Elizabeth Daisy McCleland: Overcoming Adversity

By Dean McCleland in McClelands, Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

Granny Mac was more than our grandmother, she was the matriarch of the family. Adversity came in many forms, all steeling her for the next calamity. But she endured, persevered and overcame all these trials and trubulations. First the family lost its farm on the Gamtoos due to floods, then the cattle herd at De Stades due to rinderpest, but the cherry on the top was the death of her husband, Harry William, due to Black Water Fever in 1925. Despite all this misfortune and adversity, she survived and prospered. With her tiny frame and diminutive size, she was the epitome of the fighter that she was.

This is the story of that amazing woman.

Main picture: Schoenmakerskop and Daisy’s Tea Room with its famous home-made buns became a popular destination due to the convergence of a number of simultaneous events namely the invention of the motor car and the opening of the coastal road to Schoenies in 1922.

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Guy Fawkes: Gives you Wings

By Blaine McCleland in McClelands 0 Comment

I think our kids have missed out on a great deal of fun

Guy Fawkes was as eagerly anticipated as Christmas.  The presents were better at Christmas but nothing could touch the excitement or the sheer irresponsibility of it.  Boys were designed with this in mind –  launching rockets from your back garden, Catherine wheels spinning, Roman candles spewing and daring each other to hold lady crackers in your hand.  I think I managed to progress to a big bang resting on an open palm.  In short I was a woes.

Main picture: Typical Balsa wood model aircraft construction

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My Rocket Scientist Brother: A Youth of Normality

By Dean McCleland in Family Histories, McClelands, Other Personal, Personal 0 Comment

This blog just comprises vignettes written by my brother mainly to prove that despite his intelligence, he had a normal upbringing. What is singularly important is that he experienced the same anxieties, boredom and surprises as the rest of us. Only now after 50 years have I finally heard about Blaine’s entanglement with the law. What an admission. I never knew a thing. This is a random collection of Blaine’s musings of a life in a different age, an age of innocence and discovery. This is Blaine’s story.

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