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• Published date: 17 December 2020
• Publication title: Constantiaberg Bulletin

In the mid-60s the couple embarked on a plan to make a significant change to the country's 
political thinking. Their first album Folk on Trek was promptly banned because their lyrics of Mary Had a Little 
Lamb and the African American spiritual Dem Bones Gonna 
Rise Again were regarded as obscene.

They appealed and lost, and all copies of their album were ordered to be destroyed. But some were hidden and apparently are still around today.

However, it was in 1973 that they really became famous with their production of the ground-breaking musical Godspell, the first multi-racial show to be staged 
publicly in South Africa.

Back then, segregation was still enforced so members of their mixed cast had to rehearse on the lawns of the couple's stately 
Victorian mansion for the opening at the theatre specially built for them at the Holiday Inn in Maseru, 
Lesotho.

Dawn's life in theatre and entertainment moved with Des from tiny make-do halls to great theatrical successes. After their marriage in 
1965 they literally hit the road when they bought a caravan and 
toured South Africa and the then Rhodesia, visiting small towns and cities with Folk on Trek.

As Dawn once explained "back then there was no TV so to become known in the industry we had to get on the road to meet the people". This they did with huge success.

Before her death she was the CEO of the important Naledi Theatre Awards, the organisation 
which accurately summed her up when they called her "a legend of the performing arts".

Talking of one legend, it is good to be reminded that two legends in a different discipline, are still with us in their 90s - Marvellous Mavis Hutchison and Willie Loedolff.

Both started their careers late in life. Mavis was 38 when she walked 
20 miles in 3 hours and 25 minutes and Willie started his running 
career at 55. He went on to become one of the best long-distance 
runners but at 73, a back op put an end to his career. He is still the holder of seven SAMA (South African Masters Athletics) track 
records.

I was reminded about them when I received an email from Leo Benning who this year launched his book For the Love of It, a collection of personal experiences on the health benefits of exercise for over-35s. He emailed me to say that the Whalers Running group in Hermanus were staging a run on December 16 to honour two members - Gavin 
Turner who had fallen down a
 ravine while photographing an eagle in Fernkloof - and Ruby Waters who had lost her battle with cancer.

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