23 June 2016

June 23, 2016 ADVERTISING / NEWSDESK: (046) 624 4356 Find us on Facebook
Talk of the Town 21
Grahamstown
THISWEEK
CONTACT US
Newsdesk: sidp@imaginet.co.za; Cell: 071-969-6330
... with Sid Penney
FESTIVE DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
Accommodation establishments across the city
and surrounding districts, as far as the coast,
are fully booked; school, community and church
halls in “Festival City” are being transformed
into show venues complete with stages and
mini-grandstands; hundreds of colourful and
eye-catching posters publicising shows are
going up on walls all over the place; huge
quantities of food and liquid refreshments in all
their forms will soon be trucked in; marquees
and tents have been rising like mushrooms on
the Great field which will soon become the
Village Green; traffic volumes have started to
increase; and local residents are beginning to
savour their annual dose of “fe st i va l - fe v e r ”.
Oh yes, Grahamstown and its residents are
gearing up for the 2016 edition of the National
Arts Festival which runs from June 30 to July 10.
NEW BUZZ ON AFRICAN STREET
It was a hectic few days leading up to the
official opening of the new Oak Cottage SPAR
last week, what with finishing touches being
put to the building, packing of shelves, training
new staff and bringing the computer network
up and running smoothly.
The frenetic on-site activity came to a head
on Tuesday last week when SPAR owners Guy
and Jill White cut the ribbon at the front door to
declare the store open. No sooner were
formalities done with, than a few dozen eager
customers poured into the store. Already inside
were numerous SUPERSPAR and SPAR owners
and managers from other cities and towns,
supporting and congratulating the owners on
the latest addition to the SPAR family.
Once the excitement of the opening
proceedings had died down, Jill White s p o ke
about the new store and her journey over the
past 11 years with the SPAR group. The big news
is the new SPAR will open 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, the same as Oak Cottage
KWIKSPAR next door. Due to the increase in
store size and expected volume of business, the
staff complement has almost doubled from that
of KWIKSPAR to the 70 of the new SPAR.
White added that all the KWIKSPAR staff
members had been transferred to the new
store, some on promotion, and several new
employees appointed.
“Some staff members have been with us from
the beginning,” she enthused, heaping praise
on them for their loyalty and hard work.
White has seen the new store grow from a
convenience shop to a KWIKSPAR and
eventually to the new store.
She mentioned that the parking issue was
being attended to. “The KWIKSPAR building is
being demolished to create on-site parking, and
the parking area should be completed in time
for the festival,” she added.
White commented that the opening few days
had been amazing, with great support from the
community and K-Day visitors.
The ground floor of the SPAR comprises retail
sections, while the first floor houses the various
preparation divisions for the bakery, butchery,
delicatessen and fresh produce. Also on the
ground floor are separate sections for fried
chicken, a smoothie bar, sushi bar, coffee bar
and delicatessen. The attractive interior design
and layout of the new SPAR was the work of
head of design at SPAR’s regional offices in Port
Elizabeth Abegail Witbooi.
NEW FESTIVAL VENUE
A new venue on the Fringe programme at this
year’s National Arts Festival is The Museum of
Theatre which is, in fact, the recently completed
National English Literary Museum (NELM) in
Worcester Street. Meanwhile, a post on the
NELM Facebook page says they have moved to
their new premises in Worcester Street.
“All the collections and most of the staff are
safely in the new building. Now the unpacking
star ts,” says the post.
RUBBISH CLEARED
On several occasions I have written about the
garden refuse accumulating into a huge heap in
Hillsview Road at the entrance to the lane
leading to Beadle Street. Well, the good news is
that the rubbish has been removed. Hope it
stays clean and clear.
DERBY WIN FOR KINGSWOOD
Playing in front of a typically huge K-Day derby
crowd on City Lords on Saturday afternoon,
home side Kingswood College defeated St
Andrew’s College by 34 points to 22 in their
First 15 rugby encounter. Kingswood led 26-10
at half time. The home team scored five tries to
the visitors’ three.
Another large crowd witnessed the first-team
GRAND OPENING: Oak
Cottage SPAR owners
Jill and Guy White,
right, about to cut the
ribbon to declare the
new store officially
open last week.
Looking on is S PA R
operations director
Mike De St Pern, who
is based in Port
Elizabeth.
See story on
this page
Picture: SID PENNEY
girls’ hockey match on the adjacent astro,
where Diocesan School for Girls beat hosts
Kingswood 4-0. Among those watching the
d ay ’s action were scores of Old Kingswoodians
from the 1996 and 2006 matric classes,
celebrating their 20- and 10-year reunions.
BIG FRINGE BOOST
The National Arts Festival (NAF) Fringe
programme, sporting 369 productions this year,
has received a R10-million boost from the
National Lotteries Commission (NLC). As part of
the agreement, Fringe artists will receive R1 000
rebates on their venue hire costs.
THEY’RE BACK
The local Brian Mullins/Alan Weyer duo is back
at NAF this year for three Boet ’n Swaer shows
in the Scout Hall (July 2 and 3) and Drill Hall
(July 4). Check out the festival programme for
more information.
WATER AWARD
Congratulations to director at Rhodes
Universit y’s Institute for Water Research
Professor Dennis Hughes upon receiving the
2016 International Hydrology Award for his work
that has centred around rainwater harvesting as
a way of addressing water shortages in
sub-Saharan Africa.
DRAMA AT THE BRIDGE
The solo theatre performance of Immor tal,
featuring Jenna Dunster, is a drama based on
the events of the Blaauwkrantz Bridge train
disaster between Port Alfred and Grahamstown
in April 1911. A special token of thanks is given
in the programme to Grahamstown resident Ben
Bezuidenhout who researched the disaster and
wrote a book on the incident several years ago.
MID-YEAR BREAK
Tomorrow sees the student body of Rhodes
University proceeding on their mid-year
vacation after a lengthy second term. They
return to Grahamstown and campus for the
start of the third term on July 18.
JOHAN DIPPENAAR
Former Grahamstown general practitioner Dr
Johan Dippenaar died in Port Elizabeth last
Thursday. After leaving Grahamstown some
DESIGNER MAGIC: Oak Cottage SPAR owners Guy and Jill White have
received numerous compliments and accolades on the layout and design
of the new store’s interior. Here, Jill White thanks Abegail Witbooi,
designer of the store’s interior, on a job well done. Witbooi is head of
design at SPAR’s regional offices in Port Elizabeth Picture: SID PENNEY
years ago, he became a senior staff member of
Aurora Rehabilitation Hospital.
ECHO OF UYS
Pieter-Dirk Uys writes on page 38 of the
programme, a page devoted to the play The
Echo of a Noise: “This picture [a photo of Uys
with Table Mountain in the background] was
taken on Blouberg beach on February 11 1990,
the day Nelson Mandela was freed from jail.”
Uys continues: “Neither I nor South Africa
look the same today.” In the photo he appears
to be looking in the direction of Robben Island.
This year he will be visiting the National Arts
Festival for the umpteenth time.
MOOD CHANGE
Of the first test between South Africa and
Ireland I wrote in last week’s column about the
loud and lively music played at every break
during the match, and that it had annoyed me. I
regarded that as a “no-no”.
Another “no-no” came during the second test
in Johannesburg this past weekend when
certain elements in the crowd booed the
Springboks as they left the field of play. But the
mood changed and the crowd cheered the Boks
vociferously after they defeated the Irish.
And now the Port Elizabeth test on Saturday
will be the decider.
OLD RHODIAN JOKES
Former Rhodes University student and De Beers
House resident of not so long ago Tyson
Ngubeni is one of eight comedians featured in
The Very Big Comedy Show in the Guy Butler
Theatre on July 6, appearing alongside Marc
Lottering, Rob van Vuuren and others.
FREE SUNDOWNER CONCERTS
The Fountain Foyer in the Monument will be the
venue, each evening from 5pm during the
festival, of the free Sundowner Concerts,
featuring some of the best on the Fringe.
PRIME SHOW
Making its debut appearance on the National
Arts Festival main stage is Johannesburg band
Prime Circle, fresh from its tour of Europe.
They’re in the Guy Butler Theatre on Wednesday
July 6 in what could well be a sold-out
per formance.
ON COURTS ABROAD: The Graeme College senior tennis team left yesterday on its three-week tour of the UK, during
which they will play matches against Wellington College, Bedford School, Sevenoaks School and Kings College. The
touring party will also watch tennis at Wimbledon and cricket between Oxford and Cambridge at Lords. Accompanying
the team will be Hanlie van der Meulen (coach) and Nico van der Meulen (master-in-charge of sport). The touring party
comprises, from left, back row, Aaron Richardson, Christopher Gleaves, Nicholas Zimmerman, Richard Beyleveld, Mark
Amm, Theodore Repinz, Jeremy Beyleveld and Rudolph Botha; in front, Nico van der Meulen, Jonathan Maasdorp,
Riaan Labuschagne, Tristan Pullen, Bryn Reynolds, Bryan Geyer and Hanlie van der Meulen
WAR DANCE: Tradition has it that Grade 8 pupils of Kingswood College and
Diocesan School for Girls perform a dance before the first-team girls’ h o c ke y
match on K-Day. Last Saturday, DSG opened proceedings, followed by Kingswood
(above). DSG won the first-team hockey match 4-0
Picture: SID PENNEY