History Unfolded

04/20/2026

04/20/2026

1955 - Street scene near the Springs Railway Station

04/20/2026

1958 - Clows Motors, 4th Avenue, Springs. New cars waiting for customers. The year could be slightly out. Vintage car buffs please assist with model and year.
AI colourized.

04/20/2026

1961 - A rural country scene in Europe?
No, it is the Springs Bus Depot with small holdings around it.
Can anyone guess where it was exactly?
Colourised for more detail.

04/20/2026

Judd mom and dad lived in the main house on the left and their Son in the house on the right.
The workshop at the back housed the pasteurization and bottling plants.

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1982 - Top Gun Springsite, Captain Johnny 'Jonno' Inggs, a Selcourt lad, set a new record time of 78 minutes for a flight from Waterkloof, Pretoria to Ysterplaat, Cape Town.
Flying his Mirage F1-CZ fighter jet, he attained a speed of Mach 1.6 over Sutherland using 200l of fuel per minute.
His father was Commandant Dick Inggs, OC of the Sixth Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment in Springs.
Where is 'Jonno' now?

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1955 - Springs Hairdressers on 2nd Avenue just a block down from the station. Most Barbers stayed open till late to catch the after work business.
The smell of Cologne and Talcum powder was always a pleasant welcome.

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1955 - The new National Hotel on the Geduld High Street had been open for a few months.

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1944 - Springsite, Sub Lieutenant Paul Mallett. He was there!!!

The only South African aboard the Class frigate HMS Goodall es**rting Battle cruiser HMS Nelson to Normandy on D-day, June 6, 1944.

They safely es**rted, HMS Nelson to within 10 miles off the coast of Cherbourg, France. Nelson was a capital Ship tasked with bombarding the German positions on the Normandy coast.

He saw hundreds of Allied aircraft, with three white stripes painted on their wings to distinguish them from the enemy, on their way to Normandy and 'waves' of landing craft arriving on the coast.

Just before the end of the war, in a stroke of luck, he was transferred to another ship to do es**rt work across the Atlantic.
Two days before VE Day on the 6th May, 1945, Frigate HMS Goodall was struck by a torpedo and sunk. Of the 186 aboard, 29 survived.

After the war Paul came back to South Africa. He moved to Springs in 1965 and opened the first branch of Barclays Bank on Fifth Ave, and was its first Manager. He lived a full life and passed away in 2005.

We salute Paul Mallet for his service as we approach Remembrance Day on the 11th November.

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1922 - Not Springs but a wonderful photo of two awesome Fire Trucks from our neighbour across the Pan, at Brakpan Fire Department.
A rare photo found by SHOAGT in its Springs Advertiser digital archive. AI colourized

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1940 - The Chamber of Mines of South Africa donate a Mobile Dental Clinic to Officials and medical staff at Grootvlei Gold mine, Springs.
The truck is a 1939 Ford COE (Cab Over Engine).

04/20/2026

Remembrance Day. Lest we forget.

On the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day an Armistice came into effect between the Western Allies and Germany to end World War 1.

Post WW2 , Remembrance Day parades are held on the nearest Sunday to the 11th of November to honour all war dead. This year it is today, the 9th

The image shown is the Remembrance Day Parade at the Springs War Memorial at 11am on Sunday, 12th November, 1961.