Umtamvuna Views: Louis and Audrey welcome Guy to the family

Louis and Audrey Smit of Port Edward, recently travelled to private game lodge in Limpopo for their daughter’s wedding. Ashlee-Anne Kelly (28) attended Port Edward Primary School and Curro Creston College.

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She left Port Edward and moved to Johannesburg, lived in the USA for a year and then returned to Johannesburg to start her photography business. She met property auctioneer Guy Dowding, who stole her heart and proposed to her in 2018.

They had a Boho (Gypsy) themed wedding on October 26, held under a baobab tree and both parents ‘gave her away’. About 120 guests, some from as far afield as Zimbabwe and England, enjoyed the formalities and then partied the night away. They spent a few honeymoon days at a game farm nearby and will live in Johannesburg.

Scary tremor

Last Thursday (31st) at about 1.28pm, many people thought they were having a funny turn or hallucinating. The earth shuddered and shook for half a minute and panic erupted.

It was, in fact, an earth tremor, magnitude 4.3 with the epicentre near High Flats, 55km inland of Port Shepstone. The lower South Coast has experienced tremors in the past, but not often.

It was joked that it was the Boks warming up for their world cup clash against England. And what a clash of Titans that was! Shoulder joints popped; players fell down unconscious and a fair amount of blood flowed.

Apart from the worthy win, Rassie Erasmus was selected as ‘coach of the series’ and the nationwide support of our players engendered a wonderful spirit of national pride. As our captian said “If all South Africans could work together for the greater good like my boys, then we could have a wonderful country!”

Destructive beetles

Trafalgar Conservancy organised a most informative talk about the serious scourge of the shot hole borer beetle last week. It is native to Vietnam and has established active colonies in many parts of the country, including the Umtamvuna area.

This is a small rice-grain sized beetle that chews a tiny hole into the bark of living trees.

The hole itself is in consequential, but the beetle carries on its body a particular fungus into the hole which turns the area black and can eventually kill the tree.

As yet there is nothing that can be done to stop this invader. It targets indigenous trees and is a serious threat to commercial trees like mango and macadamia. If locals suspect their tree has this bug (one symptom is black spagetthi-like emissions from the hole) contact the local conservancy representative or Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Happy birthday

Judith Simpson, who is fondly nicknamed ‘Duracell bunny’ for her high energy lifestyle, celebrated her birthday last Saturday (November 2). She hosted a celebratory tea party last Friday with some of her friends and, apart from the delicious eats and tea, they enjoyed a hilarious game of customised ‘30 Seconds’.

Sariena Zeevogel, of Port Edward arranged a festive tea party for her mom Sarie Jordaan who turned 86 on October 29. Sarie relocated from Port Elizabeth about a year ago and is happily settled in at Marina Beach Retirement Home. She is a talented singer and formed a little group called ‘The Gondoliers’ with four other women. They visited many old age homes in the Port Elizabeth area and became very well known. Sarie still plays the keyboard and sings for the residents from time to time.

Remembrance Day

Splash Rock Shellhole will hold a memorial service at the Methodist Church in Newport Road, Port Edward, this Sunday, November 10. Moth Pastor John Pretorius will conduct the service at 830am. All denominations are most welcome. A Remembrance Parade is being planned at the new Wall of Remembrance at Port Edward Country Club for next year. For more information, contact Old Bill Len Bowker at 082 8961578.

All news to Philippa.

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