Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

MAKANA COMMUNICATIONS Our Executive Mayor Cllr Nomhle Gaga is working on a number of initiatives to clean up Grahamstown. One of them is a clean-up campaign across the town targeting mostly illegal dumping sites. Another initiative is the Biomass project which is carbon neutral electricity generated from renewable organic waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills or openly burned, etc. This project, once in full swing, will not only curb illegal dumping, it will also generate much needed revenue for the municipality. The Executive Mayor is actively taking part in the clean-up campaigns as well. The Executive Mayor has urged…

By Jon Trafford In life, there are too many occasions where the opinions, actions and behaviour of others will irritate, frustrate and anger you. All too often, these become the distractors and disruptors in building relationships which underpin future happiness and success. For young South Africans faced with a world that is both more global yet also more polarised, there can be no doubt that the role models of life should be built around those who have capacity to listen, reflect, show empathy, be less judgemental and more tolerant of those with whom they come into contact. It is a…

By Linda Dyani On Friday, 8 June the Albany Museum manager and I travelled to Johannesburg as special guests. The DSTF-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences at Wits University had organised a media conference featuring the groundbreaking new fossil discoveries. This was about tetrapods, the four-legged creatures that lived on earth 360 million years ago. The scientist of the moment was one of our own, Dr Robert Gess who seemed thrilled to go through the experience of this amazing discovery. He spoke and everyone caught the fossil fever as he went over his amazing find in detail.  Among the various dignitaries…

A five member karate team from the Eastern Cape recently concluded their campaign at the 7th WUKF World Karate Championships held in Dundee, Scotland. The United Shotokan-Ryu (USR) team members competed under the banner of the South African National Shotokan Association (SANSA) at the prestigious Championship. This was the first time that any of the team members had competed in an international event. More than 2200 karateka representing 40 countries contested this year’s event which was held over four days. The categories were extremely competitive with the Championship largely dominated by the European nations. The only exception to this was…

With nine weeks to go before the GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive Half Marathon, here is the fourth week of Grocott’s Mail’s twelve week training programme, created by Terri-Lynn Penney: Monday 6km Tuesday 15min warm up 4km Time Trial 10min cool down Wednesday easy 7km Thursday easy 6km over hilly course Friday rest Saturday 9km Saturday rest Terri-Lynn Penney is a local triathlete, having great success around the province, nationally and internationally. Having recently completed her 14th Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, Grocott’s Mail asked Penney for her go-to training programme for a 21km. With the GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive Half…

Tristyn Burger is an exceptional athlete and leader at Victoria Primary School. A consistent performer on the tennis court, hockey field and in the Karate dojo, Burger is an inspiration to her fellow pupils at Victoria Primary. The Grade 7 learner is not only the captain of Victoria Primary’s U13 Tennis and Hockey teams; Burger is also deputy Head Girl at Victoria, and is a House Captain. Burger was recently awarded her full colours for her selection to represent the Eastern Province under 13 B Team. As well as being ranked second in first team tennis, Burger also holds a red…

In the recent Diocesan School for Girls Summer Sports Awards Assembly, Toni Rafferty was re-awarded her Honours colours for swimming. An aspect of DSG’s Sports Policy is to develop girls’ resilience, determination and the ability to deal with disappointment. The school also encourages diligence and perseverance, both values being deemed to be  important to their overall development. Toni Rafferty has not only manifested all these attributes, but has set an example of true sportsmanship to the rest of the school. Last year, Rafferty was awarded swimming honours for her incredible achievements by qualifying to swim at SA national level.  When…

Graeme College took part in a number of fixtures over the past weekend. Graeme’s junior teams faced off in a full set of rugby fixtures against Westering, while the Senior teams faced Queens in a full set of rugby and hockey fixtures as part of their annual derby day. The Graeme junior school headed off to Westering Primary for their annual fixture and started the day perfectly. Graeme won five of the seven matches before Westering struck back winning the u11 A and u13 A matches. The u13 A game was a tight battle with Westering sneaking home with a…

Kingswood College First Team Rugby hosted Höerskool Grens from East London on Saturday. The two schools have had mixed results this season, however, the scene was set on City Lords for an exciting encounter. Grens started very well and dominated the opening phases and found themselves deep in the Kingswood half. A strong set piece and solid running by the Grens backline allowed them to get over for the first try, which went unconverted. The early points by Grens woke the Kingswood boys up and they started to get a bit more ball and managed to play some rugby in the…

Boys Hockey: The Kingswood boy’s hockey club enjoyed a successful day hosting Queens College. The boys played 4 matches, winning 3 and losing 1. The First team game started well with Kingswood scoring the opening goal of the match. Queens retaliated, as they quickly got their focus back and grew from strength to strength throughout the game being rewarded 4 goals for their efforts. Unfortunately for the hosts, Kingswood had the opposite experience. The boys struggled to connect with each other and displayed soft defensive moments. Kingswood’s boys tried to fight back late into the game, but could not stop Queens from scoring. The game ended 2-4…