Next ‘Voices of Cathcart’ at printers
“There was an immensely favourable and enthusiastic response to the stories, memoirs and recollections recounted in the first volume of Voices from Cathcart, and yet, at the same time, a disappointment that not more people had been included,” read the foreword of the second volume of Voices from Cathcart, which is now being printed.
Editor Liz Botha said: “Anne Nash and I have worked very hard this time to include families and old-timers who did not feature in the last volume, and also to reflect the racial and linguistic diversity of the town, not to mention the contrasts between rich and poor.”
So, it has been with great energy and excitement that Botha and Nash, together with others, have come to the fore to help put pen to paper and share their amazingly different life experiences. Some well-known ‘old-timers’ whose stories appear in this book are Trevor Collett, the Eglin Family and Don McEwan.
The first volume came out of a writing course that was held, called Writing your Memoirs, and the second volume was preceded by a Write your Story workshop.
Unemployed youth and some older people attended the workshop.
After writing their own stories, they were encouraged to interview someone in the community.
Botha visited Mockey Mahlathi, who works as a social worker and organises various projects like beading, and running a soup kitchen.
Mockey, as she is widely known, is an amazing woman, and Botha asked her to write a story of her experiences of living in Cathcart, as well to get others from her various projects to add their stories. Gifted local artist, Sandy Sali, also helped the editors to meet key people for the second volume, adding more storeis.
Jenny Wild has run a soup kitchen for children which has received wonderful support from the Schoenstatt mission in Germany.
During the lockdown, Wild and Mockey got together and started making food parcels for needy families.
They are hoping to keep this going, and the sale of volume two of Voices from Cathcart will help towards their costs.
The book will be launched on December 5, at 10am at the Cathcart Community Church, with a chance to meet some of the authors and listen to a few stories.
People who have ordered books should pick them up there. The proceeds will go to the Cathcart Soup Kitchen and Callie Evans Old Age Home.