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Great Brak Post May 2016 free community newspaper for Great Brak River and surrounds

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GREAT BRAK WEATHER Flip-Book Copy of Our Newspaper

LETTERS

A sorry sight - Melanie Harris

Whenever we visit Great Brak River, a highlight is the wonderful walks on the pristine beach. How blessed are the locals to have these long stretches of clean, golden sand to enjoy. In Cape Town we walk on Muizenberg beach, carrying bags for the piles of litter we pick up. So, great was our dismay when we came upon this truly disgusting sight, right where the river mouth used to be. Not passing ships, not tourists are to blame, but fishermen. Shame on you gentlemen, for repaying the bounty that the ocean provides you with, in such a manner. As the French president Mr Macron stated so wisely: There is no Planet B. We are fouling our own nest. I despair for our beautiful Earth.

FOND MEMORIES OF STEAM

TRAINS IN GREAT BRAK

RIVER

By Donuil Crockart

Our grandfather bought our holiday cottage at

Reebok in 1929; we would come from Durban for

4 weeks every Christmas holiday. There were

just about 12 houses here on the seaside of the

railway line.

The train was a big part of our holiday,

particularly as our house in Olivier road is only

approximately 20 meters from the line. The train

would pass with a huge roar and the whole

house would tremble. Children, dogs (and adults)

would rush out to wave and the driver would pull

the cord and give us an extra toot.

The 11 o’clock train was very important because

it brought our daily meat order from Mossel Bay.

Our Gran would order the holiday's meat in

advance, by letter, from the butcher in Cuff Street

in Mossel Bay. The train would slow down at the

siding and toss out the meat wrapped in brown

paper and tied with string! The maid would be

there to collect it. Our Sunday roast chickens

arrived alive in a crate at the beginning of the

holiday from Oudtshoorn and each Sunday two

were slaughtered.

The 11 o'clock train was also a signal for us,

wherever we were on the beach, to gather

together for tea and biscuits. Gran carried her

tea basket down to the beach every day.

By some miracle, the early morning train

dropped of the Natal Mercury! (Uncle John

Robinson, also here on holiday, was the owner

and editor of the Natal Mercury).

The train engines were decorated at Christmas

time and gave special long toots. We all have

very fond memories of the old steam trains, and

get very excited every now and then when a lone

engine chuffs up the hill from Little Brak and

whistles as it passes with rattle and a shake of

our old house.

MURMAIDS PURSES

By Wendy Wiles Have you ever seen these on the beach and wondered what they are? They are commonly called mermaid’s purses and they are egg cases. By the time they wash onto the shore they have usually hatched but occasionally they haven’t and then if you hold them up to the light you can see the yolk sac and the little embryo inside! The one on the right with the ‘horns’ is a skate egg case, they usually only contain one embryo but the eggs of the big skate and mottled skate are considerably larger and can contain up to seven embryos. The other egg case belongs to a species of shark and the curly tendrils anchor the egg to sea weed. Not all sharks lay eggs but oviparity is common among some of the smaller catsharks, dogfish sharks and bamboo sharks. The majority of sharks are ovoviviparous in that fertilised eggs develop and hatch in utero and then live young are born. The large sharks like the great white and ragged tooth sharks that most of us are familiar with give birth to live young that have developed with a placenta (viviparous). In fact the young ragged tooth sharks are cannibals as the mother may have up to ten babies in utero but the largest ones eat the smaller ones until there are only two left to be born!

21 DEC 2017

19:30

Long Street

SIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING

PROGRAM - held at the Great

Brak River Youth Café.

By Mike Ehrman DeafNET facilitates Sign Language training in cooperation with a network of partners and the Associations of the Deaf in South Africa and other African countries too. DeafNET provides Sign Language training as well as Interpreting Services. The main objective is to teach trainees to communicate and understand deaf and hard of hearing people through the use of sign language. The purpose is to reduce the barriers to communication with members of the deaf community, to ensure deaf people are involved in conversations rather than isolating them and to promote inclusivity in the workplace. Educating the public to improve communication with deaf people helps dispel myths such as shouting louder in order to be understood. A course was held at the Great Brak River Youth Centre over a 3 day period recently. The course facilitators were Pulane Mothetsa and Samantha Niemand who is deaf, and co-ordinated by Eddie Tsubella. Candidates had to pass a practical test after the course in order to attain the basic qualification. The lessons are very quiet, not a surprise as only arms, hands and facial expressions are brought into play in order to get the message across. Caption: Last minute signing exercises bring the fingers, hand, arm and facial expressions into the task of communicating with sign language, here the workshop facilitators from DeafNet (ltr) are Pulane Mathetsa, Samantha Niemand and Eddie Tsubella. It seems a lot of fun was had by all!

FOTO FOCUS

By Mike Ehrman Great Brak River is a holiday destination. When on holiday, your pic’s should illustrate the destination, do so by telling a story. Look at local postcards and brochures for ideas, then go one better by finding new and unique viewpoints at destinations that interest you. When including people you don’t know, be polite, explain what you are doing besides the obvious, and ask permission. Find out about markets, they are filled with colour and activity. Parades, and races of all sorts wherever you may go, offer all kinds of photo opportunities. Get to the start and look for elevated positions along the route. Other possibilities are to photograph the buildings, look for converging lines and verticals, exaggerate them or go for alternate viewpoints and angles. For animals our region has numerous game farms, if the animals are caged look for those without fences or bars in the way. Look for the small 5 and go the macro or close- up route. We have wonderful beaches and estuaries, make use of the golden hours, sunrise and sunset, go for the sparkle and look for reflections. This will be the last Foto Focus feature for now, we would love to see the result of your local photographic exploits, please send your best images to us as high resolution jpegs, no larger than 2 MB in size to gbp01@greatbrakpost.co.za. Happy shooting!

Camera information; Nikon D750; lens 70-200 f2.8 set at 102mm; aperture f/6.3; ISO 400 - This photograph taken by Elaine Lamb at the Mossel bay Colour Run, a yearly event like this is well worth photographing.

GREAT BRAK WOMEN

PAMPER SPCA DOGS

By Wendy Jones (SPCA)

Fabulous, home-knitted blankets and dog-

coats donated

Mrs Audrey de Wet arrived at reception at the Mossel Bay branch of the Garden Route SPCA with numerous hand-knitted blankets and dog coats. Audrey was representing the Searle Memorial Church women’s group in Great Brak River which had made the gorgeous donations. Audrey said that the group chose the SPCA as their latest charity of choice. Warm, cuddly and made with such love these blankets and coats will be well used and will offer some comfort to dogs that have had a tough life. The details in the designs and textures of the blankets and coats are amazing – little hearts are woven in some of them and others are made of amazingly well-crafted squares. One even had a special label that said “Jesus loves you”. “Each stitch shows pure love,” said overjoyed SPCA volunteer, Antoinette Visser, “Bless them for their kindness.”

Chai Tea

Ingredients: 8 cloves 8 cardamom seeds 2 cinnamon sticks 4 black peppercorns 1 piece fresh ginger (about 2cm) sliced 2 cups whole milk 4 bags black Ceylon tea How to do it: Put the cloves, cardamom and peppercorns in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling-pin or a heavy-based pan. Place the cinnamon sticks, crushed spices, ginger, milk, and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan and bring it all up to a boil. Remove from heat, add the tea bags, cover, and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes. Then strain into cups and add a little stevia or honey to taste. (www.hellodoctor.com)