A Traveller’s Tale – From North Shields to South Africa – An Interview with Rod Dickinson
How much do we really know about our parents and what they got up to, or where they travelled to in their youth before we were born? As a woman on a mission, I decided to interview my dad to find out…
What did you do before going to South Africa?
I did an apprenticeship as a barber in North Shields for three years. This involved another two years after the original apprenticeship in Spence Terrace. The extra two years was an improvement course, but I wanted a better job as the money wasn’t all that good, so I didn’t complete the two extra years. I wanted to travel and see the world and go on an adventure instead!
When did you leave the UK for South Africa?
It was in the early 1960’s.
Why did you decide to go there?
I fancied going abroad to travel. At the time, South Africa was offering assisted passage. This meant I could get there for the cost of a £25 ticket, but I would have to get my own job when I arrived there. I remember having to have a medical in London before going and getting my visa from the South African embassy there. In those days, there was no obligation to come home early. I could have stayed there forever if I had wanted to.
How did you arrive in South Africa?
I took a ship! The ship set sail from Southampton in the UK, made a stop in Madeira, and then it continued on to Cape Town.
Where did you live when you were there?
I stayed in Cape Town in a free hostel first of all. That was only temporary until I found a job as a barber when I then had to find my own accommodation. I ended up living in Cape Town’s Sea Point in a place called the Holmfirth Hotel.
What were the biggest cultural differences, and how did you cope with them?
Apartheid! It was so different to what I was used to, very alien, and there was a sense that it was a big problem. The diet was also very different, but I soon got used to that.
Who did you work for when you were there?
I had two jobs when I was there. The first was when I worked for about a year for a Dutch couple, Theo and Ellen Pott, who owned a barber’s shop there in Cape Town. Unfortunately, Theo had to return to the Netherlands as his brother had died, but the whole family, Theo, Ellen and their two boys, couldn’t all go back. Instead, Theo asked me to look after the shop while he was away, and Ellen would work at the front of the shop dealing with the customers’ money as I couldn’t speak Afrikaans very well, just a few phrases, whereas she could. I could recognise it and familiarise myself with it a little bit as my sister had lived in Belgium, and Flemish has similarities with Afrikaans.
Who did you meet when you were there?
My friend Guenther from Germany. He was staying in the same hotel as me and had come over from his company in Germany – an umbrella factory – as they had a branch in Cape Town.
What languages did you learn when you were there?
I learned a little bit of Afrikaans, and a little bit of German from Guenther. Theo, my boss, was Dutch, so I picked up a few words of that as well.
When did you come back to the UK?
I stayed in South Africa for nearly two years – I was there for 19 months. It would have been in the late 60’s.
Why did you come back to the UK?
Things weren’t going very well. The main reason was that Theo’s boss wanted to leave South Africa and sell the shop. The shop was offered to me first, but I turned it down because it wasn’t my intention to stay in South Africa. Theo tried to get me some work with one of his friends, Mr Knoll, but unfortunately it wasn’t the best paid. Instead, I got work with another couple’s business, Sid and Vera Lastmann, whose business was across the road from Mr Knoll’s. They had a business for ladies and gents’ hairdressing, and I ended up running the gents’ department.
How did you feel when you came back to the UK?
I felt I had done the right thing. Things were getting better in the UK, and I didn’t want to stay in South Africa. I had never set out to stay there, so I decided to come back.
How did your time in South Africa affect you positively?
It changed me in many ways. One thing it did was to encourage me to set up my own gents’ hairdressing business.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Go! See the world! Have these adventures. You can always come home.
If you had the chance to do it all again, what would you do differently?
Nothing. I’d do exactly the same. When I came back to the UK, I came back to the North East. I got a job working for a hairdresser called Alan Dawson. I worked for a while in one of his barber shops. I then left and went to work in London for a bit, and my friend Guenther came to visit me there. We then went on a six-week tour of France, Germany and Spain. I loved it! After the holiday, I got my original job back, but I didn’t want to stay there. Running the shop in South Africa in Theo’s absence had shown me that I could run my own business, so I offered to buy the hairdressing business from Mr Dawson. He agreed, and, from the 1st October 1969, I had my own business. The South African experience was very valuable in that regard.
Lyndsey Dickinson.