Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

The Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) Firsts Basketball team travelled to Port Elizabeth on Saturday 26 January to attend the Comets Basketball Tournament held in Motherwell. The competition was attended by eight teams from five schools and one club. The girls’ tournament took place on Saturday while the boys tournament took place over three days (Thursday-Sunday). DSG dominated the girls division, winning all their matches and picking up the trophy for the second time in four years. Umtha Sibam won the most valuable player award, and Vile Diko and Mbesi Kukisi were named in the Comets Tournament All Stars team. Mwaka Machila…

By RYAN MCDONALD Marriage marks a significant moment in the lives of a couple that choose to enter into it. Given the deeply personal nature of getting married, it is easy to lose sight of the legal implications. Of particular importance is the consequence of getting married in relation to your estate. In other words, what will happen to all the things that you and your partner own and owe, both prior to and during the course of the marriage, when your marriage is eventually dissolved by death or divorce? This is governed by the matrimonial property regime a couple…

Chairperson of the Grahamstown Residents Association Philip Machanick explains how to be a water-responsible citizen of water-stressed Makhanda. Even if you live in an area where the water usually does not shut off, you need to save water. If you know people who do not, make sure they understand. There are three key things you need to understand about how our water system works: where water comes from, how it is cleaned and how you get the right pressure at your tap. I will explain these, then explain why we have a crisis and what we all need to do.…

The newly appointed Rhodes University Sports Administrator, Frans Mamabolo, welcomes all new prospective student athletes to Rhodes University, and lays out his goals for 2019: A very warm welcome to our first years at Rhodes University and Rhodes Sports. We hope that 2019 will be a prosperous year for you in your academics and life in general. Rhodes University (RU) is one of the traditional universities in the country and it prides itself with the quality of education it has provided since its inception. Furthermore, RU provides you with an array of extra curricula activities such as Sports and Societies. Sports…

For All your Equestrian Needs! Pony Rides, Individual and Group Lessons, Outrides, Dawn and Beach Rides, Pony Camps, Leasing of Ponies and Horses, Livery, Training Days, Fun Shows and Graded Shows – they do it all! At the GEC, they cater to all levels of riders and can offer a variety of packages to suit anyone’s needs and desires: Lesson Contracts – paid in advance, either monthly or per term (1st lesson Free!) Exclusivity Contracts – ¼ to full leases available Livery Contracts – bring your own horse or pony and we will look after it for you! Check out…

Dr Colleen Vassiliou has recently been named College Head of Kingswood College and begins her tenure at the start of the school’s 125th year. Her predecessor – Jon Trafford – has moved to head up the newly formed Kingswood Foundation which has the future sustainability of the College as its core focus. We met Dr Vassiliou and put some questions to her.  What’s your background and how did you end up in this role? I never planned on becoming a College Head, it just unfolded and to be honest, it feels so right. It aligns with my own interest of shaping…

If you were to ask me to name one poem that has profoundly changed my life, it would be one written by Mary Oliver, who died last Thursday in Florida at the age of 83. It is called ‘The Journey’, and I owe it, as I have described previously in this column, an immense debt of gratitude. Mary Oliver was born and raised in the American mid-western state of Ohio, enduring a difficult upbringing in which she suffered neglect and sexual abuse. In a 2011 magazine interview, she declared, “I had a very dysfunctional family, and a very hard childhood. So I made a…

In addition to a very successful Grey High School Water Polo Festival, various St Andrew’s College teams enjoyed a variety of sporting achievements over the weekend of 19-20 January. Tennis St Andrew’s College played in the annual Settlers Cup Quadrangular against Union High, Kingswood College and Graeme College on Sunday 20 January. The St Andrew’s side started well with a clean sweep over Kingswood (12-0), playing high percentage tennis that set up good opportunities for them. They then followed this up with a solid 8-4 win over Graeme, staying focused in a more tense atmosphere on court. That lead to…

Many people are feeling the pinch these days due to the spiralling cost of living and muted investment returns. It is essential for you to use every chance you have to save tax during these challenging times. You still have until the end of February to take advantage of some fantastic tax-saving opportunities. One option is to contribute to a retirement annuity (RA). This is an excellent tax-effective way of saving for your retirement as a stand-alone retirement investment or as a means of supplementing your existing pension or provident fund. The Government allows you to contribute up to 27.5% of the greater of your…

In September last year we had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time as visiting students in the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University, away from our home university in Erlangen, Germany. Within the first few days, our host where we stayed and the staff in the Environmental Science department alerted us to the ongoing drought and the dire predictions if water consumption was not reduced. Coming from Germany, where water supply is taken for granted, it was a new experience for us. We took it to heart and did our best to limit our water use. We also…