Page 130 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

At Star of the Sea Convent the nuns saw fit to have some sort of drill in case of air attack

and I remember our having to run to the culvert on the lower level near the playground

when the siren went off unexpectedly and crowding into it as a sort of apology for an air
raid shelter. In the normal way the siren at Kalk Bay would be tested every Friday morning

at 10 a.m. which we came to expect as a regular occurrence. On our visits to Cape Town
during the war it was interesting to hear the noonday gun go off and see the whole of

Adderley Street come to a standstill for the space of a minute or so before the reveille was
sounded, to remember those engaged in fighting a grim war. It was rather like the game of

statues that we played on the school playground.

My mother well remembered the Australian troops visiting Cape Town during the First

World War and when she knew the Aussies were due this second time around she set off

again to see what they got up to, and was able to report that their antics were just as
outrageous as those of their predecessors, what with climbing up poles and generally

disrupting life in the city. A friend of mine remembers how, when a group of them were
travelling between Cape Town and Simon’s Town on the train, a few of them darted out of

the train at St. James station, but were all caught and sent on their way having had their
escape attempt foiled. There was plenty of indulgence for them as it was felt they were on

their way to do some serious fighting.

To get a young adult’s perspective at that time I include some memories recounted to me

by Elizabeth Topping (nee Kay) who lived at “The Moorings” on the Main Road near the
“Seahurst Hotel”. She left school near the beginning of the war and attended UCT during

the years following. Her mother was a member of S.A.W.A.S. and was fully involved in
their fund-raising activities too. Mrs. Kay, like my mother, would bring home servicemen

and entertain them in a lively family environment. Elizabeth remembers being struck by

the contrast between the men and their dashing uniforms and the same ones in swimming
costumes when taken to St. James beach to swim, rather unlike the bronzed athletic young

men she was used to! She remembers how groups of local girls would join the visiting

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