Parkmore back in the day

More from the dirt roads in Parkmore:

Long-time Parkmore residents of 54 years moved into the area in 1964 and have lived on the same property which was surrounded by dirt roads.

Bennet and his wife Pauline reflected on the days when they moved into their house on 14th street and how much everything has changed since then.

They recall that the area was mostly a field and Sandton City had not been built yet.

Bennet pointed across the road where his children put planks in the tree to climb it. “They used to ride their BMX bikes on the dirt roads. On a Sunday morning, there used to be a cow from the Arnolds that came from the Field and Study. It would wander around and eat our grass because there was no fencing,” Bennet reminisced.

Pauline remembers the fox hunt club that used to come through the streets. Bennet said they would take a fox skin and drag it through the streets.

Pauline said, “They would then chase it with their dogs and on horses. They would wear their red outfits and would come out almost every Sunday. However, it stopped a few months later.”

Bennet said when it was still a farm a man would come by on a bicycle to take orders for food. “They would write it in a book and bring your order, then at the end of the month, you would settle your bill.”

Pauline mentioned the majestic peacocks that roamed the area and covered the brown grass with their array of purple and green. “When we first moved in I heard the screaming, I thought it was someone being murdered. I had no car or telephone and a young baby, I didn’t know what to do. Only to find out it was the peacocks screaming.”

Bennet is also an avid handyman and had the patio he built featured in the May 2007 edition of The Home Handyman.

Today, Bennet and Pauline keep themselves busy. Pauline tends to the house and her beautiful garden and Bennet is building a miniature steam engine in his workshop.