Monthly Sponsor
Local Sponsors
National Sponsors
The annual Highveld Trophy, contested between the 3 Gauteng clubs, has come and gone. This year Gauteng hosted the event at The Wanderers Golf Club on 6 August. This tournament has a long history and Gauteng has a proud record, winning the last 4 events. It turns out that the Vice-Captain from each club is responsible for arranging this event. Unfortunately both the organisation, as well as the result, did not quite go according to plan. At this point I would normally thank all those who assisted in arranging the event, including the starters. As I omitted to arrange starters, no thanks necessary. Some highlights on the day were – Mike Hendricks winning the C division with 35 points, Darren Holm was runner up in the A division with 37 points, Mike Rickhoff was part of the winning threeball and a Gauteng Nomad did not find his way onto the “worst golfer” trophy (this honour went to Brian Algar, who managed 19 points off his 3 handicap). There were also some lowlights, Allen Needham ended up in the worst playing fourball and the final club standings were as follows: Northerns (27.55), Gauteng (28.68) and Easterns (29.10). Congratulations to Matt Dudley and his 39 man team for lifting the trophy. To all the Gauteng Nomads who did manage to get a game, thanks for your participation and apologies for my performance prior to the event and even more so for my golf on the day. Enough said.
The Andrew Mentis financial year end is approaching quicker than I thought and I am pleased to advise that both my charities were approved at the National Management Meeting held in Natal in July. I have in a previous article spoken about Woman and Men against Child Abuse. The second charity that we are supporting this year is St Laurence’s Children’s Haven. The charity was introduced to me by Basil Joseph, who was quick to call me and thank me for putting forward the charity for approval. I also had the pleasure of calling Richard Malan to give him the good news. Richard is responsible for running this children’s home which is situated in Discovery, Roodepoort. I have been to their premises to have a look around and see what their needs are. In brief, the home has been around since January 2002. The Haven is a place of safety for abused and abandoned children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years old. The Haven currently has over 20 children in their care. Some of the children will stay with them for very short periods but there are those that have been with them for more than 10 years. I was fortunate to meet some of the children on the evening myself and Delia went to visit them. One of the girls that I met will be writing matric this year and if all goes well, she has a bursary to study accounting next year. Over the next couple of months both Richard and their Chairman (Gavin Lee) will be introduced to Gauteng Nomads, at the Golf Day, the Rugby Day and our Ruimsig game in October. I will keep everybody informed on the progress of our maintenance and repairs that we will undertaking at the Haven, with work to be commenced during October. If you are interested you are welcome to have a look at their website at www.childrenshaven.co.za