“GRATITUDE,” was Winterberg farmer Errol (“EK”) Moorcroft’s answer when Mid-Karoo Express asked what prompted him to write the book of anecdotes, The Wool-classer, the Shearers and the Golden Fleece.
It was launched in the Eastern Cape in July and is selling fast.
“I wanted to record my gratitude for the kindness and hospitality I enjoyed as a young wool-classer travelling around our farming districts with a shearing team.
“I met wonderful people who were unfailingly friendly and generous – it was during the post World War 2 wool boom in the 1950s.
“I have a profound belief in the value of social history,” he said.
“The real personal stories of ordinary people are an important part of communal memory.”
The book is also a chapter in the story of wool in South Africa – the queen of the natural fibres which will always have inimitable value, no matter how advanced synthetics become.
EK also told us he feels that many people are so rushed, they don’t have time to read “big doorstops like War and Peace” so the short anecdote form would be more accessible.
The stories are told in good plain English with gentle humour and no violence or bad language, making this the ideal read for young people as well.
“EK is as close as one can get to being the perfect example of an Eastern Cape farmer,” wrote Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor, Athol Trollip, in his preface to the book.
But EK has also been a “warrior” on the sports field and a leader of note: serving on the Eastern Cape Agricultural Union and representing his district in Parliament, as a PFP, then DP and finally DA MP.
His passion for learning took him on an academic journey from Grootfontein Agricultural College to Rhodes University and ultimately, Oxford University.
Trollip wrote: “This delightful book of short stories about his experiences as the manager of a shearing gang and a wool-classer gives one an honest insight into farmers, farm workers and of course our country’s redoubtable sheep-shearers who regularly capture international sheep-shearing championships.
“EK’s stories, vivid descriptions and wonderful illustrations literally bring to life the sights, sounds and scents of a shearing-shed for those of us who have had the good fortune to have experienced the wonderful life on a farm.”
Lawrence Moorcroft (EK’s cousin) illustrated the book. He is a professional artist with experience in advertising and animated films. He was a senior artist for the Beatles’ cartoon film, Yellow Submarine.
Copies of the Moorcroft book are available at Sticks and Stones (0764408529), Market Street, Cradock.