Smiles All Round at Record-Breaking Golf Day

The success of the Golf Day last Friday has left us all reeling a bit.
     The figures speak for themselves, but always remember it is what we can do with the money that matters most.
     As things stand, we have pledged R30000 per year for three years as a club contribution to The Link Literacy Project, of which Mike MacDonald has already contributed R10000 from an earlier golf day that he organised at The Wanderers.

Carl Bouwer with his wheelbarrow full of winnings. Linda and I met him at the
 club on Saturday morning

     The takings from Friday so far are more than R90000 with a few golfers still to pay. Realistically, we'll come in at just under R100000 and the costs should be in the region of R25000, so that we should have almost enough left to cover all three years of The Link project. Not bad going!
     Everything went better this year; there were more golfers (68 as opposed to 44 last year) more hole sponsors (R11000 vs R10000), we made more from the raffle (R2640 vs R23850) and considerably more from the auction (R14000 vs R6250).

Paul Kasango, Julian Nagy, Mike MacDonald, holding a tray of devilled eggs made by Judy Sligcher, and myself at the registration area waiting for the golfers to arrive

     The winner of the Barrow of Booze was Carl Bouwer, a member of the Parkview Golf Club. Carl bought his ticket at one of the selling days at the golf club. He has already said he'll definitely play in the golf day next year and make up a four ball.
     He seemed very happy with his winnings. He collects rare whisky as a hobby so it is a pity we didn't have a bottle or two of single malt whisky in the wheelbarrow as we have had in previous years, but that didn't seem to bother him too much.

There are those devilled eggs again! Greg Smith, chief organiser, Carol Stier and Linda Vink, chief raffle ticket sellers, Frayne Mathijs, chief administrator, Debbie de Vries, chief player and Julian Nagy, chief of registration  kept up the good work, fuelled by delicious eggs

     Quite a few club members played, including Carol Stier, Debbie de Vries, Mike MacDonald and Greg Smith. Paul Kasango says he'll play next year. (He said that last year, too!)
     The auction, under the expert guidance of Graham Donet (please everybody nag him to rejoin the club!) went extremely well. The week timeshare at Champagne Sports Resort in the Drakensberg went for R7000 and Mike MacDonald forked out R3000 for a Weber Kettel Braai.

Greg Smith once again made his
expertise count for a successful
 Golf Day

Graham Donet running the auction

     A very big thank you to everyone involved, especially those who were able to spend the day, or a part of the day, helping wherever it was needed.
     The golf day this year has shown that one can build an event with patience and doing it step by step. It was a really splendid effort by everyone in the club.

Ronnie's coming to get you! Ronnie Kasrils, Amina Frense and myself at the launch of his new book

     It was a busy week with a number of members attending the launch of the new Ronnie Kasrils book at Love Books in Melville. The launch of A Simple Man; Kasrils and the Zuma Enigma was attended by about 100 people.
     At the launch Ronnie promised he'll be at the Christmas party on 8 December and will donate signed copies of the book for the auction.
     The book is one of a handful of new publications that take aim at the president, the other one most notably being The President's Keepers by the investigative journalist Jacques Pauw, which had a similar launch at Hyde Park Corner on Thursday night. At least the lights stayed on at Love Books!

Carol Stier pinning Carin Holmes' Paul Harris Sapphire pin

     The meeting last week was dominated by planning for the Golf Day, but President Carol Stier took  the opportunity to pin Carin Holmes' Paul Harris Sapphire pin on. The pin wasn't available with the announcement of Paul Harris recipients at the induction dinner in July.

Professor Koop Lammertsma

Speaker
     The speaker on Wednesday is Professor Koop Lammertsma, a distinguished visiting professor in Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, out on a 2-year contract from Holland.
     And finally: DG Jankees Sligcher has told us that the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn was the club in District 9400 that donated most per capita to the Rotary Foundation during the previous financial year. We met all our commitments as far as EREY and a donation to the polio fund are concerned and also paid the $536 club and $26.70 member contributions to mark the Foundation Centenary Year.
     On a personal note: There will be no blog next week, as Linda and I will be on our way to Plettenberg Bay for the wedding.
     A Though for the Week: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change to world. - Nelson Mandela (1918-2013).