Cecil and mamie (c.1937 - 2006)

To revert to the early 40s – After the sale of Dent & Co, which had moved to Riebeeck Square, Cecil commenced  working at Bertrams Groot Constantia in  November  1943  meaning that he was up at the crack of dawn, commuting by bus to the bottom of Adderley Street, train to Wynberg from where he was collected with the rest of the Staff, conveyed to the cellars and back at night.   After a few years of this he bought an Austin 7 for £50 and commuted by road via Hout Bay. 

(Ed: It was in this car, assisted by my brother, Bob, at age ±11 that I gave myself driving lessons!)  

The Austin was later replaced with a new Vauxhall complete with classic  chromium flutes on the bonnet.

Not wishing Bertrams to go the same way as Dent & Co, Maskell, somehow organized the financing and building of a state of the art winery building complete with cement storage tanks.  Despite there being a war, hundreds of “quarter” casks of brandy were exported to India.  Cecil recalls pumping out some of the casks, adding colouring and these were sold at a higher price.

Enter the family’s latest addition a black Doberman-cross- Rhodesian Ridgeback named Piet (or Loafer) – black with a ridge down his back.  A fantastic watchdog.  He disappeared one day much to everyone’s sorrow and it was a month before some workers waylaid Cecil to report on some news.  Some varying descriptions were given but eventually Cecil was persuaded to go to a farm to see for himself.

Upon arrival he was warned not to go near this dog “or it will kill you!” but the dog was indeed Piet who promptly jumped into Cecil’s arms!  The farmer explained that he had bought Piet as a watchdog from some “Coloureds“ for protection.  He was paid “a couple of quid” and Piet returned home happily.  Who could forget the sight of Piet in full flight chasing Reuben, the chemist Mr Isaac’s delivery boy, on his bike, both feet in the air extended over the front wheel, down Camps Bay Drive.

(”Coloureds” was a somewhat derogatory term for people of mixed race eschewed/ shunned by both black and white “pure” races.)

An event that “seemed the end of the world” to Cecil and Mamie was when, in 1948/9, Bill had to be hurriedly admitted to the Isolation Ward of the Somerset Hospital with Scarlet Fever.  Visits were heartbreaking as no contact could be made – restricted to peering at each other through a closed glass window.  The fever probably was the cause of him having to later wear spectacles.

(Ed: I seem to recall actually having had a good time in hospital and that the stay was not long – but I stand to be corrected and, hey!, a break from school!)

Having bought two Studebaker trucks for the business, Cecil simultaneously  bought  a cream sedan  “Champion” model - the “yellow peril”  - for himself.

This car did several holiday trips to various parts of South Africa. The first, however, in the winter of 1949 was an extended family holiday to the Transvaal and thence to the Kruger National Park (in convoy with Gordon in his black, inherited Commodore) returning via the Garden Route.

Norris and Dora had both passed away by now and the offspring had received their inheritances. 

Cecil and Mamie accompanied by Glynn did a boat trip to Beira leaving the boys to be looked after by Les and Beryl.

Cecil parted company with Bertrams at the end of  June 1950,  after several incidents of which he disapproved.  Finding employment post-war was never easy however, and he accepted an offer from Alf Masson to join his Trigwear Company, which made ties and other neckwear – Cecil purchased shares costing £1,000.  First premises were a building near the United Tobacco Co off Kloof Street.  After a few moves of premises and ongoing negligible profits at Trigwear, Cecil left to join “Canada Dry” part of the Pepsi Cola group.  He was to train to take the position as Manager but the overtime was “a killer”.  Stuttafords came next.  In his first job he shared an office with four “non-europeans”.  

Times were definitely not easy, to the point that Mamie, with great determination and resolve to “keep up appearances etc”, took a clerical position with ESCOM working in the accounts department.  Here she worked closely with Mary Carroll and Joy Littlejohn – the latter her cousin’s wife and the former to eventually become a “sister-in-law” when she married George!  Suffice it to say that the Studebaker was written off in a crash, was replaced with a Czechoslovakian “Skoda”, then a 1937 Chevrolet Coupé, and as money leaked back into the system and the children left school, a new 600cc two-stroke “Lloyd” and, in December 1959, a Renault Dauphine.

(Ed: The latter two cars, both Bill and Bob thought of and treated as Ferraris!)

The children were educated in Camps Bay at the Primary School and then the High School, except for Bill whose last four years were spent at St George’s Grammar School.  Bob did spend a year at St George’s but it is still  up for debate as to who learnt what from whom!  He returned to Camps Bay High School to finish (?) his education.

A further “blue” day for Cecil & Mamie, involving Bill, was his decision in 1959 to leave South Africa and go to Rhodesia.