‘Wall of fame’ project to highlight history of Reiger Park
Re-imagine Reiger Park is a process representing change, more particularly, personal or individual change.
This is according to local Boksburg resident, Trevor Reeby, who has also decided to tackle a project of writing a book on the establishment and development of Reiger Park as a township.
“In order to successfully implement this critical change, a clear vision, as well as the tools to make that change is needed.
He adds that “this is a story about the Reiger Park community and its people – people whose lives were shaped by the ‘forced removals’ of the Apartheid Government due to the color of their skin,” says Trevor.
“They were thrown into this newly-formed ‘Coloured area’, and forced to make ends meet and become a community.”
The project entitled Reiger Park, ‘Wall of Fame’.
Reeby’s first objective is to complete a coffee table book, and his second objective is to complete a book on the history of Reiger Park.
The book will go into a more detailed account of certain stories pertaining to events in and during the development of the community.
Both the book and the coffee table book will be focused on the history of Reiger Park.
Chapters will be divided into five decades which starts from 1962, the year Boksburg was proclaimed, and runs up to 2014.
“The last decade will focus more on the celebration of our freedom and democracy,” says Trevor.
Each chapter will focus on important occurrences during that specific decade, like the removal of Coloureds (first decade), the town’s first Black and White club (second decade), and the alleged arrest of pupils during the Reiger Park boycott (third decade), among many others.
“The purpose of this book is to tell our own stories. This town is long overdue for a community like ours.
“In addition to this, I also hope to bring back the memories of those who have gone before us – the ones who held the torch of progress and who fought the battle when we were just little ones,” says Trevor.
In some instances, Trevor wants to introduce or re-introduce the younger generation to people whose names are faceless, so to speak, because they’ve only seen them on street posters.
He also says that there are others they have never heard of, because they died too soon.
“There is a generation of people who came and live here in the area long after the struggle for liberation had come to an end. It is my hope that these people will get a glimpse into how Boksburg came into being, and subsequently Reiger Park the township.”
By giving today’s young generation a glimpse of the old Reiger Park’s positive role models who made it what it is today, Trevor strives to encourage them to pursuit the positive in life.
His mission is to tell the stories of those of the Reiger Park residents and to honour this community’s heroes.
Trevor, who was only a few months old when he moved with his parents to Stirtonville (now Reiger Park) in 1964, will also base the project on his own views and experiences of Reiger Park.
Since Reiger Park is a bilingual community, the story of Reiger Park will be told in Afrikaans and English.
With this, Trevor tries giving a balanced view of the development of Reiger Park.
At the moment, Trevor is not working in a specific timeframe as to when both books will be published.
He is hoping to finish the first task in this year, but makes no promises.
Trevor encourages anyone who can help him speed up this project, whether it is by sharing their Reiger Park stories, articles or photos, to contact him on 074 176 5798 or send an e-mail to trevor.reeby@gmail.com.
