All Hands on the Bridge Deck

It was all New Dawn hands on deck (or almost all) on Thursday for the Bridge Day at the Orchards Bridge Club in Highlands North.
   The initial idea was to get a fundraiser which could deliver substantial funds during the first half of the year, as up until now our main source of funds, the annual Golf Day and the Christmas Dinner, take place during the second half of the year.

Winners all ... President Carol Stier with Tina Stucke, who won the fassel of fizz and flowers, and Linda Vink

     If we add to that the proposed Cycle Tour (Steve assures us he's working on getting the wheels turning) and of course the Arts evening at Maboneng, we should be sitting pretty.
     The particularly pleasing thing about Thursday was to hear how many people enthused about the day and promised to be back next year with even more friends.

The room was divided into two sections for competitive players and social players and despite some misgivings, the combination seemed to work

     We filled more than 20 tables of four players each out of a possible 30 tables in the hall. That means there's scope for at least ten more tables next year.
     The Bridge Day, thanks in large part to all the help club members gave, was a huge success.
     The aim was to raise between R20000 - R30000 and it is pleasing to report that the final amount was almost R35000.
     Between the Golf Day (R66000) and the Bridge Drive (R35000) we've raised just over R100000 which is enough, with some change, to cover our immediate commitments to The Link Literacy Project. This is important as we're only committed to R30000 a year for the next three years for this worthy cause, but are now able to speed things up.

The team at the bridge tables, with Julian Nagy, Amina Frense, Judy Sligcher, Carol Stier, Paul Kasango and Debbie Smith 

     When the Global Grant comes through, The Link will be able to roll out in even more schools and use even more volunteers (at the moment they have more than 500).
     It was a great pleasure to be able to welcome Tim Bashell and Megan Maynard from The Link there, and Megan took the opportunity to explain the work they're doing and why it is so critically important for the intellectual development of children.

Tim Bashell, chairman of The Link, paid a quick visit as he was
 on a business trip to Johannesburg from Cape Town, where he
 now lives

Joan Donet and Judy Symons sorted out the registration and counted
 out the money

     Julian Nagy was the MC who introduced them and got the bridge players going. He also presided over the prize giving.
     Julian was the driving force behind the fassel of fizz and flowers, won by Linda's sister Tina Stucke, much to her surprise and delight. Congratulations!
     Many thanks must also go to Joan Donet, Amina Frense, Judy Symons, Paul Kasango, Judy Sligcher and the others who helped with the admin on the day, seeing to registration, taking in money and forcing and cajoling mostly willing people to buy even more raffle tickets.

Lucille Blumberg at the lunch harvest table, to which she contributed so royally in between solving the listeriosis and other communicable diseases crises

     Mike MacDonald and I were clever, choosing to play bridge and in that way staying out of the stampede. Mike played with his Mom, Hazel.
     It also turned out to be a good opportunity to tell people more about Rotary and who knows, we might be able to snag a few new members in the process.
     The day would not have been such a success without all the help we had for the harvest table at lunch, chiefly from Trish van der Nest, our sister-in-law, Lucille Blumberg, Carol Stier and Joan and Graham Donet.

The table full of prizes, for which we cannot thank our sponsors enough

     Trish, who couldn't be there on the day, made five whole fillets with sauce and the salads and salad dressings. Lucille donated three whole salmon, which was probably two too few, as they were immensely popular. Carol prepared them. Carol donated five quiches and also made the Florentines for the morning tea. The Donets made the pate' and the lemon tarts.
     The Auckland Park Accommodation staff made the muffins and scones for tea. I made the guacamole and hummus with crudités and roasted baby vegetables for tea and the meringue for the pavlova.

Amongst the players were Annie Waterman, a tournament player, Sue Peiser, an ex-New Dawner, Carole Bland and Emmie Kruger, our sister-in-law since Rudi's wedding to Peet Kruger in November last year

Russ (also an ex-New Dawner) and Andrew Smith took on Jeremy Waterman and myself in the social bridge section. The cards fell right for us

Joan and Graham Donet with Caroline Abrahams, one of the players

     There were prizes galore apart from the fassel, thanks mainly to Carol and Linda approaching local businesses and some not so local, and Debbie Smith's kind donation of gift vouchers and a cut of 15% of her takings for the day.

Bridge Drive Sponsors 2018

Sponsor

Debbie Smith

Life Day Spar

The Mask

Ann Harris Art

Bunches Flowers, etc

The Garden Shop, Parktown North

The Kitchenware Shop

Nice on Fourth

Laserderm in Parkhurst

White House Interiors Parkhurst

Lifestyle Home Garden

Lush Cresta

Service Station

Jose Jewellers, Benoni

Patrick Mavros

Colourful Splendour

Sorbet Greenside

The Beautiful Life Store, Parkhurst

Cleawater BMW

     The list is quite long and many of them pledged to help again next year.

     And that's really the point: with a start as good as this, thanks mainly to Linda Vink and Carol Stier, respectively our president-elect and president, the bridge drive should be very much on the agenda for next year.

Meeting
     The meeting last week was a colourful one with the children's author Jann Weeratunga as the speaker.
     Jann became inspired to write books aimed specifically at impaired kids after the closing speech by Sir Philip Craven, International Paralympic Committee president, at the London Paralympics in 2012 and started off with a story about a parrot, called, what else, Polly.

Jan Weeratunga with Polly the Pirate and her book about him

     Jann, who self-publishes but insists on the printing being done in South Africa to support local printers, says school kids go mad when they see and hear her puppets tell them stories.
     She and a group of other local children's authors who prefer to self-publish, run workshops at schools to introduce children to reading.

Debbie Smith and Suzanne Burger

     We had two other visitors at the meeting, the first being Suzanne Burger, a friend of Debbie Smith from their early gymnastics days. They found out recently that they'd actually been living around the corner from each other in Parkhurst without realising it.
     The good news is that Debbie is working hard at recruiting Suzanne to the club and says she's sure of success.

President Carol chatting to Dr Peta Thomas 

     The second visitor was a visitor for one meeting, as Dr Peta Thomas from the University of Johannesburg Business School, has since become a member of the club after her transfer from the e-Club was finalised late last week.
     Dr Thomas will be helping with the research project that Steve du Plessis is getting off the ground and her membership is allied to the new Rotaract club.

Easter
     Judy Symons has said she'll be the collection point for Easter eggs for the 5Cees, Woodside and any other institutions members want to donate eggs to.
     Please bring them to the last meeting of the month.
     Please also remember there is NO MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, which is Human Rights Day and therefore a public holiday.
     The next meeting is on 28 March, when Greta Schuler will be our speaker.

Sunset over the Crocodile River at Ngwenya Lodge

And finally ...
     I'm writing this from the stoep of our chalet at Ngwenya Lodge. So far we've seen lions, a huge male leopard, a porcupine (a rare sighting), a civet and many and varied birds. Enjoy your public holiday on Wednesday and see you all back on the 28th.
     A Thought For The Week: There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man. - Aristotle (384-322 BCE)