Tennis day at Normandale
I was raised on a sheep farm, Normandale, in the Southern Free State. Every farm had a clay tennis court and regular tennis days were held to which all the neigbours were invited. Everyone contributed to the lunch and spent the entire day playing tennis.
In this phot are my paternal grandparents, "Cookie" (Edith) fifth from the left and "Oupie", Stephen Denyssen seated on the far right.
My mom was pregnant with me and she is seated second from the left. My dad, david, is seated on the ground on the right. Next to him is my late uncle Jock campbell, one of my favourite people. He was a marine biologist and photographer who travelled to Antartica and was wonderful to listen to.
The preparation of the clay surface was a major procedure. We had to collect broken ant-heaps from the veld which were crushed and rolled out onto the tennis court while being sprayed with water.
The last step was to mark out the lines using a contraption on wheels which slowly fed whitewash down a spout along a brush. The heavy old tennis net had to be raised and the height measured using a tennis raquet resting on its side on an upright one.
Oupie was my Great grandfather, on my paternal side, my grandfather was david's brother Basie (Eardley Henry), My Father Danny (Thomas Daniel) Is Basie's eldest son. I am named after Oupie
ReplyDeleteDaniel Stephen Denyssen
dannyd@fenya.co.za