Richard Hall
RICHARD HALL, retired statistician and 'Mr Melville Koppies', loves
Jo'burg because there is "so much going on". At 82, after living in the
city for around 50 years, he should know.
He loves the music, the theatre and the many talks that take
place. "I like the activity, I like doing things," he smiles, a
charming, barely-wrinkled smile.
Since his retirement in 1985, Melville Koppies Nature Reserve has
become his passion. He spends two mornings a week tramping around the
koppies of the reserve, clearing alien plants, organising new trails
and training guides, with little anxiety about his personal safety on
the lonely Koppies.
And whereas most 82-year-olds would go home and rest after
that, Richard goes home and organises meetings and finalises plans for
the continued preservation of the Koppies. He is a member of a number
of environmental bodies.
Melville Koppies has become "an obsession" with him. It gives
him "tremendous stimulus, and energy. There is constantly something
new, and you can see the results of your work. It gives a purpose to
life."
Says Wendy Carstens, chairman of the Melville Koppies
Committee: "Richard is the main mover behind the preservation of
Melville Koppies. There is nobody with the push and tenacity that he
has - he gets an idea, follows it through and lets nothing get in the
way of its execution."
Born and educated in Cape Town, Hall served as a lieutenant in
the Second World War, and has been a mathematical statistician for 35
years.
"I am very happy in Johannesburg. When I settled in
Johannesburg, it was very vibrant. Cape Town is very cliquey - they are
very engrossed in the sea," he adds.
Hall is a member of the Johannesburg Musical Society and enjoys
the National Sympathy Orchestra concerts. He used to enjoy going to the
theatre and the cinema, but doesn't go much anymore.
He admits that there is another purpose to his life - he has a very close relationship with his three grandchildren.
Grandchildren, Melville Koppies, concerts . . . sounds like a great way to keep busy, and enjoy the city.
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