Durban - Contributor Mark Norman sent in this week’s Durban Then & Now, a relevant story considering the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day recently.
Norman writes that, in the immediate years after union, a very young Burt Collingwood, pictured, worked for a Colonel Noble in his general dealer shop on the corner of Turner’s Avenue and Berea Road. War came and Collingwood enlisted and, in due course, arrived in France where, in July 1916, was flung into the thick of Battle of Delville Wood.
In his memoir, Collingwood describes how, during the action, he was alone in a deep shell hole when he was startled by a German soldier who took him prisoner. He remained in captivity until the armistice, when he returned to Durban and fulfilled Noble’s wishes that he buy the business. He changed the name to Collingwoods and a dynasty was born.
The first picture shows the premises circa 1920 complete with the mode of delivery of the day on an untarred Berea Road. Although the frontage has been altered, the building is still otherwise original more than a century later.
The Independent on Saturday appeals to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration. If any readers are featured in the old picture, we will do our best to recreate the scene with them in it again. Readers sending pictures digitally - images should be about 1MB - can address them, with the relevant information, to [email protected]
If the pictures are in hard copy format, they can be posted to The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.