A busy and emotional couple of weeks in Grahamstown, the cultural heartland of South Africa. More about the Remembrance Day Parade (100 years) and plans for the 200-year anniversary of the Battle of Egazini (Grahamstown 1819) to follow.
The Oatlands Park cleanup continues and progress being made to commence with a sustainable initiative at St Philips Anglican Church in Fingo Village. My word that’s going to be a job but I’m confident we’ll have many helping hands.
In addition to the ongoing litter parade at Oatlands Park and surrounds, we spent a morning cleaning up at the Rotary Peace Pool in the Botanical Gardens. “Bots” was established in 1853 (second oldest botanical gardens in SA) and remains (largely) a place of beauty and tranquility. A pity some Bots visitors find it necessary to use the Rotary Peace Pool as a depository for the by-products of their feasting and revelry. Befuddles and boggles the mind. Who are these clowns?
I have journeyed away for the weekend with my eldest children, James and Alex. Visiting Blanco Holiday Farm and Guest Resort near Tarkastad. A place of complete beauty, tranquility and peace. And excellent food. On our way out of GVegas we did a quick litter-parade at the Oatlands Park. Marvelously therapeutic. If others would like to indulge in these pleasures please feel free to do so. And send pics. Many hands make light work.
A kind offer to donate two 44-gallon drums to replace the existing rusted-through bin has been made. We look forward to the installation of said bins. For the moment, there’s a Makana Revive bin on the corner of Oatlands and African that is regularly cleaned so please use that for all litter collected.
Have a fabulous Saturday, wherever you may be. We going fishing in the Winterberg mountains.
PS – see photograph of St Aidan’s Chapel. Part of our walking-tour, litter-collecting route.
GRAEME HOLMES
Before moving back to Grahamstown in Oct 2017, Graeme was a bank executive based in the big smoke and craziness of Joburg. He has 20 years’ experience in the Payments Industry. He is a Chartered Accountant, has a Masters in Management by Research (MMR) from Wits Business School, and attended an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered by INSEAD (The Business School for the World!) in France.
Graeme is the founder of The Grahamstown Project. It’s simple. He says, “Grahamstown is a microcosm of South Africa. If we can’t get this place to function properly then the whole country is stuffed. Many of the troubles we experience as a country today have their roots here in Grahamstown. it is here where black and white people first engaged in conflict on the African continent. It is here where 9 wars of dispossession over 100 years took place and virtually destroyed the amaXhosa nation. But we are where we are. I don’t have a British passport and the boat-trip back to where my ancestors came from is exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, this is my home. I am a son of Africa. We must work together to redress the injustices of the past and move as one into a brighter future.”
Graeme is an avid historian, writer, vlogger and public speaker. Like and follow the Facebook page. Join him on a tour. Contact him. He would love that.