In January 1927 I went to Elgin with the St Barnabas Guides and thoroughly enjoyed everything, except that I was bitterly hurt when Canon White, who came out specially to take a communion service, refused to allow me to join in because I was not an Anglican. I was put in charge of swimming in the dam, and, when a younger girl panicked when she unexpectedly stepped off a shelf into deeper water out of her depth, I was pleased that I reacted calmly and put into practice all I�d been taught about life-saving.

That year I was Head Girl at Rustenburg. It was a great honour, as previously - and indeed afterwards - there was a Head day girl and a Head boarder, and I had the full responsibility of both posts. One official occasion which I attended was the ceremony at the Houses of Parliament when the Union Flag was hoisted for the very first time. The flag controversy had raged for many months before the final compromise design was chosen. I also, from that year, remember a talk by the Indian High Commissioner whom Miss Kemp had invited to address us as she considered it of great importance that we should be aware of what was happening in various parts of the world. With the other boarder prefects - Connie Davies from South West Africa, Bettie Louw from Stellenbosch and Naomi Hattingh from the Eastern Cape, I shared a study called the Sanctum, in the Lodge. It had a well-barred sash window which looked out onto the cul-de-sac Rustenburg Lane, and somehow Naomi managed to have a boyfriend come to this window to talk to her -and he brought us slab chocolate to help our studies!

During the year I had a happy few days with the Kents at Mr Beard�s property Rocklands, near Miller�s Point. Auntie had a whole crowd of us to stay, and others came to spend the odd day. We climbed and walked on the Cape Point mountains and we swam from the Boulders beach, where also, frequently, we had teenage picnics, with Kents, Hennessys, Fairbairns and other friends. I fell in love with Ronnie and I think he with me. Nobody �went steady� in those days, let alone living or sleeping together before marriage, but Ronnie and I went to dances together, stayed on occasion in each other�s homes, and met on many occasions. For the next few years, although I went out with other men, it was a great comfort for me to know that he was in the background - and sometimes in the foreground, too.

One morning, by arrangement, I arrived at Nevis clad in my gym, the usual garb for us girls for walking and climbing and picnicking, and it was planned to have a day up Skeleton Gorge on Table Mountain. I was desperately shy, and my confidence wasn�t reassured when Hal said to Jack: �Yes, Shirley will do very well as Dolly MacPhearson�. Jack agreed, and they explained to me that I had got to be this �Dolly� all day - she was a fictional girlfriend invented for Alex McGregor. She had, I gathered later, been writing letters to Alex, and he was very embarrassed about her.

Not as embarrassed as I now was! Jack and Hal took off my Rustenburg hatband (she was supposed to be at Wynberg Girls? High) and I was set. All the other girls were from Wynberg and the boys were from Bishops, and were later my very dear friends, but at this time I didn�t know any of them well. Everybody except Alex knew about the trick, and I spent a happy but shy day with them all as �Dolly�. A week or so later, Rustenburg had a hockey match against Wynberg. As I was padding up for the first team match, a cheerful �Hullo, Dolly� greeted me - Meg and Claire ready to play against us.