Life in the early 50's

While we had been setting up our new home, I had started riding lessons at Lewisham Riding School, with the owner Mary Adams.   I used to go twice a week after school, and by the end of my first year, I had started jumping lessons and had competed in the local gymkhana which Lewisham used to hold.  First there was Punch the piebald, who I started riding at gymkhanas, and I steadily progressed to Judy the skewbald who also was an excellent show jumper. 

My very first rosette on Punch.

Mary Adams had two sons who had a pair of stunning dun ponies, called Santa Fe and Santa Maria, both of which were rarely ridden by anyone other than the boys. I have never forgotten the day when I was allowed to ride Santa Fe, when his owner was away for a short time; I really though that I had made it!

Riding Shamrock in a musical ride. There used to be 16 horses and riders in all. 

In 1954, Dad started working as a mechanic for Chris Annesley, who was one of the local racing car drivers.  Our weekends were suddenly very full with either horses or cars!  I tried to go to as many horse events as possible, but a number of weekends were taken up by car practice and Mum and I went along as `support’ team.  In 1954 we took our very first trip to South Africa to go to Kyalami race track near Johannesburg, where Chris was racing.  We were away for several days (it was a long drive - 800 miles or so each way) and as Peter Pan was showing at the local "drive-in" cinema, which everyone knew I would enjoy, we all had our first experience of  sitting in our car to watch a film. This was of course an American concept adopted in Southern Africa, where space - at the time-  was freely available! The car was parked on a ramp next to a speaker post.  The speaker was removed from the post and hooked on to the car window and, hey presto, it was like being in the local cinema, but much comfier. Unfortunately due to the advent of TV, the cinemas lost their huge following and eventually most, if not all of the drive-in cinemas, closed down in both South Africa and Rhodesia.

Car racing in the 50's!!  Note the start/finish banner at the back; the pits would have been in the centre, where you can see the people; no barriers! A little different from motor racing nowadays.

Me trying my luck at Umtali!!

In June 1955, we went to a motor race meeting at Umtali in Rhodesia, a town quite close to the Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique) border.  It was planned that after the meeting, the four of us would take a holiday and travel across the border and spend a week in the Gorongoza game reserve.  At the time we owned a Morris Minor Traveller (the one with the wood frame at the back), which was ideal for a holiday because of the extra space in the back.  The day after our arrival in Gorongoza, I came out in spots and Mum was duly informed by a woman there, “my dear, she has measles, you will have to take her home and keep her in the dark, so she does not damage her eyes”.  The following day we made the return trip back to Salisbury only to find that the spots had almost gone on arrival and I had a mild dose of german measles!  We then discovered that Max, one of Chris Annersley’s friends and also a racing driver, had contracted the very same infection the day before me and he must have passed it on to me. Nevertheless, it had spoiled the holiday for everyone and it was out of the question to drive all the way back for the remaining days.

At the end of 1955, a couple who had heard about our caravan made my Dad an interesting offer!   They wanted to retire, and their plan was to travel around South Africa towing a caravan, stopping when and how they wanted. They owned two houses on the opposite side of Salisbury, one which they lived in and the other was split into three flats, which were rented out.  There was enough property to build stables and have a paddock, so my dream of having my own pony was in sight at last!   They wanted to sell their property to us and buy the caravan.  The end result was that we put our 'new' home up for sale and we moved yet again, to  Greencroft Road in Mabelreign, a large suburb out on the Lomagundi road, on the north side of Salisbury.  This meant new zoning for schools, so I made yet another change to Avondale Junior School.  Three schools in Rhodesia and three in England by the time I was eleven, took a bit of keeping up with!

Putting a bay window on to what was to be my bedroom in the new house.

David showing off his 'new' (secondhand) Norton motorbike.

Salisbury Swimming pool where we spent quite a lot of time during my teen years.  I wonder if the pool is still there as Harare Swimming pool; I doubt it!!

My Life Before Charente to be continued :-) 

 

The section of my life story during our overland trip is published on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See HERE

A stop over in Kano, Nigeria.

February 15 1953 (Sunday) Land Mileage 2998

Mum and Dad were woken up at 04h00 with tea at the Railway Guest House in Kano!     Having discussed this with each other, they presumed some sort of mistake had been made and they had taken the tea to the wrong room; it seemed such an unearthly hour to wake anyone up!   We had previously ordered tea at 07h00 and it had duly arrived at that time.   We have often wondered since, if the person who was supposed to get the early wakeup call ever made it to his or her destination on time!     

We got up and washed and dressed in our own time, then met Mum and Dad just going into breakfast.  Afterwards I decided that this was a good opportunity to go to sit in the garden and do some work; I had brought some of my school books with me - talk about being conscientious!   The other three went for a walk and they managed to gain admission to the Kano Club as honorary members.  This was great, as it meant that we had the use of their swimming pool!   They came back and fetched me and we collected our swimsuits and stayed at the Club until lunchtime.  How we all enjoyed the cool water and the luxury of being able to swim once more!  

David diving from the high board

Afraid my style is not so good from the low board, but hey, David was quite a bit older than me!

It was very hot by mid-day and we made our way back to the hotel for lunch and a rest under the fans.   By this time, the management had managed to rearrange our rooms and we were all in the same building (see previous blog), so this was much more convenient all round.  Tea was ordered at 16h00 and sent up to the room, where we all met up again.   Dad then went off to have a good look over the Land Rover to see what might, or might not, need seeing to before we went on our way again.

In the early evening we went down for a drink before dinner.   Mum realised then how her feet had become used to wearing brogues over the last few weeks and her high heels were killing her.  She would have to learn all over again how to be a lady!   It was a very hot evening and night; despite the fans being on all the time, none of us slept very well, simply because we were too hot.   Only one week ago we were complaining we could not sleep because we were too cold; is one never satisfied?!

February 16 1953 (Monday)

Morning tea was delivered to the room at a respectable time today and then we all met up and went off for breakfast.    It was decided that we would go for a drive around Kano, have a look at the sights and do a bit of shopping.   We also left some films to be processed.    Mum tried to buy some shampoo, but didn't have any luck. I wonder what people in Kano use to wash their hair?   She did manage to buy a pair of sandals, so the high heels could go back into the case until she was ready to try wearing them once more.   David, Mum and I then went for a swim, while Dad took the vehicle off to the garage. 

Myself kneeling hiding my face! Mum and David at the pool

He joined us not long after and we all had another refreshing swim before going back to the hotel.  It was a really hot walk, but we had no choice, as the Land Rover was hopefully being checked over.    After lunch and a rest, Mum and Dad walked to the Nigerian customs office to make sure that all papers were in order and to see how work on the Land Rover was getting along.    David and I both went off to the Club for a swim and my folks decided to have a walk around Kano.   Unfortunately, everything was closed, so there was not much to do and they ended up back at the hotel again.   That evening, on going for yet another walk, it sounded as if there were hundreds of birds everywhere.   We had not heard them before, so made an enquiry as to what they were.   It turned out that the noise was coming from some burrowing insect; we never did find out what they were called.  I wonder now if it was not some type of cricket.

The Great Mosque in Kano.  The  mosque was built for Muhammad Rumfa in the 15th century. It was made of mud, and was of the soro, or tower, variety. It was moved to a new site by Muhammad Zaki in 1582, and rebuilt in the mid 19th century by Abdullahi dan Dabo. It was subsequently destroyed, but rebuilt in 1950, with British sponsorship and to a local Public Works Department design.

February 17 1953 (Tuesday)

Following the usual start to the day,  we collected our passports and went back to the customs offices to fill in various forms.   We were beginning to wonder how many forms we would have filled in by the time we reached our destination!  We then went and checked up again on the Land Rover, to see when it would be ready.   Finally we got back to the hotel hot, tired and more than ready for a swim, having left my father at the garage, talking about cars!   Dad came back and joined us for lunch having arranged to collect the vehicle at 15h00.  On looking in his briefcase, he found that £70 had been stolen while we were out.  I can assure you that in 1953 this was a great deal of money.  The police were notified, but they said the chances of recovering it were very small.  How right they were!    The vehicle was duly collected and paid for, as luckily we managed to cash traveller's cheques in Kano.   We then started to pack up again, feeling pretty depressed after the loss of the money.   It was rather a miserable ending to an otherwise much needed break.   We had a last evening walk around before going to bed, knowing that we would start back on the road the following morning.

To be continued :-) 

I have put this section of my life story on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1