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MAST
Noel
Mast Noel NOEL RICHARD2 MAST (THEODORE MAURICE1) was born 1938.
He married JOSEPHINE WARNE. She was born 1938. He is the son of BARBARA ANNA7
FLEMMER (JOHN DISTIN6, CHRISTIAN LUDVIG5) born 1910. She married THEODORE MAURICE
MAST. He was born 1900
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NOEL RICHARD MAST BORN
24 DECEMBER 1938 IN THE JOHANNESBURG SUBURB OF HIGHLANDS NORTH WRITTEN ON 6 APRIL
2001
I was born in our home at Highlands North. The family moved from
there to a small holding in Rivonia when I was 5, and my first school year was
at the farm school in Rivonia. The following year our parents decided to send
my elder brother John and I to the Rosebank government school, while my elder
sister Patricia was sent to a private school in Bryanston. Whilst we were living
at Rivonia my younger sister Wendy was born at home.
At the age of 10
my parents moved to Pietermaritzburg, where they bought a wattle plantation and
I was sent to Merchaston. Due to the fall in the sale of wattle bark, (which at
that time was used primarily for the tanning of leather) my father sold up and
moved to a small farm near Gillitts (near Durban). I was sent to the Kloof government
school, which entailed walking 6 kilometres from the farm to the Gillitts train
station, catching the train to the Kloof station, and reversing the process in
the afternoon. Occasionally I would get a lift but this was not often. The farm
was a disaster, with my Dad loosing all his money. We then rented a small cottage
in Sykes Road, Fields Hill. The house was so small that my brother and I had to
sleep on the open veranda (really cold and miserable in the winter, but lovely
in the hot summer evenings). I started high school from here, going to the Natal
Technical High School in Durban (which at that time was situated at the bottom
of Smith Street). I would get a lift into Durban, with a church friend of the
family (Alex Rose), and would catch the train from the Berea Road station in the
afternoon. The trip to Fields Hill took a minimum of 1 hour 20 minutes. After
having to commute like this for a year we moved to a double storied rented house
in Trematon Drive in Durban. What a difference!, my own room, plenty of space
and a short trip to and from school each day, in a double decker electrically
driven bus. About two years later my parents purchased a house in Cherry Avenue
Durban. During my last two years at high school I was in the shooting team.. We
won many competitions, the most prestigious of these being the "Presidents Shield
After completing schooling, I had a number of jobs, while waiting for a game
ranger position to become vacant with the Natal Parks Board. I was initially stationed
at Hluhluwe Game Reserve and then moved to the Umfolozi Game Reserve. However
9 months later I resigned as the work was not at all what I had thought it would
be. We were poorly paid policemen, and I could not see myself doing this sort
of work for the rest of my life.
I then landed a job with National Cash
Registers (NCR) on the conversion of their machines from pounds, shillings and
pence to rands and cents. The position was in East London, so I loaded my worldly
goods aboard my 350cc BSA motor bike and headed off. Six weeks after my arrival
I met Jo on a blind date, and we were engaged a year later.
When the
conversion of all the NCR machines had been completed, all the temporary staff
were retrenched, so once again I headed back to Durban to take up a position as
a shift operator at the Engen Refinery.
In those days it was known as
Socony Mobil. I worked there for 18 months and really enjoyed the work. After
a few months I had accumulated sufficient funds to buy a car. So for the princely
sum of R275.00 I bought a Peugeot 403. By doing shift work I would have a long
week end after every 6 week cycle. This enabled me to finish the night shift at
08h00 on a Friday, drive through to East London by Friday afternoon, in time to
pick Jo up from work. We would then go out for the evening, usually getting home
in the early hours. I had to be back at work on Monday at 16h00, so I would leave
East London at about 06h00 in the morning. Many was the time I would not even
have sufficient time to go home and wash, but would go straight to work with all
my luggage still in the car. As you can imagine I was pretty exhausted by the
end of my first afternoon shift on these occasions. We also utilised these trips
to move most of Jo's worldly goods to Durban, with the poor old car loaded until
the back bumper nearly touched the ground. That car was incredibly reliable, never
breaking down once, despite the rough treatment it was getting.
We were
married on 16 February 1963 at the St Marks Anglican church in East London by
Canon Clack, and had our reception at the Bamboo room, Marine Hotel. Our honeymoon
was spent at the Hogsback Inn, a truly lovely setting to the start of our marriage.
We moved into the flat at the back of my parents home in Cherry Avenue, so
that we could save as much as possible towards the purchase of our own home. This
we achieved in two and a half years, with us moving into 22 Marshall Grove, Carrington
Heights Durban in October 1965.
In July 1963 I resigned from Mobil, taking
up a position with Shell and BP Refineries (Sapref) as a shift operator. Promotion
at Sapref came thick and fast, and I had become a foreman within 18 months of
joining the company. This was the fastest promotional progress ever achieved by
any staff member in the Shell group starting from operator to foreman.
Clive was born a year later on 7 October 1966, and Michelle on 2 December 1969
both at the St Augustine's hospital in Durban.
When Clive was 5 months
old a team of 6 staff members were sent to the Shell refinery in Geelong Australia,
to train on a new base luboil manufacturing plant which was being built at Sapref.
We were there for 5 months, which made the separation from Jo and Clive very hard
for me to bear.
Before the start up of the new plant (which was scheduled
for September 1967), all 6 members of the start up team were sent on leave. We
went off to East London in July. We stayed the first night at Kockstad, and when
we woke in the morning it had started snowing. This was the first time in my life
that I had seen snow close up, what an experience. We left soon after and had
the most hairy ride negotiating the Brooks Neck pass. In fact soon after we left
the motel the pass was closed to traffic. The heater in the car was not designed
for such cold weather so we were wrapped in blankets to try and keep warm.
After the holiday, the start up of the base luboil manufacturing plant began
in earnest, and in fact ended most successfully being one of the quickest start
ups of a plant this complexity and size in the group, being completed ahead of
schedule, well below budget, and with only minor glitches.
Two years
later I was offered the position of dispatch supervisor at the bitumen blending
plant. Where I was responsible for the scheduling, manufacture, quality control
and dispatch of a range of 32 different products. All of this was done with a
staff of 58 members, of whom I was responsible.
In 1975 the Sapref Sports
Club started a pistol shooting club, which both Jo and I joined, we used to have
regular competitions amongst the 8 pistol shooting clubs each month. This association
was called "The Durban and District Pistol Association". We enjoyed both the social
as well as the competitive aspects of this sport. I was on the committee as the
Sapref member for 2 years then vice chairman for 18 months and chairman for a
further 2 years. During this time I was selected to shoot for Natal, and did so
until we left for George. A total of 10 years. I was also on the Natal Pistol
Association committee for 4 years.
In 1988 I was seconded to the Sapref IT department to head up the development
of a dispatch software system to replace the existing system, which had become
outdated. However before the system had been installed I was approached by Mossgas,
who offered me the position of product co-ordinator at Mossgas. This was the new
synthetic fuel manufacturing plant being built at Mossel Bay. The financial package
they offered was nearly double of what I was earning at Sapref, so after 27 years
service with Sapref, I took an early retirement package, and we then moved to
George, with me commuting to Mossel Bay each day, a trip of 58 kilometres.
Initially I was responsible for the setting up of the Mossgas dispatch systems,
both computer and operational. I then had to engage and train a staff of 6 people
to run the sales side of the business. We were also required to ensure, that product
measurements were controlled and accurate through a set of audit trails, thereby
keeping product losses to an absolute minimum. Over a number of years we were
able, through fine tuning and complete computerisation of the process, able to
reduce the staff complement to 3 members.
I had been pressing Mossgas
management for over 2 years to give me a retirement package, and on 30 November
1998, my dream came true. I was still required to help out at Mossgas on a contract
basis for nearly a year after I had retired, as the intricacies of running the
month end process, was initially too difficult for them.
Both Jo and
I have very active lives, with me being on the Wildlife committee as treasurer,
Probus as vice president and I have now been nominated for the committee of ARP&P,
with the AGM in April 2001. Jo has now been social convenor for ARP&P for a year
and she really enjoys this. She does a great deal of sewing, makes most of our
clothing, as well as for the rest of the family, especially for the two grand
children. Our daughter Michelle is married to Bruce Paterson and they have two
children, Justine (6) and Nicholas (4). I enjoy woodwork, welding and repairs
and alterations to the house, having recently completely retiled both bathrooms
from floor to ceiling. My next project is modifying the brick drive and path.
We do a fair amount of walking, with a group of friends, our walks being on a
Friday morning. We would really love to see more of our children, but Clive lives
in Durban and Michelle and her family live on a forestry station near Melmoth
in northern Kwa Zulu Natal, so our visits are usually over Christmas, where the
photo below was taken last Christmas. We live in a truly beautiful part of our
country, with George hugging the Outeniqua range of mountains. Any number of hiking
trails are within very close proximity, and we have a large and interesting group
of friends. The area has a relatively low crime rate, so we can honestly say that
we are truly blessed
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