A few years back, a friend and myself embarked on a walk through Woodstock to discover its more reclusive architectural secrets. We’d eventually made our way down to lower Woodstock down into Essex Street and discovered the outside of a small establishment called The Torchbearer. We entered into what turned out to be a very busy Sunday lunch. My friend, never one to avoid a decent pub lunch, insisted wisely that we both order the eisbein and beer, and we eventually rolled out of the pub continuing our journey, though this time a little slower.

The Torchbearer still appears to be one of Woodstock’s better kept secrets. Run by Sammy and Alf Robinson, they are happy to talk about the history of the place. It is probably the oldest pub still open in the area – it has been open 28 years now, though before this it was called ‘The Woodstock’ (not to be confused with the pub with the same name where legend says the name of the Woodstock suburb was bequeated) and before then, the incongruous ‘The World of Wines’.

This sturdy Victorian building was originally two buildings and was probably built around the 1890s. It’s thick walls and fireplace with authentic extras give it a comfortable warm old-English feel. Alf is busy renovating the smalle rbar at the back where he plans to install a pool table. And the massive birdcage is just another feature of this delightfully quirky place.

The name ‘The Torchbearer’ comes from the father of the building’s owner who carried the Olympic torch for the 1948 London Olympics. The history doesn’t stop here. When seated, the place mats have been created from turn-of-the-century newspapers allowing you to study the end of the Great War while munching away at your prego roll. (Warning. This is not a place for vegetarians). Apparently Trevor Quirk and Robin Jackman are lunch regulars and a few years back, it was used as a location for “The World Unseen”, a film centered on two women who engage in a dangerous relationship during South Africa’s apartheid era.

The menu is ridiculously affordable. Steak egg and chips are R50, Crumbed Pork Chops are R40 and many more traditional pub lunches some with a Portuguese slant; the chicken chinchada is very popular too. And there is always some special in addition to the regular menu (yesterday it was meatballs and cabbage)

And you’ll be pleased to hear they will be showing all the Rugby World Cup games.

The Torchbearer
9 Essex Str.
Woodstock
Tel: 021 447 2639

Opening Hours

Monday to Saturdays Kitchen is open from 8am-9pm.
Sundays Bar opens at 10am – kitchen is open between 12-4pm

It’s always inspriring to see when someone has taken a vision and turned it into a reality that brings real benefits to  the community. The Peace Garden in Woodstock is a great example of this.  It came about when local landscaper Bruce Beyer needed a landscaper’s yard in the city, but found rental prices exorbitant. He had been eyeing an unused pie-sliced piece of land next to Nelson Mandela Boulevard (formerly Eastern Boulevard) but wasn’t sure whom it belonged to.  After some investigation, he approached the Alpha School for autistic learners next door with a proposition which they gladly agreed to.

He offered to create a labyrinth, a touch-and-smell garden and a playground for the kids, and then use the remaining space as a landscaper’s yard to rehabilitate and store plants for his business. Three years later, the garden is well established, and reports from the school are that the kids love playing there and are calmer and happier than when playing in the alternative tarmac playground next to the school.

As a further benefit to the community, he has also made ten small lots available to any interested parties from the neighbourhood for food gardens – growing vegetables and herbs for home use. One of which the school makes use of to teach the kids about growing food.

Walking through the garden with Bruce, it’s evident that many of these lots are well-loved and well tended, and he reports that families come on Saturdays with their kids and spend time weeding, picking and planting and just hanging out in nature.  There is also a worm farm and a composting toilet on site.

The garden is normally locked to the broader public, but a few times a year they host an Open Day. The next one, on Saturday 10 Sept will be an opportunity for all members of the public to come to the ‘Spring Open Day’ at the Woodstock Peace Garden. The theme will be ‘Food and Fire’, with lots of food and drinks for sale, (but bring your own beer and wine). There will also be a brief talk on what they are trying to achieve with the garden and related community projects, and more details on opportunities to get involved in these great initiatives.

The ‘Woodstock Peace Garden’ is located in Balfour road, next to the Alpha School. For more information contact Bruce Beyer at [email protected].

Some interesting footgear was on display on the night.

The Armoury Boxing Club hosted its 5th “White Collar” Fight Night on Friday night. I went along partly to cover the event for ILW and partly out of morbid fascination, not really knowing what to expect. A quick glance at the Armoury’s impressive website laid to rest any ideas I may have had of seeing a sociopath ad. exec. version of Brad Pit with bare knuckles beating someone senseless. These guys were into traditional boxing and took themselves seriously as boxing coaches. But still I had reservations on just how real this fight night will be. Will it be a bunch of yuppies pussyfooting around, feeling each other out – a kind of ‘display fight’?

The crowd get lubricated on tall stories and Black Label.

From the moment the first fight started any reservations were laid to rest. The level of intensity caught me by surprise and I gathered from the cheers and ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ that the rest of the audience was similarly enthralled. I have been to Dragon Power Muay Thai events before and the party vibe and format was similar, although this time imbued with a distinct boxing flavour. Tough looking guys in suits mingled with the trendy Cape Town (or should I say Woodstock?) crowd while fighters battled it out in the ring.

In the warm-up room the tension shows on the faces of the waiting pugilists.

Only these fighters are ordinary Joe’s like you and me, taking on a bout in the ring for the thrill of an adventure or a challenge beyond what can be experienced in the office environment. The volunteer fighters get to train for 3 months and then experience a white collar bout, 3 rounds of 2 minutes each. Protective gear is worn and no winners are declared. Everyone who has the guts to step into the ring is considered a winner.

Left: Warming up. Right: Anne-Sophie strikes a pose

Anne-Sophie Leens, a graphic designer, had commented on Facebook that she was training for such an event and I arranged to chat to her after her fight. It turned out that she had only been training for the last 6 weeks running up to the fight, one week of which she was sick. The trainers asked her if she was interested in competing, since matric student Donna Blagus needed an opponent. Anne-Sophie was subsequently put through a crash course in physical fitness and boxing training to prepare her for the match. Before you get upset with Anne-Sophie for beating up on schoolgirls, let me remind you that little Donna had already been training for a year, and may have been itching to beat up someone old enough to be her school teacher.

Donna Blagus experiences a blood bin moment.

As soon as the match started the girls went for each other like two angry cobras, and by the second round both sported bloody noses. This was no posing fight indeed. At the end of the match both embraced and had their arms raised as winners. I caught up with them in the restroom where they were excitedly swapping stories of “I did this, and you did that…” , clearly both still cruising on the high of the moment.

Afterwards the ladies embrace each other before swapping war stories.

Although only 3 rounds of 2 minutes, your fitness will be tested to the max.

The Armoury fashion gear hangs like a suit display in the Bat Cave. Be warned… you have to earn the right to wear these.

50% of the people training at the club are women.

The Fight Night experience is a near authentic version of a real boxing match.

Contemporary boxing icons adorn the mens’ and ladies’ doors respectively.

Gargle and spit! Coaches also discuss tactics during breaks.

Everyone who steps into the ring is a winner on Fight Night.

DJ Darren “The Tunemaster” Todd dishes out beatings of a different kind on the night.

The Armoury Boxing Club is situated in the Armoury building, Buchanon Square, Sir Lowry Road. The next Fight Night is on 25 November 2011. Visit their site for more info on classes and fees.

13 Bakkie loads. A few hundred human hours. Just over a R1 000. Blood, sweat, tears, dust and dead rats. That’s what it took to turn a sick Woodstock service lane into a healthy communal space. Sybrandus Adema got all the dirt.

It all started innocently enough… Having just moved into Woodstock, we were strolling around the hood when we noticed something. Whereas some service lanes, such as Woodworm and Wadham, where attractive havens of peace, the one behind our house, between Chamberlain and Balfour Streets, looked as if it had been hit by various aerial bombing raids since 1971. Or a tropical cyclone dressed up as a Southeaster last summer.

One thing led to another, and before I knew it, a terrible affliction dug its claws into me – a monster called Lane Envy. My soul was tormented by thoughts: These lanes are the blood vessels pumping through the neighbourhood. They carry fresh water supplies, storm water, telephone lines; they serve as emergency exits in case of fire and crime. They are alternative entrances to properties – for emergency personnel, for gardening, moving and building purposes. And most are gated at both sides, so they are safe places for children to play in, learn how to ride a bicycle, grow some vegetables in pots, take the cats for a walk…

Why was ours a clogged artery, full of rubble, weeds, dog excrement, dead rats, broken lights? Hounslow Lane/Steeg (the road sign is covered by a Frangipani) was surely a heart attack ticking away behind the back wall, a tunnel filled with mounds of shrapnel where the homeless and the criminal can hide… and where many feel comfortable enough to turn it into an even bigger rubbish dump. This even though some neighbours cleared the Lane a few years ago, marked all the properties with numbers and left numerous signs imploring “Keep our Lane Glam” and “No dumping, please”.

As swearwords in four languages couldn’t describe the trauma, only one thing remained – actually doing something about it. Following one creation of an email address and one flyer (outlining the problems, the hopes, the photos of the crime scene) distributed to all 63 adjoining properties, the support for the Lane cleanup started emailing in. Not many, but enough to get the cleansing ball rolling.

The first goal was to get rid of a lonely ‘car wreck’, abandoned for years in the middle of the Lane. A few people phoning the traffic police until they couldn’t take it anymore did the trick. Owner of said vehicle pleaded with the officers not to tow it away – and they forced him to park it in Chamberlain Street, better known for its trees than ample parking space. Ag, small victories are better than none.

The weather forecast looked good, the timing was right, the email went out, and another flyer was launched: coming Saturday would be L Day. Alas, most of the cyber participants were out of town (or something) but many donated or promised money. Some came whispering “It’s not my rubble there” or “It was the owner before me” or “I’m sure it’s neighbour Sies that dumped those things there”. No point in crying over spilt rubbish; the important issue was, how many people would pitch up?

Saturday morning. 9AM. Caffeine kicking in. I open the door slowly. I peer down the Lane.

And what a sight it was. First one person, then two, some more peeking out of their gates, and soon the sound of 12 scraping shovels resonated throughout the Lane. The doctor, the paint seller, the chef, the journalist, the carpenter, the filmmaker – all targeting their pet-hate rubble pile. Transport was a problem, but later two bakkies attacked the mounds of rubble from both sides. We met the neighbours, got sweaty and exchanged pleasantries. Within hours the place looked like disaster emergency workers and an NGO had arrived to save the day – the only thing missing was CNN. Down at the Woodstock dump, the trouble was separating some of the rubbish – wood, plastic garden, ‘clean’ building rubble, mice – but the people working there are cool, and masters of recycling (if you need compost, swing by).

To get rid of the last mounds took another 2 days, and many more bakkie loads. The participants dried up, more money poured in and extra help was bought as a few die-hards attacked the last gemors. No Parking and No Dumping signs went up on the gates. And then a well-paid immigrant attacked it with a broom, to place his stamp of approval on the sweeping change…

To celebrate, a  ‘Reclaim the Lane’ party took place – the most popular and well attended of all the gatherings. This time armed with chairs, tables, braai equipment, food, drinks and more plans to make this communal space (all 850m of it) more convivial, neighbours converged on the centre throughout the day. People opened their Lane-facing garages, put on music and got the fires going. Kids played, dogs barked, cats came to investigate. One group of neighbours looked over their wall, wondering if they could jump over or needed to walk all around. No, no, no, we said, and within seconds the prefab cements slabs were lifted off to create an entrance to their new ‘streetscape’. What was supposed to be a brunch went on until dark – with much fun, laughter, and handshaking, not to mention stories regarding the Lane’s history, the vrot to hot transformation and a particular offender who constantly misplaces the gate keys.

A spring jol is next in the pipe-lane, so the question is, who has Lane Envy now, mmmmmm? Maybe the people around Rainham Lane (this is not a subtle hint!)…

PS: Once a service lane is gated, the city council will not clear the rubble, but will still look after the infrastructure (lights, water pipes etc). Many Woodstockers have decided the best way to (not) deal with lane issues, is to go into denial by closing up their back walls and decorating it with barbed wire, broken glass and electric fencing.

Here’s the challenge: Turn your trashy service lane or alley into a beautiful haven and send in your stories and photos to . If your lane is not gated, to have it cleaned you can call Cape Town City’s Solid Waste department on 0860 103 089 or email [email protected] (and report illegal dumping to them as well). The Roads and Stormwater department (broken roads/lane surfaces) can be contacted via 0860 103 054 or [email protected] and Water & Sanitation department (leaks, sewerage) on 0860 103 089 or [email protected]. We can’t wait to see the Before and After pics!

In what is the first of 5 monthly installments, Jim Hislop gives us an overview of the different farms and estates that made up the Woodstock suburb starting with Zonnebloem, Leliebloem, Roodebloem, Eberstedt farm and the Treaty House (estate). First up is the Altona Farm.

The Altona farm

The Altona farm was one of the earliest estates below Devil’s Peak, and was eventually subdivided to create part of the modern suburb Woodstock. One of the old farm’s  first recorded owners was an illiterate German immigrant, Gerrit Gerrits.

Gerrits was a soldier who originally came from Oldenburg, a town and small independent state situated between Bremen and East Friesland. After working as a knegt (farm labourer) for a year he became a free burgher in 1698 and was granted the farm Altona in 1706. After living and farming there for a few years, he sold Altona in 1714.

The farm appears (unmarked) on land surveyor Louis Michel Thibault’s map (from circa 1812) of the estates along Main Road, showing a large complex of buildings. These farm buildings may have stood at the bottom of Aberdeen Road, or in the vicinity of Railway Road, today a less desirable area, but once very close to the sea (before the foreshore reclamation of the 1930s), near Craig’s Tower, a defensive blockhouse built during the first British Occupation of the Cape in 1796.

English artist Sir John Barrow depicted the farm in a charming watercolour painted in the early nineteenth century. The fabulous farmhouse that can be seen in the painting was a fine thatched late 18^th century homestead with attractive holbol (concave convex) gables, facing the sea and possibly incorporating Gerrits’s earlier, more simple dwelling.

By the mid-19^th century, many old farms were already being subdivided, especially in Papendorp (Woodstock’s original name). Altona, which was then owned by Jan Diederiek Vos, was subdivided and nine plots were auctioned off. Another part of Altona between what is now Albert and Sir Lowry Roads, was subdivided by Hendrik Cloete (the owner of many properties in and around Cape Town) and sold off to create building plots for a new part of the growing suburb. That same year (1849), a list of properties that was published in the Cape Almanac, makes no mention of Altona house (it may already have been demolished or renamed at that time), though Hendrik Cloete’s home, Woodstock House, which stood near Searle Street is listed.

Unfortunately not a trace of the beautiful old Cape Dutch homestead survives today (it must have been one of the finest farmhouses between the Table Valley and Observatory), but the newly renovated Altona Hotel (196 Victoria Road, Woodstock) serves as a reminder of the old estate, as does Altona Grove nearby.

A charming Victorian building, the Altona Hotel houses an antique shop and stands on what was once part of Altona’s famlands.

Sources: www.e-family.co.za, www.woodstocker.co.za

For more on the history of Woodstock, click here.

Jim Hislop is the current Senior Copy Editor and Wine Writer for Pick n Pay’s Fresh Living magazine.

A long-time resident of Observatory, he is also a member of the Vernacular Society and is currently researching the history of the old farms of the Observatory and Woodstock area.

What does it mean for Woodstockians to use the MyCiti bus terminal?

So you’ve heard about the MyCiti bus system, Cape Town’s new rapid bus service. You may even have traveled on one of the routes and marveled at the comfort and smoothness of the system. So what does this mean for people living in Woodstock, which is a fairly large transit point for the MyCiti buses? (All the Table View routes go through Woodstock before continuing into town and further i.e. the Waterfront).

So where exactly is the terminal?

The terminal has been built on the far end of the Woodstock railway station, that is, on the side closest to the sea. The challenge I can foresee for anyone wanting to quickly pop into town, is that the walk to the station from anywhere above Main Road Woodstock is fairly challenging considering you could take your car, or jump into a minibus taxi for R5 anywhere on the Main Rd and you’d be in town immediately. And if you are lugging anything it could be quite strenuous. So for someone coming from Woodstock you can either go through the station all the way across two sets of platforms or you can access the terminal from the bridge after the Castle brewery (after Beach Rd).

The advantage of the MyCiti option of course is that as a feeder route, you could use your R10 ticket to continue on after transferring at the Civic Centre terminal such as the Waterfront at no extra cost (and of course future routes are planned (viewed here) and would make this a stronger alternative. Perhaps more practically, you could cycle to the terminal as you can take your bicycle along as in Europe, though you may have to wait for space during peak times.

The reality, however, is that most people use the service for travelling from Blouberg/Table View into town (including Woodstock) as this route has always been somewhat impractical with existing transportation or even private cars (the Paarden Island turnoff in particular can be a nightmare at times).

What are the costs and when does it run?

The feeder routes are R5 for adults (children under 4 free) and the trunk routes R10 with free transfers to the feeder services. More information can be found here. And it runs every 10 minutes during peak times , else every 20 minutes for the Table View – Civic Centre / Civic Centre – Table View route.

The airport route is R53 for adults (children 4-11 years R26.50, children under 4 – free) which is reasonable (though for some reason the price has just been raised from R50 which was a more practical amount) and runs every 20 minutes between 04:20 and 21:00 daily.

Overall impression

The bus is clean and even fun (public transportion in Cape Town being rather a novelty) and the people working there for the most part friendly. However, I couldn’t help notice the following on the MyCiti webpage: “If you are found without a validated ticket, you could be fined, unless you have a valid explanation. “ I cannot wait to hear some of the excuses that Capetonians will no doubt come up with, that may be worth following up on.

The Myciti homepage.

And here a link to our previous article on Art at the Woodstock Myciti bus terminal.

There’s some electrifying news from the heart of Woodstock, reports Sybrandus Adema. It’s a first for Africa. It’s beautiful. It’s clean. It’s green… and it’s all happening in our hood. Where else?

Optimal Energy, based in The Palms in Sir Lowry Road, is the driving force behind Joule – this continent’s first battery powered electric car. The silent passenger car, for sale from 2015, is manufactured as a standard five-seater, complies with European and international safety standards, and offers an optimal, no-compromise, zero emission urban driving experience. Big enough to accommodate a family yet zippy enough to deliver what the company describes as the ultimate city driving experience.

And, according to spokesperson Jaco van Loggerenberg, it simply made sense to base their headquarters in Woodstock. “As a central location close to town, The Palms provided an affordable alternative to the high-priced newer developments. We started with only one office in 2005, but Optimal Energy now occupies nine different office spaces in the centre.”

Presenting a radical reduction in noise pollution, Joule is approximately five times more energy efficient than petrol or diesel vehicles, with substantially less pollution and green house gas emissions in an urban environment. The car is battery operated and recharges with electricity from any source, and if obtained from clean sources such as hydro or solar, this multi-source energy carrier can lead to a 100% reduction in pollution. Better still, Joule’s rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are recyclable and contain no heavy metals.

Van Loggerenberg believes Woodstock’s new shops, deli’s and alternative businesses coming onto the scene bring with it a sense of development, and he hopes improved security for the whole area will follow suit. Some of their employees live in the area, and others have been spurred on by the urban renewal process to explore the neighbourhood. “The atmosphere of the area is great, especially with places like the Biscuit Mill and the small shops.”

Back in the car, Joule accelerates with unparallelled smoothness from 0 to 60km/h in under 5 seconds giving it very brisk city performance. With a top speed of 135km/h and a nominal driving range of 300km, Joule also makes filling up at garages a thing of the past. Plug in at your (Woodstock) home instead. Using one normal 220 Volt home outlet and the Joule’s onboard charger, Joule will charge the 300km battery pack in roughly seven hours.

Forget gearboxes and clutches. Aficionados will attest to the fact that electric vehicles deliver unbeatable smooth acceleration. Although only about 3.9m long and 1.8m wide, Joule has a very spacious interior with enough space for a 700 litre trunk. Combined with a very compact exterior, it is ideal for city driving. It is not only sleek and sophisticated; it comes standard with all the expected modern conveniences including bluetooth compatibility and iPod connectivity, making it practical to boot. A regenerative Anti-lock Braking System and steel space frame and side impact protection ensure the necessary safety for occupants.

“There is a need for green energy development in South Africa,” says Van Loggerenberg. “Specifically as the manufacturer of electric cars, we would like to have availability of clean-generated energy.” Optimal Energy’s vision is to establish and lead the electric vehicle industry in the country and expand globally, by using Joule as the product to lead this process. At a test-drive get-together, Optimal Energy’s CEO, Kobus Meiring, said the Joule, supported by R150 million in government funding, was a prime example of ways to boost technology and innovation on a continent which he said had never had its own automotive brand.

While mass production will happen in East London, the head office will remain in Woodstock, adds Van Loggerenberg. “If the current location suits our needs and objectives, we have no reason to move.”

Go Woodstock! Go Green!

* For more information, call 021 462 7804 or go to www.optimalenergy.co.za

PS: If you’ve been racking your brain to recall what you learnt about Joule at school, here it is: one joule is a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere is passed through a resistance of one ohm for one second. It’s named after the British physicist James Prescott Joule who established the mechanical theory of heat and discovered the first law of thermodynamics. Hot stuff…