Makhanda with SID PENNEY festival city
The city is renowned for its educational institutions, for being the national seat of the judiciary and for its cultural events
TIMM FOR NATIONAL POSITION
Makhanda real estate specialist Daphne Timm has been appointed national operations manager at Pam Golding Properties’ (PGP) franchise services in Cape Town from March 1, and she will be commuting between Cape Town and Makhanda.
PGP CEO Andrew Golding said of Timm’s appointment: “With a wealth of real estate experience and an exceptional track record, Timm’s appointment underscores the importance of our franchise network to the PGP group and I’m thrilled by her addition to the Pam Golding franchise team.
Timm, who joined PGP as an agent in 1996, is a former Lion Award winner in the PGP Group, and one of its most seasoned franchisees.
Golding added: “Daphne distinguished herself by achieving “rookie of the year” and Gold Club status in her first year and she maintained Gold Club status annually, leading to the purchase of the Grahamstown franchise in 2008.
“Under her excellent leadership, the Grahamstown/Makhanda franchise grew exponentially and consistently received many accolades over the years, including national franchise of the year and various other awards. These included national awards for a number of Grahamstown sales and rental agents.
“Timm was also part of the original team that worked with the late Dexter Leite to draw up a rental blueprint for PGP. She has been part of the very fibre of PGP for the past 28 years.”
FULLHOUSE ONCE AGAIN
For the umpteenth time, Victoria Girls’ High School (VGHS) matrics achieved a 100% pass rate in the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations, as well as an 87% bachelor’s pass rate.
Headmaster Warren Schmidt congratulated the matrics and the staff on “a very solid set of results”.
In all, there were 59 subject As, 84% of symbols were above 50%, and 20% of all subject symbols were A or B.
First in grade and achieving seven distinctions was Hlumelo Gaqa, while Babalo Duma, Courtney Jacobs, Darlow Morgan and Mtyapi Siphesethu obtained four distinctions each. Achieving three distinctions each were Ishka Fullarton, Lelethu Mnonopi and Ayanda Ngaleka.
DISTINCTIONS APLENTY
The Diocesan School for Girls’ (DSG) class of 2023 achieved a 100% pass rate in the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) matric exams, with 100% of the pupils achieving an A, B or C aggregate.
Eighty DSG pupils wrote the matric examination in 2023.
Other noteworthy statistics show 252 subject distinctions (plus 10 for further studies) with 49% of the candidates achieving an A aggregate, of which 15% achieved an aggregate above 90%.
The school is immensely proud of its 2023 dux scholar, Sesihle Mrara from East London, who achieved an astounding 10 distinctions, while deputy head girl, Tegan-Lee Parker, achieved nine distinctions.
Maxine Bosire, Holly Clowes and Natalie Morris achieved eight distinctions each.
Among those obtaining distinctions were five Makhanda matriculants Carrey Wiblin (six), Chloe Montauge (five), Cornelia Rocher (five), Alide de Villiers (four) and Wendy-Mae Turner (four).
CELEBRATING
Kingswood College takes great pride in celebrating the accomplishments of the 85-strong matric class of 2023 who received a 91% bachelor’s degree pass rate in the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) exams.
Head boy Azolile Mbanga received a full house of distinctions with seven As, while head girl Amy Hobson bagged herself four As.
Mbanga is an accomplished musician and second trumpet player in the Kingswood concert band. He is hoping to gain entry into the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship programme at the University of Debrecan in Hungary.
Hobson was awarded sportswoman of the year in 2023, having played first team netball, hockey and waterpolo.
Other Kingswood matric pupils achieving multiple distinctions (As) were Taylor Williamson six; dux scholar for 2023 Taryn Hurley, an outstanding athlete and first team hockey player five; NizaSulanji Simakanda, first team hockey captain and head of Gane House five; Kayleigh Mildenhall five; and Amazing Vheriwa five.
Kingswood head Leon Grove said: “We are exceptionally proud of the class of 2023, and their academic achievements are a testament to their determination, sacrifice and hard work.
“We wish them well as they embark on the next phase of their educational journey knowing that the virtues and values that have been instilled in them at Kingswood will be the foundation of success in whatever they choose to do going forward.”
WELL-PLEASED WITH RESULTS
The St Andrew’s College matrics who wrote the 2023 Independent Examinations Board (IEB) National Senior Certificate examinations achieved a 99% pass rate, with 95% of the 87 candidates achieving a bachelor’s degree pass.
The dux scholar was Thomas Barrow from Johannesburg, achieving an 88% aggregate and eight distinctions. He was placed on the IEB’s commendable achievements list for achieving within the top 5% in five subjects.
Three St Andrew’s matriculants achieved seven distinctions each Matthew Poole from Kenton-on-Sea (88% aggregate), Matthew Gouws from Johannesburg (86%) and Noah da Motta from Zimbabwe (84%).
Ian Meihuizen of Makhanda achieved four distinctions and was placed in the top 1% nationally’in history.
St Andrew s headmaster Tom Hamilton said the school was delighted with the results achieved by the matric class of 2023.
“These results are a step up from previous years and indicate a positive trend in terms of top-end individual results, but also a strong trend of the whole group improving over their matric year.
“We are delighted with the multiple distinctions achieved, and we also take great satisfaction in the number of boys who have made stunning progress throughout their time here at St Andrew’s.”
SATISFYING
According to a social media post placed by the school, Graeme College is “very satisfied” with its 2023 matric results released last week which saw it achieving a 91,4% pass rate. No further information was forthcoming at the time of writing.
CONGRATULATIONS
Makana Municipality has congratulated Makhanda schools for their success “as demonstrated by the individual results,” adding that “the overall performance of the class of 2023 is very encouraging.”
The schools listed in the statement released by Makana Municipality, and their pass rates, are: Graeme College 91% (58 pupils); Khutliso Daniels Secondary School 96% (84 pupils); Mary Waters High School 59% (116 pupils); TEM Mrwetyana Secondary School 75% (57 pupils); Nathaniel Nyaluza Secondary School 81% (62 pupils); Nombulelo Secondary School (158 pupils) 73%; Ntsika Senior Secondary School (165 pupils) 78%; PJ Olivier High School 86% (42 pupils); and Victoria Girls’ High School 100% (82 pupils).
CATS AND BOOKS
Exciting news on the ‘local pet scene’ is that the Grahamstown Feral Cat Project has opened its new bookshop where one can browse around its wide selection of pre-owned books plus DVDs and CDs.
All money raised will go towards the sterilisation of feral cats and the cost of rescuing abandoned adults and kittens in foster care.
Project spokesperson Lynne Grant said the bookshop is open only on Saturdays from 8.30am-11.30am, and is based at 67 African Street, next door to
Nic’s Nest. Books can also be dropped off at the shop for sale.
The project extends its thanks and appreciation to Bernadette Emslie for the idea, and Muranda Altichiero, Linda Emslie, Lynne Grant, Steven Emslie and Malcolm Grant for helping to implement it.
PILING ON THE PARKRUNS
The weather was perfect on the day, and Makana Botanical Gardens was looking gorgeous in the bright sunshine when no less than 126 runners, joggers and walkers turned out for the popular Saturday morning parkrun.
While a handful of participants were taking part in their first or second parkrun, at the other end of the scale two parkrun veterans are approaching the 400-mark Stavie van Aardt has 390 and Peter Stockwell 388.
Noluyolo Zilwe has just one to go to her 100th, Ayanda Mtyapi one to go to his 50th, and Natasha Agnew four to go to her 200th.
Parkruns are held at 8am each Saturday from the entrance to the botanical gardens in Lucas Avenue.
POOL UPGRADE
Work is underway on the upgrading and repairing of Graeme College’s 50m swimming pool. The pool, situated on the southwestern corner of the sprawling campus, is about 50 years old, said a school spokesperson.
“The process of upgrading the pool infrastructure will cost about R500,000,” he said. “Not many schools in the country have a 50m pool, but it comes with added maintenance and upgrading costs.”
The upgrading is expected to take about a month to complete.
ON FLOODLIT GREENS
Bowling Stones, Karpkoppe, Operational Rats and the Latloep Club are some of the teams that will be taking to the greens of the Grahamstown Bowling Club for the 2024 edition of the Pepper Grove Pick n Pay inter-company night bowls league from January 29 to February 22. Entries closed on Monday this week. Other teams that have already entered include BUCO, DSG, GBS Bank Rollers, GBS Bank Express, Settler City Toyota, Settlers OMNE and H2O Accounting.
The format of play for this year’s tournament is three-bowl trips, with four teams per section and matches played on weekday nights.
June McDougall will deal with enquiries and maybe even late entries
at june.mcdougall@gmail.co.za.
RAFFLE BENEFITS PETS
The draw for Makana Vet Clinic’s December/January raffle will be made on February 1, and prizes have been donated by Salon Gavroche, Voodoo Coffee and
Send your news of local events and achievements, or of any issues you might be having to or call (046) 624-4356
Relish Coffee Shop. Tickets at R10 each are obtainable from Gino’s, Makana Vet Clinic, Salon Gavroche, Voodoo Coffee, Jeannie’s Hair Salon, Hi-Tec Security and Red Café. Proceeds will go towards Makana Vet’s outreach work and sterilisation project.
NAME CHANGE IN THE LANE
A very old, dog-eared and yellowing “Plan of the City of Grahamstown” gives the name of the lane running from Lawrance Street to Webber Street as “Shepstone Lane”, and is also listed as such in the 1964 and 1966 Grahamstown directories.
Yet, in the official listing of Grahamstown streets compiled in the 1960s by Mrs BE Rennie, former mayor of Grahamstown, the lane is named as Shepperson Lane.
The question arises how and when did the name change come about?
ROTARY AT BELMONT
The two local Rotary clubs team up with Hi-Tec Security to host the Rotary Hi-Tec golf day over the picturesque Belmont course on Friday, February 9. The betterball stableford action gets underway at 12.30pm and the cost is R2,000 per four-ball. Prizes include nearest-the-pin, longest drive and surprise prize on the 16th hole. The prize-giving function will include an auction.
BUTTER AND MILK
A recent item in this column dealt with Grahamstown Butter & Ice Factory in Froude Street, also mentioning neighbours Grahamstown Farmers’ Dairy, which later became Rosedale Dairy.
According to an advertisement placed in a local publication in 1993, Rosedale Dairy produced quality pasteurised milk, ice cream and dairy juice blends, plus being an agent for cheese and yoghurt.
ISUZU AND OPEL
In a local publication in 1993, Kenrich Delta Grahamstown placed an advertisement announcing it was the local dealership for Isuzu and Opel vehicles at 14 Bathurst Street. This was the former premises of Bathurst Farmers’ Union (BFU) farming co-operative that supplied farming requirements and hardware.
SUNDOWNER BURGERS
Graeme College’s first rugby team hosts a burger evening at the Graemian Centre tomorrow (Friday) from 5.30pm when a burger and chips will cost R80.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Schools, social clubs, sports clubs and other entities are invited to send news, club reports, results and letters for publication in this column. The deadline for these contributions is 1pm on a Sunday and can be e-mailed to