When one has to delve back some 50 years in the memory banks, all sorts of visual flashbacks can trigger emotional responses to certain events and items that occurred.
Whether it be a smell, a sound, or even a familiar face, these memories and stories come flooding back.
We seem to hold onto the happy times or events from the past and block out the uneventful ones so recall is made that much easier.
Brown hats and Bashers……what was that all about….I think some of us today still ponder the functionality of these essential school uniform items that generate happy and bad times in our lives at Kloof High during the 1970s.
Firstly the Straw Bashers….an expensive item to any school uniform in the 70’s. Having graduated from Junior primary school and leaving behind the felt school cap, the Basher was a symbol that we had all made High School. How wrong we were to assume that the Basher was merely a head covering.
The Basher became a bit of an engineering challenge, and if you were not up to the challenge, it would cost your family dearly in replacement value.
Many a young standard six lad had his Basher tested to the limit….how far could it be thrown like a frisbee…how many standard 8 boys standing on it would it hold…how many punches did it take to remove the inside from the sides etc.
The answer to all these challenges was..Fiberglass Resin…yes..the stuff they made surfboards and beach buggies from.
Now, this is where the science and innovation came in….Fiberglass your basher and it will last forever.. the saying doing the rounds during lunch breaks.
This not only made the Basher exceptionally strong but also heavy and also opened up a small money generating market for weekends and after school. Budding entrepreneurs jumped onto the bandwagon offering their services to extend the life of ones basher…I wonder how many of them ran successful businesses after school!
Now to the girls “ Gucci “ designed brown felt hats. One could easily imagine that these items had a specific purpose, that being to offer a form of protection against the sun when walking to and from school….or that is what we are led to believe. They certainly were never intended to be a fashion statement by any means.
A few calls and messages to some old girls turned up the following:
- The hats were difficult to look after…they got squashed and bent out of shape very easily
- They required extreme care to maintain and if sat on..or stuffed into a school bag… had to be steamed back into shape.
- Teachers were always on the look out for “unusually shaped hats” which carried a sentence of lines or detention.
- Too much steaming and the hats ended up looking like a thatch roof with the intended design long gone and inevitably requiring replacement
- They could carry water when new…this was tested many times during the lunch breaks.
Yes fond memories indeed of my school days at Kloof High. This can of worms that I have opened in the dark recesses of my mind has a thousand reflections and experiences that all stem from those wonderful school days.
Apart from education, the friendships of those days still exist and will forever continue within the circle of Kloof High past pupils.
By Adrian James Baker
Photos courtesy of the FB page ..Kloof High School Old Crocks-Fifty Year Reunion
