The Class of '68 - The Classmates 40 Years later!
Is this another story? Braam entertains Hanlie, Charlotte and Brenda
Old school pals gelling once again - Lena and Brenda 40 years later
Ladesh and Charlie hold an unscheduled
'planning meeting'
Alan with Annetjie and Eben keeping
an eye on the scoreboard
Charlotte, Braam and Sarge
Ardent Sharks supporters, Edwin and Annette show their concern during the Sharks vs Lions semi-final
Sarge and Anton discussing the
day's golf - still confused?
Braam entertaining Sanet, Ingrid and Verona with one of his many stories!The Function - 11th October 2008
Hi Team,
This is the letter that I e-mailed to the ‘Class of 68’ – it was just a brief report of the function as I saw it – once we get the ‘blog’ or Facebook working, then I’m sure a lot more letters will start appearing which will make our ‘web site’ all that more interesting!
Here is the letter –
Hi Team,
Yes, we had a very successful weekend – fun-filled and often over-flowing with emotions – unfortunately we did not have a very big turn out but the group was small enough for everyone to have some quality time with each other with laughter and (possibly improbable) stories filling every conversation! We totalled about 22 class mates and, together with a few spouses, we manage to fill some 36 table settings.
Friday: The weekend kicked off on the Friday evening with a trickle of early birds settling in and trying to recognise (identify) one another!
“Is it or isn’t it? What do you think?”
“Now who is that coming in – looks familiar or what? Could it be ???” – “Yislaaik it is so-and-so! Eeek! I would never have recognised you! Wow!”
Depending on gender, there was “Wow! You’ve changed so much!” (boys) and “Wow! You haven’t changed a bit!” (girls).
Or, Naw, must be another guest! Probably from Maritzburugh!! Maritzburg College had their annual Old Boys’ dinner at the same Lodge on the Friday night but there is such a deep chasm between ‘them and us’ that there was very little confusion in identifying ‘them’!
Such is the difference that my sister and her husband (Ex-Collegian) walked right past me whilst we were busy sampling a Red and discussing world events on the garden bench at mid-night (see next paragraph) – granted, I hadn’t told her of my plans, so she wasn’t really expecting me to find me there, but still – aren’t we family?
Once the emotional greetings were over, the gelling started in earnest - quite soon the atmosphere was charged with joy and the sounds of many happy people, talking as if there was no tomorrow! These spontaneous eruptions of emotions were often between class mates who hadn’t seen each other since the day we put down our pens and said our “good-byes” so many years ago.
That evening there was probably enough electricity generated to light up the whole of Dundee!
By mid-night only a handful of the hardier types were left and we were politely asked whether we wouldn’t mind finishing our ‘reunion’ in the garden as the staff wished to retire ‘early’. So Sarge, Charlie Deane and myself (only to ‘supervise’) retired to the garden bench and, under a warm night sky full of brilliant stars, we kept 2 bottles of good RED company – I called it a day at 1 o’ clock leaving Sarge and Charlie to rewrite history - they still had plenty of talking to do!
Saturday: The next day’s golf went off very well (advertised in the local Courier as the “Class of 1968 Golf Tournament”) and there were at least 2 reports in the Courier with photos - see http://nncourier.blogspot.com/ - this was the only ‘organised’ event for the week end and one can read more about the golf on the Courier’s website.
Sarge, Anton Schlebusch, Braam, Bok and a few other members of the “Class of 68” joined the local club members in a tournament organized by the Dundee Golf Club and dedicated to our class re-union (see the Courier for the report and a photo).
Apart for some entertaining activities and pranks that only Sarge can get up to, they must of played some golf as well (or tried to) as we were aptly regaled with a few hilarious anecdotes from the day’s game. When we asked for the day’s results, we were given so many versions that, I think, we should rather leave sleeping golfers ‘lie’!
See the photo (attached above) of Sarge and Anton trying to count (or account for) some of the shots played - the facial expressions seem to indicate that they never quite understood the confusion any better at this late stage (note that more picture contributions will eventually appear in our Blog).
On the Saturday morning Barry Gould wanted to visit the local battlefields but was unable to find a tour guide so I volunteered to show him around. I was a little apprehensive at first as I haven’t been to those battlefields for many years but, once there, most of the haze cleared and the details gradually started coming back. As I hadn’t intended visiting the Battlefields, I wasn’t properly prepared and I had forgotten many of the names of the officers and the units that they commanded but the sequence of events and positions of the units were still very clear – hopefully Barry enjoyed the trip as much as I did – I was last on those battlefield sites back in the 1960’s.
Rorke’s Drift was our first stop and after a tour of the visitors centre we took a walk around the site, discussing salient points of the night in question (and how the defence may have been improved if ….?). All very well being ‘latter-day’ experts on military strategy!
Barry had a Prado which came in handy when the going got tough and we had a great day visiting the various sites – initially we were only going to visit Rorkes Drift, but after we had covered that battlefield we decided to visit the other sites as well – we drove down to Fugitives Drift (road! what road?) and we saw the last stand of Coghill and Melvill up on the hill-side and the place where the Queen's Colours were lost.
After Rorkes Drift, we crossed over the Buffalo (now bridged) as well as the very rocky Batshe River bed where we viewed the old wagon crossing. We then went on to St. Vincents Church (built after the battle) and the Visitor’s Centre before touring the actual Isandlwana Battlefield.
On the battlefield we viewed the white cairns (hundreds) and monuments and, from a high vantage point, we had a fine overview of the whole site and got a perspective of the action on the day – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Isandlwana for more details of the battle.
Importantly we got back to the Lodge at 14h30 just in time for the Sharks vs Lions semi-final. Fortunately the Sharks had an extra 20 able (and very vocal) supporters who assisted them out of their tight spots – victory was ours for the taking and, after the game, we were well ‘tuned’ for the socializing that kicked off at 5 ‘o clock – by the time the dinner bell rang at 7, we were famished and, needless to say, made short work of the nourishment on offer! To say we enjoyed some fine dining is putting it mildly – Nan Roos and her able team really prepared a tasty table and this primed us for a very pleasant evening indeed!
Although tables for 6-8 were initially set out, it wasn’t long before people were mingling once again and tables would erupt in joyful laughter as one or another would recount a funny event or humorous interlude! Some of the best stories came from the hostel ‘inmates’ who seemed to have a bottomless bucket full of humorous stories – as one story finished the next story was lined up – incredibly some of the hostel boys even ran a pub from their rooms which the hostel masters used to visit when their own beer supplies ran low!!
I’ll leave the details of the many stories told for re-telling at our next function!
Sunday: After a low-key breakfast on the Sunday morning, we attended a simple thanksgiving service presided over by our personal pastor, Brian Douthwaite, ably assisted by Ingrid Gould (nee Lauf) – the obituaries were read out and appropriate readings were taken from the Scriptures.
Thereafter Alan Mengel thanked all the people responsible for all their hard work - the well-organized event was sincerely appreciated by all who attended.
By late morning most of the guests had departed happily in the knowledge that this occasion was not to be the last, but the beginning of many more – after all we now have a fine venue with superb accommodation and tasty cuisine – add in great company and a tremendous vibe and we have all the ingredients for a memorable week end!
Not very surprising there was a unanimous vote that we should arrange this EVERY YEAR (because someone might die and then they’ll miss our 50th!) Whether that is possible (feasible) I don’t know but I’m quite in favour of a similar event in 3 to 5 years time when most of us will be retired and the logistics will be a little easier to handle. We can then enjoy a full program over a suitable long week end and really enjoy the sights and history of Dundee – that is provided our bodies can still take the pace!
One way that could make the organizing of any future functions much easier will be to keep the names on an updated data base containing each person’s contact details – this data base can then be kept on our private Blog or Facebook and people can update the data base with their details as and when they change.
Blog or Web site: We are in the process of setting up a Blog (Facebook?) where people can post messages on a notice board, initiate discussions on a chat forum and post pictures (Gallery) but we are extremely in-experienced with this type of thing. We desperately need some advice (or guidance) on this matter – I’ve approached some of our members for some ideas and hope to get some feedback soon – if you can assist with advice or guidance it would be appreciated.
We want to have the site private with access restricted to our members only - if possible a username and a password must be used to keep the site private – once we have this in place we can start filling it with chat, photos, notices, stories etc. - anything to make it interesting.
A blog (or similar) site will also make the distribution of photos so much easier – many e-mail systems tend to get ‘clogged’ with high MegaBit pictures and then the e-mails ‘bounce’ back.
If you have any ideas or can assist in any way, we will be happy to use them.
Regards,
Rob Marshall
NB!
One thing that the youngsters of today can’t beat us ‘ou-toppies’ with is in written communications – when we grew up, writing was an art – all our communications had to be via the written word and everyone could write a decent letter or report – sadly, the kids of today have lost the art of written communication! – I often have to ask someone who has sent me a memo, what they’re trying to say or what they really mean!
Yislaaik! Sometimes I think a gorilla could write better memos or letters!
This is the letter that I e-mailed to the ‘Class of 68’ – it was just a brief report of the function as I saw it – once we get the ‘blog’ or Facebook working, then I’m sure a lot more letters will start appearing which will make our ‘web site’ all that more interesting!
Here is the letter –
Hi Team,
Yes, we had a very successful weekend – fun-filled and often over-flowing with emotions – unfortunately we did not have a very big turn out but the group was small enough for everyone to have some quality time with each other with laughter and (possibly improbable) stories filling every conversation! We totalled about 22 class mates and, together with a few spouses, we manage to fill some 36 table settings.
Friday: The weekend kicked off on the Friday evening with a trickle of early birds settling in and trying to recognise (identify) one another!
“Is it or isn’t it? What do you think?”
“Now who is that coming in – looks familiar or what? Could it be ???” – “Yislaaik it is so-and-so! Eeek! I would never have recognised you! Wow!”
Depending on gender, there was “Wow! You’ve changed so much!” (boys) and “Wow! You haven’t changed a bit!” (girls).
Or, Naw, must be another guest! Probably from Maritzburugh!! Maritzburg College had their annual Old Boys’ dinner at the same Lodge on the Friday night but there is such a deep chasm between ‘them and us’ that there was very little confusion in identifying ‘them’!
Such is the difference that my sister and her husband (Ex-Collegian) walked right past me whilst we were busy sampling a Red and discussing world events on the garden bench at mid-night (see next paragraph) – granted, I hadn’t told her of my plans, so she wasn’t really expecting me to find me there, but still – aren’t we family?
Once the emotional greetings were over, the gelling started in earnest - quite soon the atmosphere was charged with joy and the sounds of many happy people, talking as if there was no tomorrow! These spontaneous eruptions of emotions were often between class mates who hadn’t seen each other since the day we put down our pens and said our “good-byes” so many years ago.
That evening there was probably enough electricity generated to light up the whole of Dundee!
By mid-night only a handful of the hardier types were left and we were politely asked whether we wouldn’t mind finishing our ‘reunion’ in the garden as the staff wished to retire ‘early’. So Sarge, Charlie Deane and myself (only to ‘supervise’) retired to the garden bench and, under a warm night sky full of brilliant stars, we kept 2 bottles of good RED company – I called it a day at 1 o’ clock leaving Sarge and Charlie to rewrite history - they still had plenty of talking to do!
Saturday: The next day’s golf went off very well (advertised in the local Courier as the “Class of 1968 Golf Tournament”) and there were at least 2 reports in the Courier with photos - see http://nncourier.blogspot.com/ - this was the only ‘organised’ event for the week end and one can read more about the golf on the Courier’s website.
Sarge, Anton Schlebusch, Braam, Bok and a few other members of the “Class of 68” joined the local club members in a tournament organized by the Dundee Golf Club and dedicated to our class re-union (see the Courier for the report and a photo).
Apart for some entertaining activities and pranks that only Sarge can get up to, they must of played some golf as well (or tried to) as we were aptly regaled with a few hilarious anecdotes from the day’s game. When we asked for the day’s results, we were given so many versions that, I think, we should rather leave sleeping golfers ‘lie’!
See the photo (attached above) of Sarge and Anton trying to count (or account for) some of the shots played - the facial expressions seem to indicate that they never quite understood the confusion any better at this late stage (note that more picture contributions will eventually appear in our Blog).
On the Saturday morning Barry Gould wanted to visit the local battlefields but was unable to find a tour guide so I volunteered to show him around. I was a little apprehensive at first as I haven’t been to those battlefields for many years but, once there, most of the haze cleared and the details gradually started coming back. As I hadn’t intended visiting the Battlefields, I wasn’t properly prepared and I had forgotten many of the names of the officers and the units that they commanded but the sequence of events and positions of the units were still very clear – hopefully Barry enjoyed the trip as much as I did – I was last on those battlefield sites back in the 1960’s.
Rorke’s Drift was our first stop and after a tour of the visitors centre we took a walk around the site, discussing salient points of the night in question (and how the defence may have been improved if ….?). All very well being ‘latter-day’ experts on military strategy!
Barry had a Prado which came in handy when the going got tough and we had a great day visiting the various sites – initially we were only going to visit Rorkes Drift, but after we had covered that battlefield we decided to visit the other sites as well – we drove down to Fugitives Drift (road! what road?) and we saw the last stand of Coghill and Melvill up on the hill-side and the place where the Queen's Colours were lost.
After Rorkes Drift, we crossed over the Buffalo (now bridged) as well as the very rocky Batshe River bed where we viewed the old wagon crossing. We then went on to St. Vincents Church (built after the battle) and the Visitor’s Centre before touring the actual Isandlwana Battlefield.
On the battlefield we viewed the white cairns (hundreds) and monuments and, from a high vantage point, we had a fine overview of the whole site and got a perspective of the action on the day – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Isandlwana for more details of the battle.
Importantly we got back to the Lodge at 14h30 just in time for the Sharks vs Lions semi-final. Fortunately the Sharks had an extra 20 able (and very vocal) supporters who assisted them out of their tight spots – victory was ours for the taking and, after the game, we were well ‘tuned’ for the socializing that kicked off at 5 ‘o clock – by the time the dinner bell rang at 7, we were famished and, needless to say, made short work of the nourishment on offer! To say we enjoyed some fine dining is putting it mildly – Nan Roos and her able team really prepared a tasty table and this primed us for a very pleasant evening indeed!
Although tables for 6-8 were initially set out, it wasn’t long before people were mingling once again and tables would erupt in joyful laughter as one or another would recount a funny event or humorous interlude! Some of the best stories came from the hostel ‘inmates’ who seemed to have a bottomless bucket full of humorous stories – as one story finished the next story was lined up – incredibly some of the hostel boys even ran a pub from their rooms which the hostel masters used to visit when their own beer supplies ran low!!
I’ll leave the details of the many stories told for re-telling at our next function!
Sunday: After a low-key breakfast on the Sunday morning, we attended a simple thanksgiving service presided over by our personal pastor, Brian Douthwaite, ably assisted by Ingrid Gould (nee Lauf) – the obituaries were read out and appropriate readings were taken from the Scriptures.
Thereafter Alan Mengel thanked all the people responsible for all their hard work - the well-organized event was sincerely appreciated by all who attended.
By late morning most of the guests had departed happily in the knowledge that this occasion was not to be the last, but the beginning of many more – after all we now have a fine venue with superb accommodation and tasty cuisine – add in great company and a tremendous vibe and we have all the ingredients for a memorable week end!
Not very surprising there was a unanimous vote that we should arrange this EVERY YEAR (because someone might die and then they’ll miss our 50th!) Whether that is possible (feasible) I don’t know but I’m quite in favour of a similar event in 3 to 5 years time when most of us will be retired and the logistics will be a little easier to handle. We can then enjoy a full program over a suitable long week end and really enjoy the sights and history of Dundee – that is provided our bodies can still take the pace!
One way that could make the organizing of any future functions much easier will be to keep the names on an updated data base containing each person’s contact details – this data base can then be kept on our private Blog or Facebook and people can update the data base with their details as and when they change.
Blog or Web site: We are in the process of setting up a Blog (Facebook?) where people can post messages on a notice board, initiate discussions on a chat forum and post pictures (Gallery) but we are extremely in-experienced with this type of thing. We desperately need some advice (or guidance) on this matter – I’ve approached some of our members for some ideas and hope to get some feedback soon – if you can assist with advice or guidance it would be appreciated.
We want to have the site private with access restricted to our members only - if possible a username and a password must be used to keep the site private – once we have this in place we can start filling it with chat, photos, notices, stories etc. - anything to make it interesting.
A blog (or similar) site will also make the distribution of photos so much easier – many e-mail systems tend to get ‘clogged’ with high MegaBit pictures and then the e-mails ‘bounce’ back.
If you have any ideas or can assist in any way, we will be happy to use them.
Regards,
Rob Marshall
NB!
One thing that the youngsters of today can’t beat us ‘ou-toppies’ with is in written communications – when we grew up, writing was an art – all our communications had to be via the written word and everyone could write a decent letter or report – sadly, the kids of today have lost the art of written communication! – I often have to ask someone who has sent me a memo, what they’re trying to say or what they really mean!
Yislaaik! Sometimes I think a gorilla could write better memos or letters!
