Howick Prep School was again privileged to be involved with the joBerg2c cycle race from JHB to Scottburgh in April/May this year. The parents, staff and pupils of Howick Prep were involved in setting up and managing the race village at Glengarry in the Kamberg (Day 5 of the cycle race). The school has been involved with joBerg2c for the past three years and our ongoing success is due to the amazing support from parents who sacrifice a lot of time from their regular jobs to assist with this event. This event has become the biggest annual fund raiser for the school. Last year the funds were used to build a new classroom for Grade R, a new addition to the school.

Planning for this event takes over five months with over 200 parents, teachers and children getting involved before the event and on race day. At the race village 550 tents are assembled, a kitchen is set up from which we prepare, cook and serve over three and a half thousand meals in 18 hours, all of this takes place 80km away from Howick, at Glengarry in the Kamberg. Parents, staff and pupils are involved in off loading bags and mattresses, washing bikes, welcoming the riders as they cross the finish line among other things on race day.

We rely a great deal on our sponsors to help us make this fundraising opportunity worthwhile. This year we are extremely grateful to all the local businesses who have willingly sponsored products, equipment etc. to allow us to generate funds for the improvement and upgrade of our school sporting facilities which will enhance the very important and varied extra-curricular programme which is offered to the children at our school from the Midlands area. Congratulations to all those who gave of their time and resources and worked so hard for the good of our community.

Pictured: Richard Quinn and his children, who are all pupils of Howick Prep School, after Day 5 at Glengarry in the Kamberg.

Callum Tyrer, a Grade 6 pupil from Howick Preparatory School, was recently placed 1st in South Africa in the Science section of the World Education Games that took place from the 05 – 07 March 2013.

The World Education Games is an annual global online challenge to get all students (4-18 years of age) excited about learning, and to give the top students in all schools an opportunity to see how they measure up against the best in the world. Last year, over 5 million pupils were a part of what is now the world's largest online education event.

Split over three days and focusing on literacy, mathematics and science, the World Education Games is a hugely exciting and engaging way to promote learning and education across the world. Pupils from Howick Preparatory School entered all three categories and are very proud of Callum's achievement of being place 1st in South Africa.

Pictured: Callum Tyrer of Howick Prep School with proud parents Mark and Catherine Tyrer after being placed 1^st in South Africa in the World Education Games.

Crusty Corner Restaurant is into its fifth year at the Greendale Acres Centre in Howick. Crusty Corner pride ourselves on home style good food. Firm favourites include "The Full Breakfast" or the "Mini Breakfast", the hearty Gammon Steak, Beef Burger, Lasagne and our HOT Beef Curry. Pop in for a Wiesenhof Coffee and order delicious Scones or Pecan Pie to go with it.

We are wheelchair accessible and have our own disabled facilities. We even have our own wheelchair for our customers to use.

On these idyllic Midlands Autumn days feel free to bring the whole family (including your dog) to enjoy sitting outside in the sun under the umbrellas or if you prefer sit inside (no pets, sorry) in the comfortable and relaxing restaurant.

Simon also welcomes the local Silk Ribbon Embroidery group to his restaurant – they meet weekly to enjoy coffee, good company and to work on their beautiful creations. On Wednesday 5th June between 10:00am and 4:00pm there will be a display of their work at the restaurant. There will be a lucky draw with the winner receiving a voucher for a three course meal at Crusty Corner.

The 1st Annual "Reaching out to grannies" was held on the 11th May 2013 at the Umngeni Indoor Sports Centre, Howick.

Velamphande Enterprise joined hands with the Howick Civil Society to honour local grannies and express our gratitude to them in this International Woman's Month by giving them a day that brought smiles to their faces. The grannies were treated to lunch, entertainment and were issued with walking sticks and wheelchairs. Dr May Mkize and Mr Velaphi Mphande hand over the first walking stick together. The event was a huge success with laughs and smiles all the way

Velamphande Enterprises believes alcohol and drug abuse in today's youth serve as a major problem, not only directly affecting the youth in Howick but to the people around them too. Senior citizens, primarily elderly women have to endure pain and suffering from their grandchildren, children and youth in general. It is for this reason that we reached out to 500 grannies within the Umngeni Municipality to honour the Spirit of Ubuntu and send out a message to our youth to cherish our elders and not to harm them.

In aid of giving back to the wonderful people who are ever willing to help their children and grandchildren, Velamphande Enterprises plans to honour the Gogo's annually.

News supplied by Velamphande Enterprises.

Photographs   Wesley Le Roux

It is that time of year again, when the temperatures start dropping and we get our winter woollies out! Without a thought we warm ourselves with hot chocolate in front of our fireplaces or heaters, clothe ourselves warmly and cover ourselves with blankets. It is now that we need to take a moment to consider those who don't have the luxury of simple things like socks, jerseys and blankets!

Once again, as we do each and every year, RE/MAX Midlands - Howick is collecting blankets for those less fortunate than us. Any blanket will do, whether it is brand new or second hand, store bought or homemade, big or small, every single donation will be of value to someone somewhere!

We are appealing to the Midland's big hearted residents to do good, yet again!

Please drop your contribution off, whether it be in warmth form or financial (we will buy a blanket on your behalf), together with your contact details so that we can acknowledge your generosity, at the RE/MAX Midlands office, 40 Old Main Road, Howick and we will distribute your warmth to those in need. Just one blanket can make a huge difference in someone's life!

Together, let's make a difference!

What Are The Differences? Why Do Your Carpets Re-Soil After Dry Cleaning?

Have you ever had your carpets cleaned and your carpet re-soiled within a few short weeks? It may have looked good when it was finished, but it seemed to get dirty (especially in the traffic areas) faster and worse then it did before you had it cleaned. Dry Chem. Cleaning Companies, use equipment that does not rinse the carpet at all! (If they did, they wouldn't be a dry chem cleaning company). This method only cleans the surface of the carpet. Your carpet dries feeling stiff because there is soap left in every fibre of your carpet. The soap attracts dirt, due to its sticky residue.

Belgotex and Nouwens (South Africa's Premier carpet manufacturers) recommend steam extraction, which is one reason Premium Cleaning Carpet Upholstery Cleaners use hot water extraction. It is the only method that will thoroughly rinse out detergents & water-soluble soils. Another major benefit is, this method also rinses out allergy causing dust mites, cigarette smoke, pet dander and more! So our method of cleaning will definitely help our clients who suffer from allergies!

How Often Should You Have Your Carpet Cleaned?

Did you know that your carpet manufacturer would not honor your warranty, if you don't have your carpets cleaned at least once every 12 to 18 months? They go on to say that main traffic areas need to be cleaned more often! It makes sense that homes with children need carpets cleaned even more often. Pet owners certainly need carpet cleaning most often. We generally recommend cleaning around your furniture every 6 months as a rule.

So when you hear different Carpet Cleaners say they have the best or they use the best etc. etc.... remember that you now you know what the manufacturer recommends.  Contact Stuart at Premium Cleaning

From Iconic Bird to Bionic Bird – Cold, clear mornings are upon us and against the ice blue sky flocks of our largest goose, the Spurwing, stand out as they move to new feeding grounds. With a animal feed and a transport company named after them, they are probably one the most iconic birds of the region. Often seen in large groups (there were about 60 at Thurlow last year), they are a relatively shy bird and it is very difficult to get close to them, making it nearly impossible to observe the clear spur on the wing from which they get their name.

On Sunday, 28th April, FreeMe staff were just sitting down to enjoy a quiet fund raising day at St. Ives (thank you again, Fiona) when a call came through that a Spurwing had been found at Thurlow with two broken legs. When we met the people at Greendale to take transfer of the patient, it was unable to stand and was flapping helplessly, with its two legs just dangling. On closer inspection, it was found to have an open break on the left leg and a closed break on the right, very typical injuries from flying into power lines or fences. Early Monday morning, our beauty was taken to the vet who performed miracles and pinned both the legs satisfactorily, despite water birds being very notoriously bad candidates for anaesthesia, and often giving their last gasp as the final stitch is inserted. Wednesday, we entered the clinic to find the bird standing on both legs and very happy to be placed in an outside enclosure for the six or so weeks required before the pins are removed.

Thanks to all involved, miracles do happen.

Article and pictures kindly supplied by FreeMe

April is gone – and winter approaches rapidly. We have "sort –of" settled into our new shop which is a real step up from the previous showroom.

Andy's Mart can now be found at 1 Market Street, opposite Mica Hardware in Howick – along Main Street below the Post Office. We have plenty of shop front parking as well as tree-shaded parking in our soon-to-be-adopted park!

In line with the new showroom, we are stepping up in the range of items, in particularly the quality of furniture that we source. What we don't want to change is our pricing structure! We aim to offer bargain prices for quality new furniture! Remember we still supply new beds to the residential and hospitality sectors, as well as new pine furniture for homes in the Midlands!

Andy's Mart furniture repair workshop is gradually taking shape once again and will soon be producing quality pine furniture. At present our showroom is "selectively stocked" – more stock comes in daily as we re-embark on our traditional buy-sell progress!

Pop along to see the new showroom with quality second-hand furniture and household goods. You can find all our updated details here.

Why by new, when second-hand is great!!

The Sappi 60km Karkloof Classic, the feature race of the Sappi Karkloof Classic MTB Festival, saw Brendon Davids (Team Jeep) reign victorious over fellow elite stars Rourke Croeser (Kargo Pro MTB) and Travis Walker (Team Jeep) after an enthralling cycling shootout through one of the country's leading MTB facilities, whilst Jeannie Dreyer claimed a deserved win in the women's race.

After two days of non -stop rainfall which saw the festival's Peri Night Race on Friday and Saturday's Stihl Karkloof Enduro staged in exceptionally challenging conditions, Mother Nature finally smiled upon the region on Sunday morning and the over two and a half thousand entrants took to the muddy yet manageable trails in warm conditions and under clear blue skies. Despite the tricky conditions Davids' class saw him complete his maiden victory at the event.

"I'm super stoked with how things went for me today and it's definitely a nice result ahead of the first two Worlds Cups that are coming up." said Davids.  "It was obviously muddy, more so on the climbs than the single track, but it really wasn't too bad. It's a great course here at Karkloof with some really special features," said the 'Maritzburg College old boy. "That new Bat out of Hell descend from Lebanon is possibly my favourite trail I've ever ridden! As we crested Lebanon the view from up there was simply breath taking. As we got to the top I thought we were could see a load of clouds in the distance but then I realized all the white was actually the snow capped mountains in the background and it was just an amazing, amazing sight!"

The highly competitive ladies field also produced a race to remember as Jeannie Dreyer (USN/Hi-Tec), wife of Dusi Canoe Marathon legend and keen mountain bike competitor Martin Dreyer, claimed what was a comfortable victory in the end over Ashleigh Moffatt (BMC-SA) whilst Yolandi du Toit (Team Bizhub) claimed third.

"I've been off the bike for a couple of years with the birth of children but I've been back riding competitively since the Triple Challenge in November last year and it's been a really good six months since then," said Dreyer.

Moffatt, having just returned earlier this week from a hugely successful European tour, has been in good form in recent weeks. Unfortunately she was just unable to match Dreyer's performance on the day, crossing the line over nine minutes behind the leader.

"I'm still really happy with my performance today," said Moffatt. "And it's great to be back on home ground again too!"

In the aQuellé 40km Half Marathon it was Westville Boys' High School matric pupil Wade Finch who claimed a comfortable six minute victory over Dani Jensen (Varsity College) and James Damant (Kargo Pro MTB).

The day also played host to the aQuellé 20km Family Race and aQuellé 10km Kids Ride which saw hundreds of cycling enthusiasts young and old and of all walks of life take to the trails, bringing down the curtain on all yet another Sappi Karkloof Classic MTB Festival.

Main Photograph:  Anthony Grote/ Gameplan Media

Below Photograph: Kyle Gilham/ Gameplan Media

Chris and Becky owners of Supa Sub and Tees & Tats have been married for 38 years, and have been residence of Howick for the past eight. They recently took a one year break and went to live in Belize in the Caribbean during 2012.

They lived on the island of Ambergris Caye in a town called San Pedro. While living there they managed to do some travelling around Belize and Mexico to different Mayan ruins, snorkelled with the Nurse Sharks and Stingrays and met some wonderful people. It was an unforgettable experience says Becky.

They decided to open Supa Sub after enjoying the subway sandwiches in the States and the salad bars in Europe so combined the ideas into one. Chris does the baking of the bread while Becky oversees the running of the shops and supplies.

When the shop next door to Supa Sub became vacant they decided to open Tees & Tats, the T-shirt shop. Offering variety and catering for locals as well as the many tourist who visit the falls. At Tees & Tats you can have your own "Falls" photo put onto a mug, puzzle, mouse-pad or T-shirt. They also offer customized wording on T shirts for gifts or work uniforms. "The options are endless and we are having fun learning new ideas and meeting new people all the time" stated Becky.

It is the Howick Hospice Winter Fair on Saturday, 8th June 2013 from 9am till 1pm. Pop along for a relaxing morning of shopping and entertainment in their lovely, country garden setting. There will be plenty of bargains to be found at the Hospice Stalls and the Charity Shop. A wide variety of quality stallholders will also be selling their wares, so you are guaranteed to find something fabulous!

Howick Hospice have great entertainment organised: RED the clown and Robbie the Robot arrive at 9:00 am to entertain the kiddies. At 10:00am the Dinky Choir from Howick Preparatory School will be playing near the tea garden and Di Veness will entertain us with old and new tunes from 11:00 am.

Howick Hospice's famous egg and bacon rolls, wors rolls, tempting teas, pancakes, and other scrumptious cuisine will be on offer. And don't forget the cake sale!

The Sunfield Golf Day will be held at Sakabula on Sunday, 26th May 2013. This is a charity fundraiser. The entry fee per four ball is R1000 and includes a meal with the prize giving. All funds raised are for the benefit of Sunfield Home, a non-profit organisation situated in Howick which cares and houses 110 mentally disabled residents.

Sunfield Home also has 2 outreach projects:

Caregiver's Course which trains people within the local community to care principally for those suffering from Aids to implement palliative care and assist those dying at home.

Angels Care - a non profit organisation assisting in the welfare of Aids orphans and other desperately needy children in the Umgeni area, focusing on breaking the cycle of indigence and deprivation. It cares for 70 children providing education, food and healthcare.

Contact Peter or Mary Combrinck +27 (0)82 990 4986 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to book your four ball.

HowickVillage.co.za welcomes you to share all that is good and great in Howick. During their early autumn morning ride, a local cycle group were chatting about Howick and some of the good and great happenings going on within Howick.

Here are a few of the happenings they identified;

Guided Walks managed by the local Midlands Conservancy – weekly walks for education, fun and fundraising for the local conservancy. See our Events page for more information.

The Tear Fund have sponsored a group of volunteers from the UK. They are working with the Ethembeni HIV/ Aids Ministry in Mpophomeni. Ethembeni (meaning Place of Hope) – Providing hope for families affected with Aids. Ethembeni exist to bring hope to families affected by HIV, AIDS and TB in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands by providing comprehensive care and prevention services.

Howick Prep School fundraising effort – putting up 550 two man tents, providing three top class meals for 1000 hungry cyclists and dismantling it all again to raise fund for the Prep School while dedicate cyclist rode from Jo'burg to the KN coast.

The dedicated staff of Howick Prep School and Howick High School – they work long hours for the children of our community. Our Howick children are shaped into wonderful contributing adults by the staff of both the Howick Schools.

Thank you to our cycling friends for sharing this uplifting news! There are so many examples of great and good within Howick. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your own inspiring stories, photos that remind us all how awesome the hub of the midlands is.

Sunfield Home enjoyed a record turn-out to their Annual May Fair, held last week.  The crowd really enjoyed the Arena Events, which included Sunfieild residents in a Fashion Show and Belly Dancing, as well as a Police Dog Display and Kimbo the Clown. There was a diverse selection of stalls, both from the public and our own Sunfield staff and parents/relatives. The atmosphere was festive, the weather superb, and the talented Hairy Legged Lentil Eaters kept everyone going with great music well into the afternoon. Many thanks to everyone who supported us in so many ways!

I was delighted to discover parts of Howick that I never knew existed today, thanks to Pia Sanchez and Chris Ntuli who have spent the past 2 weekends voluntarily brush-cutting a trail all the way along the alien species-invaded Symmonds Lane stream to connect with Beacon Hill. Starting at Thabo's antiques, 13 keen 'Howickans' made their way up the path observing masses of aliens plant species, few indigenous ones and hearing anecdotal stories about the old oak tree on the way, as well as some of the history around the attempts to clear up this unbeknown and precious asset that has been neglected for so many years. As we made our way across one of the few remaining stands of grassland, we were delighted by the quaint and encouraging signage that Pia had made, guiding us along to a few inviting rest stops. Strategically placed logs in the wooded eucalyptus made the perfect regrouping points. We all agreed that this was a wonderful picnic spot and visualised what could become of this little stream in a few years when people started caring and contributing from all of Howick. We were impressed by the Lake's who live next to the stream and have adopted the river frontage. Imagine if all property owners along the stream took the same approach. Crossing over handmade footbridges (also made by Pia) I relished at sharing this trail with my mountain-biking friends, a superb run of single-track right through the centre of town! And certainly the more walkers and cyclists that use it, will help to maintain and keep the trail from becoming overgrown.

However one of the most significant realisations for me was that the very source of the Symmonds Lane stream was only a few hundred metres further up the trail, hidden in a wetland. Essentially, we have pure untapped spring water right at our doorsteps and most of the town doesn't even know it, and yet within a few hundred metres before entering the Umgeni at the Forgotton Falls as it is polluted and undrinkable - unthinkable! A steep climb to the exit at the top of Drew Ave, we were pleased to find lots of bushbuck dung, and also found it hard not to be distracted by Pia's coffee and tea signage which would have led us to the Country Lane Guesthouse & Coffee shop.

History
More than 20 years ago residents of Howick had envisioned the idea of rehabilitating and making the Symmonds Lane stream a utilised and cared for, public open space. Initially the concept was sparked by Mike Exelby in his proposal for the formation of the Howick Falls Nature Conservancy and in his "Recommended Developments" around the Falls, he had spoken about incorporating a trail from the Howick Falls up to Beacon Hill along the stream.

Others like Alan Turner had served on the Transitional Local Council in the 90s and was active trying to get the TLC on board to clean up the degraded stream. Ironically it was this very Council that was responsible for the laying out of the sewage pipes in the stream bed! WESSA had also developed a brochure about the trail proposal.

Since then not much has happened until DUCT became active in assisting the municipality in clearing alien invasives over the last few years. However unfortunately due to limited funding this hasn't been enough although it has renewed an interest from a few community-minded people like Liz Taylor, Pam & Ross Haynes, Scotty Burge, Pia Sanchez, Mike Farley, Robin Denny, Clive Bromilow and Hannes Zöllner who have been the latest champions of the cause, purely under their own devices.

Please go and discover this gem of Howick that we all need to look after. Take a walk and see it for yourself – you will be surprised and inspired! Please contact Pam Haynes 083 4569202, should you want to join the Symmonds lane conservancy or contribute in anyway.

Article kindly submitted by Bridget Ringdahl.

This weekend sees the 16th annual Cape Parrot Birding Day. The Cape Parrot is the only Parrot species endemic to South Africa. They are naturally found in the mist belt forests from Hogsback in the Eastern Cape to the Balgowan and Karkloof area of KwaZulu-Natal with a relic population in the Magoeboeskloof. Their numbers have declined since the 1940's, placing the Cape Parrot on the endangered list. There are several reasons for this decline in numbers, including loss or change in the quality of their habitat, illegal poaching for caged bird trade, disease, and avian predators.
Prof Colleen Downs co-ordinates the census with teams of spotters in Byrne, Bulwer, Boston, Balgowan, Dargle, Creighton and Karkloof in KwaZulu-Natal. Other volunteers cover areas in the former Transkei and in the Hogsback to Stutterheim area of the Eastern Cape. Volunteers from the local communities – will head out mid to late on Saturday afternoon to see if they can spot these striking birds and then return before dawn to recount, as these are the times the birds are most active. Cape Parrots make inter-forest movements and because of their distinctive piercing call while flying are easy to spot on these flights. Cape Parrots at a distance can be confused with African Olive Pigeons. The adult birds have orange at the bend of the wing and ankles, while females have orange on the forehead too.
Last year 245 volunteers were posted at 72 observation points, across three provinces. Volunteers from all these areas will rain, mist, snow or shine will be out on Saturday and Sunday for this Cape Parrot Census. If you would like further information or would like to get involved please contact Jenny on +27 (0)33 502 9090 (Karkloof area) / Sally on +27 (0)33 330 7175 (Midlands areas) or Colleen (overall co-ordinator).

Information kindly supplied by Prof. Colleen Downs

Prof. Colleen T. Downs
School of Life Sciences
University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Tel: +27-33-2605127/04 (w)
+27 (0)82 920 2026 (m)
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

After 8 years running Cooking Bear as a formal restaurant Peter and Cathy Hall wanted a new challenge, some flexibility and to have fun.  Cooking Bear Pop-Up Restaurant will certainly offer them all that.

What is a Pop-Up? Peter tells us that once or twice a month Cooking Bear Pop-Up Restaurant will offer a special one-off Cooking Bear menu at someone else’s premises; they will ‘Pop-Up’.  An established concept is working well in Europe, that Peter and Cathy are excited to bring to the Midlands.

Peter and Cathy explain the Pop-up rationale and format as: -

A good deal. Great food at reasonable prices.

Periodic, probably just once or twice a month. Always a surprise.

You will be served Cooking Bear favourites. 

Simple really and no more than you would expect for a dinner party at your own home.

The meal will be fixed price and a fixed menu which means that we will not be able to cater specially for vegetarians or allergy sufferers. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Cooking Bear pop-up will be popping-up at Crusty Corner Restaurant, Howick on Saturday – let us know if you were one of the lucky ones to attend this special event.

FreeMe are on the begging trial again, although not too seriously.  We do a lot of talks and presentations to schools and community groups and we are always having to beg, borrow or steal a data projector, which is very frustrating as we are always having to adapt to suit whatever equipment we can lay our hands on. They are not always compatible, resulting in some very red faced moments.  I am sure that there are a lot of retired management people out there who thought they could not live without one, only to find it has been stuck in the cupboard for the last year.   Please consider letting us have it, as it would make life so much easier. 

The FreeMe shop has been doing really well, but demand is beginning to outstrip supply, so please let us have any odds and ends you may be getting rid of.  Now is the time that a lot of people go through their winter and summer wardrobes to see what needs to be put away, and what should be discarded – please throw stuff our way.  This has the double benefit of FreeMe making some money and our customers getting good quality clothing at reasonable prices.  Remember that you do not have to make a straight donation on bigger items.  We are more than happy to take them on consignment and sell them for you.  Roz, our centre manager was in the unfortunate position of being on the wrong end of a vehicle theft, and lost her very much loved Nissan 1400 bakkie.  If you have anything going at a reasonable price, please let her know. 

FreeMe is getting ready for the Winter slow down and there is a real nip in the air.  This gives us time to mend and clean and generally get ready for the next influx.  Please remember that birds are now starting to feel the pinch and a little bit of feeding will help them out.  We have meal worms on sale and are more than happy to help the more adventurous get their own farm started. 

A thriving meal worm culture – waggies, robins and the like just love them.

Article kindly submitted by FreeMe