Talk 4 January 2018.compressed

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Talk of the Town 17
SEVENS STAR SPREADS JOY
World-ranked South African Sevens rugby
player Rosko Specman, born and bred in
Grahamstown, was in town last week to
visit family for Christmas. Specman, who
matriculated at Mary Waters High School,
said he and his girlfriend had been thinking
of doing something meaningful for others
while they were in Grahamstown, especially
for the less fortunate. Specman said: “I have
a soft spot for kids and we thought of
Christmas boxes for children in poorer
communities.” He decided on Sun City in
the northern suburbs of Grahamstown,
which is in the same area he grew up.
Specman said: “I thought of the childhood I
had, the memories of growing up in those
communities and what it would mean to the
children who often don’t get to enjoy treats
like that. It all just fell into place.” Fa m i l y
members joined in to make and fill the gift
bags, and they all hopped into two cars and
made their way to Sun City. “It was an
absolute blessing to be able to put a smile
on the faces of so many children,” said
Specman, who also plays Currie Cup rugby
for Free State Cheetahs.
NOISY NEW YEAR
No doubt about it, Grahamstown was at its
noisiest in many years at the stroke of
midnight earlier this week to bring in the
New Year. Many thousands of rands, in
Grahamstown alone, must have been spent
on fireworks - the bang variety and sky
rockets – that resounded across the city for
the first half-hour of 2018 on Monday
morning. Hopefully pets were safe and
sound in homes. It really was noisy. As
tradition would have it, the procession of
emergency vehicles – ambulances, police
vans, fire vehicles and others – wound their
way around the city to mark the New Year,
sirens blaring. Way back in 1963, I was on
holiday in a Durban suburb overlooking the
harbour on New Year’s Eve. Come the
stroke of midnight, everything went
berserk. Emergency vehicles sounded their
sirens and hooters, but the loudest of all
were the ships moored in the harbour that
sounded their booming horns. And there
were quite a few big liners in the harbour at
the time, not forgetting all the tug boats!
THANK YOU
A sincere thank-you, from my side at least,
to those who worked shifts on Christmas
Day and New Year’s Day while others
enjoyed the festivities that come with them.
There were many of them working, from
emergency staff to essential services staff,
too many to mention here. Hope you
enjoyed your time off!
OVERGROWN AND GRUBBY
Hopefully, as soon as municipal workers get
back to work after the festive season break,
they will start thinking in terms of cleaning
our CBD. It was looking grubby and tatty the
weekend leading up to Christmas Day. That
task, I do believe, is in the hands of the
health department, but the parks
department should take note that the
sidewalks and gutters in and around
Church Square are overgrown with weeds.
Surely councillors and officials attending
meetings in City Hall would have noticed
this. Or not? Oh, and while we’re on the
subject, maybe the Grahamstown
Residents’ Association can add the
sidewalk in front of the public library in Hill
Street to its list of places to upgrade and
beautify this year. What about plants and
rocks around the trees for starters?
CRICKET BUZZ ON LOCAL PITCHES
Teams from Pretoria, Johannesburg and
Bloemfontein, plus several others from the
Eastern Cape, will join Grahamstown sides
for the 2018 Grahamstown Schools’ C r i c ke t
Festival to be hosted by St Andrew’s
College from January 12 to 14. Fourteen
teams in all will be involved in the tourney
on local schools’ grounds. Schools taking
part are St Andrew’s College 1sts and 2nds,
Graeme College, Kingswood College, St
Alban’s College and Menlo Park High from
Pretoria, Trinity House High from
Johannesburg, St Andrew’s School from
Bloemfontein, Muir College from
Uitenhage, Cambridge High and Hudson
Park High from East London, Woodridge
College from Thornhill, St Dominic’s Priory
from Port Elizabeth and Sarah Baartman
Rural Schools. Fixtures involving
Grahamstown schools for the first two days
are:Friday, January 12 – St Andrew’s 1sts v
St Andrew’s School (Lower field),
Kingswood v Trinity House (Gane), Graeme
v St Alban’s (Somerset) and St Andrew’s
2nds v St Dominic’s (Knowling). Saturday,
January 13 – St Andrew’s 1sts v St Alban’s
(Lower), Kingswood v St Andrew’s School
(Gane), Graeme v Trinity House (Somerset)
and St Andrew’s 2nds v Cambridge
(Knowling).
IN NATIONAL SIDE
At the conclusion of the recent SA Schools’
GIVING BACK: South African Sevens rugby star Rosko Specman (kneeling in front) was in Grahamstown last week and
decided to treat young children in the Sun City area with Christmas gifts. See story on this page
under-19 cricket tournament, David
Rushmere of St Andrew’s College was
selected for the South African Schools’ Xl.
During the tournament Rushmere scored
119 runs for Eastern Province against
Gauteng, 51 not out against North West and
an undefeated 55 against Free State.
CALTEX ON THE CORNER
There has been plenty of construction
activity on the south-eastern corner of the
Bathurst Street/Beaufort Street
intersection, and it all comes to fruition next
month with the opening of a brand new
Caltex fuel station. Developers Jon
Campbell and Mark Shelton said the
contractors are “almost done” on the fuel
side comprising the forecourt with pumps
(phase 1). Campbell said: “At a later stage
we hope to open a small convenience store
(phase 2).” He said rezoning was a difficult
process, but was eventually done, while
ground levels were difficult to deal with in
the planning process as the site is located
on a slope. Campbell added that some of
the management of the previous filling
station will be retained, as well as offering
the previous staff first option at
employment. Besides being the developers,
Campbell and Shelton will “trade the
business”.
HUNDREDS OF PARKRUNS
Four participants in last Saturday’s parkrun
in Makana botanical gardens have each
completed in excess of 150 parkruns –
Stavie van Aardt (164), Lynne Henson (158),
Peter Stockwell (157) and Lynne Marshall
(152). That’s a total of 631 parkruns!
Parkrun on that day attracted 77 entrants.
Meanwhile, five of last Saturday’s finishers
are nearing their 100th parkrun – Ron
Weissenberg (99), Susan Wentworth (97),
Harry Weissenberg (95), Natasha Agnew
(91) and Billy Morgan (91). First overall was
Richard Alexander (23 minutes 27 seconds)
with Mishelene Lagerwall first lady (25
mins 02 secs). A week earlier, on Saturday,
December 23, teenager Ryan Marshall was
first finisher in a field of 93 in a time of 23
mins 05 secs. Another young runner, Kaitlyn
Kruiskamp, was first in the ladies’ division,
finishing the 5km course in 25 mins 36
secs. Runners-up were Craig Marshall (23
mins 08 secs) and Candice Serfontein (25
mins 41 secs). Parkruns are held each
Saturday at 8am from the entrance to the
Makana botanical gardens.
NEXT VISIT
Staff members of the Port Elizabeth branch
of the SA National Blood Service will visit
Grahamstown on the second Tuesday of
each month during 2018 to conduct blood
collection clinics. Their next visit to the NG
Kerk hall at the corner of Hill and Beaufort
Streets is between 1pm and 6pm on
Tuesday, January 9.
TRAFFIC COP ON TWO WHEELS
A reader and I were chatting the other day
and he happened to mention Mr Archer,
once the Chief Traffic Officer of
Grahamstown. I remember Mr Archer
driving a light brown Opel van on patrol
duties, while the reader remembered Mr
Archer riding a motorcycle. That must have
been before my arrival in Grahamstown in
December 1962, I remarked. We wondered
whether the traffic motorcycle was a
Norton, Triumph or BMW. Who remembers
Mr Archer on his motorbike?
END OF AN ERA
The recent closure of the Sevenfountains
Sports Club 25 kilometres from
Grahamstown on the N2 to Port Elizabeth
was a sad occasion, according to
long-serving member and former president,
Jenny Emslie. The club served the farming
community of Sevenfountains for almost
130 years, but diminishing numbers among
farmers in the district led to the club having
to close down as it became increasingly
difficult to fulfil its sporting commitments.
NEW DIRECTOR
Rhodes University has announced that Ms
Nomangwana Mrwetyana has been
appointed Director of Student Affairs from
January 1. She has been Manager of the
Student Wellness section at Rhodes since
2014, and is currently pursuing a PhD in
Social Science at Rhodes.
DINING AND DARTBOARDS
I’m sure that of all the older
Grahamstonians and former
Grahamstonians who have retired to the
Sunshine Coast and elsewhere, a good
number either dined, danced or celebrated
at one of Grahamstown’s seven hotels in the
mid-1960s. The hotels, with their men’s bars
and dartboards, were venues for many a
wedding reception, club dance, annual
general meeting, prizegiving function and
21st birthday party. The Graham Hotel was
‘fa m o u s ’ for its ballroom, venue of many
dances and wedding receptions, and owner
Benny Goldberg was an ever-present figure
ensuring that everything was running
smoothly. In the mid-1960s, Mrs J Suttner
was the owner of the Carlton Hotel, situated
where Carlton Arcade and Checkers is
today. It, too, had a functions venue for
wedding receptions and dances, as well as
a men’s bar with access from the sidewalk.
The Cathcart Arms Hotel was well-known
far and wide for its dining delights, and its
Gluepot Bar was a popular ‘hangout’. Back
in the 1960s its owner was Keith Hill. The
Victoria Hotel in New Street, owned and run
by Leon Reich in the 1960s, was popular
with students who would partake of their
favourite brews at the bar and then pop
over to Bambi Snack Bar whenever they felt
hungry. Two other hotels in town were the
Grand in lower High Street (Mrs S Keey was
the owner in the 1960s) and the Goodwood
at the corner of Bathurst Street and High
Street. Then there was the Stone Crescent
Hotel a few kilometres out on the N2 to Port
Elizabeth. They had a popular functions hall
and braaivleis area. Students used it
regularly for 21st birthday parties and club
functions, and there were the occasional
bop sessions in the functions hall as well.
THEY KEEP RETURNING
Despite attempts made to clear our streets
and suburbs of cattle and donkeys, they’re
back – again.
ROUGH ON THE CORNER
Roadworks on the western side of the
African Street/Milner Street intersection
FANCY FUN-RUNNERS: Participants in the annual Rapportryers/PJ Olivier fun
run in Sunnyside each October are encouraged to take part wearing fancy
dress. Getting in the mood at the 2017 event were these three PJ Olivier High
School pupils – from left, Thato Maseko, Chevandre Doyle and Jaydee Murray.
Soon they will be taking on a far more serious role as prefects at PJ Olivier –
Maseko is a prefect, Doyle is deputy head prefect and Murray is head prefect
Picture: SID PENNEY
have left the area in a very messy and
dangerous state. I wonder how long it will
take to repair the dug-up areas, bearing in
mind that’s a very busy intersection.
RHODES FOR VARSITY SHIELD
Rhodes University’s 1st rugby team is one of
seven sides contesting this year’s FNB
Varsity Shield rugby competition that kicks
off next month, and Rhodes’s first match
will be a home game. Contesting the Varsity
Shield league will be Rhodes, Cape
Peninsula University of Technology,
University of the Western Cape, Tshwane
University of Technology, Walter Sisulu
University, University of Fort Hare and
University of KwaZulu-Natal. Rhodes plays
its opening match, against Tshwane
University of Technology, on the Great field
from 6.30pm on Monday, February 19.
HOPEFUL
It’s not likely that Makana Council would
even consider making a list of New Year’s
Resolutions to once again make
Grahamstown a city to be proud of. With
feedback from residents, I have compiled a
very short list of New Year’s Resolutions –
maybe a couple of Councillors will get to
read it, and it may prick their consciences.
Yeah, right! Anyway, for what it’s worth,
here’s a short list of the more pressing
items. While Grahamstown residents have
been urged to use water sparingly, water
leaks have sprung up, and continue to
spring up, on streets, pavements and open
spaces all over town. In some cases it takes
days before repairs are carried out. It
usually results in dug-up streets that
remain so for another few days. I won’t
dwell on the pothole issue, as that problem
is only too clear and obvious for all to see.
Residents are concerned that local streets
may soon become nothing more than gravel
roads. Cattle and donkeys continue to roam
city streets, causing a traffic hazard.
Something positive should be done about
this issue, say residents. There were no
domestic refuse removals for almost two
weeks over the Christmas period, and the
city is looking grubby. The feeling is this
should be avoided in future. Maybe it is best
not to inundate Council with a long list of
New Year’s Resolutions, but the above is for
star ters.
BE ADVENTUROUS, GO FLY A KITE
In a recent “Call Back the Past” item on
Facebook, a couple of photographs
depicted kites that youngsters used to
make and fly back in the 1950s and 1960s. It
has been many years since I last saw a kite
being flown. Remember them? Kites were
simple to make – some strips of bamboo,
string, tissue paper, glue and a hundred
metres of nylon string. I flew many a
homemade kite in my much-younger days,
mostly along the windy Atlantic coastline in
the Cape Town suburb of Milnerton. The
conditions at the Milnerton lagoon were
ideal for kite-flying, and Table Mountain
was a beautiful backdrop. Various ‘t ricks’
were performed, including dive-bombing.
Oh, what fun was had flying kites,
remembering there were no fancy
electronic gadgets in those days.
NEW HEAD
Chairperson of the Kingswood College
Council, Mrs Di Hornby, has announced that
James Hough has been appointed Head of
Kingswood Junior School. He is presently
Headmaster of New Hanover Preparatory
School in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, and
will take up the position in July. Kingswood
Junior School’s Headmaster, Derek Braans,
has been appointed Headmaster of Cowan
House Prep School in Hilton,
K wa Z u l u - N at a l .
DUCK AT BUSHMANS
Duck Chowles and Joe van der Linde will be
performing at Bushmans Bar & Grill from
8pm today. I remember attending tribute
rock concerts featuring Duck Chowles and
his band during festival time quite a few
years ago. These concerts were held in a
workshop in Bertram Street, and Chowles
would take on several guises, including
what I thought was the highlight of the
evening, that of Mick Jagger. Then he
stopped performing at festival.
NEWS
Local news, including club and school
news, plus details of forthcoming events, is
welcome in this column. The deadline for
submission of details is 8am on Mondays.
E-mail news and details to Sid Penney at
sidp@imaginet.co.za