Getting Into the Swing of Things

A surprise visit to the Parkview Golf Club last Wednesday evening turned out to be very lucrative in the great sales push to sell raffle tickets ahead of the Golf Day on Friday.
     Linda sold R3000 worth of tickets, and one golfer even contributed R1000 for 30 tickets as his contribution to charity, for a total of R4000!
     Because so many raffle tickets were sold on the Golf Day itself last year, we're thinking of adding a second wheelbarrow as a prize this year, with the first one open to everybody to win, and the second Barrow of Booze for tickets sold on the day.
     Watch this space!

The raffle sales team on Saturday consisted of Frayne, Sam, Linda, Joan and Judy Symons, posing here with the wheelbarrow full of booze. On Sunday Linda, Sam and Frayne sold some more tickets

     The good news is that we already have almost as much money from the raffle tickets as we did last year, with a few more selling opportunities to come.
     Of course any and all help in selling the tickets will be greatly appreciated!
     It also looks as if the new format for the players, with the emphasis on fun, is working better, as a few more golfers have agreed to play this year, although it is sometimes difficult to know exactly how many until the money is in the bank!

Speakers
     Please remember that adv. John Myburgh, SC will be the speaker at the meeting on Wednesday. He is a well known amateur historian and will be speaking on the American election, which is just a few short weeks away.
     John hails from Petersburg (these days Polokwane) where he attended Capricorn High. He graduated from Wits and was admitted to the Bar in 1970.

John Myburgh, SC

     He started practicing in Pietermaritzburg and moved to the Johannesburg Bar in 1972, becoming a senior counsel in 1986.
     He was appointed as a High Court Judge in 1991 and was Judge President of the Labour Appeal Court and Judge President of the Labour Court from 1996 to 1999.
     He returned to the Bar in 2001, specializing in commercial arbitration and mediations.
     The election to find a successor to Barack Obama has turned out to be a critical one in terms of the USA's place in the world and we can expect some insights into how two candidates who are disliked and distrusted by so many people on opposite sides of the political divide, could end up as the last two standing.

Like father, like daughter. Greg and Kathryn Smith after Kathryn addressed the club in what turned out to be one of the most interesting speakers we've had.

     John follows on from Kathryn Smith, who spoke to the club last week.
     Kathryn, as we know, is a forensic artist and as much a scientist as an artist, with Masters degrees in both directions.
     She gave a fascinating talk on how faces are reconstructed using computer models (no more Neanderthal like clay models) sometimes just from DNA.
    Some 10% of the more than 250 000 victims of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand were never correctly identified she said, an indication of the potential importance of the work being done in this field.

Faces are taped in the process of reconstruction

     She showed slides of attempts to reconstruct the composer Bach's face, as well as attempts to "age" suspected British kidnapping victim Madeleine McCann so that, if she is still alive, people would be able to recognize her even though she went missing nine years ago at age three.
     She also spoke of a Scandinavian project undertaken by the University of Bergen to map human migration into Scandinavia.

Greg said you could always pick Kathryn out in a crowd because
 she has from a very young age only ever worn black!

     Cranio-Facial analysis and mapping is clearly a discipline of the future and even if bringing the artists' eye into it may not appeal to all scientists, it remains a fascinating and vital tool.
     Kathryn was on her way to the Nelson Mandela Foundation's Centre of Memory after her talk, where the various assassination attempts on prominent struggle leaders are still being unravelled.

Anke MacSweeney, an old friend who has moved to Kommetjie, was a very appreciative visitor to our breakfast last week and took the opportunity to chat to Kathryn, Greg and Paul Kasango

     There can be little doubt that she'll be able to contribute fully to the search for the truth behind so many mysteries of the past.

Hanli Coetzer was another visitor last week, having traveled from
 Bloemfontein to visit Jenine, her sister-in-law

Socialising
     This past Sunday was a bit of an ad hoc club social, as the Sligchers, Vinks, Donets and Nagys all went to Giles in Craighall Park for a wine tasting of Welgemeend wines.
     In typical Jankees style our most prominent member has already engaged in discussions with the restaurant to see if we can find ways of teaming up with Giles for fundraising opportunities.

The New Dawn wine tasters (with Rudi and Peet) at Giles on Sunday night. From Left it's Debbie, Rudi, Peet, Linda, Mike, Jankees, Judy, Graham and Julian.

     Welgemeend is a small estate on the Stellenbosch side of the N1, but in the Paarl wine region, that Graham and I have been visiting since it released its first wine in 1974. The then owner, Billy Hofmeyr, made the first South African Bordeaux-stye blend, beating illustrious followers like Meerlust (Rubicon) and Kanonkop (Paul Sauer)  by a year. Imagine the new owner, Thys Lourens' surprise when Julian pitched up with a 1983 version of the wine, which he had never tasted before, despite having bought the farm a while ago. Although showing its age, the wine was till drinking perfectly!
     Giles is a popular and accessible restaurant and if members are interested, would make a perfect venue for functions.
     Date to Remember: Friday is GOLF DAY! Those involved, please lets try to make a bit of time on Wednesday morning to finalize arrangements.
     Some Thoughts for the Week: Golf is a good walk spoiled. - Mark Twain (1835-1910) who also said: It's good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they're still rolling. The American baseball hero Hank Aaron (1934- ) said: It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course, while Bob Hope (1903-2003) said: If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf! Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) said: If you think it's hard meeting new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball!