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HotBasicPremiumLuxuryToErwin TwooneMudaJumlahPattern1888188288588888Sendchoose goods!!My Bag Prince Albert Friend: November 2008
Op Dinsdagmiddag, 28 Oktober, het al die Vriende van die Museum en lede van Erfenis Suid-Afrika (vroeër die Simon van der Stel Stigting) by die Fransie Pienaar Museum bymekaargekom vir ’n baie spesiale geleentheid: Om ’n gedenkplaat ter ere van Helena Marincowitz te onthul. Op die blou porseleingedenkplaat staan:
Ter erkenning van haar onskatbare bydrae tot Prince Albert se erfenis
Helena het as jong bruid saam met haar man Pat Marincowitz op die plaas Klein Sleutelfontein aangeland. Die BSc-graad in Dieëtkunde wat sy op Stellenbosch behaal het, sou haar nog goed te pas kom in haar nuwe lewe as boervrou. Met groot erns en entoesiasme het Helena haar plek aan haar man se sy volgestaan. Sy het met haar eie Angora-stoet se vesel gespin en geweef. Haar ragfyn borduurwerk is op Suid-Afrikaanse skoue en selfs oorsee deur baie mense bewonder.
Helena se lewendige belangstelling in mense, haar nederigheid jeens haar eie talente en haar opgeruimde en blymoedige persoonlikheid, het van haar ‘n gerespekteerde lid van ons gemeenskap gemaak. Sy het ‘n positiewe bydrae gelewer in die vele organisasies waaraan sy behoort het: die VLV, kerkraad, ouetehuiskomittee, skoolkomittee en selfs die Voortrekkers. Sy was een van die stigterslede van die Simon van der Stel Stigting. Helena het die vermoë gehad om almal rondom haar te laat glo dat niks onmoontlik is nie, en dat daar ‘n oplossing vir elke probleem is. Sy het baie mense aangemoedig om nie hul talente onder ‘n maatemmer weg te steek nie, maar te benut en te ontwikkel. Haar oorsese besoeke het haar meer bewus gemaak van ons eie dorp en omgewing se kosbare erfenis, en dat dit vir die nageslag bewaar moet word. Haar visie, dat die karakter van Prince Albert as ‘n kultuurbate behoue moet bly, het aanleiding gegee tot die navorsing oor die geskiedenis van ons ou geboue.
Die eindproduk van Helena se aansteeklike entoesiasme en volgehoue harde werk was die verklaring van agtien nasionale gedenkwaardighede in ons dorp en distrik. Uit haar pen het vyftien boeke en vele artikels gevloei wat uiteindelik ook ander mense meer bewus gemaak het van die waarde van bewaring. Danksy haar vérsiendheid kyk ons almal vandag met ander oë na ons erfenis: ons ou geboue én ons klein dorpie met sy eie unieke karakter.
Terwyl die son in die weste sak, het die genooide gaste met ‘n glasie wyn en ‘n eetdingetjie gestaan en Mary Ann Botha kon almal welkom heet. Lydia Barrella het gepraat oor Helena, die uitsonderlike vrou wat op die een of ander wyse ons almal se lewens aangeraak het. Die meeste van ons het ‘n knop in die keel gekry toe oom Pat een van sy vrou se pittige staaltjies oor haar lewe op die plaas voorgelees het.
Judy Maguire het die geleentheid benut om oor ons dorp en sy ryk erfenis te praat en daarna aan John Southern sy toekenning van die Kultuurstigting oorhandig vir sy bydrae tot die bewaring van ons ou geboue.
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Thank You PA Police
This is to express my best and biggest thank you to the SA Police in Prince Albert for their assistance when I was robbed of R500 on Friday, 24 October, from a house in Prince Albert.
Their prompt response resulted in apprehending the thief in just 15 minutes and the full amount was recovered. I appreciate the help of all the competent staff in the police station as well as the men in the police vehicle.
I always look forward to visiting Prince Albert and this experience ensured that I again enjoyed my stay.
In Cape Town I most probably would not even have bothered to inform the police!
Tannie Daddi Stuur Groete
Net ‘n kort woordjie van dank aan al my vriende en vriendinne wat my geluk gewens het met my onlangse 84ste verjaarsdag. Dit was vir my ‘n groot verrassing om te sien hoe baie vriende aan my gedink het. Ek het hope kaartjies, briewe en telefoonoproepe gekry. Die telefoon het tot laat aand nog gelui. Dit beteken so baie vir my.
Dit was ‘n heuglike dag en ek sal dit altyd onthou. Dit gaan goed met my, ek is gelukkig en my kinders sorg baie goed vir my. Maar soms trek my hart darem maar ‘n punt na my vriende en my dorp. Daar is maar net een Prince Albert. Ek mis my vriende en die Saterdag se byeenkoms by die Markie. Mag dit altyd goed gaan met julle almal.
Ek dink aan julle almal in my gebede. Ek het die operasie gekanselleer want my ou hart is nie meer so sterk nie. Liefde vir elkeen van julle.
Groete van Daddi
Dankie aan die Vriend
Hartlik dank aan die redaksie van die Vriend vir die moeite wat hulle gedoen het om die foto en berig van my kleinseuns se krieket prestasie in Engeland te plaas.
Ek is verheug dat daar nog mense is wat omgee vir hulle medemens.
Earlier this year I took over the Prince Albert Animal Care charity organisation from Henriette. I have opened a small animal care clinic where we tend to sick, abused, abandoned or injured animals and provide people with their pets’ basic health requirements. I find that the most common problems are poor nutrition, even starvation and worms which make the animals thin and weak. Often they are riddled with fleas and ticks which cause ugly wounds and many suffer terribly as a result of tick bite fever and distemper.
There are a lot of unsterilised cats and dogs breeding and spreading diseases and this only makes the problems worse. The animals need de-worming, vitamin supplements, tick and flea dip and also need to be sterilised.
There are numerous ways in which you can help make a difference:
If you see an animal that is very thin, injured or distressed please pick it up and bring it to me or inform me of its whereabouts;
If you hear about an animal that needs help, please get as much information about it and let me know;
Please help spread the word that help is available;
Any form of donation, food, supplies (bowls, old baskets, old kennels, vitamins, de-worming, dip, antiseptics etc.) or money is welcome and will be put to good use.
If you have space or you are looking for a pet please let me know; we constantly have animals looking for good homes.
If you want to get involved in any other way please contact me. I can use all the help I can get.
I believe that if we stand together as a community we can make a difference to the lives of the needy animals all around us. From the beginning of December I will have a few collection boxes placed throughout Prince Albert for donations in kind or of money. Your caring and generosity will be greatly appreciated.
Prince Albert Animal Care
4 Jordaan Street
078 637 0015
Let’s discuss our architectural heritage
William Penfold's observations on Prince Albert's architecturalin the October Friend are courageous and necessary. Prince Albert enjoys a rapidly growing, very positive reputation as anGreat Karoo jewel of a town. While we may discuss ad lib about what authentic means in 21st century South Africa, the debatearticles provoke is essential to a public discourse on how and where all the town's residents see their sought-after environmentin the coming decades.
Short-sightedness is an easy way out, as is fast food architecturelittle or no urban integration. The 21st century has every right to leave its mark on our historic town, but it must be done in a, intelligent and informed manner. Never before have we had easier access to knowledge and information. There is no excusecreating ticky tacky housing in the name of any expedient - economic, political or otherwise.
For example, social housing incountries by informed architects has shown itself as some ofmost inspiring, aesthetic and historically groundbreaking shelterscreated - far more so than nouveau riche housing developments or pseudo, copy cat styles. Moreover, the opportunity for building sustainablepowered by solar and wind energies has never been more
easily within our reach.
Two great cities – Venice and Cape Town - were shaped by many cultural, hybrid and fertile, from East and West/ North and South. What beauties today! Authenticity would be just as complex to definee.g. the Italian context as it would be in South Africa. Polemicsare not helpful. What is needed are informed people gathering and presentingintelligent information suited to our climate and diverse history when new housing and the renovation of existing housing are up for.
We have the chance of our and our children’s lifetimes to shape the town's heritage in a positive, community-spirited and sustainable. An open informed discussion would begreat way to achieve.
Speaker reageer oor ontevredenheid met Munisipale Raad
Mnr. Mckenna se skrywe “We want service delivery-not self service” in die Prince Albert Vriend van Oktober 2008 verwys.
Die Raad het reeds in Oktober 2008 se Algemene Raadsvergadering mnr McKenna se versoek bespreek en goedgekeur wat ‘n afgehandelde saak behoort te wees.
Die Publiek en veral mnr McKenna weet teen dié tyd dat die Raad ‘n “Hung Council” is en nie met elke saak wat voor die Raad dien sal saamstem nie, wat op ‘n ander manier in koukusse bespreek moet word. Die Notule ter sprake in u skrywe word op ‘n hoë vlak ondersoek en raak geen besluitneming.
U sal ook onthou dat in die verlede het die vorige Rade by ‘n Hotel of Restaurant gaan uiteet na ‘n Algemene Raadsvergadering. Daar is ‘n sekere bedrag begroot vir onthaalkoste, soos in enige ander Munisipaliteit se begroting, maar die Raad bemagtig sy mense op alle vlakke deur besighede die geleentheid te gee om verversings vir Raadsvergaderings te verskaf.
Weereens beklemtoon ek as Voorsitter van die Raad dat ek my uiterste bes sal probeer om soveel as moontlik vergaderings te hou want u moet onthou dat as daar nie vergaderings gehou word nie, kan daar ook nie besluite geneem word nie. Ons, die Raad, word betaal om vergaderings te hou om sodoende dienslewering te bespoedig.
Alle Raadsvergaderings word geadverteer met datums en tyd en dit is oop vir die publiek.
Laastens, indien u enige verdere probleme het, staan dit u vry om my te kom spreek voordat u na die media toe gaan.
Prince Albert is not safe for our animals
I would strongly advise that all residents & guests to the town of Prince Albert do not walk on the Robert Gordon Koppie or the Koppie trail with their animals.
Val van der Riet’s beloved dog, Bubbles, died on Sunday 16th November from poisoning after being on the Koppie. As they live on the Koppie, Bubbles loved to walk there; this is the second animal of ours to die from poisoning. One would think that in a small community where we are relatively free from crime that it would be safe to walk in the veldt.
This is not the case: We have a silent killer - POISON
I think it is a terrible shame that in this day and age a systemic poison is allowed to be sold within a Municipal boundary. We shrug our shoulders and say that it was only a dog. But when does it stop? When a child dies who innocently picks up a feather of the bird that ate the jackal, will we then sit up and be accountable?
As Chief Seattle stated: “What is man without the beasts if all the beasts were gone – Man would die of a great loneliness of Spirit, for what happens to beasts soon happens to Man.”
Reward for arrest and conviction of dog poisoners
Koggelmander Kuns- en Koshuis has always been a child and pet friendly establishment. We may have had problem parents and problem pet owners but have seldom had problem children or pets.
Together with many others we are outraged that someone may have deliberately set poison on the Koppie Trail to kill our dogs. Koggelmander is offering a R1 000.00 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
No to Pastorie Street Speedsters
This is a plea in support of the one made by Imke Maeyer in the October edition of the Prince Albert Friend.
I am also a resident living on Pastorie Street and am constantly amazed at the insensitivity of motor vehicle drivers using this road. Not only are schoolchildren and the elderly at risk, but those vehicles transporting seasonal farm workers do not slow down in spite of the risk to their human cargo.
Is it too much to expect the local traffic police to take action in order to curb the menace of unscrupulous drivers who care little for others?
Thanks from the Thursday Group
The Ladies of the Thursday Group would like to thank the people of Prince Albert as well as visitors for their support during the past year. Not only for donating articles to the White Elephant stall at the Saturday market, but also for cash donations.
A special thanks to Gudrun and Bodo Toelstede for the excellent support derived from their many activities and acquaintances.
Ons weet daar is verskeie mense wat feitlik elke Saterdag iets kom koop net om ons te ondersteun.
Once again, a big thank you, baie dankie!
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BADISA vra: Raak betrokke by gemeenskapsontwikkeling
Op die vooraand van die sestien dae van aktivisme teen geweld teen vroue en kinders, is dit so dat ons dorp stukkend is as gevolg van presies dít waarvoor ons nou in die openbaar opstaan. Geweld teen vroue en kinders is in Prince Albert en omgewing ‘n ernstige probleem wat dringend aangespreek moet word.
Ons weet tog almal hoe lyk geweld teen vroue en kinders - maar tog draai ons so maklik daarvan weg en laat toe dat mense onnodig.
Praktiese voorbeelde hier in ons midde was baie die afgelope jaar, maar die afgelope 2 maande is twee kinders van onderskeidelik 4 maande en 4 jaar oud onnodig dood. Twee kinders is die afgelope 2 weke deur hulle MOEDERS aangerand, onderskeidelik gewurg en ‘n oop kopwond met ‘n besemstok toegedien. Vroeër vanjaar is ‘n kleintjie met ‘n panga raakgekap deur haar pa. Hoekom laat ons dit toe? Het ons opgehou omgee vir ons kindertjies, wat juis so weerloos en afhanklik van ons is? Hulle het JUIS beskerming nodig!
Ons moet optree teen fisiese én psigiese geweld.Die eerste is die sigbare geweld, waar vroue en kinders fisiese tekens soos blou kolle of gebreekte/gekraakte bene (enige plek in die liggaam).Dit is gewoonlik ook die geweld waarvan ons eerste bewus raak.Psigiese geweld is nie sigbaar nie en rig baie diep skade aan.Die slagoffer van psigiese geweld kan self knak daaronder en aan hul seer uiting gee deur self fisies gewelddadig te raak.Mense wat seer van binne is, loop met 'n woede in hul binneste rond wat potensieel gevaarlik kan raak vir die mense rondom hulle.Psigiese geweld is die emosionele afbreek van 'n vrou of kind wat voortdurend moet hoor dat hulle niks reg doen nie, of dat hul niks werd is nie en nêrens in die lewe gaan kom nie. Dit is ‘n wesenlike miskenning van hul unieke mens-wees en menswaardigheid.
Hoe spreek ons dit aan? Deur persoonlik betrokke te raak! Moenie jou rug keer op jou buurvrou of vriendin of die kindjie wat jy opsigtelik sien swaarkry nie. Raak betrokke en meld dit aan by BADISA of, in die geval van ernstige beserings, by die hospitaal of SAPD.
Dis tyd dat die gemeenskap begin om verantwoordelikheid te aanvaar vir die vroue en kinders wat gebuk gaan onder geweld van enige vorm!
Vra jouself af of jy ‘n verskil gaan maak.
Ek sluit af met die volgende aanhaling:
“We had our first argument last night, and he said a lot of cruel things that really hurt me. I know he is sorry and didn’t mean the things he said, because he sent me flowers today. I got flowers today. It wasn’t our anniversary or any other special day.
Last night he threw me into a wall and started to choke me. It seemed like a nightmare, I couldn’t believe it was real. I woke up this morning sore and bruised all over. I know he must be sorry because he sent me flowers today.
I got flowers today and it wasn’t Mother’s Day or any other special day. Last night, he beat me up again, it was much worse than all the other times. If I leave him, what will I do? How will I take care of my kids? What about money? I’m afraid of him and scared to leave. But I know he must be sorry because he sent me flowers today.
I got flowers today. Today was a very special day. It was the day of my funeral. Last night, he finally killed me. He beat me to death. If only I had gathered enough courage to leave him, I would not have gotten flowers today …”
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Leon de Wit stap nou die dag in die museum in met ‘n groen geskenksakkie en sit dit op my lessenaar neer met die woorde: “Gee dit asseblief vir Judy Maguire, sy weet daarvan.”
In die sakkie is die eienaardigste verweerde, uitgedroogde, uitgerafelde houtagtige voorwerp. Dis vaal-bruin met ‘n bietjie witterigheid wat wil-wil deurslaan. Die een kant is skerp en die ander kant is effens gerond.
Ek kyk vraend na Leon en hy verduidelik dat dit ‘n renosterhoring is wat sy pa, Chrisjan de Wit, destydse eienaar van Treintjiesrivier, in ongeveer 1960 naby Sangrafte opgetel het toe hy van die San se klipwerktuie van naderby bekyk het. Hierdie diere het voorheen volop in die Republiek voorgekom en is selfs in die nabyheid van Tafelberg aangetref. Die laaste renoster in die Kaapprovinsie is in 1853 naby Port Elizabeth geskiet.
Die renosterhoring wat voor my lê lyk miskien soos verweerde hout, maar die meeste van ons is bewus daarvan dat dit uit keratien, die materiaal (stof) waarvan menslike naels en hare saamgestel is, bestaan. Die horing van die renoster groei uit die vel, nie uit die skedel nie en is ook nie vas aan die skedel nie. Die renoster se kop maak ‘n kwart van sy liggaamslengte uit. (Die mens se kop is maar een tiende van sy liggaamslengte.) Sy vel is op plekke tot 1,5 cm dik! Die rekordlengte van ‘n witrenoster se voorste horing is 1,5812 meter en dié van die swartrenoster is 1,3589 meter. Die woord renoster beteken eintlik “neushoringdier”.
Sommige kulture glo dat renosterhoring medisinale aspekte het, of as liefdesdoepa gebruik kan word. Dit is een van die hoofredes waarom dié diere die slagoffers van wildstropers word.
Leon vertel verder dat oom Chrisjan destyds ook twee verweerde olifanttande op die plaas opgetel het. Vermoedelik is dit meer as ‘n honderd en sestig jaar gelede deur ‘n jagter daar in die grondwal onder klippe begrawe, nooit opgeëis nie en het nou, jare later, gedurende ‘n donderstorm onder die klippe uitgespoel.
Chrisjan de Wit het destyds die ivoortande aan die Kaapse Museum ge-skenk, maar later uitgevind dat dit spoorloos verdwyn het!
Kom kyk gerus, die Fransie Pienaar Museum het nou ook sy eie voorraad “liefdesdoepa”, danksy Leon de Wit se skenking van ‘n renosterhoring van Treintjiesrivier!
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Recently a French couple, Nadège and Frédéric, married in Prince Albert. This is their story in their own words.
On the 5th of May 2007, when Frederic proposed to Nadège, we asked ourselves where we should get married. The answer came quite rapidly! One of Frédéric’s dreams was to get married in the desert, in an old American car, and Nadège loved the idea of the red soil. A quick look on Google Earth and in August 2007 we were on the road to Prince Albert. This was the first of a series of weekends we were to spend driving the South African immensity in search of the place which would talk to us.
After driving for four and a half hours, we entered Prince Albert at lunch time and the dream started…A quick look on the left and Nadège said ‘Let’s go there for lunch!’ when she saw Café Albert, a quick look on the right and we could not believe our eyes: right there, a Blue Cadillac was parked, as if it had been waiting for us! This would be the first sign that Prince Albert was the right place for us!
We decided to drop our luggage at Dennehof where we had booked a room, only to realise that by pure chance it was the “Honeymoon Suite”. By the end of the weekend we loved it so much that we decided that this would one day be our real honeymoon suite. We returned to Café Albert where we had lunch and met the owners, Romy and William, who immediately grabbed a pen and a piece of paper when we mentioned our decision to get married in Prince Albert. Romy started listing the potential wedding venues and suppliers of various services, so much that indeed, without knowing it, when the dessert came, our wedding had started taking shape.
Romy was the first to suggest that we get married at Abrahamskraal. Half an hour later Hestie Fourie from Abrahamskraal was sitting at our table and by the end of the afternoon we went to the farm with Hestie and her husband, Johan. We immediately fell in love with the place; nothing around, just a farm and yes – a windmill! The plan was already unfolding: The reception would be at the farm and the aperitif at the windmill!
The following day we left the village with big smiles on our faces and returned to Cape Town over the Swartberg Pass. We could not believe how beautiful it was and on top of it all, it started snowing heavily! After seven years of living in Cape Town, we managed to touch and taste snow again for the first time! Naturally we kept this Pass in mind for the ceremony.
At the end of October 2007, we decided to come back to start organising the wedding. That’s when we met Lisa from Onse Rus who was so inspiring! She suggested that the ceremony be held on the dance floor in the Swartberg Pass and gave us Johanna Luttig’s details, as a potential supplier of rustic decorations. We also explained to Lisa that we wanted to have a very spiritual ceremony and she jumped out of her chair to fetch a wedding magazine in which she had just read an article about Celtic weddings. We read it and got so excited because it was completely in line with what we were looking for!
Voila! The venue was set. In the year that followed we had a succession of weekend meetings with amazing people at Die Kuierhuis in Prince Albert. Everyone here is so special, so loving and helpful, so enjoying of life’s every moment. One day we met Ailsa, the Ghost Story Teller, at the Lazy Lizard, who put us in contact with Bob Commin, a priest from Cape Town who was experienced in Celtic weddings and who would end up officiating an unforgettable ceremony with talent and emotion.
Johanna Luttig and her daughters from Drie Riviere designed and made lots of stunning rustic decorations for the tables and outside the tent. They also baked and designed a great wedding cake that was to be eaten under a Bedouin tent at the windmill on the farm, during the aperitif sundowners. Eventually, they also ended up receiving a bus full of French family members from South Western France and Normandy at their farm on the Friday evening preceding the wedding. The French crew of 50, plus lots of friends from Cape Town, enjoyed a typical South African spitbraai, and a rugby kicking competition was quickly organised between the French and the Boks. We say that the French won!
Jason Lucas provided his Blue Cadillac and Gawie Breytenbach his beige Chevrolet, which added a romantic tone to this already very unusual wedding. The dress code was free, but colors had to be burnt orange, chocolate, rust, copper, as were all the decorations under and outside the beige Bedouin tent set next to the farm house at Abrahamskraal, where the desert, lit only by candles, was an inspiration.
Anobe Badenhorst at the Swartberg Hotel organised a delightful brunch the day after the wedding and accommodated lots of our guests from France, indeed all of Frédéric’s family. There were lots of French people in the little town that weekend! And we were all so happy to be there. They fell in love with Prince Albert! The Prince Albert Country Store played a central role in this wedding: Colleen and William (whose son, we later discovered, actually lives next door to our flat in Cape Town!) helped us with a ‘love box’ that Frédéric chose and painted for Nadège as a very personal gift, and Colleen designed a beautiful bridal bouquet.
Hestie had recommended Jakoba Visagie, who manages the school choir and who taught her talented singers a few of the gospel songs that we had selected. This brought a higher level of emotion to the ceremony in the Pass, and we saw lots of emotional tears in the eyes of the French and South African guests, when they arrived at the Dance Floor and the choir started singing, surrounded by sky, river, and mountains.
Ria Steyn from Dennehof assisted the bride and her bridesmaids to have special make-up and hair style sessions on the morning of the wedding; Louis van Brakel at Die Kuierhuis accommodated them during their last weekend and the week before the wedding; and Kevin Hough from the Gallery exhibited some of his unbelievable pieces of art in the Karoo desert at Abrahamskraal, which gave a surrealist dimension to this already unbelievable wedding.
Our biggest thanks, must go to Hestie and Johan, an amazing couple who worked during long months to help with planning and then who hardly slept during the wedding weekend. For more than a year of preparation, Hestie and Johan surrounded us with their advice, love and affection and after all this time working together for our D-day, we ended up having not only a wedding that exceeded our biggest dreams, but also very importantly, having two new very special friends. We live in Cape Town and have chosen South Africa to live, work and raise our children, and one thing is sure, we will be regulars of Prince Albert in the years to come. We will actually spend Christmas there!
On the 25th of October 2008, the Frenchies got married in Prince Albert, and everything happened according to plan, thanks to all the wonderful people of Prince Albert, their love, their talent, their kindness and enthusiasm!
Prince Albert is forever in our hearts and the village and its people have made such an incredible impact on us and on our guests that we have decided to spend three months in our peaceful heaven when Nadège will be pregnant with our first child!
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Saterdag, 25 Oktober, was dit weer tyd vir ons jaarlikse kankerstap. Die weer het saamgespeel en ons het die 5km in sonskyn en ‘n heerlike koel wind gestap. Die 17de Okt het ons kleuterskole en gr. 1-3’s hul eie kankerstappie gehou saam met Toktokkie, met groot opgewondenheid wat natuurlik geheers het!
Baie dankie aan almal wat deelgeneem het, donasies gegee het en almal wat bygedra het om ‘n sukses van die Kan-kerstap te maak. Danksy jul almal se ondersteuning en hulp kon ons R4108-00 vir Kansa insamel.
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Prince Albert definitely does not lack in talent especially when it comes to Michael Upton, a former Arthur Murray dance instructor and professional dancer. Michael’s rise to fame was as a professional ice skater in “Holiday on Ice” in New York and he modestly remarks that he just started dancing as a sideline.
He danced as an amateur for the Royal Dance Teachers Association (RDTA) for three years and then for a further six years as a professional dance specialist for which he received a Gold Star Diploma. Michael’s dancing skills include the sensual Latin American and elegant Ballroom dances which have made TV’s series “Strictly Come Dancing” so popular.
After numerous requests from locals who wanted to learn how to dance, Michael decided to shake the dust and cobwebs from his dancing shoes and come out of “retirement”. In mid-July this year he started group tuition for young and old alike. Michael is assisted by his partner Tim Rowson, who is responsible for the dance music.
Thus far students have been taught the basic steps for the Swing or Jive, the Rumba, the Mambo, the Tango, the Foxtrot, the Waltz and the Cha Cha. Michael even added the Viennese Waltz and the Polka to their repertoire for the recent Oktoberfest held in Prince Albert.
Social dance evenings are organised on a regular basis so that the students can practise the dances learnt over the last few months. It also gives them the opportunity of dancing with other partners thus gaining confidence.
The PA Dance Club held its first social dance on Friday, 7 November and “a ball” was had by all. Each family provided a plate of snacks and brought along their own drinks, then it was down to serious dancing late into the night.
Dance lessons continue every Tuesday evening at 19h15 in the Hoërskool Zwartberg hall and anyone interested in joining should contact Michael on tel. 023 541-1872. Private tuition is also available.
(Chorus from “Lord of the Dance)
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Twenty-four members of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) visited Prince Albert for a few days in September as part of an organised excursion after their annual international conference in Stellenbosch. Prince Albert residents, Carol and Dorrien Tissiman, were their guides after a brief tuition from Sue Milton and Richard Dean, who were abroad at another conference!
The IAVS is an international union of scientists and academics working in theoretical or practical aspects of vegetation science. The visitors to Prince Albert came from all over the world, including USA, Germany, France, Austria, and Poland. They devoted their stay to four focus areas: the veld plains north of town, the old fossil river specialty, the Koppie, the lower Swartberg Pass and Meiringspoort.
The group was overwhelmed by Prince Albert hospitality, particularly the great food provided by the Luttig family and the Lazy Lizard.The rains a few weeks prior to the visit enabled them to view some of our wonderful Karoo plant delights, including the rare red plumbago tristes, abundant purple, pink and white drosanthemumsin abundance, sarcoaulon (bushman’s candle) and they treaded very carefully around the rare lithops and glottiphyllum.
Many of them expressed a wish to return to spend longer and also bring their students here.From the guides’ perspective, it was wonderful to celebrate our unique fauna and flora with visitors as they quietly wandered with noses to the ground or eyes through binoculars on birds, completely absorbed in the natural environment.
Posted by Prince Albert Friend at 4:42 PM 0 comments
Some months ago, Bool Smuts of the Landmark Foundation, which promotes non-lethal predator controls on livestock farms, caused a stir when through his e-mail newsletters circulated in South Africa and abroad, he asked his readers to protest against the presence of a factory producing gin traps in Prince Albert.In this edition, three players in the gin trap debate present their points of view.
Gin Traps Should Be Banned Immediately
We at the Landmark Foundation believe that gin traps, leg hold devices, such as snares, indiscriminate poison traps and hunting dog packs as methods of predator control on livestock farms are barbaric practices that should be outlawed immediately.These methods are indiscriminate, cruel and ecologically damaging and have proven ineffectual. We actively promote efforts that are non-lethal, ecologically and socially acceptable, humane and demonstrably more effective. Traps have been banned in 90 countries, but are still advanced in South Africa by academics, agricultural institutions, government departments and even some conservation agencies.
We have a responsibility to care for all living creatures in ethical ways.There is no moral defence for the unselective torture and destruction of wild animals sharing the environment with livestock. For centuries dedicated predator persecution has failed to resolve the problem for farmers and many admit livestock losses from predation have increased in recent years, despite increased use of lethal controls. Modern farmers understand the futility of fighting against nature and are turning to holistic and non-lethal management practices that are far more efficient, cost effective and acceptable.
Balanced ecosystems, inclusive of predation, provide a healthy co-existence between predators and livestock farming. To encourage biodiversity we promote the following sustainable methods of integrated predator control:
Livestock guarding animals – Anatolian guard dogs, herding dogs, donkeys, alpacas, llamas, etc
Protective measures – kraaling, protective sheep collars, technology collars, fencing mechanisms
Other deterrents – noises (Bell collars and alarms)and smells
Live trapping and collaboration with conservation entities
Conservation of wildlife on livestock and game farms
It is important to understand and respect the value of predators. Within the food pyramid they function at the top, playing a critical role in the health and dynamic balance of the ecosystem by managing prey populations. Natural harmony has been dramatically altered by the impact of agriculture. Livestock is inevitably targeted as prey. Inappropriate farm management systems have disrupted the balance of various predators and natural prey populations thereby exacerbating the problem. Certain predator species have been reduced to the brink of extinction (leopard) while others (caracal and jackal) have multiplied disproportionately through indiscriminate killing. Predators balance their own numbers better than any efforts of humans, especially through lethal controls as has been demonstrated in recent research on jackal and leopards. It is actually the lethal controls that are increasing numbers of secondary predators such as jackal and caracal.
We need to protect predators in their natural role to optimize integrity of the environment and preserve our natural heritage. More consumers are demanding the implementation of holistic, ethical and ecologically acceptable practices by choosing products that are environmentally and ethically sound, and they are prepared to pay for it. Extra earnings for farmers offset the losses to predation to make economic sense.
Over the past year we have demonstrated dramatic success using only stipulated non-lethal control methods in the entire Baviaanskloof area with the full co-operation of neighbouring farmers. Since the implementation covering 13 000 small livestock animals, less than 10 individual losses attributed to predators have been reported.Recently farmers and the local community staged a public and symbolic burning of 160 gin traps to signify their confidence in the positive change.
So it was with sadness and anger that I left the beautiful and peaceful town of Prince Albert some months ago where a factory is quietly manufacturing up to 1 200 gin traps a month, two hundred of which are leopard traps - it is illegal to use these devices on protected species. The factory owner, Peter Schneekluth, boasts 3 000 farmers on his books, which means up to 15 000 of his traps enter the system each year. I wonder how the Prince Albert Tourism Association and the town’s political leadership explain such an anomaly to the tourists and other visitors to their unique town?
While in Prince Albert I was also struck by the unusual and fanciful art work of Kevin Hough and his gallery on the main street.I look forward to the day when gin traps are rejected by everyone and he can transform them into unique sculptures and memorials.
Bool Smuts heads the Landmark Foundation.
Van Jakkalse, Skape, en Aktiviste
Jan van Riebeeck se dagboeke is vol verwysings na roofdiere wat die VOC se kuddes verwoes het. In Karel Schoeman se boek Armosyn van die Kaap lees ‘n mens die volgende aanhaling: ”…in dieselfde tydperk kon die vryswarte, Jan van Cylon, egter nog geld verdien met die skiet van leeus en luiperds in die omliggende klowe (van Stellenbosch) en in 1712 het hy 24 gulden ontvang vir die eerste leeu van die jaar”.
En nou, bykans 300 jaar later, het niks verander nie. Honderde jagters, deeltyds en voltyds, van Khoi, Xhosa, Sotho en Europese afkoms, verkry hul inkomste, net soos ene Jan van Cylon, uit die jag van roofdiere. Ten spyte van dié groot jagpoging, word jaarliks nog ‘n verbysterende 800,000 tot ‘n miljoen stuks vee deur roofdiere gedood en verskeur (dis meer as 2,000 stuks vee per dag!) Feitlik die hele groter roofdierspektrum (jakkalse, rooikatte, rondloperhonde, luiperds, strandwolwe, draaijakkalse, sekere muishonde, otters, ratels, bosvarke en bobbejane) sak op ons kwesbare skape en bokke toe, want hulle het nòg kloue nòg slagtande nòg die mentaliteit om terug te veg - dus moet die mens sy skape beskerm wat hy dan ook met mening doen, want sy bestaan hang van die welvaart van sy vee af.
There is a quiet, never-ending kind of low-level “guerilla warfare” going on, in the Karoo and elsewhere, to fight tough and resourceful predators in an attempt to contain stock losses. Farmers employ a wide variety of methods to do so. One of the more important ones is the gin trap (slagyster). That is unfortunate, because the gin is a cruel device. How cruel, has been aptly described by the great English writer Thomas Hardy in his novel The Woodlander about 120 years ago. Yes, and I am the person who manufactures them, and - Prince Albert is the place.
And now activists, always eager to identify a cause to fight for, have found my factory, the “Place of Evil”. The discoverer was Dr. Bool Smuts (a non- practicing medical doctor) of the Landmark Foundation. On 16 th of July he entered my premises under false pretenses and under the name of Dave Mills, talked his way into the factory, charmed my staff, took photos and purchased traps. A few weeks later I received a flood of toxic e-mails. The vilest language was used, mostly written by “ladies”. The mails also revealed an utter ignorance about the dreadful sheep/predator situation, and all writers lamented the fate of jackal, and not a word of pity for our sheep. However, some of the more balanced writers suggested some alternative, non-lethal (ethical) methods such as the use of Anatolian guard dogs, protective collars, alpacas and donkeys. The problem with these methods is, unfortunately, that they work only under certain favourable conditions. If they would work as well as activists claim, farmers would have adopted them long ago, and my trap factory would have had to close down. Farmers would only be too glad to dispose of traps, because trap-work is expensive, cruel, extremely labor intensive and highly frustrating, but - gin traps are often the last line of defence, the final weapon when all else fails. In other words, as long as there is not a viable alternative to gin traps, they will be used, banned or un-banned. Instead of always criticizing, activists should pool their considerable resourses and develop an alternative to the cruel trap.
Instead, Dr. “Dave Mills” incites his followers to threaten Prince Albert’s tourist industry with a boycott, unless this industry, with the backing of PA Municipality, throws me, and my “Evil Place”, out of town, tarred and feathered. This is blackmail and conceitedness combined, and that from an outsider via the internet. And, in doing so, “Dave Mills” is creating discontent in our town.
It is not the first time that I have crossed swords with activists, and often wondered what is feeding their obsession. Taylor Caldwell has summed them up in her book The Beautiful is Vanished: “But there were others, I could pick them out, I knew them in a way. I could see these others were unsuccessful professional men, lawyers perhaps, or doctors, school teachers, newspaper people. Or should I say, they felt they were unsuccessful, that they deserved more…people who lacked the capacity to succeed in a major way as their fellow professional men had succeeded”.
Peter Schneekluth manufactures gin traps in Prince Albert.
Beproefde eeue-oue metodes beskerm ons kleinvee
Photo caption: “One example of the cruel way our lovely free range animals are massacred each night by vicious beasts on the open plains of our district.” - Joseph Steyn
As ‘n kleinveeboer is ek en die arbeiders wat saam met my boer se enigste bron van inkomste -- kleinvee. Ons bestuur die skape en bokke op lewensonderhoudende en lewensskeppende wyses sodat hulle gesond is, kan vermeerder en wol en bokhaar produseer. Die produkte verkoop ons dan en lewe van die inkomste. Verloor ons die skape en bokke, verloor ons die fondasie van ons lewensonderhoud. Erger as wat ‘n diereliefhebber sy troeteldier liefhet, het ons ons skape en bokke lief – ons lewens hier op die plaas word deur hulle welstand gewaarborg.
Roofdiere wat in ons area voorkom vind dit eenvoudig net makliker om ‘n skaap of boklam te vang, wat nie so vinnig en rats is om te ontvlug, as ‘n steenbok of haas wat sy natuurlike prooi verteenwoordig nie. Die wreedste vorms van verminking denkbaar het ons al onder skape en bokke hier op die plaas beleef:
Boklammers wat honger agter hul ma’s aanloop omdat hulle nie kan soog nie omdat ‘n roofdier hul bekkies en tonge afgevreet het.
Boklammers waarvan die ore en sterte stomp afgevreet is.
Skaaplammers waarvan die boudspier uitgevreet is sodat hul beswaarlik kan loop.
Dorperooie waarvan die ingewande op die grond sleep as sy loop nadat ‘n jakkals haar buik op haar sy oopgeskeur het.
‘n Merinolam wat staan en eet omdat hy honger is, maar as hy sluk val die gekoude lusern op die grond omdat sy slukderm afgevreet is deur ‘n roofdier. (Selfs nie die veearts op Beaufort-wes kon nie sy lewe red nie!)
Lammers wat doodgewurg lê, maar nie aan geëet is nie.
As gevolg van boerdery eenhede (plase) wat al groter moet word omdat produktepryse elke jaar 3% minder styg as ons insetkostes, raak die beheer van roofdiere moeiliker en neem hul getalle kommerwekkend toe. Alle metodes van roofdiere afskrik, lammers beskerm tot die skuldige roofdiere elimineer word gebruik ons om ons kleinveekuddes te beskerm.
Om roofdiere te elimineer is nodig indien die verminkings en slagtings nie gestop kan word nie. Daarvoor het ons die beproefde metodes nodig wat al eeue lank gebruik word om die probleem te beheer. Slagysters word as die laaste uitweg gebruik om sulke wrede roofdiere selektief mee weg te neem. Kleinvee is al waarmee ons in die ekstensiewe dele van ons distrik en land kan boer- moet asseblief nie die verminking van ons skape en bokke laat toeneem deur slag-ysters te verban nie.
Diere is ons lewe !!
Joseph Steyn, boer op die plaas Riet-fontein buite Prince Albert.
Posted by Prince Albert Friend at 4:41 PM 1 comments
Labels: boere, Bool Smuts, gin traps, jakkalse, slagysters
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- Kobus Snyman en die Hoërskool Zwartberg personeel -
Bodo se maraton-fondsin-sameling het met die slag van simbale en die geskal van trompette tydens die 7e Oktoberfest tot 'n einde gekom.
Wat 'n onvergeetlike aand, met die Blaskapelle Hemslingen wat genotvolle musiek en groot vermaak verskaf het. Hierdie Oktoberfest het nie alleenlik R65 987.00 vir Hoërskool Zwartberg ingesamel nie, maar ook tot voordeel van almal, die gastehuise gevul; mense getrek wat die twee kunsuitstallings en die blommefees van die naweek bygewoon het; die personeel van die Koffiewinkels aan die hardloop gehou en baie nuwe vriende vir Prince Albert gemaak het.
Bodo has been raising funds for the Babbelbergies, Wilderkanisland and Hoërskool Zwartberg for the last 8 years – an amazing total of R540 480.00 in all.
This includes monies raised through seven Oktoberfests, the 2007 Musikschule Schreiber visit, and many donations in support of individual children and special needs.
Ever since their arrival in Prince Albert Bodo and Gudrun have immersed themselves in the life of the village and have supported many of our local institutions but there can be few people who have given as generously of their time and energy towards the education and welfare of the children of our community.
Vir Bodo het die tyd aangebreek om die lederhosen in die kas te sit en 'n blaaskansie te neem. Bodo en Gudrun sal volgende Oktober hulle vriende en familie in Duitsland gaan besoek.
Bodo, ons as personeel van Hoërskool Zwartberg wil namens die gemeenskap van Prince Albert opreg dankie sê vir jou besorgdheid met ons leerders en jou ongelooflike pogings om fondse in te samel sodat ons die beste moontlike opvoeding aan hulle kan gee.
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