Blaaukrantz Plaque Unveiling
It would have been relatively easy to hang a garland of adjectives around Hope Brereton’s neck when describing her accomplishments in her short life.
A DSG matric girl as long ago as 1910, she was a star pupil. She attained the best Matriculation result in the school, obtained Honours in the Advanced Division of the examination in piano, and won a University Bursary to Rhodes University. She was also one of the leading tennis and cricket players at the DSG and contributed to the school in all aspects. A respected teacher at DSG at the time, Miss Fowler, said that Hope Brereton was “an excellent member of school in every way”. She no doubt would have been a strong candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship were it available in her day. It seems that Hope was the role model for all DSG girls at the time. Someone to look up to, who made the most of DSG’s opportunities and who excelled in everything she did.
However, on April 22nd 1911, this beloved ex-DSG girl was a passenger on the steam train travelling from Port Alfred to Grahamstown when five of the passenger carriages uncoupled and fell off the Blaauwkrantz Bridge in what was said to be, in Ben Bezuidenhout’s words: ‘the greatest tragedy in peace-time South Africa’ leaving 31 people dead. The life of a talented young DSG girl sadly came to an untimely end that day and resulted in her lasting legacy, the Hope Brereton Award, which has been awarded in her memory every year for 100 years since her death.
Hope Brereton personified the epitome of a DSG girl and for this reason the prestigious Hope Brereton award is given to the girl who excels in music or academics. In our headmistress, Shelley Frayne’s words, she would have been the type of girl who “reflects our holistic education” and “develops all facets of themselves”. The fact that this year marks the hundredth time a DSG girl will be awarded the Hope Brereton Prize is testimony to the honour and respect in which we hold Hope Brereton.
On behalf of Shelley Frayne, and the staff and girls of DSG, we express our sincere gratitude and appreciation that this plaque will be unveiled in her memory.
Emma Glyn
