Morning Mirror 68 21st October 2003 |
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Readers of your Morning Mirror both home and abroad may be interested to know that my Dad, Wally Townshend turns 90 on the 18th October. We will have a small gathering of some of his friends as he is fairly frail and tires fairly quickly. Many old residents of Bulawayo and others outside the country will no doubt remember him from his days at Alick Stuart in Abercorn St., Townshend and Butcher in 9th Avenue, and then in Abercorn St. opposite where the current premises are today, and then until recently at Retreat Service Station. He will also be remembered from his years at Chairman of the SPCA and the many years as PTA Chairman of both Moray and Gifford Technical Schools and an Alderman of the City Council. Should any of his old friends and colleagues wish to contact him, kindly do so through e mailing dobbo@mweb.co.zw May today there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. "I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly." Jean Tuckey NZ Today I was thinking back to my Rhodesian Heritage and some of the stories my gran used to tell me about the good old days, baring in mind Nana was born in 1903, which would have made her one hundred if she'd still been alive. Given things as they are I'm rather glad she isn't around to see what has happened to our beloved land. Her parents come up to Rhodesia from the Cape in 1894 on The Martin Trek, her mother was originally Martha Van Rooyen married to a Rudolph who died soon after arriving in the country and she then married Adriaan Hefer one of the single fellows on the trek. My gran's actual name was Martha Ada after her mom although everyone called her TOT, it must have had something to do with being 4'10" tall and as you may recall dynamite does come in small packages. I remember when I was about ten we went to Salisbury to visit my great grandmother who was known to all as "Queen Victoria". Old Godfrey Huggins, later Sir and then a Lord was her doctor and friend, who eventually had to take away her drivers licence when she turned 90. Apparently, she refused to park correctly in angled parkings, ignored fines and repeatedly told any poor constable who tried to give her a ticket that when she came to Salisbury there weren't any streets let alone parking places. It just so happened to be pension day the day we visited and normally the old girl looked a million dollars, but, this particular day she wore a very shabby looking dress, no make-up an old drab coat and decidedly worn out shoes. When my gran asked her what on earth she was doing dressed like Orphan Annie, she merely replied , "it's pension day today and if I go to the post office looking like a million dollars they will think I don't need the money and won't give me my pension." Both these unbelievably charismatic, strong and fiercely independent women contributed so much to the development and creation of our wonderful country, faced adversity that we could not even begin to contemplate, worked long hard hours on their farms, overcame the elements and odds to help forge a country that was indeed the jewel of Africa, with a promise for a wonderful future and life for us and our grand children. What a tragic outcome. I feel sure they shudder or as the saying goes turn over in their graves every day, watching all their hard work and efforts literally going down the drain. I was fortunate to be a forth generation Rhodesian and my daughter fifth generation. I look back with pride and in my heart I know I will always be a " Rhodie Girl". Unfortunately, my daughter and my granddaughter will never know what a special place Rhodesia was in the "Good Old Days" and never appreciate just how special their heritage really is. I hope and pray some semblance of normality will soon return. MERLE MCNEILAGE
IF THERE IS GOING TO BE NO CRICKET THIS YEAR ... LETS ALL GO TO BARBOURFIELDS AND SUPPORT OUR FABULOUS HIGHLANDERS !! APPARENTLY IT'S VERY SAFE AND LOADS OF FUN. Faith is the bird that feels the light, and sings while the dawn is still dark. Tagore Hello God, I called tonight You see, I can't quite make it I want to ask you please to keep, Give me faith, dear God, to face I thank you God, for being home Your number, God, is the only one So thank you, God, for listening "The biggest challenge in the world today is not sexually transmitted disease, it's emotionally transmitted disease." - Mike Lipkin - A person asked Confucius, "What surprises you most about mankind?" Confucius answered, "They lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. By thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future and they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived..... " |