Peter Brinkworth (Colonel Light Gardens)
When my twin brother and I were in primary school at Colonel Light Gardens, we had regular contact with the Institute Hall in West Parkway, as we passed it on foot every day on the way to school. In those days, the Garden Suburb Commissioner had an office at the front of the hall.
Between 1952 and 1954, we were members of the Crescent Boys Club, a gymnastics club, which met weekly in the main hall. We wore white shorts, sandshoes, and a white T-shirt with a green and gold felt badge on the front. The equipment included tumbling mats, vault with springboard, parallel bars, and rings. At our age and physical development, we never progressed past the basic tumbling and vaulting, but we had fun.
Meanwhile, we also joined the St John Ambulance Brigade cadets, a part of the Brigade Division which met there. Parades (with drills), classes and training were held weekly in the smaller hall at the rear of the main hall. The superintendent in charge was ‘Drew’ Harper, while one of our fellow cadets was Graham Hamdorf, now a leading Adelaide gynaecologist, and notable senior members were the Heard brothers, Malcolm and John, who were members of the Australian Olympic basketball team in 1960. We used our training in first aid mainly in competition with teams from other divisions around Adelaide, but the highlight of each year was the St John cadet camp held at the Angaston showground. We travelled there from Adelaide by train. We were probably encouraged to join by our father who was a member of the Unley City Ambulance during the 1930s. We might have joined the Boy Scouts, but we were not aware of any local troop. The Brigade division regularly held dances and socials in the main hall – I recall that it was where I first learned to do the ‘hokey-pokey’ which was a popular dance in those post-war days. Dad also had regular contact with the Institute (apart from paying council rates there) because he regularly attended meetings of The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) in the rear hall. (He had served in the army as a rifle and machine gun instructor during WW2.) I was always puzzled by his attendance at the ‘smoke socials’ which the branch held, because my father never smoked.