Howick Pre-Primary's little one's put on their year end concert, a Musical entitled 'Rock around the Flock' at Howick Preparatory School Hall recently. What a delightful display of enthusiasm and a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. Well done to the stars of the show and of course the dedicated staff who put together the show.
Also at the Pre Primary this term is Splashy Fun Day. As the name portrays: lots of fun activities such as water play, slippery slide, coat yourself in goo and other activities which, the teachers know to be good clean child friendly fun. Of course a hot summers day will be welcome, as much as we are loving the Spring rains.
The Grade R children are looking forward to a trip to the KwaZulu Natal Museum. This is a theme related educational visit on dinosaurs and the children will also enjoy the natural history exhibitions.
Educate & Fascinate an Educational Presentation, is a fun, interactive, professional presentation by a Durban based company and this time is all about Christmas. The children have such fun with this interactive presentation, reinforcing our philosophy, that learning is fun.
They also look forward to their Grade R Graduation. This is both a proud moment and a sad moment as staff and parents congratulate the school leavers and bid them farewell from Howick Pre-Primary School. Many of the graduates re-visit the school and proudly tell of their progress at big school and beyond.
The Grade R Sleepover is a very exciting annual event for all the Grade R Learners and is a huge sacrifice for all the teachers. The children come to school in the evening, have pizzas for supper, fun and games with bicycles and torches, watch a DVD or two and then camp in their classrooms with their teachers – oh boy! Up early for breakfast and then home all exhausted. This is just some of the fun, growth and inspiration in the final term of the school year.
After all that, the Staff deserve a well-earned year end break, time to refresh and look forward to a very exciting new beginning, in 2014.

Splashy Fun Day
Members of the Meander Quilters' Guild handed over their community project quilt for 2013 to Hayfields House in Howick at the end of October. Anna Williams, representing HADCA and Hayfields House, said that the residents would be thrilled to have the quilt hanging in the entrance to their home.
With the ever present demands of managing our personal finances and more and more transactions being processed electronically,
"Founded back in 1983 on the promise to bring a community hardware store to every town, Mica
Ethembeni's 3rd group of Job Readiness students graduated on the 11th of October 2013. Ethembeni works with an organisation called Catalyx on a programme called Jumpstart to run a 40 hour Job Readiness programme for the unemployed in Mpophomeni. The programme runs over 10 weeks where the candidates are prepared for the workplace, they learn what would be expected of them as well as what to expect in the workplace. Customer service, work ethics, time management and entrepreneurship are a few of the topics covered. Ethembeni also focuses on spiritual development, self esteem development, emotional maturity, problem solving and other character building exercises.
The Haynes' permaculture garden in Howick was designed and developed by their elder son Bruce at the end of 2010 after a comment, "Mom and Dad, I won't be able to look after you when you are old but I will make you a garden so you can sustain yourselves!" During his vacation from his studies in botany and photojournalism, Bruce dug swales in the front sloping garden, which fill with rain water from the roof for the double-reach beds. Later on he designed circular beds, which are easier to maintain, being watered and maintained from the outside so as to protect the beds from compaction (in line with permaculture principles). These beds are now filled with flowering potatoes, as well as pumpkins and mielies planted from seed. The two Jojo rain water tanks at the back of the house supply that vegetable garden.
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Mountain bikers and trail runners headed off into the stunning Dargle Valley on Sunday 29 September, traversing farm land with amazing views. Their sights were set on completing the trails in this year's Lawnmower Shop Dargle Trail Festival, powered by Stihl, a fun family event held at the Lions River Club.
Howick is certainly wild. Where else can you chat to zebras while doing your recycling, watch otters swimming in the river during your afternoon walk or slow down for a mongoose crossing the road on the way to school?

Winter has flown by and we are enjoying the warmer weather in this part of the world. Our rains have finally arrived and everything is greening up. It's such a privilege to live in the beautiful surrounds of the KwaZulu Natal Midlands.
On Friday 18th October the annual Speech Night and Prize Giving was held at
This is the first in a series of quarterly articles focussing on topical issues, which we will publish by
After having their first baby in 2012, Jonty & Tanya Nicolson of Nicolson's Restaurant & Bar at Garlington Estate, Hilton, became increasingly aware of the need for convenient ready-made meals in the home.
Cyrtanthus contractus bursts into flower a few weeks after late winter fires, creating brilliant red splashes in the still-blackened veld. The large bulb produces a scarlet inflorescence with up to 10 tubular, hanging flowers which can be up to 8cm long, curved open at the mouth. The stems are mauve or sometimes red and the leaves only appear after flowering.
This time of the year is always hectic for us, with lots of babies and lots of fund raising events. It is hard to believe it is only two months to Christmas – this year has flown by so fast. Thanks to Judy and Pete for hosting our Tea Garden at the Open Gardens this year, we really enjoyed being able to spend time in one of the most beautiful settings the Midlands has to offer. We also have an Open Garden at Alskeith Farm in Caversham for the next two weekends, so please support us there as well. It is another lovely, big garden full of little gems. The 26th October is our Christmas Fair at FreeMe from 10h00 till 14h00. There will be lots of stalls and eats and a chance to buy some different Christmas gifts, and support us as well. Lets hope that the weather gods are kind to us for a change. On the 20th October, Wakefields will be holding another charity book sale at their new premises. The last one was such fun and we can make it bigger and better, so please come. You can get some really nice books at a fraction of the new price. Please also consider recycling your old ones by dropping them off at
Happy Birthday to