The pupils who carried their chairs and tables from Newlands, up the hill to their new school recently met again, after 52 years, when Hoërskool Die Burger’s class of 1964 held a reunion at the school’s clubhouse.
Liza Kriel, one of the pupils from that year, reminisced about the first time they stepped into their new school.
“We had just started in Grade 8 at the old school. A few weeks later, all the school’s pupils marched to Bergbron where a new school awaited us. This is where the current school is,” she said.
The school and classmates are fond memories for Liza who married her high school sweetheart Hannes Kriel. He has since, sadly, passed away.
Liza, who organised the reunion, spent more than three months searching for her old classmates on Facebook and other social media platforms.
“I created a group chat with some of the class of 1964 and it helped locate even more of our classmates. Unfortunately we could not locate everyone as it’s been half a century since most of us last met. Today 18 were able to make it. The others have either passed away or I wasn’t able to locate them,” she said.
Those who attended came from as far afield as Oudtshoorn, George and Potgietersrus (Mokopane).
“It has been so long since we last got together that some of us didn’t even recognise each other – we had to rely on our nametags! But to see everyone after so many years is definitely a blessing,” said Liza.
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