Well well well, here we are at a nubile yet venerable age, well past majority, in fact
bordering on creating an epoch , and we have just been to our third rock concert !!
We just missed the Woodstock era by a hairsbreadth .... Cliff Richard at the Palace Hotel
could hardly be described as a "rock concert" ..... mother refused to allow us to see Elvis
when he came to Bulawayo !! and the closest we got to a concert was watching the
Drakensberg Boys Choir.
But then of course, as innovative as we had to be, we used to make our own rock concert
type entertainment, like "sessions" with Ots Waygood at the Jewish Guild Hall, or at St
Mary's Catholic Church Hall or dancing to the Collection at the Macdonald Club !!
It was only when I married HeeHoo that real live Rock Concerts entered our lives.....
The first was Bruce Springsteen in Harare in the eighties ... that was an extraordinary
experience .... it was at the National sports Centre and it was a glorious occasion.
It was not that we led an over protected life I assure you, it was just that no one famous
came to visit Rhodesia , as it was then known, due to our strange political leanings. There
was a brief period of normalcy in Zimbabwe, between 1980 when Independence was
declared, and about 1996 (when the wheels started to fall off the country once again),
when we had a number of famous entertainers blessing us with their talents.
And it was also not that we had a deprived childhood either, Michael Bullivant has spent
every waking hour of his energetic life making sure we have had at least one if not two
classical concerts weekly in Bulawayo, and then of course there was the annual Texan Rock
Band Concert at the amphitheatre every Trade Fair. !! What more could a healthy well
brought up Zimbabwe teenager need in his/her life !!
But Bruce was one of the only real rocking jaunts we ever took, and was it my very first
Rock Concert experience.
The second was when went to see Eric Clapton, again in Harare, again magical. We did go
and see the BeeGees at Loftus some years ago but they were so far away that we could
only see them with binos, it could have been Tarzan and the Ape Men singing for all we
knew .... so that does not really count and although the music was great, the magic
atmosphere was lost in the vastness of the stadium.
And so Rod Stewart was officially my third Rock Concert, and I was grateful that every
Baby Boomer in South Africa had also bought a ticket, as Rock Concerts are generally only
for the young they tell me ? However we proved them wrong !!!!
Perhaps they should have had a few more St John's ambulance people there with oxygen at
various points along the way between the car park and the venue ?
A few more "crash carts" could probably have been ordered, as those Baby Boomers gave
Rod the Rocker the welcome of his life !! There were some "Antiques" of dotage note there
singing along with geriatric vigor.
Oh those magic songs of his, "Forever Young" was undoubtedly one of the favourites
amongst the senile but surprisingly enough there were loads of youngsters there too !!
When the oldest teenager in the business, clad in his wild silver jacket, shook and gyrated
for two solid hours, those long skinny legs of his must have been as tired as ours were
from rockin' and rollin' in our senile seats, in the augustan aisles, along the wizened
walkways .... oh what a night it was, such a night ......
CONDOLENCES
Heath- Barry Glen. Beloved twin brother of the late Michael Heath and
brother of Jean, Brian and Dawn. Rest in peace our dear brother. You are now with mom,
dad and Michael. Deeply mourned.
Heath-Barry Glen. Beloved uncle of Jason. Passed away so suddenly on 07 December
2008. Sadly missed.
Lorna Jansen (Doyle)
Peter wishes to inform all friends and acquaintances that Lorna, formerly a mayoress of
Bulawayo
tragically passed away in Johannesburg on the 2nd December. It was made particularly
sad in that Peter failed to get his visa in time and was unable to be with her in her time of
need. He has departed for Johannesburg now and will be away for a few weeks. Our loving
thoughts are with the whole family, especially with Peter as they had only recently
celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. She will be greatly missed by all at Hillside
Methodist Church, especially her Bible study group, she was such an elegant and special
person whom we got to know and love very much. Our comfort is that we know she is at
peace with the Lord.
Love from the Bowman's, Rose, Sandy, Busi,Nogate, Paul & Lorna.
Obituary.
Cleone Tiernay (nee Sanderson) died at Port Alfred the evening of Friday 5 December
2008. Dearly loved and loving wife of Brian; mother of Julian and Vicky; sister of Martin.
It has been just one year and three weeks since Cleone was diagnosed with a cancerous
tumour of the brain. A year of brave determination to beat the odds, both on her part and
of Brian and his supportive sons and their wives and families.
CONDOLENCES: BIRKIN, Melville, so very sorry dear Marian, Anne, Corinna, Antony and
Families to hear of the sad news of the passing of dear Melville. From Roger and Barbara
Turner (UK) and Carole and Shaun (UK)
DIED - JOYCE VERONICA DONOHOE in Bulawayo on the 28th November, 2008, aged 88.
Beloved mother of Anthony, Carole, Louise and the late Timothy. Mother-in-law of
Helene, Mike and Manda. Grandmother of Samantha, Tamara and Vanessa, Benji and Julie,
Serena and Nadie, Mopane, Rhett, Mark, Daniel, Jessica and Courtney, and great
Grandmother of Robyn,
Bianca, Caitlyn, Genevieve, Courtney, Casey-Jo and Charles.
Mum,we'll always remember your incredible spirit and amazing sense of humour - not to
mention your high standards - always looking beautiful and well dressed! We are sure you
are in a better place right now. Love you Mum - Ant, Carole and Lou
CHRISTMAS is coming..
And it comes once a year..
But dear Father Christmas, we desperately need gifts the whole year round !
Here is the SPCA " WISH LIST " ..
1) Fuel coupons for our vehicles so that we can rescue injured or lost animals.
2) Basic food supplies ( mealiemeal / dried beans / kapenta ) for our invaluable workers
as we lack the funds to pay them the wages they deserve.
3) Food for the animals ( meat / vegetables / dog cubes )
4) Bleach and disinfectant to clean our cages and kennels.
Purr - lease ( from the cats !), don't be "a dog in the manger" ( obviously from the dogs
who share the Christmas spirit ! ) when planning your Christmas festivities this year,
REMEMBER THE BULAWAYO SPCA :
Send us
Practically anything useful to help us
Care, in these very difficult times, for
Animals in distress.
Kindly take any donations to the SPCA shop on Robert Mugabe Way
Hansa Powerade Dusi 2009 - media release
Date : Monday, 08 December 2008
Subject : Dusi preparations going well
Website : www.dusi.co. za
Natal canoe club, the organisers of the worlds biggest canoe marathon, the Hansa
Powerade Dusi report that all is going well with preparations for the event in January.
"We are on track and very happy with the way things are going at the moment" said Ray De
Vries spokesman for the organisers.
"Our initial concerns were water quality, water quantity and the water Hyacinth in the
rivers. We are very happy with the water quality at the moment. Compared to last year it
has improved dramatically with far fewer paddlers reporting the dreaded Dusi guts whilst
training in the River. We also have a pharmaceutical company that has a vaccine against
bacteria and cholera as an added precaution. Full details of this will be available on
www.dusi.co. za shortly.
The Umsumdusi municipality have a special task force to handle any sewer breaks and
they will be on full alert during the season as many paddlers come down to KZN to
practice for the race.
The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) are already working in the River to
get rid of the Hyacinth and will carry on through the rest of December and January with
crop sprayers and boat crews.
Healthy rains have ensured that there is more water in the River system now then there
was at the same time last year which bodes well for water releases from Umgeni Water.
The organisers are confident that the dam will be 100% come January.
"Our security teams have already met with the provincial SAPS and, as usual, we are
receiving great support from them" said de Vries.
Nearly 1800 paddlers are expected to enter the race which takes place on January 15, 16
and 17 from Pietermaritzburg to Durban with two overnight stops, the first at Dusi Bridge
below Cato Ridge and the second at the Msinsi resort at Inanda Dam. The race finishes at
Blue Lagoon in Durban.
One of the great features of this epic event is the charity angle. Over R600,000 was raised
for the SPCA, Starfish and DUCT and the organisers expect this to be a larger figure in
2009. An online auction will be held the top 60 bids received who will start in a special
batch each day -- approximately 35 minutes after the seeded batch.
Details on the online auction as well as online entries are available at www.dusi.co. za
Ends
Released by : Ray de Vries Sports Solutions on behalf of Cameron Mackenzie, chairman
of the organisers.
For further information kindly contact Ray de Vries
