The Ashburton Aloe Festival will be held over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd July in the Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy, 10 km east of Pietermaritzburg. An annual event borne out of the close-knit communities passion for conserving this beautiful bushveld environment, six venues are open to the public, between 09h00 and 17h00, to enjoy a full programme of walks and talks amidst bushveld setting of the beautiful wild, giant flowering Aloe candelabrum. The event helps raise awareness for the conservation of both natural and cultural heritage, and raises funds for the protection of the plants and wildlife species of the area, as a living legacy for our children. The event is hosted by the Mpushini Valley Conservancy and showcases the Mpushini Protected Environment, the first such community conservation area in Kwazulu-Natal. The six venues include: Galago Farm, TopRock Farm, Impala Bend, Rocky Wonder Aloes Nursery, Spencer’s Place and the Hackland Aloe Garden. Things to do include: Specialist talks and walks, Self-Guided trails, Aloe, and indigenous plant sales including succulent, grasses, groundcovers, enjoy light music, browse a variety of stalls, including, crystal, mineral and gemstones, hot meals including vegetarian options, soups and home baked bread, tea garden, pancakes and refreshments, pony rides and the natural beauty, peace and tranquillity of this special hidden valley. Tickets are R30 per person and allow entry to all venues for the duration of the weekend. Children under 12 are free. There is a children’s art and environmental programme at venue 1 including child supervision at a nominal cost. Directions: take N3, Ashburton exit 69, Turn right, and continue 4 km onto D389, after the ticket sales booth, follow the signs to venues 1 – 5. To get to venue six, continue past venue 5 and proceed for 12 km as follows. After crossing the Msunduzi River, turn right at the junction of D389 towards Bishopstowe. Continue 2km and turn right. Continue for 2km and turn left at the signpost Rick Hackland Farm. After 50m turn right into the palm lined avenue to reach Femma and Rick Hackland’s Aloe Garden. For more information phone Darlene Bond on 082 933 5036 Facebook Pages, Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy; Event Facebook Page - Ashburton Aloe Festival 2017; Twitter @mpushini

 

Aloe Festival Programme

 

Saturday 1st July
10h00 Venue 1 - Galago Farm: “Discover your past and reclaim your heritage!” walk & talk by Celeste Rossouw & Hester Roodt
11h30 Venue 3 - Impala Bend: “Ideas for Ecological Waterwise Gardening with Indigenous Plants” by Alison Young
14h00 Venue 4 – Rocky Wonder: “Critically Endangered Vultures” by Tammy Caine
15h00 Venue 3 – Impala Bend: Wildlife feeding time with Karin Saks talking about Samango Monkey research in the Midlands.
15h30 Venue 2 – TopRock: “The Golden Age of Palaeoanthropology – Why the current decade will go down in History” by Alexander Haig Parkinson
16h30 Venue 1 – Galago Farm: Campfire Stories, Howard Bradshaw and friends read Bosman, Paton, Mtshali, Bessie Head and others.

 

Sunday 2nd July
10h00 Venue 6 – Hackland Aloe Garden: “Pollinators for your Garden” by Val Payne
10h00 Venue 1 – Galago Farm: “A guide to indigenous trees” walk & talk by Dr David Johnson
11h30 Venue 4 – Rocky Wonder: “Wild Orchid, Blood Orchid & Orchid Thief – Why are orchid flowers special?” by Timo van der Niet
12h30 Venue 5 – Spencers Place: Gundog Display by David Padbury
14h00 Venue 2 – TopRock: “Snake’s Live’s Matter” by Zane Barnard
15h00 Venue 3 – Impala Bend: Wildlife feeding time with Wade Whitehead talking about ‘Freeme’ Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre
15h30 Venue 3 – Impala Bend: “Honory Officers – Our Work for Wildlife” by Darlene Bond

 

Venue Activities

 

Venue 1 – Galago Farm
• Tea Garden/Soup & Bread/Pancakes
• Self-Guided Trails
• Children’s Exciting Day Programme & Supervision
• Indigenous Plant Sales
• Art & Craft
• Book Stall
• Camp Fire

William Luxford in Grade 10 at Grace College completed the "Impi Hard Enduro" at Tugela Ferry this past weekend. This is one of the toughest endure races of the year, they raced for three days.

Senior sport teams from Grace College entered the Laddsworth Night Fun Run/Walk on Thursday 15 June where our star trail runner Nick de Scally finished in first position.

Kimé Brits, a Grade 7 pupil at Laddsworth Primary School, competed at the Royal Show on her horse Cruisia Nikki.

Kimé was crowned the Royal Show Junior Newcomer Champion, 1st SASA Newcomer Horse, 1st SASA Best Walk, 2nd SASA Working Hunter Horse, 3rd SASA Best Trot, 3rd Best Rider and 3rd Newcomer.

Well done Kimé!

News supplied by Laddsworth Primary School.

This morning, Karl Wörner from Karkloof Safari Spa officially handed over a Game Viewing Vehicle to our Headmaster George Harris. Karkloof Safari Spa has donated this vehicle to our Conservation Centre and this generous gift enables us to make the natural wonders of the nature reserve more accessible to the school community.

 

 

 

Laddsworth Primary School Chess teams participated in the Midlands Junior School Chess Championship at St. Nicholas Diocesan School on 29 May 2017.

 

Luke and Stephen, both Grade 7 pupils, competed in the Senior Section (Grade 6 & 7).

 

They both won their round robin matches and their semifinals and ended up playing against each other in the finals.

 

Luke won and was awarded with the over-all championship trophy for the senior section.

 

Stephen was awarded a certificate for runner-up. Well done boys, we are very proud of your achievement.

 

From Left to Right.Stephen Lock, Mr Gavin Lambooy (Headmaster), Luke van Niekerk.

 

News supplied by Laddsworth Primary School.

Time: 7pm, entry R25, bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale. Musicians who want to play at MiTH, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Doug Borain cell 072 340 7034 or Charles Webster cell 082 331 7271 (Bill Pocket is away on leave).

We are THRILLED to have been selected as an official beneficiary of funding from the N3TC Touching Lives Initiative! It has been an answer to our main challenge which is to find funding to be able to commit to our knitters on a regular, monthly basis.

 

You can help us by visiting our website www.carebears.co.za. Your regular monthly commitment means the difference to our knitters being able to pay school fees, or put food on the table, or even just to be able to pay for a little more electricity, things we take for granted!

 

So the next time you travel on the N3 and pay your toll fees, give the N3TC a huge thumbs-up and smile, knowing they are making a difference to the lives of the people who live in and around the N3.

 

News supplied by The Care Bear Project. 

Laddsworth Primary School will hold its annual Night Fun Run/Walk on the 15th June at 18h00. The race caters for young and old, fit and unfit, as there is a 6km and a 4km marshalled route. The race starts and ends at Laddsworth Primary School and runs through parts of Hilton and the St. Anne’s College Wetland. This year we are also inviting schools, clubs and companies to enter teams, dressed in their sports or corporate gear. The aim of the Laddsworth Night Fun Run/Walk is to bring friends, family, businesses and schools of the Midlands Community together for a bit of fun. There are many lucky draw prizes that will be handed out on the night. Put your takkies, headlights & lumo kits on and come and join us for a fun night out! The first 500 entries will receive glow paints and glow sticks in their race packs.

 

Contact Mrs Shamaine Rajah, at the Admin Office, on 033 343 3256 ext 4, for more information.

 

L-R: Isabella Beaumont, Rebecca Winterton.

 

News supplied by Laddsworth Primary School. 

 

 

On 2 June 2017, the St Anne’s Old Girls’ Guild awarded Sarah Collins (1987, Usherwood) with The Award of Excellence for her incredible journey empowering impoverished women with the Wonderbag.

 

In 2008, during the rolling blackouts that gripped South Africa, Sarah had an idea. She had found her destiny and was about to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of women across impoverished areas of Africa.

 

The next day, Sarah created the prototype for her heat-retention cooker, the Wonderbag. After food is brought to a boil, the pot is placed in the heavily-lined bag where it slow-cooks for up to 8 hours. "Finding firewood for cooking takes a huge amount of rural women's time," explains Sarah, "and gathering it is very dangerous. The wood fires used to cook then cause indoor pollution, a leading cause of death worldwide in children under five. Having the Wonderbag would empower the women to feed their families, generate an income, and save them time."

The Wonderbag eases the impact of health, social, economic and environmental problems facing Africa and developing countries. It enhances people’s quality of life by reducing time spent cooking. This small home business has expanded into a global social impact business. It is a dual model company with The Wonderbag Foundation focused on distributing bags to the poor. The busy Wonderbag factories produce hundreds of Wonderbags daily and a percentage of the proceeds from each Wonderbag purchased around the world are donated to the Foundation, helping them distribute Wonderbags to poverty-stricken communities.

 

Sarah's new goal is to sell 100 million Wonderbags to people worldwide. With the sales of these Wonderbags, the Foundation is committed to programs that continue to support the donation of bags to families in need which will act as catalysts for change!

 

The winter holidays are upon us already ..... is it just me or did this term fly by faster than ever?

Time: 7pm, entry R25, bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale. Musicians who want to play at MiTH, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Doug Borain cell 072 340 7034 or Charles Webster cell 082 331 7271 (Bill Pocket is away on leave).

St Anne’s is very proud to have eight girls currently singing in the KZN Youth Choir, including the choir Head Girl, Sarah Thornton-Dibb, who has been a member of this prestigious group for four years.

 

The Youth Choir will be touring Wales in the July school holidays and will participate in an International Eisteddfod in Llangollen. Many hours of practice has gone in to preparing the choir to represent South Africa at the upcoming competition and we wish them well.

 

We, at La Popote, are trying something different for Friday's. Perfect for those of you who want a quick lunch.

 

Remember to book +27 (0)33 343 2352 at La Popote Restaurant.

 

Recently, a group of Grace College staff and students visited Sunnyside Park Home to spend time with some of the residents. While there, they participated in hand-making chocolate and playing Bingo while entertainment was provided by Megan Pluke (Grade 11) playing the ukulele. Students enjoyed the time chatting to the residents and listening to snippets of their life stories.

Omar Wilson, a Grade 5 pupil at Laddsworth Primary School, took part in the KZN MTB XCO Provincial #3 race on Saturday, 3 June, at Cascades, Pietermaritzburg.

 

By coming 4th in the first race (Omar crashed out but made a great recovery, coming from the back of the field to 4th) and then 1st in both the second and third races in the series, Omar has won the KZN MTB XCO Provincial Series in his age category – Male Sprog – which is the U12 category.

 

Well done Omar!

News supplied by Laddsworth Primary School.

Grace College recently hosted a netball tournament for senior netball teams from Jabula, Willowfountain and St John-Paul Combined Schools as well as from Siyanda, Asibemunye and Zuzulwazi High Schools. The teams competed with spirit, the winner was Asibemunye High School and the runner-up was Siyanda High School.

The current admission season has shown a marked increase in Midlands families searching for the homely day school environment which Grace College provides. As the youngest private high school in the area, Grace College is not traditional but rather aptly poised to respond to the changing needs prevalent in education and a rapidly changing world. "Transforming Young Adults Through Innovative Educational Excellence”, is our purpose statement which we honour as we develop young adults into valuable members of a modern society.