CULTURAL LEGACY
Wahnfried, situated on the corner of Bree and Buitenkant Streets, was started by Michael Mackenzie and Frederic Symonds in 2012 with a vision that the house would act as a venue for cultural events – live music, recorded music, films and other ‘sympathetic’ activities.
The Moroccan-inspired house with its double volume ‘salon’ and excellent acoustics was furnished with an 1873 Bechstein grand piano, comfortable chairs and a quality film projector system, which showed films in high definition and the latest surround sound.
In addition to twice weekly films, Wahnfried has hosted many outstanding musicians, recitals and captivating talks from around the world, bringing quality performances to McGregor.
The first event on Sunday 21 October 2012 was a filmed performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and that same work was the last event on Sunday 12 October 2025.
WAHNFRIED
Ian and Jane Banks relocated to McGregor in 1983. Jane, a competent potter, brought her wheel with her and soon after, with the help of her architect son Wally, set up a kiln and glazing room in an old workshop behind the house in Mill Street.
The pottery began with twice-weekly morning classes, supported by local farmers wives and a group from Bonnievale. The English/Afrikaans barrier was soon broken, as each group learnt of each other’s cultures and lifestyles. Later the classes became popular weekend retreats, including accommodation. Each potter was responsible for a meal, which instilled a sense of community.
The aim was to make functional ware that was beautiful, inspired by the surrounding fynbos. Pottery classes and garden pots used earthenware clay, while and pots and wash basins were made from stoneware clay. Clay that was unearthed during digging trenches for new foundations was also used, which when fired resulted in a beautiful pink to mauve finish.
The surrounding mountains provided inspiration – the Boesmanskloof trail, rivers, wilderness area, and specifically the fynbos of the Krans Nature Reserve. Experimenting with the slip and various shales, it was discovered how to paint the flowers on wet pots, just thrown, which became a trademark technique.
Family members and some residents also contributed to decorating pots, instilling their own unique styles.
Another Banks Pottery trademark was wall tiles, which varied in size, shape and texture and could be puzzled together to form wall art. Each handcrafted tile had its own relief motif and colour for its own individual character. No two tiles were ever the same.
Other items included hanging and wall-sconce light shades, plant pots, bowls, and water feature fountains.
Banks Pottery and the establishment of Old Mill Lodge by Helaine Shand, both played a critical role in the development of tourism within McGregor in the 1990’s. These efforts slowly exposed McGregor to the outside world, which encouraged the curious to come and discover the village.
The Banks Pottery basins now grace many a McGregor home and are also found in homes further afield, and are typically identified by their delicate floral motifs which adorn the inner bowl.
The last set of pots was thrown in 2013.
BANKS POTTERY
Millstone Pottery was started and run by renowned South African potters Paul de Jongh and Nina Shand. They shared a passion for creating beautiful, useful kitchenware pots for cooking to lemon squeezers to solid olive oil vessels which protect the oil from the light.
Paul – known as ‘Paul the demon thrower’ – would sit down and ‘throw’ a ball of clay onto a bat secured to his potter’s wheel, transforming it into the shape he desired. Throwing a plate took about three minutes, a cup about five.
All clay had to be heated (fired) to become hard, and wood-fired pottery is the oldest method of firing clay. The largest of the four kilns at Millstone was based on an ancient Japanese design known as an anagama, or single-chambered kiln. This type of kiln has the pots and fire box in the same chamber. The work fired in the kiln took two to three days of stoking (or putting wood in the kiln) at 5–10-minute intervals to achieve the maximum temperature of 1300 degrees C, which made the clay vitrify or harden into a glass.
The special appeal of wood firing comes from atmospheric effects on the glazes and unglazed surfaces of the pots. In a wood-fired kiln, small particles of wood ash float through the kiln, along the path of the flame, and land on the vessels. The minerals in the ash fuse into a glaze at these yellow hot temperatures and can create some beautiful flashes of colour. The burning wood also releases calcium and phosphorus fumes into the kiln which can give wonderful blushes of colour on the sides of the pieces. This process creates unique and individual pieces that are each an amazing individual work of art.
Because firing the wood kiln took days of preparation and three to four days of actual firing, the kiln was only fired once or twice a year.
Ash from the studio fireplace was collected to make the glaze. All the wood was harvested from local dead trees, which neighbours asked to be carted away for them. This linked the pieces with McGregor, as they incorporated natural local materials.
The wood-firing practice of Millstone pottery was a communal activity that brought together a gathering of like-minded people, interested in working hard together on something of value. The annual wood-firing ‘jamborees’ were large celebrations, lavish and boisterous parties. Each firing needed a crew of four to six people, taking shifts and working around the clock to load and fire the work.
Paul de Jongh:
As you come off duty and remove your face shield and gloves after your four-hour shift stoking the fire –
another fire-tender needs to be behind you to continue stoking. Once you have participated in a firing, you feel a strong connection to the pots. As they come out of the kiln, they reward you by telling the story of every log split and the journey they have taken through the river of fire. When you go on to use your wood-fired vessels, you can continue to sense and read the pot’s story and to interact with it when eating and drinking out of it. The unpredictability and serendipity of the results is new to most potters and can be a somewhat acquired taste. At the same time, it is that element of surprise that is so satisfying, the collaboration of fire, smoke, ash, clay, and heat.
MILLSTONE POTTERY
THE BREEDE CENTRE
Peter Holloway started the Breede Centre, with a vision of bringing ‘skills for life’ to young adults who had not been given the chance during schooling to learn practical skills that could lead to jobs or self-support.
The Pondo Trust, led by Taya Cundill, set up ‘The Pondo Children’s Home’ in Darling Street (Stone House), McGregor, in 1992. The trust also owned a building on the corner of Church and Buitenkant Streets, which was donated in the name of the Breede Centre, with a specific mission to offer short courses, especially in vernacular building craft, hospitality, and (later) handcrafts.
McGregor residents and friends based in Holland and elsewhere provided the funding.
Participation in the skills-development classes was strong. Trainers comprised a mix of local experts and interested visitors. Suenel Holloway’s classes in catering and culinary skills led to the construction of a first-class kitchen, capable of providing the space and resources for hospitality training and food provision. Peter Holloway played a central role in designing and holding the building crafts courses. Skills taught included woodworking (making small wooden toys) and the planning and support of building work on village houses.
Along the way, the notion of ‘skills training’ came to include the formation of a steel-drum band, co-ordinated by John Hargreaves, and the formation of the McGregor Warriors, a cycling group run by Max Menzies that inspired young men to become competitive cyclists and to do their own bike-repair. For many years Lammie Fereira undertook handicrafts training and ran the DSAC-programme called the Yeboneers (Year-Beyond), where post-matrics became mentors for school-age learners.
In 2014, under the extremely able guidance of Katleen Verschoore, the Centre opened programmes aimed to support early childhood development. It is widely known in education theory and practice that focusing on the social, cognitive, creative and emotional well-being of children under five has a lasting impact.
First using the approach of Amazing Brainz, Katleen (and initially three, then later, seven teachers) designed and organized ECD programmes, which ran from 8.00am to lunch time every weekday and included two meals. The community responded with enthusiasm.
The Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) subsidised the programmes, which grew to include daily after-school care, a project with parents, holiday programmes, and others. Patricia Hall’s Museng project combines learning English with learning musical skills. Annelien van der Colff’s Ukanaries is a group of young adolescents who play the ukeleles with her and has now become a common feature at community events. McGregor’s Art Collective, under James Knoop, designed a beautiful painting of underwater sea-life for a Breede Centre classroom.
The Breede Centre is still doing critically important work, all so that skills-development programmes may be continued for the people of McGregor.
WHO OWNS WHOM
Robin McGregor – a descendant of the Rev. Andrew McGregor, after whom the village is named – lived in McGregor from 1980 to 1995 and served as Mayor (1984 - 1986) during this period. While in residence at Fountain Place, Barry Street, Robin compiled, researched and wrote the McGregor’s Who Owns Whom’, which he first published in 1980.
McGregor’s Who Owns Whom was both a directory of and guide to South African business, with a strong focus on JSE listed companies. It provided excellent research and analysis of the complex equity structures and performance of JSE listed companies. It was, for years, the definitive guide to South African business.
TEMENOS
The seed of Temenos was planted in the late 1970’s when Billy Kennedy became acquainted with a French order of nuns called the ‘Little Sisters of Jesus’. They are a deeply contemplative order, who unlike other recluses, do not live in convents. Instead, they choose to be a humble and compassionate presence among the most marginalized and poor communities of the world. They live harmoniously with those of other faiths, sowing seeds of tolerance and openness, growing what unites rather than divides. After visiting many retreat centres throughout the world, doing missionary work and counselling, Billy decided it was time to fulfil his dream. He first visited the sleepy village of McGregor in the mid-1990s, during his search of almost every small town in the Western Cape. The retreat centre he envisaged would be open and tolerant to all beliefs. McGregor was chosen because the seasons, like those of the heart, are very distinct, as well as the pervading silence and solitude of the village.
An old home in the main street was for sale and in 1997 Billy purchased what is now the restaurant, office, shop, and stable room (where meditation first took place). These buildings date back to 1856 and include the traditional thick mud wall on the restaurant terrace. The house was also used by farmers as overnight accommodation for ‘nagmaal’ (communion). Families would travel by ox wagon and enjoy time with friends on Saturday and Sunday services before returning to their outlaying farms early in the week. A family by the name of Brönn owned the property for approximately 100 years, with Johannes ‘John’ Brönn having lived on the premises since the mid-1880s.
They recall the agricultural era of the village, where donkey carts and oxen were commonplace. The home was originally known as ‘Triangle’ (the two buildings plus an imaginary third line connecting them). The Brönn family farmed the land and kept livestock – about 200 chickens, and several cows, pigs and donkeys. During the week Laurie Brönn did shoe repairs and on Saturdays he was the official barber for the village. For a haircut, adults were charged 25 cents (half a crown) and children 10 cents (one shilling). On Sundays he could be seen hard at work at the NG Kerk, pumping air into the organ for morning worship. The family also took in boarders – mostly children of nearby farmers who needed to attend school. The family bought their groceries on credit in the ‘black book’, which was then paid for with eggs, butter and boarding money.
Café Tebaldi originally contained the family kitchen, lounge, pantry, dining room, four bedrooms, store room and sewing room, and a separate bathroom off what is know the restaurant terrace. The main reception was the shoe and barber shop, while the Temenos Reception was used as a second store room. According to Willie’s father, the foundations consisted of trenches filled with stones and clay, and the walls were built with raw bricks. Despite this dubious construction, evidently no cracks ever appeared! The floor was untreated and simply covered every year with linoleum. Every Friday, however, the floor of the dining room was smeared with cow dung, and polished. The reed ceiling was covered with mud (known as a ‘brandsolder’ ceiling, which prevents thatch from falling down into the house during a fire) and can still be seen with careful observation. After the radio was invented (1896), villagers used to gather in the home to listen to rugby matches on the radio.
The property was purchased by Billy in 1997, and land was purchased piece by piece, with Assisi and Carmel being the first two cottages, followed by The Little Way Chapel, whereafter the centre was opened to the public. Cottages and facilities were built as land and funds became available. The centre is now made up of 12 cottages (sleeping a total of 26 persons), a swimming pool, library/conference room, restaurant, meditation room and chapel.
Developing the gardens was a major priority, and, to begin with, a large pond was constructed to attract birds. The abundant flora developed from then on, with some plants being bought and others donated by visitors and friends. Today the gardens provide a lush oasis for Temenos guests as well as for birds, fish, insects, amphibians and reptiles.
The name ‘temenos’ is of Greek origin, meaning ‘sanctuary’. It is therefore a place of refuge, and a space for introspection or just ‘being’.