Page 167 - Bulletin 7 2003

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we were all complete novices, I don’t think it would have got off the ground at all. But
I’m happy to say that the book has been selling well and, because of the limited print-

run, we hope it will become a sought-after Africana publication.

Contents

Without major sponsorship or funding, we had to restrict the contents and decided to

take as our theme the families whose names appear on streets within the village. In all,
18 streets are named after people who either made a noteworthy contribution or were

well known members of the community, such as:

Anton Benning who became a founder member of Nasionale Pers, the Afrikaanse

Handelshuis & Sanlam, of which he was a director. He was one of the first
directors of the Kommetjie Estates, which owned the local area. In 1902, in his

will, this remarkable self-made man (who left school at the age of 12 and became

apprenticed to a carpenter) made provision in the Benning Trust for bursaries for
needy children to enable them to matriculate.

Willem Kirsten, owned the boarding house and shop in Kommetjie from 1911

and in the early years, being the only residential accommodation for
holidaymakers, the boarding house became very popular. Famous guests included

General Smuts and the historian, Professor Eric Walker.

A member of our task team, Annaleen Erasmus, who happens to be the grand-daughter

of Willem Kirsten, undertook the daunting task of researching the family names and
unearthed photographs and information relating to 15 of them. Sadly, we were unable

to include many interesting anecdotal accounts of everyday life in the old days, as told
by surviving members of these families, but there have been some rewarding moments

since publication.

A limited number of guests were invited to our first official book launch at Imhoff’s

Gift Farm, (the second, informal and chatty launch included all members of the Friends