Amanzimtoti resident takes a trip down memory lane

A HOME filled with loving memories and childhood wonder.  This is how Heather Ann Symons, 74, fondly recalls her time spent at 33 Main Road, Doonside. The building that now houses the SUN offices was once occupied by the Brown family. Heather, who has lived in Amanzimtoti her whole life, was just 11-years-old when her family moved into the house.

“I was born in Pietermaritzburg and my parents, Alfred and Moreen, moved down here when I was two and my brother was four, we stayed in a house opposite Warner Beach Primary School. We moved to Doonside when I was 11 and lived there for three years. At the time we could only rent until we couldn’t lease the place anymore.  In those days everything was so safe. We used to cross over the railway line and go to the tearoom nearby called Pot Luck where they had a jukebox and had such fun. There was also a caravan park nearby with houses and caravans where people permanently lived and some of the children also went to school with me. We used to walk along the railway to and from school every day.”

She fondly recalled her parents having to call her for supper because she was always out playing on the trees.

“I was very tomboyish when I was young. My grandparents also lived with us and my grandmother always said that she would make a lady of me. She would make me walk with books on my head up and down the long passage. We did not live in the house for very long after my grandmother passed away. She died in hospital after having a stroke at home. My grandfather was a Scotsman named James ‘Jock’ Brown and I called him grandpa Jim and I can’t remember my grandmother’s name but I called her granny Brown.”

ALSO READ: A trip down memory lane on Bhengu Road Grandpa Brown owned a veggie shop down the road next door to the old Post Office.

“The area has not much changed much. It was a three-bedroom house and I had very happy memories. I was quite young when we lived at the house but I know I was very happy. I was at boarding school when I was five and I was very unhappy. When my parents moved to the house they took me out of boarding school so I was delighted.”

The two main bedrooms were converted into offices.

Reminiscing on her rebellious teenage years, Heather said, “My parents would sit around a big kitchen table and would drink tea. When it was very hot in the summer, they would put off the lights in the evenings. My friends and I were up in the backyard playing and chatting while sneaking a smoke.  The next thing I remember is my parents yelling for me because they saw the glow of our cigarettes. We were about 14 and were puffing away. But, I actually got the cigarettes from my grandpa’s shop. It was just a teenage phase at the time.”

She and her husband, Alan, went to Warner Beach Primary School and later attended Kingsway High School. ALSO READ: Celebrating 76 years of aviation history

“He was a grade higher than me and in Grade 10 we started going out. We got married in 1966, we have three children Melinda, Shane and Gary who is late, seven grandchildren one of which is late and two great-grandchildren. We are very much part of their lives.”

Heather’s mother passed away 12 years ago and her father passed away 50 years ago.

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