Talk 31 December 2020

8 Advertising & Newsdesk: (046) 624-4356 Find us on Facebook 31 December 2020 TALK OF THE TOW N
YEAR IN REVIEW: C u l t u re
Continued from PAGE 7
A R S TA .
“This was an amazing example of
how people can adapt to difficult
c i rc u m s t a n c e s ,” Van Wyk said.
● In May, guest writer John Heather
started writing about his travels,
starting with Irian Jaya, the second
largest island in the world, lying north
of Australia.
● Needy people of Bathurst/
Nolukhanyo struggling during the
Covid-19 national lockdown,
benefitted from generous donations
channelled through the Bathurst
Development Trust (BDT).
On the weekend of May 9 and 10,
about half a dozen trucks delivered 34
tons of food donated by former
Nolukhanyo resident Mzwabantu
Dayimani, who now holds a senior
position in the National Empowerment
Fund (NEF) in Johannesburg.
“The whole village turned out, men
and women, children and
grandfathers, black and white, and
moved the food by hand to needy
homes and into storage. It was the
closest thing I have ever seen to a
m i ra c l e ,” BDT volunteer Tori Stowe
said.
● The second article by former
headmaster John Heather appeared in
the May 28 edition.
This time Heather took us on a
journey to Magadigadi in Botswana.
Ju n e
● Planned to be the best yet, the 2020
Bathurst Agricultural Show was
recently cancelled by the Bathurst
Agricultural Society (BAS) executive
committee due to the national
lockdown, which prevented visitors
and other participants from attending.
The show was initially postponed
with a view to holding it later in the
year. BAS president Danny Wepener
announced the cancellation of the
show in a letter sent to stand-holders in
Ju n e .
Ju ly
● The Ndlambe Lockdown Support
THE KLEINEMONDE
PROPERTY SPECIALISTS
Cell: 082 923 4973 E-mail: owsley@imaginet.co.za
KLEINEMONDE
SOLE MANDATE
SOLE MANDATE
Group (NLSG) made a splash at East
Beach in aid of raising awareness of
their mission and to encourage people
to donate to the cause.
About 30 people stripped off and
headed for the water’s edge just after
7am, as the morning sun rose.
Despite a chilly wind, the
swimmers never hesitated as they took
the plunge.
One of the NLSG founder
members, veteran surfer and former
journalist Dave Macgregor, said the
water was warm and other swimmers
on the day agreed with him.
● Yo u ’d be forgiven for thinking there
was a protest outside Damant Lodge
when a jubilant crowd gathered
singing and cheering!
“It wasn’t a protest but my 100th
b i r t h d ay,” said Phyllis Futter.
“My children, who are scattered
across the globe, couldn’t be with me
because of the pandemic and the travel
restrictions, but family and friends
travelled from as far as Port Elizabeth
and Grahamstown to be at the gates of
Damant Lodge to be with me and to
sing to me.
Social distancing meant we couldn’t
hug one another but I felt the warmth of
their love and I thank them most
sincerely for taking the trouble to share
time with me.”
● If Nelson Mandela were still alive he
would have turned 102 years old on
Saturday July 18, so it was appropriate
that Ndlovini resident Nini Gaga, who
is 102, benefited from a Mandela Day
project organised by the ANC
Ndlambe sub-region.
Gaga had been living in a cracked
three-room house which leaked when
it rained.
ANC members put on a new roof on
Gaga’s house, and distributed food
parcels to 21 other families for
Mandela Day.
ANC convener of the task team in
the Ndlambe sub-region, Vuyisile
Mnyani, said 20 of the families were
from Port Alfred and one from
Bathurst.
Though the renovation was
JOINT MANDATE
TEA AND CAKE:
Pick n Pay hold a
special tea party
for Damant Lodge
residents on
January 24.
Enjoying it are,
from left, Gran
Futter, Wendy
Grove, Tisha
Marshall, Daphne
Maclachlan, Jean
Hazelhurst,
Malcom Nel,
Audrey Geyer and
Brenda Shelton
organised by the ANC, they employed
builders to do the actual job.
● Born and bred in Kenton-on-Sea,
music director, editor and colourist
Kyle White is making a name for
himself in the music industry with three
of his music videos selected for Music
Video of the Year at the SA Music
Awards (Sama).
According to White’s publicist,
Clayton Morar, White scored
nominations for Nasty C’s song
SMA, Whipped by Tellaman and
another by Lady Zamar, which he
considers career highlights. Morar said
the videos had accrued more than 150
million views on YouTube.
Au g u s t
● Guest writer John Heather’s third
article was about the desert people of
the Kalahari.
● Joyce Heny, a well-loved personality
of the area, passed away in August but
left behind an indelible mark on the
history of the area.
Born at the Dewaal Station in the
Hanover District on September 27
1923, Heny was just over a month
away from her 97th birthday when she
died.
Her father, Bill, a relief station
master, moved the family to
Martindale, then on to Alicedale and
Calitzdorp, and finally to Trappes
Valley. After nine years in the Bathurst
district, the family again moved to the
Western Cape, to Kimberley,
Lichtenburg, Warrenton and then on to
Knysna. Finally the family moved to
Bathurst and Port Alfred.
● The Port Alfred Lions were happy to
participate in a project to get
spectacles for needy pupils at Kuyasa
Special School in Makhanda
(Grahamstown) in August.
Kyle McKerrow, who teaches at the
school, engaged in a project to have
pupils’ eyes tested.
Jan-Louis Fourie of Eye Store
assisted her and a colleague with
training and equipment, which
enabled them to screen the pupils.
● Local resident Beatrix Bissett was
one of the top 40 finalists, chosen from
more than 60,000 women, in the 10th
Sarie Voorbladgesig competition.
September
● A local student who used her
birthday as a fundraiser, raised
R20,000 to feed 100 hungry families in
Nemato.
A final year student at 43 Air
School, Precious Sibalo’s birthday was
on August 7, but she decided to forgo a
birthday party and presents to do
something for other people instead.
“I was thinking instead of me
getting lipsticks and make-up for my
birthday as always, why can’t I reach
out to a family. I suggested that my
friends pledge a Pick n Pay Covid relief
food hamper for R200,” Sibalo said.
● With the world experiencing a
global pandemic, and at a time when
international cooperation is required
to resolve issues on health and the
economy, the Model UN (MUN) Club
is an important platform for youth to
understand the complexities of such
negotiations.
Dominique Binns, a first year
disaster management student at
Stenden SA, formed her own team of
which she is the current president, to
participate in local and national
debates in an attempt to find solutions
to some of the most important issues
plaguing countries at this time.
October
● In commemoration of fallen local
struggle icons in Nemato, Ndlambe
Municipality, in cooperation with the
department of sports, recreation, arts &
culture (DSRAC), unveiled a newly
restored monument at the entrance to
the township on the eve of Heritage
D ay.
The above mentioned stakeholders
renovated the long vandalised
monument, which is inscribed with the
names of fallen local freedom fighters,
and also donated 100 masks and South
African flags to two local schools –
Station Hill Primary and Dambuza
P r i m a r y.
● Tisha Marshall celebrated her
102nd birthday on September 22, and
all her friends at Damant Lodge joined
in the joyous occasion with wonderful
cake and eats on the day.
“Tisha still looks beautiful at 102!”
said Damant Lodge staff member Elize
E s t e ve s .
Marshall was born in Gwelo, in the
former Rhodesia, in 1918 and had two
brothers and two sisters.
They moved from Gwelo to
Umvumba, a friend’s farm, after their
father died. Marshall found a job in a
wo m e n s ’ shop, where she learnt to
sew. She earned the princely sum of
three pounds and has been sewing ever
since.
● After months of no local
entertainment due to the lockdown
restrictions, live music fans looked
forward to the Fever Event at Tony's
Jazz Inn in Nemato on November 7,
where local artists and visiting artists
from Port Elizabeth would showcased
their talents.
The event was organised by
Khanyile Mabona and Yodwa
Mthimkhulu, under the auspices of
Trap Fever, a locally established
entertainment platform.
● Christ Ambassador Church’s soup
kitchen, under the leadership of Bishop
Caleb Mvandaba, had been serving
food to the less fortunate well before
the Covid-19 pandemic began, and
thanked Pick n Pay, the municipality
and other organisations and
individuals for supporting them.
MUSIC TO MAKE
YOU THINK: The
Chris Thorpe Jazz
Quartet performs
the penultimate
Classics at the Castle
performance on
Sunday March 1 to a
full house of jazz
fans. From left, on
the stage, are Virgil
Matrass on piano,
Bob Thorpe on bass,
Rick van Heerden on
sax and clarinet and
Chris Thorpe on
drums
SPIRIT OF GIVING: Through their quiz evenings, raffles and various other
events throughout the year, the St Paul’s Anglican Church Ladies Guild
collected R42,000 which they divided equally and handed over to seven
charitable organisations in the area on Tuesday March 17. From left, are
Sheena Ferguson of Healing Horses, Susan Harty of Port Alfred Child
Welfare, Sandra Pool representing the ladies guild, Diny Hartleb of the Port
Alfred Soup Kitchen, Angela Hibbert of Hospice, Margie Thomas of
Ndlambe SPCA and Jenny Middleton of Loaves and Fishes. The
representative of the NSRI were not available for the photograph
N ove m b e r
● Things were stirring at last at the
Kowie Museum, which had been
closed for the Covid-19 lockdown
since March.
Tuesday November 3 was the reopening,
and the curator, trustees and
helpers were thrilled to welcome
visitors again to enjoy the treasures that
are so attractively displayed at the Old
Station.
But before the re-opening, there
was a big dust-up (literally) when
volunteers armed themselves with
aprons, dusters, brooms and elbow
grease to get the museum ship-shape
again, after its long slumber.
● It was TV personality, event planner
and motivational speaker Aleit
S wa n e p o e l ’s 19th town and his first talk
in English when he visited Port Alfred
to speak at the Royal St Andrews Hotel
(RSAH) on his marathon tour of 50
towns across SA.
Swanepoel, who has a lifestyle
show called Tyd met Aleit on Kyknet,
said the idea for his tour came when
lockdown restrictions eased and he
wanted to “go spread a message of
hope throughout SA and tell people
there is a future”.
● LA Lore 3 was released, and
according to co-author Bugs Wilmot, is
potentially the last of the series of short
stories very specifically aimed at
highlighting the humour of the Lower
Albany people and their ability to take
sometimes dangerous situations and
find the humour in them, though not
always intentionally.
December
● Port Alfred resident, 21 - ye a r- o l d
model Jennita Gongota, is a semifinalist
in the Empress SA 2021
competition and is appealing to the
public to vote for her by smsing
“Je n n i t a ” to “35334” so she can bring
the crown home to Port Alfred.
She says voters can vote as many
times as they want – each sms costs R3.
Gongota, who is originally from Elliot
and attended Masikhuthale Secondary
School, won Miss Elliot 2017.
● The Sunshine Coast Hospice Carols
by Candlelight and Tree of Lights was
turned into a virtual event this year, and
did not take place at the Port Alfred
Hospital grounds as in past years, due
to the pandemic.