Sophy’s stone churches stole my heart and now I am on a quest to tick them off one by one.  This quaint church with its tranquil garden is situated in the Main Road, but is easily missed when one is in a hurry.

John Rex., son of the legendary George Rex, laid the foundation stone in 1849 and soon after in 1850 construction started on plans adapted and provided by Sophy.  Her church, the first in Knysna, is standing in front of the newer, darker church building which was only constructed in 1926.

The gardens are well kept and the green grass, edged with white flowers, provided a good back drop for pictures.  According to the notice board at the gate it states no sleeping on the church grounds, amongst others, but some vagrants enjoyed a New Years nap in the shade of the church garden.

We spent some time walking through the old graveyard and noticed some more Rex graves and also a grave of John Benn in the gardens.  Can this be the famous skipper that served Knysna in the early days?  I think I have some research to do ….

Unfortunately the church doors were locked so we could not take a peek inside.  Maybe next time when I pass by this way.

From the 40 churches where Sophy was involved I have managed to tick off 10 from the list. I think this may be a good enough excuse to take more trips in 2016 to find the others dotted all over South Africa.

My ticked list so far:  

• St George, Knysna 1849
• School Chapel, Beaufort West 1849
• St Marks, George 1849
• Holy Trinity, Belvidere, Knysna 1851
• Christ Church, Beaufort West 1852
• St Pauls, North End, Port Elizabeth 1854
• St Judes, Oudtshoorn 1860
• St Augustine, Frazerburg 1869
• All Saints, Uniondale  1869
• St Peters, Plettenberg Bay 1879

The post ST GEORGES CHURCH, KNYSNA appeared first on TRAVELBUCKET.

 Our first stop was at the historic Port Elizabeth Cricket Club (PECC) which was established in 1859 where a club match was underway.

The grounds boast a couple of unique achievements such as:

• being the second oldest cricket club in South Africa;
• being the venue for the first cricket test
• the first women’s international Test
• the last Test before South Africa was expelled from world cricket
• the first ever test series win against Australia
• the first Rebel test was played here
• and last but not least it is the sixth oldest cricket ground in the world

 In 2003 it was only the second season that PECC and Crusaders Rugby Club did not share their turf during summer and winter respectively.  The Eastern Province Cricket Board could not afford to have the field badly churned up by rugby boots just before the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Famous cricketers from PECC are Peter and Graeme Pollock, Dave Callaghan and Gavin Cowley.

Out of the stadium and on towards our next point of interest which is the St George’s Preparatory School just opposite the tennis club.    Knockfierna (Hill of Fairies or Truth) was originally built in 1899 as a beautiful grand Victorian Mansion by John Daverin, from Ireland, who was a successful Wool Merchant. John and his wife, Clothilda, brought up their 7 children in the grand style befitting this era.

Sadly there is only a dilapidated building left  of the tennis club as it had to make way for the refurbishing during the 2003 World Cricket tournament.  The Port Elizabeth Lawn Tennis Club (PELTC) in St George’s Park was founded in 1879 making it the oldest active tennis club in South Africa.

 But on with our stroll.  We made a quick detour to see what  the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Gallery offers which, to our surprise, was open on a Saturday afternoon.    As we were exiting the gallery I saw the War Memorial and gave it the due respects.   This was the halfway mark of our stroll.

 The geocaching walk took us to the public swimming pool which is sparkling clean and attendants on duty at the entrance (and they were not sleeping!).   Entry to the pool is a mere R9 however I spotted only two elderly bathers.  The gardens in front of the pool is bright and colourful and creates a real summer atmosphere.

Next was Prince Alfred’s Guard memorial. It was erected in 1907 in remembrance to men from the guard that died in four different wars. On the top of the central pedestal is a life-size figure of a sergeant-major of Prince Alfred’s Guard in full dress.   The Memorial is also situated on top of Port Elizabeth’s second oldest water reservoir.

Our next stops took as to the old Sea Scouts house amongst the trees and then on to the St George’s Park Conservatory where we saw some magnificent tree ferns.

Close by at the Port Elizabeth Bowls Club (founded in 1882) lively music was playing and on closer inspection we found some bowlers enjoying their Saturday afternoon game on the rhythm of the music.  Not bad for a bunch of old people!  And on this happy note our stroll came to an end.

What a pleasure to visit the park with all its history dating back more than a century!

The post A WALK IN ST GEORGE’S PARK appeared first on TRAVELBUCKET.