History of the Helderberg
The Girl on the Stage: Sonja Herholdt, Somerset West, 1974
STORY 105 It was a weekday afternoon in 1974. School had not yet ended for …read more
Somerset West
History of the Helderberg
The Voice in the Shower: Manuel Escórcio and Helderberg College
STORY 104 The story of how Manuel Escórcio became one of South Africa’s most celebrated …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Last Forge: The Blacksmith of Bright Street
STORY 81 There are ways of knowing a place that no map records. The sound …read more
History of the Helderberg
Cloetenburg: The Farm That Became a Town
STORY 79 Before Somerset West existed, before there was a church, a village or a …read more
History of the Helderberg
The River That Remembers: The Lourens and Its Floods
STORY 72 The Lourens River begins high in the Helderberg mountains, collects the rain from …read more
History of the Helderberg
Full Circle: Vergelegen, Three Centuries Later
STORY 71 We began this book at Vergelegen. A corrupt governor. A land grab. Half …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Men Who Came Home: The MOTHS of Somerset West
STORY 63 When the Second World War ended in 1945, the ships and trains and …read more
History of the Helderberg
Built by Hand, Run by Heart: The Playhouse Theatre
STORY 59 There is a theatre in Somerset West that has no government subsidy, no …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Man Who Walked Away from the Dynamite Factory
STORY 53 In 1962, a young production planner at the AECI Dynamite Factory made a …read more
History of the Helderberg
The Factory That Made Everything: Somchem, Secrets and Sanctions
STORY 50 In 1971, the factory changed hands in a way that changed everything about …read more