Prince Albert’s Main Street Sentinels

- Derek Thomas -

Our town’s impressive main road, Church Street, is lined with Eucalyptus gum trees, proud sentinels with their silver-grey trunks, firm and resolved against the onslaught of both time and man. They are the familiar sight welcoming the Prince Alberter home after a journey away. With their close ranking and wide girths they provide welcome shade to the townsfolk and buildings. They are a reminder of the generations which have gone before.

One illustrious resident, George Garrett Rainier, planted these warriors around the 1880s, which means that their age is in the order of 120 years or more. His legacy includes persuading the local member of parliament at the time, Jan Luttig, that a pass should be constructed over the Swartberg.

Other trees in the town are of significant heritage importance and should be protected - the rows of cypresses which are striking landmarks, each a unique sight achieved only through the passage of time and through the grace of God.

He that planteth a tree is a servant of God, he provideth a kindness for many generations, and faces that he hath not seen shall bless him. -Henry Van Dyke-

Unfortunate though it may be, aging gumtrees are notoriously dangerous unless their growth is kept in check. They are once again being lopped mainly to protect property and the powerlines of the main street. In the recent past more than one property has borne the brunt of a fallen tree or branch. The sight of tree-felling always rouses mixed feelings in the community, no less with the current lopping programme.

Five years ago a Tree Policy (boombeleid) was prepared by the Heritage Advisory Committee which recommended the phased replacement of the gumtrees with other suitable street trees which, given time, would become established to adorn the main street. However, a great deal of sentiment is bound up in these gumtrees, cultural icons of yesteryear, and the proposed strategy did not receive support from the local Council.

Prince Alberters should use this opportunity to make their voices heard. Write to the Editor and put your point of view about the future of the gumtrees – should they remain until they die of old age, or should there be a phased programme of replacement?

New Life for Our Blue Gums?

- Bruce MacDonald -

The carving of the five bluegum tree stumps in Kerkstraat has generated great enthusiasm in Prince Albert – both to have the project banished forever as a concept, and to have it introduced into every village in the country. There are very few in town who do not hold an opinion one way or the other.

Five people who are very much in favour of the project are young men for whom it represents a way of obtaining valuable experience and skills in working in this medium. The four apprentices on the project are all Prince Albert boys, and all have a school background that is appropriate to their current work – art and woodwork. Leon Kamfer, Jeffrey Armoed and Jaco Staalmeester all mention the encouragement that they received from their art and woodwork teachers, both at school and afterwards.

Given the limited work opportunities in the town, all have varied work careers to date – unsurprisingly, building-sites crop up most often in conversations about past employment.
Willem Strydom, descended from emigrants from Gamkaskloof, has worked at furniture restoration and renovation, and has made a living cutting firewood. Jeffrey has been very active in the community, running wire art workshops, and playing a role in the Hoërskool Zwartberg facilitation project. All are keen on the hard physical work that this kind of art requires.

The men are gaining skills in both the conception of the sculpture work, and the more physical aspects – wielding mallet and chisel, working with goggled eyes with an angle-grinder, and trying not to cut off their toes with a chainsaw. Providing the plinth on which the trees stand with a concrete surface draws on their building experience. Jacobus Murphy is the newcomer to the team, and the handlanger work falls to him in the meantime.

Project leader Richard Forbes has a broad vision for the initiative. A workshop is to be set up to train additional sculptors, at which point the current apprentices will become team leaders. Richard envisages a great deal of work in the next few years. “ABSA Bank has accepted this project as part of its Corporate Social Investment effort, and has committed to funding the undertaking for three years,” he says. “Our next project is likely to be in Potchefstroom. After that . . . ”

The sculpture project was reportedly the talk of the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, and Richard has been keen to work there. “Unfortunately, they clean up the town each year for the Fees, so there are no dead trees left.” The other option is to locate dead trees on surrounding farms, sculpt them, and transport them to a suitable position in the town. The Government’s Working for Water initiative apparently is flooded (!) with requests from farmers to remove alien trees from their farms. Richard views this as a valuable opportunity to obtain large old tree trunks, which can be worked on and then transported to towns which are not as well-supplied with impressive old tree trunks as is Prince Albert.

The team exudes a youthful enthusiasm as they go about their hot and sweaty work. Willem mentions the many passersby who stop and chat and ask questions. Interest is intense. I ask Jeffrey what it is like working with Richard. “I don’t know what to say,” he says. When he does work out what to say, it is sure to be something very positive indeed.

(Since the writing of Bruce’s article, the woodcarvers have noted that the tide of opinion about the project may be changing. They reported that a number of residents, who initially opposed the carving, complimented them on what they were doing and were enthused by their work. Also, the woodcarvers discovered that birds, including a family of owls, were nesting in the tree stumps. As a result, they did not go ahead with the planned changes to the trees’ upper branches, leaving them as they were. Ed.)

Ons Bome natuurlik of gekerf?

-Denise Ohlson-

Die vyf dooie bloekombome voor Lekkerbek Kafee in die hoofstraat van Prince Albert is tans druk onder bespreking: Kunstenaar Richard Forbes se voorlegging om die bome te omskep in kunswerke, ontlok wye kommentaar.

Forbes se projek, gefinansier deur Absa, behels die omskepping van die afgestorwe ou reuse tot speelse beeldhouwerke wat mense gaan uitnooi om hulle te streel en aan te raak, eerder as om hulle van ‘n afstand af te beskou. Prince Albert se dooie bome is die eerste been van ‘n landwye kunsprojek wat oor drie jaar sal sterk.

Drie plaaslike kerwers en een helper sal intensiewe leiding en opleiding kry en kan Forbes dan moontlik later help met opvolgende projekte. Tydens die projek sal ‘n professionele videospan ‘n opname maak wat by die KKNK op Oudtshoorn vertoon sal word. Volgens Forbes sal dit groot belangstelling genereer en mense sal van oraloor kom om na ons vrolike bome met hul oulike skoentjies te kom kyk.

Sou die Munisipaliteit toestemming verleen vir hierdie projek, begin Forbes so gou moontlik kerf - sodat die projek betyds klaar is vir die KKNK wat die eerste week van April afskop.

Hierdie kort kennisgewing het talle Prince Alberters op loop. Vrae word gevra: Wie het die bome vir die kunstenaar “aangebied”? Gaan hierdie beelde inpas by die karakter van ons dorp? Is Richard Forbes die “regte” kunstenaar om die beeldhouwerk te doen? Gaan die projek werklik werk skep? Moet daar enigsins met die natuur gepeuter word? Wat gebeur as die eindproduk esteties nie slaag nie?

Gudrun Toelstede, wat vier jaar gelede saam met haar man Bodo die dryfkrag was agter die behoud van die bome as natuurlike monumente, reken die bome is deel van die dorp se geskiedenis en dat hulle net so behoue moet bly as waardige “dorpsburgers”. Derek Thomas en Judy Maguire, beide van die Prince Albert Kultuurvereniging, het ewe groot empatie met die bome. Volgens Judy spreek hul kulturele en historiese waarde boekdele en Derek sien hulle as trotse simbole wat meer as ‘n eeu lank onverskrokke en trots oorleef het.

Argitek John Whitton se kompromisvoorstel is dat die stomp van die eens enorme bloekom voor Ortons eerder gebruik word aangesien dit naby die toerismeburo, museum en kunsgallery is. Gudrun bied die twee stompe voor haar huis by Kerkstraat 12 aan as beter opsies.

Brent Phillips-White en Mary-Ann Botha van die Prince Albert Gallery, waar van Forbes se etse te sien is, reken die baba moet nie saam met die badwater uitgegooi word nie. Die projek hou besliste voordele in vir die dorp. Mary-Ann hoop om ‘n openbare vergadering oor die saak te reel met ‘n kundige fasiliteerder as voorsitter.

Openbare kuns, volgens kunstenaar Sally Arnold, is ‘n hoogs emosionele saak en altyd kontroversieel. Sy ondersteun die gedagte van ‘n ope debat waartydens die kunstenaar sy idees kan aanbied en Prince Alberters hul goeie oordeel kan laat geld.

Die Vriend verneem graag lesers se opinies oor hierdie interessante saak. Gaan lees gerus die stories op die koperplaatjies wat die Toelstedes destyds op die bome laat aanbring het. En gaan kyk na Forbes se voorlegging – tesame met briewe van beswaardes en ondersteuners – wat by die Prince Albert Gallery te sien is.