As most residents might already know by now, the Standerton Advertiser’s office building on Burger Street has been sold.
Although this means the end of an era for the newspaper’s location, it does not mean the end of the Standerton Advertiser. Your local weekly publication is continuing its print edition and its online presence.
The selling of the old building brings with it the challenge of packing up everything that was stored over decades.
Where do we go with all the furniture, outdated equipment such as old telephones, cameras, CDs, floppy disks, and printed photos that were once published in the paper?
There are also old advertising order books, receipt books and much more. Among these old items were also a few strange items.
In my many years as a journalist, I must confess that a plastic bag containing dental imprints of what appears to be that of children, along with syringes and vials of local anaesthetic, had me baffled and curious.
However, among the remnants of bygone eras are also many a treasure for those with a love for all things old or Standerton-related – people as the Kasselman family.
Copies of the Standerton Advertiser, meticulously preserved throughout the paper’s existence, have caught their attention.
They have offered to preserve these for the sake of current and future Standertonians. Although these publications belong to Caxton, the Kasselmans will keep them safe.
The newspaper was established in 1902 and has seen Standerton in every season. Some pages dating back to 1924 have been laminated, while stacks of editions of the early 1940s were stored in the vault over the years.
“The Standerton Advertiser is embedded in our community and our history and we want to maintain this heritage,” said Jandré Kasselman.
On behalf of Caxton and the Standerton Advertiser team, we thank the Kasselman family for their dedication to our town and for the safe keeping of our legacy.
In the meantime, do not forget to grab your copy of the Standerton Advertiser every week.
We will still be in Burger Street offices until the sale is finalised. Stories can be shared with our journalist, Zell-Mari de Jager.
Contact her on 072 666 2946.