Welcome to 'The duPs' - The website of Paul and Margaret du Plessis - Margaret a former Medical Social Worker, Paul a physician.
They served with The Salvation Army in Zambia, the United Kingdom, India, and their homeland of South Africa. They retired to live in Bromley, in southeast London. Margaret passed away in 2019.
Their children, Catherine and Andre, and the wider family have always meant a lot to them. Placing Paul’s poems and other information on a website has been a family request for some years. Grandson, David, took on the project and became the website architect.
Please enjoy reading Paul's poems which reflect something of their life experiences.
Margaret has researched the life of Louisa Mary Tucker, the first wife of pioneer Indian missionary, Frederick Tucker.
Please use the menu on the left and the search function in the top right to navigate through the site.
Here is Paul's most recent poem:
The Pastel Collie
- Details
- Written June 2025
Taken from the soil - chalk and clay,
Coloured with what's already there,
Grass of the meadow, flowers of the field,
A triangle to position the eyes
And then a line and a little more
As the fingers get to work,
All the fingers a different colour,
Blending and softening, moulding and making.
Step back, look hard, think again
Until the creator says that's good!
So now breathed on to give him life,
With the dust dropping to whence it came,
As he comes to life as man's best friend.
June 2025
After watching Peter Dalziel's demonstration evening at Chislehurst Artists.
And God said, “Let the land produce ... living creatures ... " And God that it was good.
Genesis 1:24-25 NIV