‘H’ is for horse

I am proud to say that The Umhlali Preparatory Centenary Book, produced here at the Courier, is now available for sale at the school’s reception desk.

The book is an absolute treasure trove of our area’s history of which the school has played such an integral part over the last 100 years.

A task team appointed by the school (and some of our staff) spent untold hours sifting through old photographs and documents, carefully preserved by the school, to decide what to include and what to leave out.

It was a mammoth task. As it stands the book is 100 pages, packed full of the school’s vibrant history, including the personal recollections of a wide variety of past pupils and teachers, many who remain well known figures in our community.

There’s the story of the first head boy, Arthur Askew, who later married Granny Pam and together they ran Lorraine Pre-Primary. Granny Pam and Arthur were like surrogate grandparents to me and, I am sure, about half the community from that era.

Then there’s the fascinating history of the little sugar town of Umhlali written by Tim Johnson, whose grandfather was Mannie Ladlau.

Four generations of the Ladlau family have attended the school, starting with Mannie in 1926. Val Slevin, Allan Hirsch and Natalie Bergstrom are a few of the North Coast people you can meet as you peruse the pages.

Over the past 100 years the school has grown from a small farm school where pigs might sneak into class and cause havoc, to a thriving hive where more than 1 000 children are educated with excellence.

I have a feeling the books are going to run out fast, so I suggest you do not delay and buy your copy.

My own experience of Umhlali was a mixed bag. My grade one teacher, Mrs Bremner, will forever be the standard against which I measure all teachers. I vividly remember learning to read and write in her class, drawing the ‘h’ to look like a horse. I can still draw it pretty well (see exhibit A).

Story time at the end of each day was something I always looked forward to, with Enid Blyton taking us on wonderful adventures up the Magic Faraway Tree.

But mainly she genuinely loved us and loved to teach. She still does! More then 30 years later Mrs Bremner is still at her post.

Mrs Gericke had long silky blond hair, which we loved to brush for her. Mr Cas Steyn is the reason I don’t have an irrational fear of snakes. He kept brown house snakes in his classroom and during break he would allow us to pet them.

The snakes loved to slide up your arm, under your shirt and lie where it was warm across your shoulders (you are probably shrieking with horror right now but snakes can be very gentle creatures). When the bell went it was a bit of a panic to try and gently coax them out when they did not want to comply.

The weird thing about snakes is when they touch you with their cold skin the feeling lingers for some time, so it feels like they are still inside your shirt.

As life has a tendency of being it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. One teacher I remember for all the wrong reasons. She used humiliation to discipline us (thankfully she has since left the school). Nuff said.

I also made lasting friendships. I met two of my longest standing friends when we were only 12, Holly Hutchinson (nee Kavonic) and Amy-Lea Louis (nee Stranack), who is now a local physio. Holly and I bonded over our passion for animals and swapped Animal Talk magazines during break.

We were inseparable. Even though she now lives in Califorina, she continues to be a close confidante.

It all began “As the wind blows the cane” and certainly I am grateful I could share in a small part of the history of this proud school.