Rear Admiral Lukas Bakkes, the Rotary Oscars and the Business Meeting

Rear Admiral Lukas Bakkes is our speaker this week and his topic is:

The New SA National Defence Force & the Ethos of Volunteerism

He is an Advocate as well..see his CV below.



Rear Admiral (JG) Lukas Marthinus Bakkes(ret) SD, SM, MMM, JCD, BComLLB

Rear Admiral Lukas Bakkes, born 29 July 1938, married to Elizabeth (nee Wille), three daughters, obtained his BCom LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand whilst employed by the City Council of Johannesburg from 1957 to 1969, becoming a Legal Advisor. He joined the Rand Water Board in 1969 as Law Adviser and was called to the Bar as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in that year. In 1988 he attended the Advanced Management Programme at the University of Cape Town. He served Rand Water for twenty-five years and was the General Manager Human Resources when he retired in 1995.

He attended the SA Naval Gymnasium at Saldanha in 1956 and joined SAS RAND, the Naval Reserve Base at Wemmerpan, Johannesburg as a Reservist. He commanded the unit from 1979 to1987 and from 1987 to 1990 he served as Director Naval Reserves on the SA Naval Board with the rank of Commodore.

In 1996 the Minister of Defence appointed him to the Reserve Force Council and as the Reserve Force representative on the Defence Review Work Group. He represented the Reserve Force on the Transformation Work Group of the SA National Defence Force in 1997.

He was the Director Reserves and Veterans Policy and the Director Integration at Defence Headquarters tasked with managing down the entire integration process in the SA National Defence Force. In 2000 he was also appointed by the Minister of Defence as the first Director and Member of the Advisory Board on Military Veterans Affairs. He retired from his full time posts on 31 July 2005 after ten years service in the Department of Defence.

He continues his activities in the interests of Reserves and Military Veterans as Director and Legal Advisor of the Reserve Force Council. He serves as Chairman of the Rand Regiments Memorial Trust and of the Naval Officers Association of SA in Johannesburg. He is the Secretary General of the Council of Military Veterans’ Organisations of the RSA, a member of the Advisory Committee of the SA National of Military History, the SA Legion of Military Veterans and an honorary member of the SA Irish Regimental Association.

He is a Trustee of the SA National Defence Force Fund, the National Secretary of the National War Fund and the former Convenor of the National Annual November Remembrance Day Service and Parade at the Cenotaph in Johannesburg. He is a member of the Standing Legal Committee of the Confederation Interalliee des Officers de Reserve (CIOR), the Inter –Allied Confederation of Reserve Officers, which has a direct link with Reserve Forces of NATO countries.

He is a Founder Trustee and the Chairman of the St Paul’s Lutheran Charitable Foundation, which owns and manages the Fairland Retirement Village in Johannesburg and is the Chairman of the Cecily Bagley Residents Association of the suburb where he resides.

He is the full time Office Manager of the legal firm, Elizabeth Bakkes Attorney.

He has been awarded the Southern Cross Decoration, Southern Cross Medal, Military Merit Medal, General Service Medal, Unitas Medal, 40 Years Long & Distinguished Service Medal, 30 Years Good Service Medal Gold, John Chard Decoration and John Chard Medal.

You will all have received invitations for the Rotary Oscars on the 30th June. Last year we were not eligible to win anything as we hadn't been in existence for 6 months. We booked a bit late so we ended up being split up a bit. Let's try and book a whole table this time. Bookings and money to Graham Donet so that we can take advantage of the early booking that expires on the 7th May.

Oscars Award Ceremony - Turffontein Race Course

on 30 June 2010 at 18:00 for 18:30

A very special Early Bird cost per person – R 185 (Early bird bookings before 7 May 2010 please)

Dress code: Black tie/Traditional – dress up for the OSCARS! : Cash bar

ALL BOOKINGS TO BEV FRIESLICH @ bevfrieslich@telkomsa.net : payments to Rotary Club of Three Rivers DG Events account;
Standard Bank, Code 014 637 : account number 24 012 810 9

Beth and Sylvia – DG & DGA 2009-2010

It was a very successful Business Meeting last week. I'm looking forward to the chartering of our new Interact Club. Well done Joan Donet and Ian Widdop!