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category, changed, comment_count, created, featured_image, images, ix, nid, original_author, path, title, type, uuid
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| 2019-07-19T22:06:53.000Z | 0 | 2019-07-19T21:59:00.000Z | 1960 on the steps at Kagumo.JPG |
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13 | 55 | Janet | content/kagumo-our-friends-and-what-we-got | Kagumo: our friends and what we got up to | article | 18851228-cd62-4ec8-8595-7d8021563182 |
Other Families / friends
I have a vague mental map of the College layout which I have tried to draw (see pic), showing where my friends’ families lived, its probably wildly out!! Its also quite difficult to describe but here goes: the northernmost area of the college was the main sports field and next to that was the farm. Below that was a row of about 6-8 houses; the Curtises – Arnold and Daphne plus daughters Steph and Jill, and the Cawleys – John and Molly with daughter Jane, lived here – both families moved away early on, to Limuru and Nairobi respectively, but we all kept in touch. I think the Velzians lived here as well. They had a proper full sized trampoline in their garden, which we all loved bouncing on! Dad, John, was the PE teacher and later became the National Coach to Kenya's athletes, starting with Kipchoge Kieno - the first of Kenya's phenomenal medal winning long distance runners. His wife Jo worked as a secretary in the Principal’s office. I remember her for her 'killer heels' and for teaching me to do the ‘Twist’!! They had a son Guy and a much younger daughter Kim.
Turning south there were 2 large houses on each side of the road, the Principal on one side and the Rector on the other. I remember Harry Laughton being the Principal, he and his wife had no children so we were not well acquainted. The Rector was Douglas Melhuish, there were 4 children in that family but I really only knew Rosie and Wendy. Douglas was also the vicar at a church in Nyeri where we went to Sunday school. He christened us - all 3 of us together when Kathy was about 2 years old and I was about 9.
Continuing south from the Melhuishes there was another sports field opposite which was another row of houses and families (I am not sure of the right order) : - the Penns – Ken and Shona plus their children Caroline, Sarah and James; the Clarks – Pat and Jane with children Adam and Amanda; the Martins – Ken and Margaret with children Hilary and Dominic: Margaret was famous for her curries, eaten out in the garden and I especially loved all the 'bits and pieces' such as chopped up banana, oranges, onion, tomatoes, grated coconut etc which we sprinkled over the curry; the Shanks – Philip and Eileen with children Ben and Lulu (Lyndall); the Jacksons - ? and Nora with their children Moira and Paul. A bit further down the road, in a house on its own, lived Peter King. I was afraid to go to his house as his dog bit me once (not seriously). Our house was also on its own, on the other side of the road from Peter. To the east and behind the staff houses was a wooded area leading to the classrooms and offices, the squash court was here as well. There were lots of younger children in the Kagumo community, similar ages to my brother and sister, so they also had lots of friends, not all of which were long lasting.
Best Friends
I made lasting friendships at Kagumo, friends I am still in contact with – in particular Rosie Melhuish and Steph Curtis. (I even reconnected with Moira Jackson through Facebook at we met up near 60 years on and had a great Kagumo When-we). When the Cutises moved to Limuru I often went to stay; Steph, Jill and I always had fun. I remember getting wheezy after pillow fights, swimming in the dam, going on long walks with their dogs – 3 Rhodesian Ridgebacks, collecting mushrooms on the golf course early in the morning: the tastiest and juiciest mushrooms ever. We also had midnight feasts and once we tried to melt a 'Sugar Daddy' (a toffee lollipop) over a candle. There were also exchange visits to my house but somehow not so memorable. Later Steph went to Limuru Girls School but Rosie Melhuish and I both went to Kenya High which is how we remained friends; we might have been in the same class but were in different boarding houses and she was athletic while I definitely wasn’t. (Kenya High School has its own story).
New Arrivals
As with any community families come and go and Kagumo was no different. Around 1961 our cousins, the Smithes, came over from Englad to live with us – Paula was about 8 and Martin was about 6; their Mum, Irene, was my Mum's sister. I remember them arriving and putting up a tent in our front garden, with their Dad Gordon and their Granny as well – they had had a marathon journey across Europe and from South Africa to Kenya. Gorson and his mother went back to Englad, visiting us at the coast a few years on but Irene, Paula and Martin stayed and shared our life in Kagumo for a couple of years; Irene even got a job teaching in a local school.
At about the same, a Canadian teacher called Bob Moffat, joined the Kagumo College staff bringing his family with him. The Moffats had 3 children - Janet, Robbie and Cathy who were almost exactly the same ages as me, Mike and Kathy respectively and we all became best friends and and spent many holidays and adventures together. Janet and I both went to Nyeri primary and although they returned to Canada after about 4 years I have kept in touch with Janet and visited her in Canada in 2000. Another Canadian family, the Gillespie's, arrived in Kagumo around 1961/2, just before we left. I was very friendly with Clare and Brenda as they were both pupils at Kenya High School with me. (I lost contact with them when we moved - but recently re-connected through Facebook and visited with Clare in Portugal in 2019).
n and around Nyeri town
Although life was full at Kagumo there was a whole other array of things to do outside of in - both in and around Nyeri.
Nyeri Club was also an important centre of our social life: some of our Dads, and Mums too, regularly played golf there so we children would get taken along to just run around or play on the swings. Ayahs would come along to keep an eye on the little ones. We were plied with crisps and bottles of coca cola while the grown ups drank beer in the club house. There was always something going on – film shows, I remember watching Bambi on the day my sister was born; parties at Christmas, displays of marching bands such as the KAR (Kenyan African Rifles), Scottish Country dancing as well as Kenyan tribal dancers. Picnics were another regular activity and we often went in a group with other families. One favourite spot was the Thego river, the water was freezing cold as its source was high up on Mount Kenya but the hot sun soon warmed us up and we sunbathed on the rocks. I loved to collect the beautiful smooth coloured stones from the shallow water but sadly they dried out in the sunshine to a uniform brown colour. Another favourite was Cave Waterfall up in the Aberdare Mountains, after an early start and a long steep drive up through thick forest, sometimes on muddy roads, we tucked into a picnic breakfast cooked on a calor gas stove. Afterwards we climbed carefully down to the foot of the waterfall, behind which we stood in the dark clammy cave watching the wall of water thundering down in front of us.We also went on picnics to the Siremon track in the foothills of Mount Kenya, to animal sanctuaries such as Mrs Kenealey's farm where we rode on a giant tortoise and we often swam in the pool at the Outspan Hotel in Nyeri.
Once, after a very bad rainy season the Sagana River near Nyeri was flooded and Dad took us out in the car to watch the surging torrents of brown water swirling under, and over, fragile wooden bridges. One of the bridges got washed away just after we had driven over it. We also travelled further afield: visits to friends in Nairobi, safaris to game parks and regularly to the Kenya coast but these stories have got separate sections of their own
Leaving
In 1962 the family went home to the UK on leave and when we came back Dad had got a new posting to Kericho, a promotion to principal at the teacher training college there. As well as moving I started secondary school - as a boarder to Kenya High School in Nairobi, and my brother and sister started at Greensteds in Nakuru. I never went back to Nyeri again.
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CAve waterfall cine
Outspan video?
18 cines add more to middle bit (6 in each)