Letter 021 - 1952 - Secondborn

Friday 21st August, 2009

Dear Jeremy,

Sorry I am late this week but as you know I have been down at Hythe for a few days.

The years we spent at Lovedale, 1950-1953, seem sometimes, to merge in my memory.

As well as Lovedale friends, we also made friends with people from Fort Hare. There were the Pollocks, Joy and Norman, and their three children. Norman was a lecturer in Geography. Then there were the Stuarts, Donald and Sheila and their daughter Miranda. We still tease Christopher, who, one afternoon bored with the adults turned to Miranda and said; ‘Shall we go into the kitchen, Miranda?’ Donald was the English professor. Anne and Cecil Luck and their two children were also friends. I had met Anne at Rhodes. They were both from Kenya. Cecil was a doctor and had a vintage car.

To my surprise we met Gertrude Darroll, also teaching in the English department. Gertrude had been my English teacher at Girls’ High School in East London. She lived with her parents in the town. She gave Christopher a little book of Blake‘s poems because she said he was the most intelligent small boy she had ever met. Gertrude was very out-spoken about the African situation and it was said about her that she tried many times to get arrested but she never was.

Also on the opposite side of the Tyumie River was the Bible School run by Geraint Lloyd and his wife Sheila. Sheila was one of the Paterson family– two Presbyterian brothers who emigrated to South Africa from Scotland. Her mother was a professional artist. They also had three children.

Back at Lovedale we made friends with Daphne von Wallendorf and Eric Barnard who later married. Daphne was also a Rhodes graduate and Eric was an instrument maker who was employed by the Lovedale Printing Press. Sadly Eric died in 1977 and Daphne, who was then teaching at Healdtown, was left with three children to educate. We have remained friends all these years and yesterday I phoned her for her 83^rd birthday.

Culture came to Alice. One of the highlights of the year was hearing Miriam Makebe sing in the hall at Lovedale and another was the visit of the National Theatre with a Shakespearean play. I remember the clown singing, ‘The rain it raineth every day’.

Michael produced a Bernard Shaw play, ‘Arms and the Man’ and the costumes were hired from the National Theatre. He also read a paper to the English Society.

A circus came to town and Michael took Christopher who liked the lady in the red dress best. I think she sang.

Jill was born on the 27^th November in the cottage hospital. I was very anxious while I was carrying her because Sheila Stuart had had a miscarriage and this really worried me. What no one had told me was that Sheila had had TB and a miscarriage was a possible hazard. Of course I did not like the doctor, Macvicar, who I believe was cheating on his lovely wife and who impatiently said to me, “You university women are all the same. Why don’t you just go and have your babies like the Africans do behind the bush?”. He promised to be there in time for the birth as the doctor was not there when Christopher was born – but he was two minutes late and Jill was already there. I had a lovely young nurse who understood about breathing and relaxation.

Granny Sadler came to stay to look after Christopher. She took him for walks across the fields and always had trouble getting him to turn round to go home – he had to go round. He is still like that today – a walk is round, never the same way home.

We challenged the teachers at Healdtown, the Methodist Mission near Fort Beaufort to tennis. I can’t remember who won but I don’t think we were highly competitive it was a happy social occasion.

They were good days.

Love, Mum

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