Author: Sue Maclennan

Around 20 brave souls brought their bodies to Grey Dam on Saturday 22 June for the  16th annual Polar Plunge – Makhanda’s (Grahamstown’s) traditional midwinter swim. The words, “into the light” coming at the end of some words of inspiration from George Euvrard set the swimmers off. With Eastcape Pools owner Emile Fox on Thursday measuring temperatures of 8.4C near the edge and 6.9C three metres in, most swam the distance of around 30 metres as quickly as they could. Except for Hobbiton’s Josh Paton who, as has become a Polar Plunge tradition, made a detour at the weir to perform…

With programmes spanning a wide range of genres, languages and decades, no fewer than three local choirs are presenting shows on the Fringe this year – the biggest ever local choral showing at the National Arts Festival. Byrdsongs, a 12-strong vocal group named for William Byrd whose Mass for Four Voices was their first public performance during Festival 2017, will perform Gabriel Faure’s Requiem. One of the world’s best-known choral works – especially its Pie Jesu and In Paradisum – it is usually staged with a large choir and big orchestra. This production, however, uses just 11 singers, a string…

Makhanda’s traditional mid-winter dip in the dam takes place a day after the official Winter Solstice this year. The 16th edition of the annual Polar Plunge takes place at Grey Dam on Saturday 22 June  2019 at 7.30am. Founder and event organiser George Euvrard says this is to accommodate would-be participants who find a workday start tricky. “We’re hoping that by moving the event a day later this year, to a Saturday, more people will be able to take part,” Euvrard said. As usual, the team from PG Glass will be waiting to warm up participants with a mug of…

Ten people were taken to hospital with serious to minor injuries following a collision between a taxi and a sedan vehicle in Makhanda (Grahamstown) shortly before midday on Tuesday 18 June. Earlier, three people sustained serious injuries when their vehicle crashed into an overturned truck in thick mist on the N2 outside the town. The road remained closed for three hours while emergency services cleared the scene. Provincial Transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose confirmed 10 people were injured in a collision between a minibus taxi and a sedan vehicle shortly before midday today on upper Dr Jacob Zuma Drive (Raglan Road).…

“What I want to say to the community is, please let’s try to keep this town clean. If we keep our places clean, then I don’t think crime will happen. More customers will come – you can’t expect customers to come to your business when there’s dirty things lying outside.” Wayne Plaatjies is on a mission to help make Bathurst Street a place that people want to visit – and do their shopping. Five days a week, several times a day, he’s doing clean and safe patrols along the length and breadth of one of Makhanda’s busiest streets, with the…

Makana Municipality is working with the South African Police Service to register Makhanda’s main water treatment works and largest storage reservoir as critical infrastructure. This comes as police investigate suspected sabotage at the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works and Botha’s Hill reservoir that resulted in massive water loss and prolonged outages in the city’s eastern and high-lying areas. Meanwhile water production at James Kleynhans is back to full capacity of 13 megalitres a day; however, the water supply from Waainek Water Treatment Works west of Makhanda remains critical and the end of that limited supply may be as little as…

On Friday 31 May evening, EP Schools Squash held its annual prize-giving, with the announcement of the EP Squash Teams for the various age-group interprovincial tournaments to be held from 15-19 June 2019. Guest speaker at the prize giving was Old Kingswoodian Alan Glover. Makhanda schools players in EP Squash U19 Boys A Team Garwin Dampies (Graeme College) U19 Boys B Team Dale Pote (Graeme College) Keegan Botha (Port Alfred High) U19 Girls A Team Caitlin Bell (Kingswood) Age Group Champion Kuhle Gontshi (Kingswood) Carolina da Costa (Kingswood) U16 Boys A Team Ethan Richardson (Grey) U16 Girls A…

By SAMANTHA CAROLUS This year coming to Spiritfest will be Makhanda’s very own Reverend Dr Dean Andrew Hunter, who will lecture under Spiritfest’s Winter school section. The lecture will follow the format of a talk and Powerpoint presentation. Discussion in a question and answer session will be welcomed. The presentation focuses on the topic of student protests at Rhodes University from 2015-2016. Born in 1957, in KwaZulu-Natal, Andrew grew up in both Pietermaritzburg and Stellenbosch and Cape Town. After matriculating in 1974, he continued his studies at UCT, UWC, Cardiff University, NMU and St Paul’s College (Grahamstown). Reverend Dean Andrews…

Old Collegians continued their unbeaten run in the Sedru Regional League, while Rhodes, Kowie, Lily White and Klipfontein all recorded victories. The eights round of matches of the Sedru Regional League took place last weekend. Matches were moved from the Mickey Yili Grounds to Rhodes and Oval due to fields in Joza being unplayable. Rhodes vs Wanderers Friday evening at Rhodes Great Field saw the students continued their winning form with a bonus point 42-5 win over bottom of the log Wanderers, who are also struggling with their form this season. Due to the exams, this is normally a difficult…

Here are two ways you can contribute to keeping someone warm and comfortable this winter. If you know of other local initiatives, please let us know and we’ll share the info! PG CARES PG Glass Grahamstown’s PG CARES is the company’s longest-running programme and 2019 marks their 16th year. You can drop off blankets at their Bathurst Street shop. If you’re feeling brave, you can do the Polar Plunge at Grey Dam. This year’s event at Grey Dam is on Saturday 22 June at 7.30am. PG Glass will as usual provide hot chocolate afterwards to all participants, and in exchange…