Bikes, Beetles and good causes headline Kempton Park bazaar

Residents from Kempton Park and neighbouring areas gathered on October 24 for the fifth annual Bikes and Beetles Basaar at Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk Kempton Park Oos to raise funds for the church.

Not only did the market sell various items, it also featured motorbikes and Beetles for car and motorbike lovers.

“We realised having just a normal church bazaar is not enough to involve the community,” said Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk Kempton Park Oos pastor and event organiser Anneline Geyer.

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“My husband and I used to ride bikes and made a lot of biker friends, so we decided to involve our biker friends in this event. I personally love Beetles; I thought it sounded nice on the ear, triple ‘B’ Bikes and Beetles Basaar.

“The theme grew on us and we started a competition for bikes and Beetles, then later added more categories for other cars. We have awesome sponsors. Supa Quick Bonaero Park, Bossa Glen Marais and Monument Road Service Centre, as well as Academy Brush help us to give out lovely prizes to our category winners.”

The church tried to involve the whole community and, according to Geyer, it sponsored about 30 members of East Rand Protective Workshop to come and enjoy the day with them.

It also invited the children of iKhaya Da Luz Children’s Home to come join the fun.

This year, the event had 55 exhibitors with stalls selling quality products, and the congregation is known for the best food in town.
Geyer added that they sold 560 jaffles and 2 000 pancakes for the day.

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People come from as far as Alberton each year for their secret-recipe curry and rice, boerewors rolls and sosaties, and there is always something for the sweet tooth among the community.

“Every year we add a theme; this year’s theme was ‘Dis lekker by die see’. The food stalls are all run by congregation members, who decorate their stalls accordingly; we even had our own lifeguards this year.

“This year’s event was great, it was a wonderful day, lovely atmosphere, feedback from the community was positive, they love the vibe on our spacious grounds.

“Our car exhibitors just love to come together and chat about cars and bikes. The exhibitors were all very happy with the outcome of the day. Everything was well organised and congregation members worked together like a well-oiled machine. They all gave their best at all the food stalls,” Geyer added.

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Community rallies around competition
There was live entertainment throughout the day. The attendees were entertained by the Kempton Park Pipe Band and other musicians. All the performers gave the crowd an outstanding performance.
There was a prize-giving for each class in the competition, with top-three winners recognised.
Bikes best on show:
Karen Erasmus with her Harley-Davidson Softail
Jacque Degenaar
Frans Gerber
Beetles best on show:
Greg Bacon
Danie van der Schyff
Elize Wessels
Open Class:
Martin Kruger with his Anglia
Jaco Odendaal
Michelle van Rede e van Oudtshoorn

First prize in each category was a R1 500 gift voucher from Supa Quick Bonaero Park, second prize in each category was an R800 fuel voucher from Monument Service Centre, and third prize in each category was a R500 meal voucher from Bossa Glen Marais.

There were also spot prizes for the most rusted car, the cleanest car, the most original car, and the weirdest entry, which was a small Husqvarna tractor, with prizes sponsored by Academy Brush Pomona.

One of the special things the church did was to give away a wheelchair to someone in need. In February this year, the church joined hands with Benoni Clean Projects.

It has put up a large heart to collect bottle caps. For every 500kg of caps you collect, they sponsor a wheelchair.

“In September, we received our first wheelchair, then decided to do an Angel Outreach inviting the community to enter and write to us if they know someone who needs a wheelchair. From all the entries, our charity group at church decided our first wheelchair must go to 16-year-old Kearsten from Cottonlands School,” Geyer added.

Geyer said Kearsten’s grandmother entered the church’s Angel Outreach and the church decided the chair must go to Kearsten.

She added that Kearsten is a lovely 16-year-old who faced a challenging start to life with a heart defect and underwent open-heart surgery at just three months old, which left her feeling scared and overwhelmed by everything and everyone.

“We are most definitely going to continue with this project. Firstly, recycling the caps is a huge benefit for our environment. Secondly, if this can help individuals in our community with mobility, it gives us a reason to work even harder to collect caps. If all goes well, we will reach our next 500kg by March 2027 and get another wheelchair to give away,” Geyer said.

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The church hosts this event annually as part of its fundraising for the congregation. According to the church, just like other churches, it faces financial challenges.

The church has a budget, staff to pay, buildings and property to maintain. According to Geyer, the congregation helps many people monthly with food, medical bills, school fees, or whatever the need is, and tries to help its congregation members and community.

Christmas is around the corner and the church wants to support the children in children’s homes this year with a little Santa surprise.

Geyer shared that all these funds go back into the congregation and out again in maintaining congregational needs and supporting the community.