3. 45 CAMPS BAY DRIVE
Shortly after, in June 1940, they heard of a house for sale: “Hopi House”, 45 Camps Bay Drive owned by an Attorney, de Wet, from Ceres price £850.
Cecil was able to negotiate a loan for the deposit from his father and obtained a bond from the United Building Society for the balance. The name “Hopi House” was changed to “Morland”.
Glynn Patricia arrived on Guy Fawkes Day – 5 November 1944 - brother-in-law, Alf having driven Mamie and Cecil to the Leeuwendal Nursing Home in the Gardens. What joy she brought and was to bring from her arrival. She was named firstly after Glynn Gardner, a friend of Mamie and Edna, and secondly Patricia after Cecil’s younger sister.
Over the years, as and when finance permitted, a number of improvements/extensions were undertaken.
Probably the most significant, was the enclosure of the front stoep to make a very large, lounge, which incorporated a huge picture window overlooking Barley Bay and replacement of the tile roof with wooden shingles.
(Ed: To my embarrassment – I learned in only early 2020 that the correct spelling apparently is: “Balie”.)
The suppliers were reluctant to make a window frame of the dimensions requested and Barlow of Richards and Barlow, a family friend, recommended leaded glass when asked to supply plate. Adamant, Mamie stood her ground: southeaster or no southeaster! Cecil had replaced the roof tiles three times – he spent many a night on the roof wiring and nailing down the tiles being loosened by the notorious southeaster.
Later a bathroom and shower with separate toilet was added to the rear of the house together with a bedroom for the two boys. The original bathroom became the passage to the new bathroom suite and contained a vast linen cupboard cum pantry – Mamie’s pride and joy and happy hunting ground for the children! A lock-up garage was added at the back of the property necessitating a sloping, nightmare of a driveway. In time, the maids’ room was converted to become an en suite bathroom to the boys’ room.
Cecil personally, and much earlier, had built on the laundry, rear carport and fowl-run partly financed from a bonus from the new owner of Dent & Co who had naively promised Mr. Armfield a percentage of the first year trading profits. Armfield had juggled costs and so on at Bertrams and awarded Cecil a few hundred pounds. They were always good, but not necessarily close, “friends”.
In later years, whilst Mamie was away on a trip, Cecil demolished the wall between the lounge and dining room and moved the dangerously slippery front-door entrance to the side of the house so that the main entrance was actually through the dining room. The cork floor of the lounge was uplifted and replaced with black slate. This undertaking conceived from a glass or two of brandy and requiring immense fortitude!
We had our share of usual pet life over time: dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens but graduated into the “exotic” as well with the conversion of the remnants of the front verandah steps into a fishpond, a tropical fish tank in the lounge – with fluorescent overhead illumination – A second fishpond near the chicken-run (fowl-hok) and a bird aviary.
