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Welcome - in particular all new readers. If you want to subscribe just log on to capeinfo.com. Click on newsletters on the left hand side and you will then find a simple sub form to complete. Reporters are archived on the capeinfo web site. Apart from the Reporter there is a large section devoted to the Riebeek Valley. Click here to have a look. Don't let PPC break the Riebeek Valley The period for comment on the EIA Report has been extended to March 17th. Don't forget to send your comments to Tamara North at Ninham Shand - Tamara.North@shands.co.za PO Box 1347, Cape Town 8000 with a copy to the Suretha Van Rooyen at the Provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Planning - suvrooye@pgwc.gov.za PBX 9086, Cape Town 8000. It is vital that you do this. Meanwhile The Concerned Citizens' group, the Farmers' Action Group, the Riebeek Valley Economic Forum and Riebeek Publishing have all been busy preparing their submissions. If you would like a copy of the Riebeek Valley Publishing submission - please let us know and we will email you a copy. Writing our submission really bought home to us how much PPC stand to gain and how much the Valley stands to lose. Just consider the economic impact. PPC gains but the Valley loses on the following counts:
or: Don't forget that the Riebeek Valley Environmental forum has been formed to fight the PPC proposals. They need your help and support. Contact the chairman, Patrick Kane, on rocker@iafrica.com now. Rainfall 10mm fell in January which is the sort of rain fall one expects for this time of year. Averages for the month are a bit skewed since 71mm was recorded in 2002! Snippets In a superb setting, just the other side of Nuwekloof Pass (on the right), polo matches are held about once a month. The next one is on February 23rd at 5pm. The game is followed by a jazz concert which usually includes a solo by legendary drummer, Ginger Baker. There is a nominal entry fee which goes to charity. There are no facilities (apart from toilets!) so take your own picnics, cool drinks etc and spread yourself out on the grass. Relax. The atmosphere is just magic. Short Street are planning a party on February 29th. You only get this chance once every four years so … come and join in. Bar Bar Black Sheep is opening, there'll be wine to taste, stalls, music, dancing, competitions and you can have a carefree time because there will be a child care facility (rumours that they will be locked in the old jail are not true!). The new address for Swartland Heritage Foundation is PO Box 118, Riebeek Kasteel 7307 The Purple People are pink with embarrassment. An error has crept into their latest leaflet. Pam Golding's phone numbers are in fact 0224481074 and 0827727052 and not as printed. We sympathise - we have the same problems in the Handbook. Telephone numbers (and now email addresses) are a nightmare. We've received details of a new menu from the Cook and Gardener which looks inviting. We were delighted to note that local fruit in season is listed as a dessert choice. It would be nice to see more restaurants offering and promoting local produce - things like pork and tomatoes as well as the more obvious choices. However the Cook and Gardener menu, along with one or two others we've received, did not show any prices. We're not sure that this is a welcome trend. On the other hand a note from the Kasteelberg Inn gave the price of a meal but no menu! The Barn gave both together with details of their new Italian inspired fare. The Café Felix have a Mediterranean style buffet for R95 on Saturdays and Sundays at lunch times. We hear that Marie du Toit was one of the very few to have not one, but two, of her quilts exhibited at the World competitions which were held in the USA recently. We congratulate her on her exquisite craftsmanship and this significant achievement. Museum The museum at the Oude Kerk has leapt into the 21st century. Just by the front desk is an up to date touch screen info guide. This will eventually cover all aspects of the museum and life in the Valley. Discs are being prepared at this very moment and we can see that this will become a valuable guide for visitors. Nothing seems to be on sale at either the museum or the Tourism desk opposite. This seems a pity. Souvenirs are an extra source of income and visitors often like to take home an attractive memento of their visit. In the church the wagons and other vehicles have been pulled out from the walls and together make a more attractive display than hitherto. In the back rooms there are what appear to be an interesting selections of artefacts but many are not labelled so it is difficult to assess their significance or why they are there. The far room is interesting in that it was the old kitchen where meals were prepared for those who came to church on Sundays. Readers of the Handbook will know that the church was opened in 1855 but a dominee was not appointed until 1881 due to lack of money. Until then the pastor from Malmesbury (then Swartland) pitched once a month. Farmers from outlying homesteads might well have taken two or three days to get to church and they would have camped round the church in their wagons on arrival. This old kitchen forms a passageway between the new restaurant kitchen and the toilets and is cluttered with items which do not seem to relate to its original purpose. It could become a very interesting part of the museum if it could be restored to something like it might have looked 150 years ago. Do you fancy being a detective? If you go and see the new production being staged by the Riebeek Valley Community Theatre you may win a prize for working out who the murderer is and the weapon used! (the play has a different ending at each performance so prevent cheating!) The company are busy rehearsing the play - "Clue" - a comedy murder mystery play based on the popular game Cluedo. This will be staged in April at the ACVV hall in Riebeek Kasteel. Should be fun. Rugby Football takes off in Riebeek West The Rugby Performance Centre has opened in the old PPC Club which has been transformed in to a state of the art training centre with a magnificent gym, swimming pool and other facilities. The pitch on the other side of the road has been restored to its former glory. One hundred trainees can be accommodated at any one time. The centre carries out three functions. A gap year course is offered to selected school leavers (45 each year). In this year, trainees cover not only rugby related activities but physical, mental, nutritional and core business and life skills programmes required to become successful professional players. Most of the remaining places are taken up by teams training for specific tournaments. There is also a referees' school in which there are currently four students. The centre is headed up by Alan Zondagh who was, until recently, Director of Rugby at the UK club, Saracens. He has coached many well known players including Hennie Le Roux, Joel Stransky, Francois Pienaar and Chester Williams. Local citizens will be able to work out in the gym. Alan stresses that the facility will only be open for serious users. Each person will be medically screened and given a specific exercise programme which will be closely monitored. The gym will be available between 4pm and 9pm. The fee will be about R150 per month. Grand opening on March 3rd. Contact Alan for further details on rpc@zondagh.co.za. Jean's Poetry Piece TERMINALLY ILL It's awful and dire, I cannot stand the pain My Treasure has gone on the blink once again. The ways that I've loved her - too many to mention Keeping her happy my only intention. I've loved her by day, been attentive by night- Now I am in the most terrible plight! I've spent a small fortune on virus protection - Now she is sick with this awesome infection! How could this happen with all I have done - No sound was so sweet as that of her hum. The programs I've played her to broaden her mind, How can fate possibly be so unkind! What must I do? Apply extreme unction? As time and again she's repeating 'Malfunction'. Letters PPC & Property Valuations I have had discussions with the Swartland Municipality in respect of the property valuations and I have discovered that the PPC situation was not taken to account in determining the market valuation. Any increase in property values should be postponed until a decision has been taken on the proposed PPC expansion as this may have a material detrimental effect on property values in the Riebeek Valley. The property valuation process gives the ratepayers in the Valley a unique opportunity the voice their objections to the proposed PPC expansion and we should all take advantage of it. Patrick Kane, Riebeek West PPC again! We purchased property in Riebeek West early in January 2008, to get back to the roots after 28 years in Johannesburg. The little cement factory outside Riebeek West looked very harmless and quiet, just as I remembered it from many years ago. Nobody, i.e. when we committed us to the purchase of the property, of course, said anything about the possible large-scale expansion of the factory and the impact it would have on the surrounds. Apart from the emissions and visual pollution aspects, constant truck traffic can indeed destroy the entire character and ambience of a small town. Ceres is one such town where trucks have to travel right through the town along the main street and are a constant source of noise and diesel fume pollution all year round, not to mention the damage that is done to the street surfaces especially in summer when the tar is soft. It is disappointing to learn about these very real threats to the villages and the valley only after we as innocent, uninformed outsiders have committed themselves to purchase expensive property in what looks set to become another Ceres - an overcrowded, dirty industrialised Boland town that holds no attraction for anybody. Hugo Fyfer, Johannesburg Events
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