Page 128 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

Main Road in our gowns and slippers and were nearly at the “Matchbox” when the

streetlights blazed on to mark the end of this trial blackout!

During the war a radar beacon was erected on Seal Island, although we did not know what

it was at the time. It was taken away again after the war. The lighthouses at Roman Rock
and Cape Point had their lights extinguished. I was sorry about that as I loved to count the

flashes as a child. Simon’s Town was out of bounds to those over 16 years, unless permit
holders. I remember my parents and older brother getting permits to go to visit my

grandfather during his final illness in False Bay Hospital, then at Simon’s Town, in 1941. I

used to visit friends in Simon’s Town freely and used to stay with one family in the
dockyard for sleepovers. Once a fellow-traveller on the train from Simon’s Town was

stretched across the three-seater opposite me. I recognised him as the famous dog Just

Nuisance, no doubt on his way to round up sailors. He was still there when I got out at St.
James.

Apart from those of our families who went off to fight in the war in North Africa, at sea, or

in the air over Europe, the older men, and many of them with First World War experience,
were mobilised at the old Aquarium Laboratory on St. James beach as members of the

National Volunteer Brigade, and would dress in khaki and were given rifles. They would

go on manoeuvres along Muizenberg Beach and at other sites and formed a first line of
defence against any invasion from the sea, remote as that possibility seemed. There was a

great spirit of cameraderie among them and no doubt the exercise did them good too, and
they felt they were doing something for the war effort.

Not to be outdone by the men the women were busy too, knitting socks and balaclavas for

the men “up north”, or helping pack parcels for Ouma Smuts’ Gifts and Comforts Fund.

“St. James Hotel” was a venue for those involved in doing handwork, under the auspices of
S.A.W.A.S., or was it the Red Cross? I remember my mother making little lambs out of

sheepskin for sales of work. Dr. Schulze gave some First Aid classes to them at about this

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