Ann Berryman - Part 3
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The Union
Club |
Much of my
parents life revolved around the
happenings at the Union Club and what
was going on in the harbour. Being one
of the busiest ports in the world the
volume of shipping passing through was
enormous and different vessels could be
seen daily from the Club verandah.
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A highlight for
1947 was Navy week which was held in October
when HMS Norfolk was in port. (see photo below)
Our
third house was the nicest and my home for the
summer holidays of 1952. It was known as Lake
House, the old Residency set into a hill at
Tarshyne. I think Lake was a corruption of Loch.
Brig Gen
Francis Loch was the resident from 1878-1882.
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Almirante
Saldanha |
The buildings rambled along
the hillside and were almost completely covered
by bougainvilleas and jasmine. The rooms had
wooden lattice doors and windows, good for
cooling the rooms but hopeless in a sandstorm.
In 1952
the Brazilian Naval training ship Almirante
Saldanha called into Aden and hosted
receptions for residents, this was a
highlight of my holiday. Another naval
ship we visited in the harbour was HMS
Birmingham. |
School
holidays in England ended and I returned to Aden
with the family after their long leave, on SS
Kenya of British India Line. What a change
from the Empire Ken. This time it was
first class travel and not only did the officers
change from winter uniform into summer whites as
we neared Port Said but the chairs covers on the
furniture were changed too.
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My last
home in Aden was in one of the newly built
houses in Khormaksar; two lines of houses
surrounded by nothing we were No.10 Downing
Street1. It was a large square white box, (see
photo) the rooms were high, large and airy.
One problem was the water supply.
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Water was piped over ground from Sheikh Othman
which meant when it reached the house it was
hot, so in order to have a cool bath the water
had to be run into the bath hours before it was
required. This was our first house with a garage
and during an early driving lesson I drove
straight into the back of it.
The
Refinery at Little Aden was constructed during
this period (1952-1954) and when the personnel
were eventually housed we were invited to visit
their club house; it was air conditioned and
very modern compared with the Union Club and
Goldmohur.
The 1947 photo of Bir Fuqum
fishing village above contrasts with the
refinery development of the later 50s. The
refinery flare
eventually became a landmark and from the beach
at Goldmohur we could watch the oil tankers
passing into the harbour, one of 80,000 tons
stays in my memory as being the largest then
seen in Aden!
Elsewhere on this website I have written of my
working and fun days in the early 50s and I
realise that nowhere have I mentioned the RAF.
It is strange that the Forces and Civil expatriate
communities led such separate lives. My only
contact with the RAF came when I was asked to do
a live Desert Island Discs programme for their
radio station.
In 1956
the family moved to a house on a cliff near the
lighthouse at Ras Marshag, my sister Mary said
it had wonderful views over the sea. You can
see this house on Google Earth. On Google
Earth our Crater and Khormaksar houses are lost
in a mass of buildings, but I fancy I can see
the greenery of Lake House at Tarshyne.
I left
Aden for the last time at the end of 1955
and spent the next 30 years
in Africa. I would love to return to Aden for a
visit but am sure that I would not recognise the
Aden that I knew and loved.
1
Downing
Street, as 'Everyone' knew, was the Khormaksar
home of Government Officers. The most coveted
number, of course, was no. 10.
Ronald Knox-Mawer,
the chief magistrate, and his wife June, lived
at no. 1 Downing Street, and at another time in
the large house near the Hogg Clock Tower in
Steamer Point.
Ann Berryman
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