A Man of Many, Many Words

Looking back on my year as president thus far, the meeting last week with John Berks must count as one of the very best.
     When I told Berks before the meeting that he had 20 minutes to half an hour (including question time) to speak, he said he didn't think he'd be able to carry on that long.

John Berks and a lifelong fan

     He was still sailing on regardless at 8am and we had to stop the meeting for a while so that those who had to, could leave. He would probably have carried on until lunch time if we hadn't quite literally pulled the plug on him!
     Berks and Robin Binckes are doing the rounds gaining publicity for his biography, written by Binckes, which is now available in paperback.

Club members bought out a whole box full of the Berks biography

     Berks spoke about his career in radio, peppered with anecdotes about the people with whom he shared many microphones. He had still wanted to play a few recordings of times when he phoned people up on air pretending to be somebody else, but alas, time ran out. In his book Binckes chronicles the time Berks phoned the hotel magnate Sol Kerzner, pretending to be the then ex-president Ronald Reagan, fishing for an invitation for himself and Nancy to the opening of the Lost City at Sun City. It's hilarious!

Lucille Blumberg shares a joke with John Berks

     When I had the opportunity to thank him, I reminded him that he and I had been part of a group of journalists who had been taken on a ground breaking visit to Israel and Egypt in the early Nineties, an attempt in those days to promote the two countries as a joint holiday destination.
     I remember the trip as ten days of non-stop laughter. Berks reminded me of how we had taken a camel ride from the Great Pyramid of Gaza down to the noseless Sphinx of Gaza, something I have always tried to blot from my memory because of the smelly camels! I doubt if either of us would last long on a camel these days.

Debbie de Vries with Berksie

Mike MacDonald and John Berks

Linda's sister Tina Stucke was one of the guests

     I also remember the trip for the profoundly moving effect the visit to Israel, and especially Jerusalem, had on Berksie, a Jew.
     We had a good turnout for the meeting and quite a few visitors, amongst them our present AG, Lyn Collocott, incoming president of the Rosebank Club; Carin Vosloo, who has been to meetings with Debbie de Vries before and Debbie Nagy.

The old main entrance to the Johannesburg Art Gallery,
 an Edward Lutyens building 

Speaker
     The speaker tomorrow is Tara Weber from the Johannesburg Art Gallery. She'll be telling us a bit more about the gallery, its history and the recent temporary closure, as well as about a new exhibition starting next Sunday. That could be a good opportunity for a fellowship event.

A proud father walks his gorgeous daughter down the aisle ... Graham and Sam

The proud parents Joan and Graham on Saturday night

Celebrations
     Saturday night saw the wedding of Samantha Donet to Rob Verneuil, a familiar face at New Dawn events over the past few years. Sam and her parents, Graham and Joan, are of course all New Dawn Rotarians of long standing.
     It was a wonderfully celebratory event at the Tres Jolie wedding venue in Roodepoort, which also has a chapel for the wedding ceremony itself.
     In his speech Graham mentioned that Winnie-the-Pooh has always been one of Sam's favorite characters, so we'll take the quote our from AA Milne this week:
     A Thought for the Week: Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them. - AA Milne (1882-1956)