SPRINGBOK RADIO

On behalf of the Springbok Radio Preservation Society of SA. it was with deep sadness that we learnt of the death of Springbok Radio's first lady.
Our deepest thoughts go with Sheila's family & friends. She will always be remembered as the first lady that graced the airwaves of Springbok Radio
in 1950. Rest in Peace.
The audio extract from Sheila Raymond-Jones was broadcast during the Springbok Radio Silver Jubilee Show, b/c 31 May 1975. Sheila talks about
her first programme ever on Springbok Radio "Sunbeam Time".

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Well-known broadcaster and radio actress Sheila Raymond-Jones died in the UK on December 14 at the age of 89 (she would
have made her 90th birthday on April 9, 2009).

Sheila was born in England, and raised in Ceylon, where she met her husband, Ray, during the war. She had a first son who
sadly was killed by a crocodile at St Lucia in December 1957. Then she had a second son, Peter, who lives in Plymouth in Devon,
England, with his wife Sally and two children.

During the war, Sheila Raymond-Jones broadcasted on Radio Colombo in Ceylon, and did work for the BBC overseas service.
She also taught English and Drama. She came to South Africa in 1948 with her husband who was an ear, nose and throat doctor
and they settled in Johannesburg where she did freelance work for the SABC’s A Programme (English Service) in 1948. She also
appeared in many commercials for LM Radio at ARP (African Radio Productions, run by Charles Berman) and Gallo as well as
numerous film commercials for the big screen.

Eric Egan got her her first job with Springbok Radio and – as she used to recall – she held his hand on that cold Monday morning
of May 1, 1950, at 06h00. This is where Sheila’s long love affair with Springbok Radio started, which continued right through until
the station was closed on December 31, 1985, at 18h30.

She had the very first sponsored programme on Springbok Radio called Sunbeam Time, which went on air at 09h00 and was
spoonsored by Reckitt & Colman (Rexo Floor Polish). She wrote and produced the commercials for the programme. The
signature tune was the Nat King Cole hit of 1949, The Song Has Ended but the Melody Lingers On performed by the Studio
Orchestra.

She was affectionately known as Miss Sunbeam, and did 23 programmes a week. As she summed up Springbok Radio – “A
monster with a furious appetite …!”

Sheila acted in innumerable plays and serials, which included Lux Radio Theatre, Tuesday Theatre, Strangers from Space, The
Creaking Door, Playhouse 90, Father Dear Father, Oros Throws a Party, Masonite at your Service, Clues for Cash, Concerto for
Two (with Jack Dowle and John Massey), and This Africa of Ours (Cedric Messina).

In the late night serial at 22h15, Strangers from Space produced and written by Peter Chiswell, Sheila was Helen the scientist and
many listeners will recall the eerie “Horgoid, the Monster from Space, which sought out its enemies on fear vibrations! Other
programmes were Kings of the Keyboard where she used the signature tune Oodles of Noodles in My Chicken Soup; a CGR
(Comm Gramaphone Record) Food Bookshelf.

She presented the original Sunday night programme at 21h15, In Town Tonight, with that popular signature tune Knightsbridge
March, performed by the SABC Orchestra. In 1960, the sponsors changed and Joy Anderson took over with a new signature tune.

Sheila recalls doing her very first broadcast at the age of 11 for the Children’s Programme on the English Service in
Commissioner Street with Leslie Green when she read a poem. Leonard Roome did her audition. She could handle all sorts of
characters and accents, wrote and acted.

In 1965 in Johannesburg, the English Service newsreader Michael Todd introduced Sheila to Tape Aids for the Blind. Sheila had
always wanted to volunteer for this organisation as her father was blind. In an association that spanned 39 years, she started
reading for them in the Herrick Merrill Studios and her first book was The Bond Maid by Pearl Bug. In 1969, Sheila moved to
Durban where she worked for the SABC and continued to read for Tape Aids at the old Greenacres Passage Studios, eventually
moving to the new premises in Mitchell Crescent in Greyville.

Sadly, Sheila left South Africa on January 29, 2005, to join her only son and family in the UK.

Her sad passing closes the history books of a gracious era of Durban actors, producers and writers who gave so much pleasure
to so many listeners. These included the late Yolande D’Hotman, Maureen Adair, Helen Cunningham, Midge Doherty, Humphrey
Gilbert, Delphine Lethbridge, Tom Meehan, John Simpson and Tim Sutcliffe as well as Anne Freed and Harold Freed, to name
just a few.

At the closure of the station, Sheila joined Yolande D’Hotman in saying: ”I find it sad that the words “This is Springbok Radio…!” -
which have so truly become a South African sound – will no longer be heard and it is with deep regret that I have to say goodbye
to it. But my only wish is that I have given a little pleasure to a lot of people … Good Night, South Africa – This was Springbok
Radio ….”

Springbok Radio was once known as The Mother Station of Auntie SABC.

May Sheila’s dear soul rest in peace – Kevan Mardon

- Kevan Mardon was a close family friend and Old Time Radio Sound Historian for Springbok Radio -

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