Dutch Reformed Church carnival a huge success

The aim was to build the spirit in the parish and to make friends by reaching out to the community whilst raising funds for the work of the church. Great strides were made on all three of these fronts.

Preparing for the event took a lot of effort from a large number of church members over a considerable time but the pleasure derived by those involved far exceeded the effort they had to put in. It is suspected that several long-lasting friendships were started in the heat of the preparations.

The number of people attending the carnival also came as a pleasant surprise. It started slowly but when the feet started walking through the gates there was no end in sight.

Many people were new to Alberton south but they seemed to acclimatise rapidly and most stayed quite long. Not even the slight disruption caused by load-shedding motivated them to leave early.

The music by Hugh Lynn created a pleasant atmosphere and many meals were sold (and consumed) while the kids were enjoying themselves at the various games on offer.

The highlight of the evening was the “dominee” kicking a ball to determine the winner of the “Lucky Plate” lottery.

It is estimated that the turnout at the carnival was about double that of the bazaar of the previous year and that many more meals were sold. So much so that additional supplies of buns and patties and other food items had to be hastily obtained to prevent a hunger-driven riot.

Preliminary indications are that the net proceeds of the carnival are also about twice that of the annual fundraising functions held by the church in the last couple of years.