Part 1: Early days - as recollected by Betty Sprott.
In 1944/5, when petrol rationing was very strict, a good many of the horsy residents of Gillitts, Hillcrest and Kloof felt that their social life was almost nonexistent so they arranged to have a “meet” each Sunday. A “cap” was taken, with the accumulated funds going to the Spitfire fund, or other war charities.
A gathering place such as the old Pepperpots or Christians was arranged and about 10 – 15 riders, parents and children, would arrive and then go on a ride for 2 or 3 hours returning to the home of the nominated hostess of the week. The wives who were not riders would collect at the house, bringing contributions of food and drinks, and a wonderful tea awaited the return of the thirsty and hungry horsemen.
John Gersigny, John Gordon Thomson, Edward Lawden and George Rawdon, were the instigators of this friendly club (although there had been a Kloof and District Riding Club pre war which had died) and the outings and social gatherings were so popular and so much enjoyed that in the late 1946 it was decided to try and lease or buy land and build a clubhouse and form a bigger riding club; to hold paper chases and gymkhanas etc, and generally provide entertainment and promote horsemanship amongst the young.
In the 1940’s and 50’s the whole area was under wattle and not cane, the firebreaks between the plantations provided long gallops on grass. In the hot weather the wattles provided lovely cool shade.
John Gersigny and John Gordon Thomson rode many miles trying to find suitable ground and through the interest and generosity of Mr. Mackenzie of the Natal Wattle Co, the long lease of the present Shongweni Club’s land was arranged. Club members had to remove the stumps of the wattle trees at their own cost and they provided labour – grooms and gardeners –to build a few crude stables, and the first clubhouse of mud and sticks, which is still standing.
George Rawdon, then a retired dental surgeon who later designed and built Rawdon’s Hotel, was in charge of the building. He became the first chairman of the club, which had changed its name from the Kloof and District Riding Club to the Shongweni Club.
At that time it was hoped that the club would become a country club and that the non-riding parents of horse mad children would be able to fill their day in playing tennis and swimming, but unfortunately Mr. Skit Field had the idea of starting Kloof Country Club at the same time, and so Shongweni remained a riding club.
As membership increased, more stables were built and a manager, Mr. Hudson, was appointed to supervise grooms, stable management and maintain the grounds and fencing.
Mr. Hudson had been in the Royal Artillery in the 1914/18 war and was excellent with horses, he introduced a few hounds and soon Shongweni had a drag hunt going. As Mr. Hudson had a collapsed lung due to war wounds, he was unable to blow a hunting horn and so the hounds were often hunted by Peter Woods and Guy Radmore. The amusing situation arose that often young hounds would stay near Mr. Hudson as they knew him so well, while Peter or Guy were blowing their hearts out trying to get the hounds on a new line. The drag was usually laid through the wattle plantations and across the country where the Summerveld stables now exist. Pauline and Morris Mondmont owned most of the land there, and there were no houses, only one or two farms.
Ian and Jean Chauvel became keen members of the Club and introduced the game of polo cross which was played every Sunday morning. Each month the club held a special buffet Lunch organized by a very efficient Ladies committee which was usually preceded by a special event- a paper chase or cross country ride etc. As we had no club license everybody brought his or her own drinks and it was a very merry occasion.
Polo cross was a very new game for SA but became quite popular, and this Shongweni mixed team played Muriel Higgs Durban team at Kings Park, and “at home” on several occasions.
Until the late fifties Polo based at the Durban Horse and Polo Club near the Blue Lagoon, had been played in Durban on the site of the old airport. At that time the Durban Corporations made other plans for the ground and polo was asked to move. The Durban Horse and Polo Club were duly compensated for the loss of the field. Polo had already started at Shongweni in the mid fifties and with the resultant exodus from Durban, polo cross gave way to polo.
When Charles Fernandez became chairman the club bought the property on lease plus and extra piece of land where Charles was responsible for the leveling and creating of the no 1 International Ground for the SA Polo Association. The club ground was also improved and leveled and the tournament stables were built.
Dr. Crow another retired dental surgeon was in charge of grounds and was responsible for the planting of many trees including the avenue of Plain trees and azaleas that grace the club to this day.
Part 2: The Amalgamation and the 70’s - as recollected by Danny Kalil
In the early sixties riding was still very pleasant in Durban. There were several stable yards on the back of the Berea ridge such as Tony Figg’s and the well-known riding school of Muriel Higgs where most of Durban young equestrians learned how to ride.
Wendy Venniker had stables at home in Valley View Road near Mitchell High. From the Ridge riders would hack down along Burman Bush, through Athlone golf club and onto the beach or to the Durban Horse and Polo Club situated between the Newmarket stables and King’s Park. Polo had by then moved to Shongweni, but hacking and show jumping were very popular. Riding on the beach was great fun and one could gallop forever on the hard sand by the water edge. Mock hunts in the dunes were organized several times a year. Riders would collect at the Blue Lagoon, enjoy a stirrup cup, cross the Ellis Brown bridge, ride through the mangroves with water up to the horse’s bellies or higher and then gallop through the dunes behind the “Huntsman” right to Beachwood or Virginia. After a rest and refreshments the ride would walk back along the grass edge of the freeway.
The Durban City Council had other plans. In the early sixties the Durban Turf club was informed that the training of horses on the beach would no longer be permitted. The Turf Club was requested to make provision to move the horses to an area outside the municipality of Durban. In 1964 400 acres were bought from the County wattle Syndicate and Summerveld was born. By 1966 the complex was completed and by 1967 all the horses had been moved out of Newmarket. Riding on the Blue Lagoon beach was now forbidden as well as the crossing of the Ellis Brown Bridge.
The Durban Horse and Polo Club were given notice by the council and part of their grounds allocated to the Berea Rovers. Now you will remember that when the Durban polo ground had been expropriated in the late fifties the money for a new ground had gone into the coffers of the Durban Horse and Polo club. However the move to Shongweni was not a foregone conclusion as most members were reluctant to move so far in those days where one would go “all the way” to Hillcrest to have tea and scones at the Pepperpots as a Sunday outing. When horse floats were few and far between and horses traveled by rail.
The search for a new home started. First the north coast, then Pinetown area where a property owned by Danie and Liz du Toit next door to Kildare Lodge and across the road from the then Jockey Academy was considered until it was discovered that the area was to become industrial. So after many months and many miles it was decided that the only place with a future was Shongweni.
At the end of 1969 an A.G.M. was held at the Royal Hotel when the two clubs were amalgamated and Chris Moller elected chairman. The club’s new name became “The Durban Shongweni Club”. Rory Donellan a prominent young lawyer and a sportsman of note who had been actively engaged in both clubs drew the new and present constitution.
Quite a few of the clauses that are or have been questioned today are mechanisms inserted to avoid a possible takeover by any one of the club’s sections.
The stables in town remained open, leased from the council on a month-to-month basis and became known as the King’s Park section of the club. Most town members stayed there. But, with the loss of land, paddocks became small and barren. Out rides were very restricted.
In the summer of 1972 I moved my horses to Shongweni not long after Colonel Gordon had taken over the day-to-day running of the Club. I was lucky. The polo season had just finished and, as a result, there were stables available.
In those halcyon days stabling costs were R18 for ponies, R20 for hacks and R22 for polo ponies because they were fed oats and exercised. During the polo season polo strings would be trotted round the perimeter of Highveld, the top field, for half an hour or so, one groom to four horses, under the watchful eye of Colonel Gordon.
Wattle surrounded the club and in the early morning buck and guinea fowl would be seen on the fields. There was no toll road, no Kassier road and Cliffdale was a small dirt track. It made for extremely pleasant outrides along the firebreaks. From time to time one would meet the Syndicate’s mules grazing between the trees or a troop of monkeys, this would cause great consternation amongst the horses.
In 1975 Tongaat acquired the plantation from The Wattle Syndicate and over the next few years the trees were replaced by cane.
The 70’s were a very busy decade.
During the season Polo was the main core of the activities. With 12 to 15 permanent players, plus visitors from neighboring clubs, many chukkas were being played every Saturdays and Sundays. A very active ladies committee provided lunches, teas and cakes and catered for tournaments.
On weekends the place was teeming with horses trucks and grooms. Every July a junior coaching clinic was held on Bridgemead for schoolboys from outlying farming areas who wanted to polish their game. Apart from friendly Round-Robins and the Putu Pot tournament with Stoney Hill, the club also hosted the Inter-Provincials, the High Goal tournament, the Internationals, and finally, at the end of August, last of the season, Shongweni’s own tournament. On many occasions this would be rained off, as the rains seemed to start earlier in those days.
Stabling was very much in demand and permanent horses were restricted to 60 with an extra 20 pony admitted for the polo season. There was a constant waiting list and one had to wait months to bring in a new horse. Colonel Gordon was an excellent and strict horse master. Every afternoon he would stand by the water trough as the horses were brought back from paddock and would examine each one, looking for superficial injuries or lameness.
Dot Roberts a well-known show jumper was chairman of a very active show committee. In June 1973 the club hosted the S.A. Dressage Championship where one could admire such stars as Allan Jaffe’s “Ko-I-Noor” from the Transvaal and Gail Taylor ‘s “Oyster Box” from the Cape, our own star being Liz du Toit with “ Air Marshall”. There were many well-sponsored shows. One that springs to mind was the 1975 Clover Dairies sponsored show where Mickey Louw riding his Irish imported gelding “Fancy that“ broke the S.A. high jump record. This record is still standing at 2.28m! Dot and her committee were responsible for the building of the judge’s box on the edge of the jumping arena.
In 1977 Jackie and Duncan Bridel introduced Eventing to the club. A course in and around the grounds was build by a small band of dedicated helpers. It was a great success and in1978 it grew bigger and better and was sponsored by Intercontinental Breweries, brewers of Carling Black Label, who advertised by bringing their beer drays pulled by teams of huge shire horses. The course had “roads and tracks” along the wattle and the dam provided natural water jumps. This event has become a club’s institution and has been run every year since with various sponsors such as Mainstay, N.M.I. and SAPPI.
In 1978, after much hesitation from the totally polo oriented committee; the Cato Ridge Polo Crosse club was allowed to join and form a new section. It was the largest polo Crosse club in S.A. with 42 playing members and rated 5th strongest in the country. Ground was allocated in the area of the club, which today holds the Farmer’s Market and the dressage Arenas. It was just big enough for 2 polo Crosse fields.
The 2 sections never really saw eye to eye. The polo Crosse members seldom came to the main clubhouse and were accused of forming a club within the club. The polo section was resented for refusing the use of its field for polo Crosse tournaments. Now, one must know that the polo playing areas were hallowed ground and nobody could set a hoof there unless on a polo pony and carrying a stick, lay riders would immediately be ordered off by Colonel or Mrs. Gordon.
The polo Crosse section nevertheless managed to host big tournaments on their two fields, one with record entries of 56 teams, and another being the S.A. Championships.
The clubhouse built from wattle and mud in the late forties, although cozy and picturesque, was deteriorating. The bar was small for the crowds that gathered there after matches and the main room could not accommodate the many members attending the A.G.Ms which had to be held at the Polo Pony Hotel.
After several special general meetings the plans and finance for a new building were approved. The new clubhouse was built in 1978 by James Clark a polo-playing member.
In 1979 Colonel Gordon left the club to go and assist his son Alistair, then a fledgling trainer, with his young horses. Stephen du Toit came to the rescue for a while and then in 1980 Jim Steele, also a polo player, was appointed Manager.
Part 3: The expropriation and the winds of change -as recollected by Danny Kalil
Until the end of the seventies the Club had a large paddock behind the visiting stables and a pleasant exit through the wattles with a little stream to hop over before reaching open country. The National road department however decided that the national road (now M13), which rambled its way through Kloof, Fields Hill, Pinetown and 45th Cutting, would not, in years to come, be able to cope with increased traffic. Plans were made to build a new freeway. In the first draft the road went through the front of the Club cutting off parts of both polo fields and the jumping arena. This was disastrous. The S.A.P.A. came to the rescue and together with the Club’s Trustees and everybody’s lawyers presented the roads department with replacement facts and figures and finally the plans were changed. But it did entail losing all the back paddocks and a piece of ground above Bridgemeade. After much wrangling with the road department in 1982, the Club finally received R25,000.00 in compensation and this was safely invested for further developments.
With plans for the freeway finalized a quarry was opened in the Cliffdale area and little peaceful Cliffdale road was bestowed provincial status, was widened and tarred. Now according to road maps the Club would end up an island surrounded by busy traffic. Luckily Tongaat had some sugar land on the club side of the proposed freeway and requested access, a tunnel was thus planned and the way to out rides was assured.
In 1980 James Steele was appointed Club manager. Born in Scotland Jim had motor raced with Jackie Stewart. Leaving after a bad accident, He had purchased his own pub in Edinburgh. He later entered the hotel trade and came to South Africa .He had joined the Club as a polocrosse player and then had switched to polo. Back problems put a stop to his riding. Jim was an efficient and friendly manager, his wife Jayne being a bookkeeper also helped by doing the Club’s books, which until then had been done outside the Club and thus afforded a much tighter control over the finances of all the various events.
And various they were; beside all the equestrians activities and the Horse Sales the Club had become a venue for dog shows, model planes displays and competitions, a meeting place for veteran car rallies without mentioning a landing place for the odd microlites.
In 1981 after twelve years at the helm Chris Moller although still on the committee for another two years, handed over the reins to Brian Goldie. He also resigned as a trustee and this appointment was taken over by Ian Chauvel. In 1982 the new clubhouse was extended with a men’s new change room and the bar, Ron Kalil donated the bar counter fridges and Duncan Bridel the fireplace. That same year the committee and the S.A.P.A. had a difference of opinion regarding the Bridgemead fees which had remained unchanged since 1973 .The facts being that the Club had purchased the land. The S.A.P.A. had paid for the developments part of which expenses had gone back to them after the amalgamation. The Club went to Senior Council for opinion and the agreement was cancelled in May 1983. Negotiations for a new agreement started in the second part of that year and were finalized in November 1987.
Polo had been going very well, the Club with Mike Pope as captain went to most tournaments often fielding two teams and sometimes players that had been left out went as a rover team. Around 1983 Luke Bailes decided to build his own field at home on Inanda road .It was an easy venue for Hillcrest players, it had all facilities and Luke, who was an excellent player himself, employed a couple of professionals to raise the standard. Some of the Club’s players changed venue, other gave up (costs had been going up steadily) and finally when not enough players were left to field even a practice game, the polo section died.
This was a great blow, but as they say when one door closes another opens!
In September of that same year, 1984, The Victoria County stables on the north coast closed its door and all its stablers en masse joined Shongweni. The Club being bereft of polo ponies, there were enough stables available for nine incoming horses. The group called themselves the “Happy Hackers” and so they were, enthusiastic and full of fun.
One of their members was the irrepressible Lorna Harris of Charcoal Haven and Coco Joe fame. The club social scene was about to explode.
Fairs were organized, Persian carpet sales, gymkhanas, racing evenings, barn dances, fashion shows, sundowners on the verandah, shirt and takkies parties, mud wrestling, box and dine evenings, beer fests, mock hunts…
I have a vision of Lorna standing on the bar saying “People, people listen...” proposing her latest idea to all present waving her Stetson and enthusing about what fun it was going to be.
Until then the bar at been run at weekends only manned by volunteers but the Club was becoming THE “watering hole” in the area. In 1985 the committee, with Duncan Bridel in the chair since 1984, decided to obtain a Liquor License, a barman, and open on a full time basis The Club was also becoming a popular venue for wedding receptions.
In 1986 under pressure of work Duncan resigned from the committee and Helen Williams who had been treasurer took over the chair.
It was under Helen’s Chairmanship in 1987 that the King’s Park section was finally dismantled. It had been run for years by Joyce Hay-Buchanan, a very dedicated Lady.
After her death in June 1983, Ron Kalil, Hans Franken and I had been put in charge of the financial affairs. Keeping an eye from the distance had become increasingly difficult as people who moved their horses into the yard could see no reason to join as members and there was nobody on the spot to control the movements of horses and owners. The stables were closed and after Helen failed to interest the Breeders Association in purchasing the buildings all usable parts were removed and transported to Shongweni.
In August 1987, suffering from ill health Jim resigned and the family left the Club. He suffered a stroke in November and sadly died the following April.
In September 1987 Allan Molloy was appointed manager. Allan originally hailed from Zimbabwe and was an electrician by trade. An all round horseman he was a polocrosse player as was Leah his wife, and their two teenage children. Allan had also played polo, done dressage and show jumping and was a course builder. Very energetic he took over both Jim and Jayne’s appointments; and was the first to computerize the Club as this would speed up office duties.
The old manager’s cottage built at the same time as the old clubhouse was deteriorating by the year and a new cottage had been in the pipeline for some times but now with Allan’s family needing more space the project was activated with Roy Caddow to supervise the construction.
If polo had faded into oblivion, polocrosse on the other hand was doing extremely well. The Club hosted the S.A. Championship in August 1987 with. Nine of Shongweni’s players having Natal colours, nine playing at Interprovincial level and Dee Botha, Mandy Wicks and Owen Holland sporting National colours. The following year Allan Molloy would be nominated Natal umpire of the Year and Dee Botha would receive the Natal Horse and Rider Personality of the year Award.
The section was chomping at the bit for more ground but although the S.A.P.A. had O.K.’d. the use of ground behind the goal posts on Highfield for tournaments the Agreement clearly stated that the field had to be maintained to international playing conditions.
Although it rarely made use of the top field, the S.A.P.A. still ran all its major Natal tournaments and an international one at the Club. This put a huge drain on the Club’s finances and with no polo section to provide income for the upkeep of the field the loss was in the R 20000.00 region. In the years to come the Committee would try to get out of the agreement but always to no avail.
In February 1988 Helen resigned from the Committee and Charles Cohen became the new Chairman. At that stage the Club had a membership of 435 and climbing, 80 horses in the stables and 38 on the waiting list. At this time there was even the thought of limiting membership to 500!
Allan proposed to organize a proper permanent yard within the visiting stables for the twenty odd horses that didn’t fit in the bottom yard and so it was done. The committee also arranged to hire the sugar cane land between the Club and the freeway to provide extra paddocks. Tongaat had been approached in view of selling the land but for some administrative reason subdivision was not possible.
With Allan involved in so many things administration and bookkeeping had taken a nosedive. In June 1988 Liz Bowes became the Club’s new bookkeeper. It took her the rest of the year to unravel the mess. The Committee was very unhappy about the many discrepancies that were found and Allan’s unwillingness to let Liz sort things out.
In January 1989 Allan was asked to resign.
The vacancy was advertised and Neil Smith was among the applicants. Neil also hailed from Zimbabwe where he had a long career in the mounted forces and been a member of the famed Grey Scouts. He was also well known to Peter Roberts, a committee member, as they both had competed in the same show jumping circuits some decades previously.
Neil started his duty as manager in April 1989 in time to move into the newly completed Manager’s cottage.
Among the new members being admitted in January 1990 were Cliff Horwell and Beth Leeb. What made them special is that they brought with them from the Transvaal a yet locally untried discipline: Carriage driving. This caused total confusion among the horses. Our very civilized thoroughbreds who think nothing of a truck whizzing past, or a tractor pulling an empty cane loader full of rattling chains, were in a state of panic at the sight of one of theirs being closely stalked everywhere by this thing on wheels that didn’t make any noise and didn’t smell. Eventually they got used to the odd combination. Driving became a club section and soon half a dozen carriages or so were seen around the area.
In April 1991 the polocrosse section was given the O.K. to build an ablution block with a verandah on the side of their playing field. They also erected pony lines and planted trees.
In October 1991 it was decided to build new accommodation for the staff as this had been long outstanding. Construction started forthwith and the building was ready for occupation by June1992.
At the 1991 A.G.M. Charles did not avail himself for re-election and Rob Cornell was elected Chairman Security was becoming a problem with political faction fighting (some of the grooms not being local lads had been attacked) and affirmative shopping (equipment, roofing material stolen, clubhouse broken in etc) .So the Club had a security system installed and took a contract out with a security firm. As horse buckets and blankets were stolen from the top yard and harm to the animals was a worry it was considered at the time to cut down the number of horses and to close that yard.
At the beginning of 1993 Tongaat who had supplied the Club’s water informed the committee that due to the drought it would no longer be able to do so. Connection to the Regional water became effective at the end of May 1993 and talks about drilling a borehole went on for some times.
At the beginning of 1994, Dressage Promotions which at been founded in 1987 By Liz du Toit, with the aim of encouraging competitive dressage and educated riding and had been closely associated with the Club for a number of years contacted the Committee with a proposition; would the Club allow them to build two sand dressage arenas for competitions on club ground if their members raised the necessary funds. The committee agreed and a large paddock adjacent to the polocrosse field was sacrificed.
In June 1994 Lorna Harris who was in the throes of starting a new restaurant, resigned from the committee. At the time the relationship between the Committee and the management had badly deteriorated as Committee instructions were totally disregarded and stabling members were complaining. Several left and in July 1995 the number of horses was down to 55. Committee members found this extremely frustrating and during 1995 seven committee members resigned. In June 1995 after Rob Cornell resignation I was voted to the chair.
In August 1995 the Committee learned with deep regret that Charles Cohen who had always been a stalwart supporter of the Club had died of a heart attack.
Over the years the polocrosse section had consistently complained about lack of space for their tournaments and the constant refusal of the S.A.P.A. to let them make use of Highveld although polo no longer played on the field. Of late there also were complaints about their playing field being neglected and reported holes not being repaired.
At the beginning of the 1996 season only two riders of the previously thriving polocrosse section, showed up for the first practice. The rest had moved to newly opened Chatterton Road polocrosse grounds in Pietermaritzburg. Thus, polocrosse suffered the same fate as polo, 12 years earlier.
At the 1996 A.G.M. a new committee was voted in with Martin Gilks as chairman.
At the beginning of 1997 Chris Rattray approached the committee with a view to restarting polo. The committee agreed, and the necessary arrangements made. However, the season was not a success and the experiment was not renewed.
At the end of the same year the Metro police approached Neil with a view to training horses for the police force. This had been Neil’s forte in the Grey Scouts. The committee agreed and soon half a dozen raw recruits and green horses were put through their paces. It was a tough course that had all the dressage ladies shuddering. But it produced results and those recruits and horses are now gracing the Durban beachfront.
In February 1998 The Shongweni Farmers Market a brainchild of Ian Roberts opened its doors on the now unused polocrosse field. It has been very well attended ever since.
At the end of 1998 Neil Smith who had reached his 70th year retired. Patrick Burgess who was a committee member and au fait with the problems the committee faced took over the management until his untimely and tragic death in a car crash in July 1999.
In October 1999 the Club had the good luck to secure Clive and Theo Shelley for the management of the Club. Clive and Theo are also an intake from Zimbabwe. Clive served 18 years in the Police force and played polo and polocrosse. Theo rode for the Zambian and Zimbabwe junior riding teams. They came to South Africa in 1981 bought land in Ladysmith and opened a livery yard and kennels. Twelve years later the property was expropriated to make way for a dam. They then moved to the Natal midlands and started the Avaleda thoroughbred stud from scratch for one of their previous livery clients. Five years later they came to Hillcrest and the rest you know.
In July 2000 a very well attended Outdoor Expo was held on Highveld. The following year after months of back and forth meeting with lawyers and the S.A.P.A. Martin achieved what nobody had achieved before: he had freed Highveld from the S.A.P.A. agreement. The field is now ours to use!!
In August 2001 the much talked about borehole was drilled at last. But it took until July 2002, to get this borehole operating, as a result of the generous gift of all electrical requirements from Colin Berriman. Additionally Colin also provided the wiring and floodlights that now illuminate the Club at night.
The latest addition to the Club facilities is a 4 X 4 track, which was approved in August 2002 by the powers that be and thanks to a stabling member Vicky King for providing the necessary Environmental scoping report.
In January 2003 Liz Bowes who had kept the Club’s administration ship shape through thick and thin for a good fifteen years retired to look after hubby Lionel who had a hip replacement operation. All the best to both of them. Liz was replaced by Karen Adams another accomplished horse woman.
What the future holds? Que sera, sera. Clive informed me that the cane is now owned by Morelands, the Property branch of Tongaat. Are we going to have another La Lucia??