our favourite Sunday afternoon pastime and I wouldn’t be surprised if we went to to see the Aimee Lykes in dock too.
Share this: