I went to many private and most University dances. We danced at Stellenbosch, at Kommetjie, at Wynberg and many other venues. Sometimes we all chipped in with food, and Mother thought nothing of me when I caine home and said: �I�ve promised to take a trifle....� It was my favourite, and I certainly didn�t take into account the fact that it cost considerably more than, say, a fruit salad. De Waal Drive was unsafe for night travel, so we often went via the Main Road - the memory lingers of the quietness of the deserted tramlines along Salt River where normal daytime traffic was dense and slow-moving. At Peggy Balsillie�s 21st birthday dance at Bishops near the end of my last year, I introduced Ronnie to Dossie Osler - not a propitious move for me, as it turned out.

I went too to grand balls given by the Mayor in the City Hall, by the Governor-General at Government House where I made my curtsey to Princess Alice and the Earl of Athlone, and by the Admiral of the Fleet South Atlantic at Admiralty House at Simonstown, such a beautiful setting.

For the Government House ball, Mother and her dressmaker Miss Vollmer made over for me a lovely ivory Liberty satin dress of Mother�s. They used the beaded tops of the leg-of-mutton sleeves for the bodice, and Mother embroidered over the join at the front to match the original embroidery.

That dress was special as Mother paid for the alterations, for I was on a very tight budget and made most of my clothes, on the Willcox & Gibbs sewing machine, on the dining room table, with Dad walking through on his way to his favourite seat - his deck chair on the back stoep. On his way he admonished me �Shirley, sit up straight. Don�t stoop over the machine.� I haunted Spracklens in Plein Street for remnants and cheap buys. Shena and I both, for some peculiar reason, liked to cut out our dresses on the floor. One evening dress I made took yards of georgette - it was tiered and was short in front and long at tbe back, and each tier had to be picot-edged. This we could get easily done for I think 3d a yard. Other materials were brocade and taffeta, and with every evening dress I had satin shoes dyed to match. I had at least one of my dresses dyed a different colour after a time to make a change, and then had the shoes dyed to match again.

Shena went to a Commem Ball in an �exclusive� turquoise velvet frock from Rejanne in Adderley Street, which cost the then unheard of (to us) sum of �10, and she and our friend Patsy Barry were both dismayed at finding the other in the same dress -Rejanne�s lost its popularity! Michael Caradoc-Davies and Jim Coventry took Marion de Beer and me to a dance at the Marine Hotel in Sea Point (on this sort of occasion one glass of brandy and ginger ale lasted all evening) and I was envious of Marion because she had made a charming dress out of material at 3/- a yard from Ackermans - a real find. I enjoyed wearing a white fur tippet, which had black �tails� sewn in to give the effect of ermine, which I had bought for 19/6.