Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

No matter how close or how far you are from retirement, there are a number of factors you need to consider and mistakes you should avoid making in order to enjoy a successful and stress-free retirement. The world has changed dramatically from days gone by. In the past, employers used to set aside money to cover the pension needs of their employees and bore the risk of paying pensions to their employees when they retired.  Today, the proceeds from pension funds are often insufficient to meet a retiree’s income needs and annual pension increases seldom keep pace with inflation. Job…

Say no to Illegal puppy sellers at the side of the street. Puppy Hawkers (puppy sellers on the street) have little or no regard for the welfare of animals, which  are in most cases simply commodities of trade to them. There is no doubt that puppy hawkers rely heavily on the animal loving communities who will do anything to rescue a puppy in this condition regardless of the cost. Do not be emotionally blackmailed! In spite of your best intentions, buying a puppy from a hawker has been proven to perpetuate a cycle of abuse and cruelty. These individuals are likely to…

I wish to speak to the fact that policemen and women do face some difficulty in their duty especially during the festive season. I wish to reflect on the fact that these officers had to be involved in picking people up from the streets at night who had a day of entertainment and had too many drinks so that they are not able to walk. One night last year I had to pick someone up from the street who had too many drinks over the limit. But, she was so heavy I could no pick her up especially because it…

Dear Mayor Gaga, We have alerted municipal officials on several occasions overt the past few weeks about raw sewage spilling out into our yards on Woods Street (eMazizini). As we speak, at No 5 Wood Street we have open raw sewage guzzling out of the ground right outside of the kitchen. You can imagine what kind of horrendous conditions this has created right in our home. Several homes on that street are literally flooded with faeces, pads, toilet paper, and all this is apparently because of the current project down on Jacob Zuma Drive. How long are we expected to…

St Andrew’s College hosted a number of friendly soccer matches on Saturday 22 September, as part of their Heritage Day weekend celebrations. These matches took place between St Andrew’s College and St Matthew’s, with both sets of teams displaying some great skills on the ball.

MONUMENT MOVIE CLUB – www.monumentmovies.co.za  Saturday 22 September 5pm: A WRINKLE IN TIME Meg Murry and her little brother, Charles Wallace, have been without their scientist father, Mr Murry, for five years, ever since he discovered a new planet and used the concept known as a tesseract to travel there. Joined by Meg’s classmate Calvin O’Keefe and guided by the three mysterious astral travelers known as Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which, the children brave a dangerous journey to a planet that possesses all of the evil in the universe. This Disney film, based on Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel of the same name,…

By ZAMA KHWELA In 1947, Bill Mills travelled from a town called Umtali in the Southern Rhodesian highlands, to South Africa to study for a B.Com degree at Rhodes University. Unbeknown to him, in his third year he would lose a partner and gain the love of his life – all in a single moment. Old Rhodians Kit and Bill Mills celebrated 66 years of marriage on 20 September 2018 and theirs is a story of enduring love. Before Bill went to Rhodes University, he planned to get a B.Com degree, travel back home to do his articles, and then…

In response to one of the recommendations made by the Sexual Violence Task Team (SVTT) at Rhodes University, Dr Zethu Mkhize has been appointed as a Harassment and Discrimination Manager in the Directorate for Equity and Institutional Transformation. Dr Mkhize started in her new role at the University on 10 September. Her responsibilities include transformation, advocacy and awareness-raising in respect of harassment, discrimination, sexual assault and violence. She is in charge of the coordination of all complaints and the development and monitoring of related policies, programmes and training. “My role is to provide a safe haven to those who have…

Graphic-artist Julia Skeen-Mann and husband poet and singer song-writer Chris Mann recently presented their unique image, text and music performances in the UK. Drawing on experiences of ‘living in the hinterlands’, and basing their work on Epiphanies, a recent book of poems by Chris, they performed to church and university audiences in Oxford, Cambridge, Winchester and Coventry. ‘One of our themes,’ said Chris, ‘is reverse colonialism, whereby we push values and strategies learned from indigenous culture and harsh socio-political realities. We use open access forms such as the ballad and critical realism. Here’s an example.’ Small Town Spring-time Berg-wind Blues…

On Saturday 15 September, the newly formed United Shotokan-Ryu (USR) held their first brown and black belt (dan) grading in Grahamstown (Makhanda). The grading panel included Kenny Tawse (Sixth Dan), Gary Grapentin (Sixth Dan), Rockey Lamastra (Fifth Dan), Albertus Swanepoel (Fourth Dan), Mzwandile Matebese (Fourth Dan), Tommie Adlam (Fourth Dan) and Maureen De Jager (Third Dan). According to Grapentin, the candidates underwent a gruelling examination which comprised the demonstration of kihon (basic techniques), kata (forms), bunkai (application), kumite (fighting) and fitness. Unlike competition point fighting during which karateka are awarded points for delivering controlled and decisive techniques, fighting at dan gradings is continuous and permits the use…