TALES FROM A BOOK BEDONNERD* TOWN
*Bedonnerd translates loosely (and politely) as mad
An armed robbery at one of their upmarket guest houses in Gauteng and a property ad for an old hotel drove Lionel Millard and Aubrey Williams into the welcoming arms of Richmond.
The fading Masonic Hotel was transformed into The Richmond Karoo Small Hotel and all was going according to plan when Covid came along and iced tourism, hitting them like a financial sledgehammer.
‘But it was a blessing,’ said Aubrey. ‘We both had hospitality burnout and there was no money left anyway. However, we had a plan for another business.’
Aubrey's granny had taught him to sew. He started small, with a little Empisal sewing machine on a piece of Masonite in their kitchen, their dog Sir Knuckles always at his side on a cushion.
Soon they found a quilting machine, then a domestic overlocker, and began producing an everexpanding range of wool duvets from the now-closed hotel. While Aubrey and his team make the duvets using freshly carded Merino wool, Lionel does the dispatching and client services of their blossoming business, aptly called Karoo Creations.
Stories like these – upbeat with a novel twist – are rife in the small towns of the Karoo.
And they seem especially abundant, especially twisted, in Richmond, a Northern Cape settlement just off the N1 highway, infamous for its speeding fines
