KNYSNA NEWS - One of the early residents of Leisure Isle, Robin Abbott, has a recent photograph of himself taken more or less in the same spot as a 1945 photograph of himself and a cousin, Jenny Perks, as children in Long Street. Abbott was born in Long Street in the family home, which the Perks family fondly referred to as The Ark.

In the original photograph one can make out the sign that reads, Stinkwood Products, at 13 Long Street. Abbott's grandfather, Richard Perks, decided to build a proper cinema at that location, called The Regal Theatre. Today the building houses a number of shops selling various products.

"We moved onto Leisure Isle in 1958. It had previously been called Steenbok Eiland. We had electricity, but no running water and therefore every house had its own water tank. We weren't part of the municipality and people thought you lived out in the boondocks if you lived on the Island!" he laughs.

On the back of the original photograph it is written in ink: "Robin and Jenny up to mischief again. Don't they look alike and cute? Daisy Abbott."

Explains Abbott: "I have been meaning to have a photograph taken next to the old yellowwood tree where the public phone booth is just outside Woodmill Lane's turn-in, because the tree features in my original photograph of 1945, but unfortunately the tree has recently been cut down."


Robin Abbott and his cousin Jenny Perks with Long Street in the background, photographed in 1945. Abbott’s grandfaher later built a bioscope, The Regal Theatre in the same spot.

ARTICLE: ANOESCHKA VON MECK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST