A different view on current affairs & history
From the swansong of Arnold Paikin to the debut swan dive of Clive Cameron, it was a weekend of high drama as norms, precedents and etiquette were summarily ignored and cast aside. It was an object lesson of how to let one’s hair down and to hell with precedent and regulations. The only redeeming feature was that everybody enjoyed themselves without killing themselves in the process.
The phenomenon of recycling is a First World concept yet the whole world needs to embrace it. If recycling is to be adopted by Third World countries as well, solutions will have to be found to overcome its two most contentious issues: cost and work opportunities.
In line with best practice, the Joburg Metro has announced its intention to role out recycling in the Metro as from 1st July 2018. As might have been predicted, like all change, there are protagonists and naysayers. In any environment of costs constraints conflated with the urgent requirement to create jobs, how can a third world city meet both requirements simultaneously.
I believe that they can and will illustrate how it is possible.
Main picture: Is this what will happen? Separate bins per category of recyclable?
It was probably when speaking to Joan Clark about her book on the history of VP – Victoria Park School – that I came to hear about the McCleland Trophy. Fortunately my kind cousins provided the details.
This blog fills a lacuna in the McCleland history.
Main picture: Victoria Park High School
Located half way between Port Elizabeth and Jeffreys Bay, the Van Stadens River mouth has always been a place where the denizens of Port Elizabeth could relax away from the hurly-burly and bustle of Port Elizabeth. Initially the holiday makers would have to bring everything with them – from the pots and pans to the canvas roof over their heads – on their carts and wagons.
Today, it sports rondawels, chalets and facilities to cater for all one’s needs. But its attraction is its beauty and tranquillity with miles of sand dunes in both directions
Main picture: Van Stadens Mouth from Cadles in 1870 by Sarah Holland, the earliest drawing of Van Stadens
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Robert Leslie McCleland has kindly succumbed to my pressure and tender mercies to produce a history of his line of the McCleland family. As I am totally in the dark regarding what I call the Gerald McCleland lineage, I am extremely grateful for his filling in this part of the McCleland clan’s history.
Main picture: Gerald McCleland 1870-1955
The establishment of the Erica School is a pointed example of what is possible when one person has the passion and determination to achieve their goal. In the case of the Erica School, it was a young woman of 26 who exuded this zeal and an almost fanatical determination, despite patriarchy being the dominant social norm.
The name of this trailblazer was Mary Anne van Wyk. The reasons for this intensity and forbearance is not particularly clear; suffice to say that she displayed an apparent timidity which concealed “a brave independence and an inflexible adherence to duty.”
Main picture: Erica School building
With the advent of these two innovations, the speed of communication surged by leaps and bounds. The first to make its mark was the telegraph in 1861 which enabled long distance communication for the first time albeit in written form. Nonetheless the telegraph reduced the speed of transmission of a message to Cape Town from a week to several minutes. The introduction of the telephone in 1882 to the residents of Port Elizabeth would initially only benefit the local residents but that drawback too would be overcome when inter town telephone lines were laid.
Main picture: South Africa’s first telephone exchange switchboard was installed in Port Elizabeth during 1882. The telephone exchange was later transferred to Queenstown in the 1920s or ’30s, and was in use there until 1979.
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The history of gaseous fuel, important for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes throughout most of the 19th century, and the first half of the 20th century, began with the development of analytical and pneumatic chemistry in the 18th century.
Port Elizabeth took advantage of these developments when on the 1st September 1862 the Port Elizabeth Gas Company was formed. Initially gas was to be used for lighting.
Main picture: The gas works in North End prior to 1914
Main picture: Cable end coming ashore at Blaawberg, Cape Town in 1944
Despite being a small proportion of the town’s population, the Jewish community has always been prominent in Port Elizabeth mainly due to their business and commercial acumen, but they also played a prominent role in civic affairs.
It is fair to say that everybody either had a Jewish school mate, friend, or neighbour. In the case of the McCleland’s it was the Siesel’s who had escaped from Nazi Germany in the early 1930s. Arriving in Port Elizabeth with nothing but a suitcase, Mr Siesel opened a trading operation catering for the black population. The Siesel’s were our neighbours across the road in Mowbray Street, Newton Park.
Main picture: Western Road Synagogue used primarily by Jews of German and British extraction
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