Listening to a game of cricket in the 'Cage'

The farmhouse, Kalkwal, Orange Free State.

A clear memory I have of our family holidays at Kalkwal in the Free State, is of my Grandpa Percy sitting in an upright chair, next to a table in the 'cage', listening to a cricket test on the radio.

The cage seemed to echo for hours with the voice of Charles Fortune (1906-1994), the voice of cricket on the radio, he would flow on for hours, sometimes about the cricket game but mostly about the sky, the birds and all sorts of minor details surrounding the game.

The cage was a half brick structure at the end of the veranda (or stoep as it was called) enclosed with mosquito netting.  It can be seen on the lefthand side on the old photo above. Nothing remains of the farmhouse so these old photos are gems.

Tea was served in the cage to keeps the flies off the teatime treats. The cage was also the place where my cousins, their friends and I played rounds of cards for hours on end.

In this letter dated Mar 21st '63, Grandpa Percy writing to Dad mentions the Cavaliers, an ad hoc cricket team made up of famous cricketers, both retires and up and coming, in order to encourage local cricket.
'...the news has just come through that they have just been heated by Natal, 8 wickets.'

Cage at Kalkwal, and the huge old pepper tree that I loved. Fragrant in the heat of summer.