End of year function: 2012

By Penny Evans

The end of year function was held on 17th November 2012 at the NG Kerk, Ontdekkerskruin, Discovery. This was a very special function organized by Petro Meyer and Lynette Swanepoel. Members paid a small sum towards this meal and also brought salads.
 

The tables were set with new tablecloths and Christmas overlays. There were menus on the tables, showing the three course meal. The starter was tuna mousse with crispy French bread. Main course was BBQ ribs, chicken drums, meat balls, green salad, rice salad, coleslaw, curry bean salad, potato salad, watermelon salad and homemade mini bread. Desert followed which was chocolate mousse baskets and apple tart with cream.

Lynette’s daughter and her friend acted as waitresses.

Lucas' gift of attendance.

During the function full attendance awards were given to Lucas Rinken, Richard Wolfaardt and Robyn Templeton.

Frans Viljoen and twin brother.

A fun item followed-photos of members as a young child were projected onto the screen. Each group at a table had a chance to identify the person in the photo. Those with the most correct answers received prizes of ‘gold’ medals made of chocolate. Losers received Christmas crackers.

Each member had been asked to bring a R20 gift. Each gift had to have a photo of the giver. These photos will be placed into a scrapbook album. It is hoped that members will assist with the scrapbooking. Numbers were placed on the Christmas tree and each member received a gift according to the number he had drawn.

The clearing up and washing of the dishes followed.

Donna Viljoen, Giel Nel and Graham Southey.

The ideas, making of the tablecloths, buying extra crockery, bringing additional cutlery, organizing and co-ordinating the menu, awards, power point presentation of the photos and all the additional features were due to the efforts of Petro and Lynette. This function required a great deal of preparation and hard work. We would like to extend a very big thank you to these two enthusiastic committee members for this wonderful surprise. We all really enjoyed ourselves.

•  We were distressed as we were leaving, to discover that Herman and Anna Esterhuizen’s vehicle had been stolen from the car park within the church grounds. Exactly when this happened was not clear. However, the gates had been closed during the function. This was very upsetting for everyone. 

Petro Meyer

The gifts

Newsletter: November 2012

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West Gauteng Branch GSSA Nov 2012

Sterfberigte in koerante, wêreldgebeure, tegnologie in Suid-Afrika

Deur Lucas Rinken

Ons, as genaloeë, besef nie altyd die waardevolle werk wat deur toegewyde mense gedoen word nie. Hoeveel ure se werk moet dit nie neem vir iemand soos Rita Quebbemann en ander nie. Hulle voer doodsberige, ens. in koerante in e-poste aan ons genealogiese poslyste en so word die data aan ons bekende gemaak waar ons dit andersins nie sou raakgesien het nie, want ons lees nie daardie koerante nie.

Ek koop nie koerante nie – het net nie tyd daarvoor nie, maar in hierdie data stel ek, as genealoog, intens belang en kry dikwels kosbare inligting wat ek tot my databasis kan voeg. Vandag weer ‘n berig oor die afsterwe van ‘n DE WET, dié van waarin ek intens belang stel, gekry. Persoonlik stel ek hierdie berigte baie hoog op prys!

A Cape Town tour and tracing the biological mother of an adopted child

Christa Roberts

By Penny Evans

On the 20th October Christa Roberts spoke about the tour to Cape Town with the N-Tvl branch. The tour took place on 12-17 August 2012. She was part of a group of 15 members.

Their tour was excellently organised by Ellen Harmse, who planned everything down to the last detail and gave plenty of information in advance. Christa was able to prepare her research before departure and knew what to expect at the different research centres.

Exhibition of 16 September 2012

Penny Evans

A smaller than normal group of members attended the exhibition on 16th September 2012. This was a cold and overcast day.

Kriek Fourie 

He gave a five minute talk on the CDs available in our library. Kriek encouraged members to spend time looking at what information was available on the CDs. We have the omnibus CDs and a list of the surnames on each of these CDs. CDs are available for sale.

The exhibition was held in the hall. The exhibitors were Richard Wolfaardt, Graham Southey, Marie van Aswegen, Hennie van Aswegen and Richard Ford. Richard Wolfaardt Richard has researched the following surnames: Harper, Copeland, Smith, Goosen, Neethling and Immelman.

West Gauteng branch meeting 18th August 2012

 Penny Evans

Neels Coertse

Neels Coertse spoke about how to interview someone in order to obtain information about family history. He emphasized the importance of preparing for the interview and knowing exactly what you wanted to get from the interview.

Questions should be written down and should aim at obtaining answers to the” who, what, why and when”. This preparation will allow you to structure the interview.

Scrapbooking Workshop at the Roodepoort Museum

Penny Evans

Carolina Geldenhuys

On the 4th August 2012 Carolina Geldenhuys of the Roodepoort Museum presented a workshop on the history of scrapbooking.

In addition she discussed the causes of deterioration of photographs, which plastics are more suitable for storage of information, materials needed for scrapbooking and the seven steps to success with your project.

Newsletter: July 2012

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Experiencing a Legacy cruise

John Slyer

 At our meeting on the 21st July 2012 John Slyer gave a power point presentation about the Legacy cruise that he and his wife Noreen had been on, in May 2012. This was the 9th Annual Genealogy Cruise that that took place on board the Royal Caribbean Cruise liner “Vision Of The Seas”.

There are two legacy cruises. The first cruise starts in Oslo, Norway, goes via Le Havre Paris, Cherbourg France, Dublin , Liverpool on to Edinburgh and back to Oslo. The second cruise that John and Noreen did, starts in Oslo, goes to Aarhus in Denmark, Bergen Norway, Geiranger Fjord in Norway and back to Oslo.

Newsletter: June 2012

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News from the meeting of 16 June 2012

Report and photographs by Penny Evans 

Chairman Bob Saunders

Father's day chocolates.

June 16th was a chilly day. Bob Saunders, our chairman warmly welcomed
everyone. Members listened to Lucas Rinken speak about interesting information from eSAGI.

Some years ago Lucas started writing articles for our blog, based on this information. He wrote about Olive Schreiner, Dr Gerard Leendert Moerdijk , Christiaan Rudolf de Wet, FW de Klerk, The curse on the de Wets, the Louws and the clergymen, the spelling of names, Faure, a family of ministers, unusual and amusing surnames, cannons and strong men, The Brink family, and the Lady of Mystery, Beatrice Gurney.

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