Show your support for casual day
Tomorrow is national Casual Day where you can go to work in casual attire like takkies, jeans and chinos. Get your Casual Day stickers at R10 each from Makana Tourism – proceeds go to people with disabilities. PG Glass franchise owner Tim Dold returned from the PG Glass national conference in Johannesburg with something rather special in his luggage. It was the “PG Helping Hands Hero of the Year” award, presented annually to the PG Glass branch or franchise deemed to contribute the most towards community involvement. Dold said upon returning to his Bathurst Street business: “PG Glass places much emphasis on community involvement by all of its branches and franchises nationally.” By now it’s a well-known fact locally that the PG Glass Grahamstown franchise has, for many years, run its highly-successful “PG Cares” initiative whereby blankets and warm clothing are collected from the community for distribution amongst the needy in the city. Over the past few years, Dold and his team at PG Glass have handed over thousands of blankets and items of warm clothing to the less fortunate. But that’s just one aspect of the PG Glass community involvement in Grahamstown. The business is also a regular sponsor of a myriad events from sports competitions and fun runs to supporting schools and children’s homes. For the past 26 years the PJ Olivier Grade 7 class has undertaken an annual tour, visiting many places of interest along the way. And for 26 years, teacher Manie Cronje has organised the tour and has accompanied the pupils as tour leader. This year’s tour along the Garden Route from September 6 to 11 involves 24 pupils and four chaperones – Cronje, Hennie and Rene Pienaar, and Riaan Havenga. The tour sponsors this year are Xtreme Embroidery (T-shirts), PG Glass (tour bags for the past 16 years), Settler City Toyota (hoodies) and Makana Brick (hoodies). Among the places of interest they’ll be visiting are an oyster farm in Knysna, Monkeyland, Cango Caves, an ostrich farm and Waterworld. Activities include a trip around Seal Island aboard the Romanza, zip-lining at Wilderness, canoeing on the Touws River and a game drive. Several matters of concern were dealt with at a meeting last week attended by various SA Police Service units and Hi-Tec Security, pertaining to the sharp rise in house robberies in Grahamstown over the past few weeks. Captain Milanda Coetzer of the crime intelligence division gave details of some of the latest incidents. All the victims of house robberies in recent weeks, except two, were women under the age of 30 years, and in most of the robberies the intruders took cellphones and laptops. In two incidents in Sunnyside a fortnight ago, a 73-year-old man was stabbed several times, and a 66-year-old woman had her hands tied before various items were stolen from her home. Most of the robberies occurred in the mornings between 5am and 7am. The areas where recent house robberies have occurred are Market Street, Donkin Street, upper Hill Street, Parry Street, C Street, D Street, Beaufort Street, Cawood Street and Vukani Township. A normally reliable source tells me there was an attempted break-in of a vehicle in Bathurst Street mid-afternoon on Tuesday last week. A car guard was ‘on duty’ at the time, but when onlookers asked her whether she had noticed anything untoward happening, she simply sauntered off, seemingly unperturbed. Staffordshire terriers, poodles, boxers, border collies, great danes, labradors, spaniels and others will be at the Grahamstown and Queenstown championship dog shows at PJ Olivier this weekend. They’ll be competing in various classes, including showing, working, jumping, carting and agility. Dogs and their owners are coming from all over the country – Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town included. The action begins at 9am on Saturday and 8am on Sunday. Entrance is free for spectators, and refreshments will be on sale. There was a buzz of activity in the PJ Olivier school hall last Friday as the cakes and koeksusters flew off the tables, as did the pies and puddings. With cash flying out of purses and wallets, the school’s coffers benefited to the tune of R32 300. Convenor Manie Cronje was elated, saying this beat last year’s figure by R5 000. Locals are no doubt deliriously happy that Fusion Speciality Food Shop is once again open for business after a few weeks of extensive alterations and additions to their premises in Pepper Grove Mall. The latest addition to the Pepper Grove Mall ‘family’ is Tekkie Town shoe store, due to open at the beginning of October. About 10km from Grahamstown on the N2 to Port Elizabeth is the Salem and Kenton-on-Sea turnoff. Across the road is a familiar landmark, the Salem Crossroads farm stall selling, among other wares, fresh produce grown on the adjacent farm. The farm stall is one of the projects run under the auspices of the Salem Crossroads Christian Care Centre where men of all races, some suffering from substance abuse, are cared for. Selwyn van der Merwe, CEO of the centre, explained that the centre was the vision of the late Noel Banfield who founded the non-profit organisation in 1982. He bought the farm Palmiet, and in 2010 purchased a house in York Street where state pensioners and grant recipients are housed. “In total, thirty men can be housed on the farm and nine at the house,” Van der Merwe said. On behalf of the centre, van der Merwe extended his sincere gratitude to local businesses and individuals who have contributed to the centre’s needs of the centre over the years. These include: Rotary and Rotary Annes; Round Table; PG Glass; R & S Plumbing; Grahamstown Electrical Distributors; Dennis Hartley Contractors; PennyPinchers; Grahamstown Christian Centre; Brandt, Stolz & Co; Checkers; Pick n Pay; Siyakubonga Funeral Services; Grahamstown Funeral Services; Fort England Hospital; Goodhope Cycles; AquaFlow (Jon Lisher); Hi-Q; Sasko Sam; BUCO; and numerous individuals. Van der Merwe can be contacted on 076-552-2790, and farm manager Shane Viljoen on 072-990-2345. Congratulations to the age-group winners of Graeme College’s senior cross-country championships last week – Mita Sixaba (open), Jeremy Beyleveld (under-16) and Seth Faltein (under-14). September is national Hill’s pet dental month, and to this end Frontier Veterinary Clinic will be offering free dental check-ups for cats and dogs to all its clients during September. Should pets require a dental procedure, clients will receive a further discount, and to top all that off they will go home with goodie bags containing dental care items. Frontier Veterinary Clinic’s Becky Wood said pet dental care is far more serious than many people realise. As well as causing bad breath, bleeding gums, tooth loss and pain, dental disease can be potentially life-threatening. Problems usually start with a build-up of sticky plaque that hardens to form tartar. This can lead to gingivitis, swelling, redness and inflammation of the gums. If not treated, periodontal disease can develop, destroying gums and tissue that support the teeth. “Mind your pet’s mouth for total health” is the message for national Hill’s pet dental month. Contact Frontier Veterinary Clinic on (046) 622-3261 or via e-mail on There may have been fears early Sunday morning that the annual Whiteside men’s bowls tournament hosted by the Grahamstown Bowling Club would become another ‘Wetside’ tournament. Bowlers awoke to a light drizzle, and it continued on-and-off all day, but play continued. Such were the weather conditions in past years over Whiteside weekends that the competition gained the nickname ‘The Wetsides’. Who remembers the father-and-son team of Philip and Mike Kahn who owned and managed Oxford Furnishing at the corner of High and Anglo-African Streets back in the ’60s and ’70s? The store had two floors crammed with furniture, carpeting and appliances. Some weeks ago a reader enquired about Fitchat’s Departmental Store in Grahamstown a few decades ago. Well, Ernest Rothman who, incidentally, is on the road to recovery after recent neck ops in Durban, has filled me in about Fitchat’s. He says the store traded in the ’30s and early ’40s in the vicinity of the present-day Master’s Offices in Bathurst Street. The business stocked a wide range of goods including drapery, ladies’ clothing, furniture, groceries and hardware. Back in the ’80s the Goodwood Hotel’s restaurant was The Cranberry Room, Sir George’s Restaurant was at the Cathcart Arms Hotel, the Graham Hotel had La Fontana Restaurant, and the Bull’s Inn Restaurant was at the Stone Crescent Hotel. Though I cannot remember the name of the restaurant at Settlers Inn Motel, I do remember the name of its bar – the Flare Path Pub. Anyone remember the restaurant’s name? It is possible there will be a delay of a few weeks – possibly even months – before the name of PJ Olivier High School’s new headmaster is announced by Bhisho. In the meantime, Joubert Retief is acting headmaster. Thirty years ago Mr WM van Zyl was appointed headmaster, and he served from 1985 to 1990. Thereafter the headmasters were Piet Nell (1991 to 1997), Fanie Venter (1997 to 2000) and Piet Snyders (2000 to 2015). Back in the ’60s and ’70s some motor car advertisements were on the quirky side. Check these out. There was this ad for the Mini GTS, proclaiming: “For little old ladies it ain’t. The Mini GTS 1275 – designed like a Cooper, built by Leyland.” Then there was its brother – or sister – the Mini 1000 Mark 2. Its ad read: “You can do more with a Mini – mighty in spirit, mini in cost. Mini is the fun-size car. Find one and the action’s not far away.” Then there’s the early-’70s ad for the Fiat 2300 De Luxe going for R2 495. The ad read: “With the 117 horses of the Fiat 2300 at full gallop you get 100 miles per hour and more. And there are disc brakes on all wheels for prompt stopping power”.