Nothing flourishes alone. At Woodside, six friends have made a quiet habit of showing up for one another and they will tell you, it’s one of the real secrets of a good old age.
By Sheila Schuurmans
What a pleasure it has been to spend time with the Six of the Best, a warm and lively circle of Woodside Village residents in Rondebosch. They are three single men and three single women, and they will tell you, with a chuckle, that nobody quite knows how the friendship began. Nobody sat down and planned it. It simply grew.
Its roots go back to earlier days, when some of the long-standing residents gathered for sundowners in the village’s old bar, The Woodpecker, which a few of them ran themselves. After Auria arrived and refurbished the Upstairs Bar and Lounge, various residents gravitated to the new venue and the sundowner evenings evolved. Friends brought along other friends they thought might enjoy this, and regular Friday five o’clock gatherings were established. Among the growing number of residents, the Six settled into the happy-fun loving group that it is today. The name came from far away. Carol Vella and her daughter were travelling in Cinque Terre when they set up the WhatsApp group and called it Six of the Best. As Carol says, “we found one another.”
These days they are best known for Table Three in the Woodside dining room, their usual spot, where there is rarely a quiet moment. By their own cheerful admission they are a busy table. There is always a wine to be tasted or a birthday to be toasted, the meal is often rounded off with a liqueur, and they are almost always the last to leave. Once a month they head further afield to a restaurant somewhere in Cape Town and on Thursday mornings a good few settle in at the City Hall for the Cape Town Philharmonic rehearsals. The three men, who call themselves The Three Stooges on their own WhatsApp group, like to follow the music with a steak lunch. None of this is idle to them. They are sure that good company matters as much to a healthy old age as diet, exercise and sleep.
Let me introduce them…
Basil Matzopoulos is ninety-five, the group’s patriarch and its liveliest spirit. He has a wonderful joie de vivre, a wry sense of humour and firm opinions that he is happy to share. He watches his sport, soccer and rugby above all, well into the small hours, plays snooker most days, and takes his wine from a rather magnificent oversized glass. For many years he has tended, with pride and care, the pots of bright red roses at the entrance to B Block, and late last year he acquired a bright red mobility scooter that the group has fondly named his ‘Red Ferrari.’ Basil brings constant laughter to the group and his wisdom is cherished by all.
Wendy Georgeu is in her nineties and gloriously young at heart. She brings elegance and sparkle, along with a good many opinions of her own. A keen bridge player in person and online, she has a real passion for classical music, theatre, opera and ballet and joins the others at the City Hall rehearsals. She participates regularly in the Wellness Centre in the Seated Exercise Class and always has an encouraging word for those around her. She gets about the village on her mobile wheelchair and on one memorable occasion, amid much laughter, she raced Basil’s ‘Red Ferrari’ along a village road on the way to the Wednesday dinner. It is that sort of friendship.
Matthys Loubser, known to many as Thys, is now in his eighties and is very well respected and recognised in the group for his exceptional knowledge of and love for classical music. He has played the piano since childhood and enjoys practising regularly, purely for recreational purposes, on one of the two treasured pianos in his home. Propped on the Steinway are two posters that say a lot about him: a London Daily Mail headline, “Playing a musical instrument hits a high note in the brain” and beside it, his motto in life, Dum Vivimus Vivamus, meaning “Live while you are alive”. His interest in classical music, the Baroque in particular, takes him to concerts and soirées all over the city, including the weekly Cape Town Philharmonic rehearsals. He is a keen snooker player too, a devoted follower of golf, rugby, cricket and tennis, and something of a connoisseur of good food and wine. He exercises daily and has a strong interest in current affairs, contributing much to the group in this area. Most of all, he says, he is grateful for the invaluable companionship of the Six.
Francie Meyer, also in her early eighties, has lived in B Block for many years, near Basil and Laurie. Having moved here on her own, she decided early on to say yes to whatever came along and the Six have become a treasured part of her life in the village. She has loved classical music and bridge for as long as she can remember. She loves dancing and movement and is a very keen and light-footed member of the Line Dancing Class. She often walks other residents’ dogs and with her fine eye for style and fit, she alters and mends clothes for many a grateful Woodsider. Thoughtful and kind hearted, she often reaches out to others in the village, and this is greatly appreciated.
Laurie Purchase is in his early eighties, a thoughtful and caring man who is quietly grateful for the welcome the Six gave him when he arrived on his own. He photographs flora, loves music of almost every kind, and is an avid rugby follower who eagerly watches all the games on tv with enthusiasm. He is a great one for dancing, especially when our ‘Village Rollers’ (Woodside’s Rock ‘n Roll Band) strike up the sixties and seventies music we so love. He is a serious early bird too, at the gym by five am each morning, invariably the only person about. “We look out for one another,” he says of the group he values so much.
Carol Vella is the youngest and newest member of the Six; in her seventies, she lives two doors from Wendy, who welcomed her within two days and swept her off to the sundowners that very evening. She is outgoing, chats to one and all, and views life with enthusiasm and optimism. She is very active and energetic and walks along the leafy streets of Rondebosch every morning, rain or shine, plays bowls and bridge, line dances with grace and rarely turns up to dinner without a good sparkling wine to share. To keep her mind as sharp as a tack, she is seen regularly in her favourite spot in Café Auria, where she meticulously completes the daily Word Search and Sudoku Game in the Cape Times. She has a fine sense of humour, is kind and caring, and is deeply grateful for the happiness and sense of belonging that the group has given her.
Six friends, then, each of them quite different from the next, who have made a simple habit of being there for one another. They are a happy reminder of something Woodside understands well, that the later years are richer for being shared…. and that a good life does its best flourishing in good company.
By Sheila Schuurmans
