SO MANY THANK YOU’S
– Merrilee Berrisford
Saturday 29th July, an evening of exciting Antarctic exploration, a wonderfully happy and convivial Betty’s Bay occasion but also an evening which resulted in two ring-fenced additions to the Kogelberg Branch’s account, R7100 for environmental education and R4000 for the Hack.
It all started with Judy New’s travels to Papua New Guinea years ago which prompted her to give a fundraising travel talk. ‘Slice of Ice’ is Judy’s fifth fundraiser for Kogelberg Branch. We can only say a huge thank you to her for entertaining us and also enabling us to support conservation in various forms from a chain saw for the Hack to a fynbos expo for local school children. Judy’s contribution has never ended at her presentation; at the end of the evening she was spotted collecting her washing up brushes and guess who washed the tablecloths afterwards; she also made delicious soups, a hallmark of these events.
This year Judy was supported by her fellow adventurer, Sue Goodman whose photographs, especially of birds were spectacular think groups of penguins ‘porpoising’ through the air. Thank you, Sue.
Richard Starke was the audio-visual man advancing or zooming the pictures. He had worked with Harold Porter staff to ensure that we could see and hear. Thank you, Richard.
Of course there was work to be done weeks ago, Jeannie Harning printed tickets and designed the striking posters. Treasurer and keen hacker, Natalie van Wulven, saw an opportunity to raise money for the hack in a raffle with local prizes. She gathered together brilliant donations, a dinner voucher for The Tides, Garboli Chocolates (Gaspard Bossut), Sanna’s Kitchen goodies (Sandra Horn) and ClipClop products (Fiona Berrisford). For the record, the first prize was won by Chrisna Steyn who had come all the way from Agulhas; second prize winner comes from our premier hacking family: Caroline Silberbauer.
For the fifth time, Sally McConnel was chief of food gathering and serving. Gwen Coetzee was there helping; her superb fynbos flower arrangements will be remembered. Sal collected wood for the fires an essential ingredient. Many members brought finger food. Anli Theron’s bread rolls were perfect with the soup. Gert Kirsten couldn’t move from the pot of mussels collected by Sally and also enjoyed the mussel chowder made by Jan Joubert. No one went hungry.
And there was an abundance of good wine, La Motte Sauvignon Blanc 2016 and Millennium 2015, a red blend. We have to say a very big thank you to La Motte, Private Cellar of Franschhoek Valley for a very generous donation. Thank you to Rea Borcherds for arranging the donation and to Peter Berrisford for driving to the winery to collect it. When Natalie put an entry about the function on Facebook the Monday after the event, La Motte was the very first to ‘like’ it. The Parkers, Ed and Jackie, newcomers to Betty’s Bay cheerfully dispensed the wine.
Then there were the flowers, assorted fynbos given by Mountain Range Flora. This means that it is probably one of the last donations to our community which will be made by Barrie and Peter Gibson of Heuningkloof Farm just beyond Kleinmond. Our BotSoc, for all our special events, for so many years, has been able to phone Mountain Range Flora, often as this time, with Jackie Davies answering and organising that we be given bunches and bunches of fynbos. The farm has now been sold and the new owner is not going to farm the land. We are very grateful to Barrie and Peter for supporting Kogelberg Branch for such a long time.
Thank you to all the providers, and to the crowd of members and friends who were there, enjoying being transported to Antarctica and the fires, the wine, all the good food and for paying to do so.