When we arrived in Mombasa in 1950 we moved in to a bungalow in Cliff Avenue. In her 'Life', my mother described it as, "very ancient and riddled with white ants." The Champions, with their daughters Lynn and Felicity, had a similar bungalow next door.
In this photo which, again, dates from our early days in Mombasa, Richard and I are with Susan Gadd. I don't recognise the location so this may have been in the grounds of the bungalow.
The cat was Susan's but the dog, Susie, was Richard's. We had acquired Susie shortly before we left Dar-es-Salaam, a rough-haired dachshund who had a lovely nature. While Tinker flew from Dar to join us, Susie travelled by ship.
We were quickly enjoying Mombasa's beaches. This picture is from around that time and shows Richard and I with Zandra (right) and Rhonelda Shinn and their mother at the Swimming Club.
An old inner car tyre tube was an essential when we went swimming, as we would sit in it and paddle around. This picture is also at the Swimming Club, which was reached either by car, crossing Nyali Bridge, or by boat. In the latter case, one went to the Old Town, seen here across the harbour, and hired a 'water taxi', a rowboat powered by one man, which crossed to the Swimming Club pier. To summon the 'taxi' for our return journey, a flag was raised at the end of the Swimming Club pier.
Christmas 1950 was spent in the bungalow. Captain and Mrs Solly with their sons Mark and John came to lunch but before the meal could be served the 'house boy', Ouma, came through to say that the cook was drunk and was threatening the staff with a carving knife. My father and Captain Solly managed to get rid of the cook and Ouma served the meal. Ouma remained with us until we left Mombasa in 1961.
Mombasa! Lived there from 1956-1959, when we returned to England. Dad worked there as the Bank manager on Kilindini Road. Kenya was a colony then. My brother was born there in 1958 - of course (despite him backing them) Ref UK would regard him as Kenyan…
ReplyDeleteI was almost 9 when we left and we also lived in the Cliff Avenue apartments. We also went to the swimming Club regularly. I learnt to swim there and had to swim from the end of the pier to the raft to get a coke reward.
Loved it. England was a culture shock!
Good to hear from you, Chris. Yes, those were happy days, a long time ago - but so grateful that I had the experience of living in such a place. Jon
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