Rotarians Support Young Cricketers

St Francis Rotarians Support Young Cricketers

When St Francis Bay Golf Club groundsman Petrus Vena approached his friend Peter Butland for advice on how to raise funds to buy much needed cricket equipment for his newly active cricket team, Peter turned to the St Francis Rotarians for assistance.

Some nineteen young men from Sea Vista and the informal settlement have started playing cricket formally this season. Whilst all are Sea Vista men and boys, they have obtained a slot in the Nelson Mandela Bay Club Cricket League under the Humansdorp C C banner as its second team (in the 6th League).

They have a fixture list of nineteen games with the season ending on 8th April 2018. They are presently using the nets on the newly opened St Francis Common as their practice venue with old borrowed equipment.
St Francis Rotarians were happy to donate R6000.00 to finance the new equipment which included bats, balls, batting pads, gloves, wicketkeeper gloves etc.

Said Peter Butland, “This is an excellent opportunity to encourage and develop healthy sporting activity in our community and to keep young men off the streets on weekends. These young men do not have the means to acquire this gear at their own expense, so the St Francis Rotarians’ kind assistance is greatly appreciated.”

Fire safety for Sea Vista

Fire Safety for Sea Vista residents

Keith Donaldson, well known in these parts for his contribution to fire and safety, now resident in Port Elizabeth where he runs Bay Fire Safety Solutions, recently facilitated a Fire Safety Awareness course to the children of Sea Vista Primary School in St Francis Bay. This included a Safety pamphlet that was handed out to over 60 school children and a slide show presentation highlighting the dangers of fire in the home as well as safety procedures on what to do in case of a fire and what to do if they or a friend were to catch on fire – a procedure known as “Stop, Drop and Roll”.

A video with a song playing “Stop, Drop and Roll” was played to the kids which was well received and the kids left the hall, singing the song to themselves, which is a good sign that they were paying attention and will hopefully remember what to do in case of future fires. The pupils and teachers were very happy with the presentation and asked if we would return in future for more safety awareness courses.

The following day, a presentation was held at the Sea Vista Community Hall where between and 60-80 residents gathered to listen to a more detailed Fire Safety Presentation and slide show and were also given a demonstration on how to extinguish a small fire using a fire blanket. They were all given a fire blanket to take home with them.

The presentation was well received with many residents asking safety related questions and with most of the attendees extinguishing a fire themselves. A demonstration using fire extinguishers was also shown as a group of residents who are part of a local safety group who patrol the streets 24/7 were present and they are currently looking for sponsors for Extinguishers.

Commenting on the initiative Donaldson. “We plan to hold one more presentation in Sea Vista mid-November with the same slide show and fire blanket demonstration where another 100 fire blankets will be handed out to local residents.

This was all possible due to a generous donation from Kouga Wind Farm through the DVG – The St Francis Disaster Volunteer group.

 

 

New municipal valuers

Public meetings to introduce Kouga’s new municipal valuers

With the compilation of Kouga’s new General Valuation Roll set to commence in July 2017, four public meetings have been arranged to explain the process to property owners.

Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen said the meetings have been set for June.

“Property owners will have the opportunity to meet the new valuers and to interact with them regarding the valuation process to be followed,” she said.

Valuators for General Valuators Roll

The two valuators will be wearing identity tags in the interest of security

“The new General Valuation Roll will determine how much property owners will be expected to pay for rates and taxes from the 2018/2019 financial year. We would, therefore, like to encourage them to attend the meetings as the outcomes of the process will affect everyone.”

Van Lingen said the new roll would be finalised and advertised for objections by 31 January 2018.

The public meetings will start at 18:30 and have been scheduled as follows:

* On Monday, 12 June, the first meeting will be held at the Newton Hall in Jeffreys Bay. The meeting will focus on the Jeffreys Bay area, including, Aston Bay, Marina Martinique, Pellsrus, Mandela Bay, Tokyo Sexwale, Ocean View and Paradise Beach.

* The second meeting will be held at the Katrien Felix Hall at Thornhill on Tuesday, 13 June. The focus will be on Thornhill, Loerie, Hankey, Patensie, Gamtoos, Crossways, farms in the Hankey and Patensie areas, as well as those Uitenhage farms that fall under Kouga’s jurisdiction.

* On Wednesday, 14 June, a meeting will be held at the Humansdorp Country Club for Humansdorp town and surrounds, including, Kruisfontein, KwaNomzamo, Vergenoeg, Vaaldam and farms in the Humansdorp area.

* The fourth and final meeting will take place on Thursday, 15 June, at the St Francis Links Clubhouse. The focus areas will be St Francis Bay, the St Francis Links, Kromme River, Sea Vista, Cape St Francis and Oyster Bay.

DDP Valuers has been contracted to conduct the valuations for the new roll. Information about them will be available on the municipal website

Further information about the valuation process is available from the municipality’s Valuations Department. Contact Marinda van der Merwe on 042 200 2157 or valuations@kouga.gov.za;  Regardt van Vuuren on 042 200 2157 or valuations2@kouga.gov.za or Wendy Jonkers on 042 200 8543 or valuations3@kouga.gov.za

This Post sponsored by

Seeff Properties - St Francis Bay

 

Peaceful Mass Gathering

A Peaceful Mass Gathering in support of the Save South Africa

A Peaceful Mass Gathering in support of the Save South Africa nationwide call to protest took place on Friday 7th April at the entrance to St Francis Bay and St Francis Links. Around 250 people gathered with placards imploring South Africans to unite against corruption and calling for President Zuma to step down. The gathering was led in a prayer for our country by local Pastor Andrew Vena of Shekinah Ministries. The highlight was the arrival of a toy-toying group of ladies from Sea vista who joined the throng with singing and chanting and led the gathering in the singing of the National Anthem.The singing ladies then led the gathering in a peaceful march through the village gathering enthusiastic support as they went.

Congratulations to all the organisers and thanks to the supporters. Special thanks to the SAPS and Municipal Law Enforcement officers, Calibre and Smhart security for their presence and assistance in ensuring that the demonstration took place without a hitch! Even the weather cooperated with much needed rain holding off the hour.

Andrew Vena addresses crowd

A peaceful gathering in St Francis Bay

Sea Vista ladies singing and marching

St Francis supporting #Zumamustgo

Article Lyn Aitken – Photos by Mike Tarr

 

Rotary donate Soccer Kit

Rotary Club of Poynton donate UK Football Kit to Local Team

Rotary Club of Poynton donate UK Football Kit to Local TeamSaturday morning football practice was a day to remember for the boys and girls of the St Francis Galaxy football club.
UK Rotarians, John and Anna Bissell representing the Rotary Club of Poynton and District near Manchester arrived with representatives of the St Francis Rotary club to hand over a full set of football attire for the team, all of which has been donated by the Richmond Rovers Junior Football Club in Manchester for underprivileged children’s clubs in our district.

The donated kit weighing a total of 80kgs was literally carried from the UK by the Bissells as they travelled by train and ship to South Africa.

Thomas Kuka, founder and volunteer coach of the St Francis Galaxy football club proudly handed out the attire to his players. “It is very important for the kids to have a team identity,” he said. “They will be so proud to be selected to play and wear this professional kit.”

St Francis Galaxy has approximately 25 members from Sea Vista ranging in age from 7 to 14. They have no sponsors or other financial assistance and play for the love of the game. Kuka’s aim in forming the club is to encourage children in his poor community to take pride in their sporting ability and to encourage a healthy active lifestyle.
“Sea Vista children need positive role models and activities that keep them off the street and away from bad influences,” says Kuka.

The club which is always open to new members, practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 5 and 6 on the sports field in Sea Vista and on Saturday mornings between 8h30 and 9h30 on the field on Assissi Drive.

Article by Lynette Aitken – Rotary Satellite Club of St Francis

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