Today a kilometre of the indigenous Celtis Africana trees were planted alongside Cedara road, from the Rotunda in towards Hilton. This Tree Planting Initiative was suggested to HiltonVillage.co.za by Andrew Morphew of Avidity Real Estate, the exciting idea of making Hilton more beautiful was shared amongst clients of HiltonVillage.co.za and pledges quickly came in to buy and plant 100 white stinkwoods. These trees will present an increasingly beautiful welcome to all Hilton visitors and residents entering from the Cedara on-ramp.

We are grateful to Avidity Real Estate, Pam Golding Properties especially Gwyneth, Maureen and Rogan, Harcourts Hilton, Green Door Environmental, Tasha's Fantastic Fudge, Carey at RE/MAX, Hilton Clothing, Lindsay's, Ronnoco Nursery and Nicolson's Country Cafe for buying trees as well as to Mondi Group who will be ensuring water is trucked in weekly for the trees.

Alex March from Nkosi Indigenous Nursery did a marvellous job in completing the planting, his prices are unbeatable and he follows through with service as promised.

Going forward our plan is to repeat this type of project each September in honour of Spring and Arbor week, it is a way to give back to Hilton, the community and an investment in the future.

Pictured above are Alex Beadle and Andrew Morphew from Avidity Real Estate with Andrew Line of Harcourts Hilton and Carey Wylde-Hughes from RE/MAX.

Grace College pupil, Siphiwumusa Radebe, has made it through to the KZN Provincial Kickboxing Team.  Siphiwumusa will be competing in a few tournaments leading up to the National Championships on 5 November 2011.  Grace College wishes Siphiwumusa all the best for the upcoming events.

Grace College is situated conveniently near the N3 in Hilton, on the Hilton College Road.

Jonty & Tanya of Nicolson's Country Cafe at Garlington Country Estate in Hilton invite you to an evening of taste sensations with Anthony Kee of Bouchard and Finlayson Wines. Enjoy a Wine and Food Tasting on the 5th October 2011 at  18h00.

The magnificent Bouchard and Finlayson estate is home to some of the most sought after wines in the country and the evening is not to be missed.

The cost is R150 per head and includes Food Pairings and wines.

As usual, bookings are essential because space is limited!

Local author, amateur historian, bowler, chorister, geographer and tour guide Chris Lake has published his second historical novel, Baiwa. This is a tale of an orphan who rises above adversity, it takes the reader across the globe from South Africa to Scotland and will be of interest to everybody who enjoys an uplifting read with a historical character.

The story is similar to Chris Lakes first Novel, Across the Barrier in that it too is woven around a true-life story. It tells how the son of a famous whisky making family befriends a young Zulu 'By the Way' who is freshly orphaned, his home and parents destroyed by cannon fire. 'By the Way' is brought back to camp and a strong bond grows. The two share adventures and life skill experiences, there is a romance for Fergus and a trip to Scotland. 

Proceeds of Baiwa will be donated to the iZulu Orphans Society in Empangeni. Chris and Margaret aim to ease somewhat the plight of hungry, lonely children who face the gigantic challenge of being orphaned.

Your purchase of Baiwa will bring some comfort to these children, so head off to 'Oodles' at The Quarry Centre in Hilton, Bookworld at the Cascades Shopping Centre or Lazy Lizard bookshop in Howick.

Two Grade pupils at Hilton College have been selected for the KwaZulu-Natal U 14 Soccer team which will compete at the interprovincial tournament in the forthcoming holidays.  Well done to Ross Spriestersbach and Vongani Mukansi, who are pictured on the left.

Well done from HiltonVillage.co.za on a great achievement!

The St Anne's girls and staff would like to convey their deepest thanks to Ingrid and the staff at Jowetts Cycles for their meaningful contribution to the Big Adventure. 

Ingrid kindly and generously arranged for St Anne's to acquire twenty bikes with a two-thirds discount in support of the Big Adventure and the personal development of the girls it represents. These bikes were delivered to St Anne's on 04 August.

St Anne's is a private girls school situated in Hilton.

On Friday 9th September 2011, Laddsworth Primary School in Hilton showed their support for the Springbok rugby team in the Rugby World Cup 2011 by declaring a civvies day. Learners could wear green and gold supporters gear. They kindly shared some photographs from the day.

We wish the Springboks strength and unity as they take on Wales tomorrow in their first Rugby World Cup fixture for 2011. Go Bokke!

Protea Hotel Hilton will be screening the Rugby World Cup games and you can also join Hilton Christian Fellowship to watch the game tomorrow on a big screen at Grace College.

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor of Free State University, author and well known educationalist visited Hilton College on Tuesday (6 September). He addressed the staff and his talk was powerful and relevant to modern day South Africa. His main theme was the importance of core values and respect for people around you. He said fundamental to the upbringing of a boy was a father figure. He commented on the crisis South Africa finds itself in is due to the absence of role models. Jonathan called for strong moral leadership as the remedy to many of the issues challenging South Africa.

Pictured on the left are Headmaster Gavin Thomson and Prof. Jonathan Jansen.

Zara Keyser shared the news of her mothers participation and told us that she is So proud of her for being so brave and taking on this walk for CANSA. She really is a true inspiration to us all. We may not all be able to walk 400km's to show our support to our loved ones whom we have lost and are still fighting this horrible sickness but I hope we can help in other ways.

We applaud Jean on her epic walk and encourage the community to show their support.

Thanks Zara for sharing!

The newly planted Celtis Africana along Cedara road received their first water allocation on Friday thanks to the Mondi team pictured below.

Measuring out the 20 litres which each tree needs weekly, are from left Nosiphi Mnyandli, Thembelani Mkosana, Jabulile Ngcobo and Mkhonzeni Mtolo.

Thank you Mondi!

Happy Hills will be celebrating a Heritage Day Braai Weekend on the 24th and 25th September 2011.

Come and Spend a day with us as Happy Hills and enjoy a day celebrating our favourite South African pastime'.BRAAING in the warm South African Sun.

Enjoy a day out in the South African Country Side where the kids can play in our field, ride Sthuthu'eds, climb the jungle gym or even go on the new mountain bike track, all whilst you can sit back and relax with a glass of wine or a cold beer under the shade of the Happy Hills trees.

Enjoy a braai pack at Purple Pear Caf?? supplied by the well-known Country Blockman Butchery in Howick, seasoned with Kish Mish Persian Braai-spice as well as a cold buffet with lots of delicious side dishes to choose from and as well as freshly toasted braaibroodtjies.

ALL FOR ONLY R95  per person! Ladies can browse through the shops while the men enjoy an ice cold beer and let the kids run around in the stunning South African countryside.

We hope to see you all there.

For Bookings Call Andrew on 0824106609 or Zara on 0825551556.

On Thursday 15th September 2011 Laddsworth Primary School showed their support of the DUCT river clean-up. The school was divided into three groups, provided with gloves and rubbish bags and they headed our into the areas surrounding the school to tidy up. This is part of Laddsworth's commitment to the broader Hilton Community.

Parents were invited to join the class groups and it was great to see them all out working together, thank you Laddsworth!

Winstead Road was recently changed to a one way from the Brindy Road side on Mondays through to Fridays, from 7.00am until 5.00pm, we encourage you to spread the word, this may encourage drivers to plan a new route ahead of time. Any minor inconvenience the change may cause diminishes when you remember that this has been done to keep our children safe.

So no more entering Winstead road from Groenekloof road is permitted, to everyone who has adjusted their habits and found a new route, thank you.

Local SA Junior Karting Champion and Grace College pupil, Matthew Swanepoel, is off to participate in the South African ROK Karting final in Vereeniging this weekend.  Matthew will again represent South Africa at the ROK World Cup in Italy in October 2011. 

Although Matthew is training hard for these events, he still participates fully in the sports offered here at school, for which he needs to be commended.

 'Matthew, we at Grace College are very proud of you and wish you great success for the upcoming events.

Grace College is proud to share news of their achievers in Mathematics.

Three pupils from Grace College in Hilton, Ian Sinclair (Gr 9), Mihir Patel (Gr 10) and Peter Binion (Gr 10), progressed to the Interprovincial Mathematics Olympiad.  This offers high achieving pupils another opportunity to test their mathematical ability.  Grace College is proud of their achievement and wishes them well in the up-coming Olympiad.

Pictured at the top, from left to right: Ian Sinclair (Gr 9), Mihir Patel (Gr 10) and Peter Binion (Gr 10).

Happy 4th Birthday to Stepping Stones and Bemer Treatment Centre at Crossways Health Centre, 31 Cedara Road in Hilton. We wish them a fun-filled month this September and encourage you to go in and be part of their celebrations!

Nibbles the Lower Quarry Centre tabby cat was accidentally injured by a car last Friday. After a five day search Nibbles was found and is in excellent care at the Umgeni Veterinary Clinic in Quarry Road, Hilton under Dr Lee Pachonick.

Nibbles had a broken jaw and damaged mouth, scratches on her nose and was in lots of pain. Dr Lee Pachonick kindly committed to take care of her at cost. However her medications and surgeries are expected to reach over R4000.00.

On behalf of Nibbles The Lower Quarry Centre is appealing to all animal lovers and Friends of Nibbles to please donate a little to her bill. Any amounts will be most welcome.

As at Saturday, 10th September 2011, Nibbles has proven herself a strong girl. Her feeding tube has been removed along with her protective collar and she has begun to groom herself a little. She has taken tiny laps of her liquid food and surprisingly this usually wary feral cat has been tamed and transformed into a very responsive and loving feline, she loves the scratches and tickles from encouraging staff and visitors at the clinic.

So far around R700.00 has been raised to cover the costs of healing Nibbles. Everyone who loves Nibbles is grateful but the amount is still a way off the total needed, so come on cat lovers, pop into The Lower Quarry or Umgeni Veterinary Clinic and help Nibbles along the path to a full recovery.

Collection bottles can be found at Debbie Street Physiotherapy, Curves, Scissor Hands, Lindsay's, The Quarry Health & Fitness Club, Ian Gordon Property Valuers cc, The Hilton Bakery, The SPCA Shop, Thimbles & Threads, Howick Travel and Cannon & Cannon alternatively donations can be given directly to The Umgeni Veterinary Clinic itself.

Wayne and Sue Driemeyer are excited about their new venture and would like to invite you  to visit them at their new store, Hilton DIY Depot situated at 39 Hilton Avenue, Hilton (next to Rhino Cash & Carry offices) We will have yard facilities and will be able to supply loads of sand, stone & cement to our customers.

Wayne has 17 years of experience in the hardware industry having worked in Howick at Midlands Mica firstly as a salesman and for the last few years as the store manager.  Critical to the success of the business will be building strong relationships with customers and offering unprecedented levels of service.

DIY Depot is a young and exciting franchise that has almost 100 stores country wide under its banner some of them are mega hardware stores like those in Krugersdorp & Randfontein.

DIY DEPOT is a business totally focused on broadening its already extensive range of building materials, hardware and paint products to the domestic and commercial markets. Its service levels are continually assessed and honed to exceed industry expectations.

It is never easy opening a hardware store knowing exactly what your clientele need and our motto is if we don't have it we will get it.

Hilton is a growing community and has an extremely upbeat vibe about it; we will contribute to the growth and look forward to being of assistance where ever and however we can.

Welcome to Hilton Wayne and Sue!

HiltonVillage.co.za has launched Hilton Cares as their social responsibility endeavour. We have created Hilton Cares as an online platform where the community can access information and news about projects which are actively contributing to uplifting the greater Hilton community. We are committed to channelling information about local projects to our community and hope thereby to encourage investments of time, financial support, useful items or energy.

Hilton residents and businesses looking to participate in charity works will be able to access the correct contact person within various organisations and deliver their contributions in a guided manner that enables the recipient to accept with their dignity intact. It is important to give in a way that empowers, we encourage interested people to work alongside established projects to achieve this, you need never again feel the problems are insurmountable. Your smallest contribution can have a huge effect, never overlook the inspirational message your efforts broadcast to those around you.

We wish to thank firstly Jane Evans at Hilton travel who first encouraged a Hilton Cares endeavour and more recently three folk from Crossways Church, Pam, Sheldon and Gawie, (pictured in the insert), who assisted in spreading the word of the Hilton Cares category within HiltonVillage.co.za. Their main focus is Ndabezinhle Creche, a place where a very special lady, Nelly Ngubane, is giving out lessons in life and love to little people who need it a whole lot. There are still more projects coming on board and if you have one you'd like the Hilton Community to know about please email us.

We're lucky that we do not have to travel to Congo, India or other distant places to find needy causes, focus your attention right here in Hilton for the benefit of your own community. Think about this; a drive of a few kilometres leaves a significantly smaller carbon footprint than that of a jet engine.