The Hermanus History Society’s first members’ meeting for 2015 was on 2 February at the Windsor Hotel. Dr Robin Lee told members that the HHS publication In Those Days: The Story of Joey van Rhyn Luyt at the Marine Hotel, Hermanus was completely sold out and the society was considering a reprint.

As a result of the book’s success, a whole trunk load of new documentation – discovered in a garage – about the extended Luyt family, has been handed over to the town’s history boffs and might warrant other publications. Lee says the book has sparked a contact with the Allengensky family (anglicised to Allen) which had an extensive fishing operation, owned the Windsor Hotel for a while, and set up and ran the first cinema in Hermanus – the Adelphi. He reckons there may be another book about this family in the offing.

(PHOTO: KERRY VAN RENSBURG)