THEY'RE MY CHILDREN'

Each of the 200 puppets she's collected over the years holds a special place in her heart – but now it's time to give them all away

- PIETER VAN ZYL

TWO cute monkeys head towards us in the driveway - one is driving a wire car and the other is pushing an old jalopy.

Beatrice van Niekerk follows closely on their heels. At age 85 she sometimes struggles to stand upright, but there's nothing wrong with her hands as she deftly manipulates the puppet animals.

These monkeys are just two of the puppets in a collection of 200 she accumulated during the decades she spent entertaining audiences.

She has a long and storied history with the dolls and as she shows us her puppets, memories come flooding back.

"These are the lions in my circus story," she says. "They climb stairs then slide down. I have a she-goat who can flutter her eyelashes when the male performs for her.

"One of the dwarves could use his hand to throw confetti over Snow White and her prince. When the witch offers Snow White a poisoned apple, we rigged it so she could use a knife to cut it in half before giving it to Snow White".

But soon Beatrice will be leaving them all behind.

It's been 40 years since Beatrice and her late husband, Jarie, built this house in the Lake Brenton conservancy near Knysna, and the time has come to move on. Although she's going to miss the stunning lake views when she moves to a retirement village in Sedgefield to be nearer to her grandchildren in George, it's the loss of her beloved puppets that will be the biggest sacrifice.

There's simply no room for them in her new home so she has to let them go.

"It's not nice," Beatrice says. "They're my children.

She wants to give them all to "one person who'll use them to enrich children's lives, because she really wants her puppets to stay together.

But she's made peace with the move.

"My daughter doesn't want me living here alone. It's time. And Sedgefield is pretty too, by the lake.