Desmond Coetzee - An Inspiration

This afternoon Desmond Coetzee a genuine Aberdonion and previous Mayor of Aberdeen and a stalwart supporter of the community, offered in depth information about sport in this area. Desmond wears many hats. He is the Chairperson of the Camdeboo Sub-Structure of the ANC, Convener of the sport structure of Ward 1 (Aberdeen), and a previous executive member of the Eastern Province Rugby Union, a Chairperson of Karoo Sub-Union Rugby he is also presently head coach and executive member of the Aberdeen Rugby Club and a teacher and sports master of the Kamdebo Primary School.
He is a mine of information about all sports in Aberdeen and is very much aware of the triumphs and the desperate needs of sports here in Aberdeen, Lotusville and Thembalesizwe.
Despite the lack of facilities, lack of funds for transport, sport equipment and sport clothing, Aberdeen has produced one of the first Springbok woman rugby players Saloma Booysen. She played in the World Cup held in Canada in 2005, showing the talent and standard of woman’s rugby in Aberdeen.
The Aberdeen men’s rugby has produced players who have played for Eastern Province Country and District’s Teams. The senior rugby team is presently the 2008 rugby champions of the Karoo Senior Rugby Union. They were runners up in 2007 and the 2005 champions.
The Everton Soccer Club players of Aberdeen play league outside the Camdeboo area in the Eastern Province and are a very active and strong team with regard to talent and enthusiasm. Here again, due to financial constraints their activities are limited. In fact there are five soccer teams in Aberdeen who play league against each other as traveling costs are prohibitive.
There are tennis courts and a swimming pool, but these have not been utilized for some time and need contracts taken out with the municipality who could assist financially the clubs formed to organize these sporting activities so that these facilities can be made available to all.
There is a golf course which is partially maintained by both the local golf players and the municipality, again golf equipment is costly. The squash court is evident on the same property as the golf course, but as yet it is not used by the local youth.
Mini athletics is another sport enjoyed by the youth of Aberdeen and a competition is being held between the Aberdeen schools, Aberdeen Primary, Kamdebo Primary, Luxolo Primary and the Graaff-Reinet schools Volkslaer and Narsing Street Primary on the 29th October 2008 at the show grounds in Aberdeen.It must be recognized that all sporting structures should be centralized under the sporting structure of the Aberdeen Ward Committee in Aberdeen.

Article By: Joan Tinker

Michael De Villers A Gifted Newcomer To Aberdeen

Michael de Villiers has chosen Aberdeen as a town in which to settle, bringing with him incredible amounts of knowledge and understanding in dealing with humanity, where qualified expertise and an understanding of human frailty are most needed.
Michael qualified at Stellenbosh University with a B.A. degree, majoring in psychology and social work and then worked for a while in the Government Department of Health. He then transferred to work in a psychiatric hospital at Valkenberg in the Cape and realized he was very interested in psychiatry; he then proceeded to do his Master’s Degree in Psychiatric Social Work. This was the first time a course had been constructed to give a Master’s Degree with a Psychiatric slant.
At the age of 30 Michael was offered the position as Head of the Department of Social Work at Groote Schuur Hospital managing and training 40 staff.
He preferred the clinical side of this work, where he studied stress, related to skin disorders such as eczema and psoriasis. After ten years of working in this field, during which time he had become an expert, Michael presented papers both internationally and locally, and became the Chairman of the Psoriasis Association for the Western Cape. Working so closely with the medical profession he was able to identify other problems connected to skin diseases that Dermatologists were not always aware of, and therefore did not always recognize.
Michael then went into Jungian analysis for two years for his own personal journey, before practicing this method.
He also worked in the first H.I.V. Clinic at the hospital, counseling people in their pre- and post testing periods. After 10 years of this work he took an early retirement package as he felt he had accomplished his work in this area.
During this 10 year period, he had begun voluntary work in the evenings to assist people with gender confusion. This was a big learning curve, but very rewarding to see people successfully come through a crisis in their lives.
He then lived in Natal for 3 years. There he worked with mentally challenged children and counselled their parents after which he went into private practice for 10 years.
In Cape Town his private practice dealt with couple counseling as well as stress related diseases, where he worked in conjunction with a Cape Town Psychiatrist with regard to medicinal treatment.
Michael then moved to live in Sedgefield and practice in Knsyna and Plettenberg Bay, where he mentored to Hospice care givers and Aids and H.I.V. councillors. He also supervised drug councillors at a drug rehabilitation centre in Plettenberg Bay.
Whilst in Knysna he took a course in Swedish massage, proving the incredible diversity and versatility of the human mind.
In 2007, Michael bought a house in Aberdeen, and then sold the house to buy an Aberdeen B&B. Michael has kept up to date with his profession by taking selected courses, he has also done an advanced course in Hypnotherapy, but his main interest remains in working with individuals and couples with emotional and general issues. He still spends one week a month working in Knsyna and Plettenberg Bay, when he is not busy restoring the B&B.

Article By: Joan Tinker

Dress Designer Relocates To Aberdeen

Janet Prestwich, a dress designer from the Peack District in Matlock in the U.K., has recently become a new resident of Aberdeen. The reason for Janet being here is that Robert her husband is the South African N.G.O. for “Philisa Project” generating funds for a place of safety for Aids orphans in Kidd’s Beach in East London.
So why live here in Aberdeen and not East London? A family connection persuaded Robert to live and work from Aberdeen, which proves the wonder of computers.
Janet studied at the Art College in Derby in England and specialized in dress design, textiles and knitwear. Janet then came to South Africa to work for the Frame Group in Durban, and lectured in dress design at the Port Elizabeth Technicon in Summerstrand.
It was here in Port Elizabeth that she met Robert Prestwich who was studying architecture.
Janet and Robert then went to live in the U.K. for 30 years, where Janet had a Boutique and Designer Studio where she catered for individual requests and sizes. Here Janet made ball gowns, matric dresses, wedding gowns and occasional and everyday wear.
Janet has always had a passion for design which she demonstrated when she designed and made thirty vestment garments for the choir at Saint Giles Cathedral in England.
Janet has brought with her to Aberdeen beautiful fabrics and industrial design machines which will open up job opportunities for seamstresses who will also be taught fabric printing and knitting.
Janet plans to open a boutique very soon and this will be announced in the local press.It will be an evening event where Janet will show her clothing and fabrics. In the short time Janet has been in Aberdeen, she has demonstrated a very attractive style of dressing and her presence here and her Boutique will certainly give all the woman of Aberdeen and surrounding areas a great deal of wonderful ideas. It will be such a boost for all the matriculants of Aberdeen, Lotusville and Thembalesizwe to have their dresses made locally and of course all the future brides as well. We look forward to a woman’s society that does not live by jeans alone!

Article By: Joan Tinker

Aberdeen Artist Freda Strydom

Freda Strydom has chosen a very different and time consuming form of art in which to express her creativity. Apart from these stunning works of art in leather which she designs and makes herself, she also paints and is an avid member of the Aberdeen Garden Club.
After living in Eskort in Natal, where her husband Quint was headmaster of a school for the disabled, they retired to Aberdeen where they bought a lovely Karoo house which is now featured on the Aberdeen Brochure.
These immaculate pictures in leather which are three dimensional are “all leather” except for the wooden frames and are truly a labour of love. This art form is very specialized both in materials and techniques and especially with the tools used.
Freda has created leather pictures of the “Big Five,” giraffes, zebra and various types of bird.
The leather Freda works with has been treated in a specific process to remove the hair of the animal.
A variety of leathers are used, for example for the background of the picture Freda uses thicker leather which comes from cattle and then only sheepskin can be used for the elephant and the buffalo. Freda describes the pictures as “a leather collage”. The painting of the leather is beautifully realistic.
The hard labour is the cutting of the leather. This is done with a soldering iron which curls the edges of the leather which assists the three dimensional effect to appear together with batting. A craft knife is used to cut the leather to resemble grass. The cutting and shaping of the leather has to be skillfully done as there is a cost involved.
Freda buys the leather she uses from Pietermaritzburg in Kwa Zulu Natal and from Breyten in Mpumalanga. A fair amount of Freda’s work has been purchased by overseas tourists. Freda’s work is on display in the Camdeboo Fine Art’s Gallery in Aberdeen.

Article By: Joan Tinker

Ballroom Dancing Classes For Aberdeen

Every Monday and Friday ballroom dancing is being taught in the hall at Aberdeen Primary School by Shelagh Miller Wood and Ray Holdt. This photograph shows how the children had all dressed in their dancing outfits for this lesson hoping that a photograph might be taken. These children involved are so enthusiastic and so motivated to the extent that all these children went to Beaufort West on Saturday 23rd August, where professional dancers gave lessons, tips and demonstrations.
It is heart warming to see this type of interest shown in the young people of Aberdeen, Lotusville and Thembalesizwe by these two residents of Aberdeen. To encourage the youth in this small town to partake in after school activities could banish boredom, which automatically leads to problems. I sincerely hope the local school teachers, sports administrators and residents who have skills to offer the local children will take this encouraging example set by Shelagh and Ray.

Article By: Joan Tinker