VAL HOTEL

Val remained a lively hamlet, serving the farming community well until the 1970's when the railway station closed and the hotel became derelict. It seemed that the whole town was slowly dying like many other little towns in South Africa when the platteland becomes depopulated... The Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Val, was built in 1964. Mrs. Helen Lawrence's design was used and the Smith family donated the land. In 1970 the church was struck by lightning and burnt down. In 1971 it was rebuilt and a vestry was added.