Myburgh Back To Speak About Sailor Malan

The meeting this week is going to be a bit unusual, as it is the first part of a two-part meeting to accommodate our speaker, John Myburgh, SC.
     Apart from being a leading light in the legal world (he is also an ex-judge), Myburgh is also an amateur historian and it is in this capacity that he'll be talking.
     Many of you will remember that he spoke to New Dawn in October last year on the American election process, where he (and half the world!) confidently predicted that there was not a snowballs' chance in hell of a Donald Trump victory.
     Well, we all know how that went!
     This time Myburgh will be talking on a subject much closer to home; the Second World War South African fighter pilot and Spitfire ace Sailor Malan, who became a leading light in the anti-apartheid movement after the war.

Group Captain Adolph Gysbert (Sailor) Malan

     Malan was one of the heroes of the Battle for Britain, and led No. 74 Squadron RAF during this crucial battle for aerial supremacy.
     He died at a relatively young age of Parkinson's Disease, a disease of which little was known at the time.
     Myburgh gave this talk earlier this year at the Military History Museum in Saxonwold where it was extremely well received and he expressed interest in repeating it to our Rotary club.
     Because he prefers talking to an attentive audience we decided to have the meeting over two weeks. On Wednesday morning a breakfast buffet and coffee will be served from 7-7.30 am. Any club business will be conducted in that time.

John Myburgh with Rudi Vink when he
spoke to the club in October

     Myburgh will speak from 7.30-8am and give the second half of his talk the following week on Wednesday 24th May, where there will also be a buffet breakfast.
     You'll not want to miss either talk!
     The week after that is a fifth Wednesday and we'll be "meeting" at the Nagy home in Craighall Park for a curry evening. Don't forget that either!

Blanket drive
     Congratulations to the team collecting money for blankets in Parkview last Saturday morning, the first really cold day of the year.
     They collected nearly R4000, which represents about 55 blankets. The blankets will again be divided between Woodside Sanctuary and the Christ Church Christian Care Centre.

Carin Holmes, Linda Vink and Jenine Coetzer made up the New Dawn team braving the cold

Ian and Robyn Widdop came to lend moral support. Here Ian tries to
 warm Jenine up a bit!

     There will be another attempt at getting money in from the unsuspecting shoppers at the Parkview Spar this coming Saturday so if you're free to help, please speak to Linda.
     A Thought for the Week: Go in quickly - Punch hard - Get out! - Sailor Malan - (1910 - 1963)