Warrior Shellhole History

Warrior: a person, who shows or has shown great vigour,
Courage or aggressiveness in their endeavours

HISTORY

The idea to form Warrior Shellhole came from 5 members who in the early 1950s got together on an open stretch of land at Muldersdrift to make it happen. The first Old Bill, in 1952, was Vic Clapham, who is perhaps better known to the general public for his founding role in the Comrades Marathon. Our Charter was granted on the 9th February, 1952. Over the next few years the Moths of Warrior Shellhole themselves built the Shellhole Building and Club premises, as well as the first three cottages.

Warrior is proud to have a connection with Moth O, who designed a Crest for our Shellhole, the central feature of which he described in 1957 as “crossed Crusader swords”, and these are still to be seen in the middle our Banner.

Moth O was also involved in the rebuilding of Moth McArdle’s cottage in 1957. Moth McArdle had built a cottage for himself on the hillside overlooking Muldersdrift and one day when he was out, it caught alight and burned down. The Members of Warrior Shellhole got together and rebuilt his cottage. Moth O heard about this and he officiated when the Shellhole handed over the rebuilt cottage to Moth McArdle.

It was a cold day, to judge from the photos which show him wearing a greatcoat (maybe a Naval coat?) over his MOTH uniform. At the opening he said the following –

“This day, is a day of victory for Warrior Shellhole and to underline it, it becomes my pleasant duty to bring you greetings from a brotherhood of … Dugouts and Shellholes extending over the Union …”

Moth 0 at the opening of Rebuilt McArdle Cottage, 1957.
Moth 0 at the opening of Rebuilt McArdle Cottage, 1957.

Since these first building efforts by Warrior Shellhole, the members of Warrior Shellhole have themselves built all the other buildings which we see today on the Warrior property. Members of Oasis Shellhole have also contributed to building work and today we have 25 cottages through which we give shelter to those of our members who need our Mutual Help. We are grateful to be able to offer these cottages in True Comradeship, recognizing our duty of Sound Memory to remember the service which our brother Moths have given.

Regrettably in 2021 a decision was made to sell the property as it was not longer viable. Most of the tenants were relocated to other Moth Cottages in the area. The Warrior Shellhole as of February 2022 now meets at Caprivi Protea Shellhole.

Past Old Bills

1974 – Moth Shorty Weber1975 – Moth Shorty Weber1976 – Moth Jim Hay
1977 – Moth Jim Hay1978 – Moth Shorty Weber1979 – Moth Shorty Weber
1980 – Moth Dick Isaac1981 – Moth Robbie Maxwell1982 – Moth Dick Isaac
1983 – Moth Bob Kearns1984 – Moth Bob Kearns1985 – Moth Bob Kearns
1986 – Moth George Euvrard1987 – Moth Jim Hay1988 – Moth Tony Euvrard
1989 – Moth Tony Euvrard1990 – Moth Len Orchard1991 – Moth Arthur Cooper
1992 – Moth Arthur Cooper1993 – Moth Arthur Cooper1993/1994 – Moth W Ellis
1994/1995 – Moth A Euvrard1995/1996 – Moth W Ellis1996/1997 – Moth W Ellis
1997/1998 – Moth D Prowling1998/1999 – Moth A Cooper1999/2000 – Moth A Cooper
2000/2001 – Moth A Cooper2001/2002 – Moth A Cooper2003/2004 – Moth G Clark
2004/2005 – Moth G Clark2005/2006 – Moth C Viljoen2006/2007 – Moth C Viljoen
2007/2008 – Moth C Viljoen2008/2009 – Moth C Viljoen2009/2010 – Moth C Viljoen
2010/2011 – Moth L Crator2011/2012 – Moth L Crator2012/2013 – Moth L Crator
2013/2014 – Moth L Crator2014/2015 – Moth K Gradidge2015/2016 – Moth K Gradidge
2016/2017 – Moth G Clark