| Guide & Lecturer Spionkop Lodge, KwaZulu Natal Great Guide since 02/10 Nationality: South African |
Location: Southern Africa | South Africa Themes: the past | 1850 - 1945 | |
The South Africa War
GREAT GUIDE
RAYMOND HERON : The Battle of Spionkop
The Battle of Spionkop [audio]
meet Raymond Heron
Raymond left a successful career in business to tell the stories of the South African war
Raymond Heron is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a noted battlefield guide in South Africa. His particular interest is in the the South African War of 1899 – 1902 (alt. "the Anglo-Boer War"). This conflict was pivotal to the creation of South Africa, not only as a country, but to some of the deep animosities that cast a shadow over the twentieth century. Raymond Heron has studied and reflected upon this terrible war and guides at one of its most famous battlefields, Spionkop.
Raymond has an impressive résumé. He established a successful office equipment company in KwaZulu, South Africa, and became an active member of commercial and charitable organisations at a national level. During the apartheid years he used his position as Chairman of Organised Commerce and President of Rotary to urge the government to abandon its policy of apartheid.
In the mid-90s he was asked to be the Chairman of the Battlefields Association, an organisation promoting interest in the battlefields of KwaZulu. Raymond was a keen historian and had walked the battlefields for many years, trying to understand the origins of apartheid and the enmities of South Africa. He worked closely with David Rattray who had pioneered battlefield tours around Rorke’s Drift. Inspired by the work of David and others, Raymond bought a large property that was the Headquarters of General Buller at the battle of SpionKop, created a comfortable lodge and offered battlefield tours. He has become well known internationally for his accounts of the South African War. | |
The British graves at Spionkop |
Author: Roddy Bray
Date: 07 May 2010
Location: Southern Africa | South Africa
Themes: the past | 1850 - 1945
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