Vetnuus | November 2024 25 Huis Onderstepoort in the 1960s <<<24 a pity - I’d love us to have been taken to court by Rolls-Royce for copyright infringement! And on the number plate? OP 1967! Peet then had to tack the little car and Miss Piggy to the base of the truck bed, and also Master Piglet. By now Miss Piggy was no longer a large white but shocking pink. Master Piglet was supposed to be pitch black, but the painting team lost their nerve (and some black paint) and he became a pied, multiracial colour – still quite daring for the times. Miss Piggy had been given a steering wheel between her front trotters, with a very long column down to the dashboard. Someone else had given her a beautiful umbrella with the longest extension ever seen since she’d be in the fierce morning sun the next day. Would this get under the trees and powerlines and telephone lines? All this activity needed vast intakes of brown sandwiches, and by 10:30 pm we were almost at a standstill. Well, some of us were already there, sitting on the Res steps, contemplatively. A few decided that being stretched out on the pile of unused newspapers was an aid to contemplation. There was even time to make a little OP Gremlin like our later ’69 mascot, to go onto the now beautifully thatched shack. Windows in the shack were made to give the driver glimpses of where he was and where to go. Finally, at 12:30, we could do no more, we had to get up at 04:30 to take the float into Pretoria. Our last action was to pull a load of newspapers over those members of the team still in deepest contemplation on the pile – it was May, after all. We got up early enough on the Saturday, although not so bright, and last-minute adjustments were made before we moved off to the starting point, with Bert doing the driving since he had a heavy-duty licence, me on his left to see where the pavement was, others on the deck to be lookouts fore and aft. Doorsie Taljaard driving ahead and taking photos. Unfortunately, he got too far into the photography and crashed into Peet’s red volksie. No damage to him but painful damage to his pride and joy DKW and Peet’s courting chariot. We drove through the pitch dark without any arguments with trees or lines, thanks to our lookouts, and as we got to our destination dawn was breaking. Then into line to wait for the judges and censors. Somehow we passed. Miss Piggy’s ears flapped enticingly, her eyes fluttered alluringly, and she even puffed - dry ice, not dagga. Then the long trip through town and back, with goggle-eyed crowds looking at Mr Multicolour’s staggering appendage and wondering how this affront to decency and segregation was allowed, and Bert asphyxiated by the carbon monoxide fumes in the thatched cab. Finally, back to OP Res a lot faster than we went out (it didn’t matter what broke now) and we all crashed for the afternoon. But we managed to make it to the all-important Rag Party where we finished off SAB’s donation, which Austin refused to return. Sunday was always an anti-climax - taking things off the truck and cleaning it so that Bert could return it to its apprehensive owner, and clearing up the mountain of garbage we’d accumulated in just one week. But we did find a place of honour for Miss Piggy and her eager companion at the base of the stairs in the New Res, where they lived happily for many years, though they never (as far as is known) consummated their union. Unbelievably, on Monday it was back again to all the activities that get in the way of a happy student life. Prof Gareth Bath qualified in 1969 and spent two years in private practice before becoming a state veterinarian at the Middelburg Cape Regional Veterinary Laboratory. In 1971, he was promoted to Veterinarian-in-Charge of the Allerton Regional Veterinary Laboratory in 1981 and 1987, Assistant Director and Veterinarian-in-Charge of the Vryheid Veterinary Laboratory in addition to his post as Veterinarianin-Charge at Allerton. In 1988 Prof Bath joined the Faculty of Veterinary Science as Associate Professor of Small Stock Health and Production. He was appointed as the Head of the Department of Veterinary Production and Ethology in 1999 and retired as Emeritus Professor in 2011. Prof Bath has been recognised for his sterling contribution to the veterinary profession on several occasions throughout his career, including SAVA Honorary Life Vice President (2014), the International Sheep Veterinary Association (ISVA) Lifetime Service Award (2017), The World Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Award (2020), the University of Pretoria’s Chancellor’s Award (2020) and the National Agriculturist of the Year Award (2021). Prof Bath is the current chair of the South African Veterinary History Society and has made valuable contributions to the preservation of the history of veterinary science in South Africa. Miss Piggy taking shape in front of Old Res, May 1967 Master Boar on the Old Res stoep >>>26
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