Local stars – Konsep:
The Locals Pub & Grill beplan om in samewerking met plaaslike media / radiostasies, ‘n sang kompetisie aan te bied en die plaaslike talent te help om meer optree kanse te kry. Aangesien hierdie nog net ‘n konsep fase is, word alle insette en voorstelle oorweeg van belangstellendes.

Ons wil uit die aard van ons besighied ‘n winsgewende projek doen maar dit is ook belangrik dat dit vir die deelnemers ‘n geleentheid bied om optree kans te kry, om die rede word dit oor ‘n lang termyn beplan wat sal begin in Junie en eindig in November met ‘n gala finale konsert .

Die Locals is baie opgewonde oor die kompetisie en daar behoort baie inskrywings te wees. Een van die besigheids manne het vir ons ‘n borg van R 6 000 aangebied vir die wenners. Hieronder is die konsep beplanning vir die kompetisie:

Fase 1 : Eerste rondte
Julie – Augustus
· Inskrywings
· Eerste uitdun rondtes
· Saterdag aande – 10 sangers per Saterdag tot alle inskrywings gedoen is , dus tot helfte Agustus.
· Elkeen sing 2-3 songs en kry punte wat dan opgetel word om top 20 te bepaal. Elke sanger kry drie keer kans om te sing en punte op te bou in die eerste rondte

· In fase een tel die beoordelaars se stem 30% en toeskouers 70%
·Einde Augustus word die top 20 aangewys wat voorgaan na die volgende rondte.

Fase 2:
Aug – September
· Uitdun rondte na top 10 op dieselfde beginsel as rondte een
· Elkeen sing elke aand 2-3 songs en kry punte wat dan opgetel word om top 10 te bepaal
· Kies die top 10 einde September.

Fase 3:
Oktober
· Finale rondte na top 3
· Gala konsert met top 10 om die wenners te bepaal.

Die Mosselbaaise Munisipaliteit wil in samewerking met die ACVV en Behoort weer vanjaar help om die matriekafskeid van ‘n aantal behoeftige Graad 12-leerders in die munisipale gebied ‘n heuglike gebeurtenis te maak.

Die publiek word dus uitgenooi om behulpsaam in die verband te wees deur of ‘n bydrae te maak met die kleding van die matrikulant, seuns of meisies, of om by te dra tot hul grimering

of die doen van hul hare, of om vervoer te verskaf na die afskeid. Dit word beoog om altesame 10 leerders op hierdie wyse te help.

‘n Matriekafskeid is een van die hoogtepunte van elke Graad 12-leerder se skoolloopbaan,

maar dit is nie altyd bekostigbaar vir almal nie.

Mense wat kan of wil help kan vir Haylene Claassen by telefoon (044) 606-5228 of Yolande
Van Aswegen by (044) 606-5224 of Susan Moss by (044) 691-1039 kontak. •

Members of the public and informal businesses are encouraged to make use of the Enviro Centre facility at the municipal transfer station at Sonskynvallei to dispose of used motor oils and filters safely and free of charge.

The transfer station is situated at Sonskynvallei on the corner of Mandela and Gumpiro Streets in Sonskynvallei just off the R102 road to Oudtshoorn.

The used motor oils and filters can be disposed of there during normal operating hours from 07:30 to 19:00. There will be no cost to the public to dispose of used oil and filters.

However, the disposal of contaminated rags or waste or mixed fluids is not allowed at the Enviro Centre.

The improper or illegal disposal of used oil has a significant detrimental effect of the environment. Just one litre of used oil can contaminate one million litres of drinking water for humans and animals.

Enquiries in this regard can be addressed to the Municipality’s Waste Manager at (044) 606-5143.

Indien jy ‘n beroepskeuse wil maak sal jy vind dat almal wat leef en beef meer weet en jou probeer aanraai en afraai oor ‘n beroepsrigting wat jy wil volg. Jy hoor byvoorbeeld opmerkings soos “O, almal studeer dit” ens. Vergeet van al hierdie opmerkings en vind uit wie jy is. In die tweede artikel het ons reeds daarna verwys dat jy jouself moet ken en weet wie en wat jou keuses beinvloed. Maak seker van die volgende: · Wat is jou aanleg: waarmee is jy goed, wat het jy maklik reggekry toe jy jonger was, · Waarvan hou jy: Waarmee hou jy jouself besig, wat is jou stokperdjies, na watter stories luister jy die meeste van die tyd, watter volwassenes prikkel jou belangstelling en waarom; · Water persoonlikheidstipe is jy; wil jy altyd mense om jou hê, verkies jy om dinge op jou eie te doen; deurdink jy alles wat jy doen of tree jy impulsief op ens. · Sodra jy hierdie dinge vasgestel het en vind dan miskien jy moet met mense werk, begin vir jouself ontleed met watter ouderdomgroep mense wil jy tyd spandeer/werk: bejaardes, volwassenes, tieners,kleuters, siek mense, kreupel mense, mense in groepe net met een mens op;n slag ens. Wat is jou voorkeure. Sodra jy ‘n antwoord op die vrae hierbo het, kan ons eers begin om beroepsrigtings te oorweeg en dan ‘n kwalifikasie neem wat jou in daardie spesifieke beroepsrigting kan neem. Julle sal merk ek praat van beroepsrigting en nie spesifieke beroepe nie. Onthou in elke beroepsrigting is daar baie verskillende beroepe. Hier sal mens weer jou voorkeuere verder saamkoppel om ‘n beter keuse te maak. Dit is dus nie meer so maklik om ‘n beroepskeuse te maak nie, daarom is dit belangrik om ‘n Professionele persoon wat opgelei is om leiding in die verband te doen te besoek. So ‘n besoek kan die hele dag neem aangesien hierdie persone gewoonlik Psigometriese evaluerings doen en daarvolgens vir jou die beste aanbevelings kan maak. Hulle maak gewoonlik aanbevelings nadat hulle met jou in gesprek getree het na die evaluerings – so ‘n gesprek kan ongeveer een uur lank wees. Na so ‘n gesprek of beroepskeuse onderhoud word daar verwag dat jy instansies besoek waar die beroep van jou keuse beoefen word en dan weer na opvolggesprekke, ‘n besluit neem. Professionele persone wat hiermee kan help kan wees Voorligting Sielkundiges, Bedryfsielkundiges, Voorligters/Beraders (gewoonlik verbonde aan ‘n skool), Opvoedkundige Sielkundiges Jy kan hulp kry by die skrywer van hierdie artikel Sien advertensie hierby vir kontakbesonderhede. Ons sal met die volgende uitgawe kyk na hoe jy kan studeer sodat jy nie onderpresteer nie. Julle kan my ook kontak vir ‘n studiemetode kursus sodat jy gereed is vir die volgende kwartaal/semester om jou punte te verbeter. Rina Kotze – 082 785 0126 •

Mossel Bay Tourism has welcomed the migratory southern right whales and humpback whales which have returned to the Southern Cape coast for their annual mating and calving season.

“It’s a pity that they don’t have an embassy or at least a consulate where we could talk to their representatives in person,” said Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm.

“It would be great to make an official thing of it because they really are that important to both our environment and the local tourism economy.”
This year, she said, whale-watching holidays have become even more affordable than ever before, “because whale-watching season coincides with Mossel Bay’s Mild Season – when guests can enjoy self-catering accommodation at discounts of up to 50%.
“And if you do take advantage of any of our special offers on accommodation, you’ll also qualify for discounts of up to 50% on attractions and activities – like whale watching tours aboard the Romonza, which holds the official permit for boat-based whale watching in Mossel Bay.”
Ms. Holm said that southern right and humpback whales represent just a portion of the many different species of marine mammals that live in or visit Mossel Bay’s shallow, protected waters.
“The Mossel Bay Cetacean Project has been collecting hard data about whales and dolphins in the Bay since 2010, and it records sightings of Bryde’s whales and humpback- and bottlenose dolphins throughout the year – and not just during whale-watching season.”
Ms. Holm said that other, rarer visitors include killer whales (orcas) and false killer whales, while the colony of Cape fur seals on Seal Island remains one of the town’s best-known tourist attractions.
Masters student Monica Betts of the Mammal Research Institute of the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria – who is currently in charge of the Mossel Bay Cetacean Project – said that she recorded the year’s first sightings of southern right whales in Mossel Bay in May, while the humpbacks appeared off The Point (Cape St. Blaize) and Kleinbrakriver early in June.
“It is a little early to see humpbacks in this part of the world, but there has been a sardine run up the coast, and it’s most likely they were just passing through Mossel Bay as they moved up the coast.
“If there were large numbers of sardines in the Bay, that might have been the reason the humpbacks came so close inshore.”
Ms. Betts is the third student to have worked on the Mossel Bay Cetacean Project: it was started by Edith Mertz 2010, and continued by Bridget James from 2011. Ms. Betts has been working in Mossel Bay since April 2013. She is now in the final stages of writing up her research towards her masters degree.

“We’ve always relied on visual sightings, and then plotting the positions of the animals using the same equipment that they use for land surveys – but I’ve been using audio technology to develop a new method of monitoring that allows us to keep track of whales and dolphins both during the daytime, and at night or in bad weather.

“This will help us gain a deeper understanding of their habits and behaviour,” she said.
“It’s almost as if Mossel Bay was built for whale- and dolphin watching – and as if the whales and dolphins know it,” said Ms. Holm.

“You can often spot them from even slightly elevated positions on land. So if you do take advantage of our Mossel Bay Mild Season, you could land up watching them from the comfort of your stoep.” •

Mossel Bay Tourism has welcomed the large contingent of scientists who are currently digging at the Pinnacle Point Provincial Heritage site – the caves that have revealed the earliest evidence for modern human behaviour.

The scientists are attached to the SACP4 Project (South African Coastal Palaeoclimate, Palaeoenvironment, Palaeoecology and Palaeoanthropology Project) under Professor Curtis Marean, an associate director of the Institute of Human Origins and professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.

“Prof. Marean and his team have been studying the caves since 2000, and what they’ve found has placed Mossel Bay and the Southern Cape region as the birthplace of modern human behaviour, and also as the birthplace of both culture and complex stone tool technology – and this has created enormous interest for Mossel Bay amongst scientists and the general public from around the world,” said Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm.
She said that the archaeology has generated numerous opportunities that benefit the economy of Mossel Bay.

“The digging seasons attract significant numbers of scientists – many of whom come to Mossel Bay for weeks at a time; the project has created full-time employment for nine researchers and field technicians (some of whom come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds); and public interest has lead to the creation of an exhibition at the Great Brak River Museum which explores the local peoples’ place in the development of modern human behaviour, and to the creation of the ‘Point of Human Origin Experience,’ during which members of the public can enjoy a lecture on modern human origins, and a tour of the Pinnacle Point Caves.

“The archaeology has given Mossel Bay a differentiator unlike any other anywhere in the world, and Mossel Bay Tourism believes that the number of opportunities will only increase as the studies progress.

“It’s expected to be a game-changer for our tourism economy,” said Ms. Holm.
Prof. Marean said that the current season will see twenty six students and scientists visiting Pinnacle Point for up to seven weeks at a time.
With material dating back from 162,000 years ago (in cave PP13B at Pinnacle Point) to about 60,000 years ago (in caves PP5-6), Mossel Bay has the longest record of modern human habitation.
According to Prof. Marean, the current excavations are concerned with the sediments in PP5-6, where scientists have been able to create a sequence of habitation from deposits from 90,000 to 60,000 years ago.
“We were missing sixty to fifty: for a long time we couldn’t figure out where those deposits were.” But, he said, the team solved the riddle late last year, and this year’s dig, “Will fill out our sequence from 90,000 to 50,000 years ago.”
Prof. Marean said that he is the recipient of a $1 million grant from the USA’s National Science Foundation that is being used to build a palaeoscape model – a detailed reconstruction of the different climate conditions in the land- and marine environments of the past which will include details of the plant and animal resources that were available during each period.
“Computer modeling of human behaviour is one of the most exciting technologies available to us today, he said.

Prof. Marean said that one local man – Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University masters student Jan De Vynck – is working with indigenous people from the area to calculate the nutritional return per unit of effort (how many calories are burned while gathering each item of food) through observing how and what ancient societies traditionally harvest from the sea.
With this kind of information to hand, “We can then release into the computer model an artificial intelligence – which is essentially a human acting as a forager,” and so make experimental observations of how humans would have reacted to changes in, say, rainfall or temperature.

This will help the scientists gain a better understanding of the archaeology, and of how human behaviour has responded to changing climates.
Prof. Marean said that the SACP4 Project has begun extending its studies to other parts of the Southern Cape – including Knysna, where one of his former students, Naomi Cleghorn (a South African and now a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington), will begin a major excavation later this year; and Blombos, in the Klein Karoo, where decorated shell fragments point towards the existence of trade between inland and coastal communities at a time when the sea was some 90 kilometres further south from Mossel Bay than it is today. (“What we’re interested in in that project is looking at the origins of extended social networks… We’re trying to figure out when do humans have long-range, cooperative connections with other groups.”)
An important adjunct to this year’s digging season will be a ‘Palaeoscape 2014’ symposium that will take place at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Saasveld campus during July (an invitation-only event which is being arranged by Richard Cowling, a research professor in the University’s department of botany).

During the symposium, scientists from around the world will review the work that’s been accomplished so far, and will discuss what’ll be needed in the future. Participants will also enjoy field trips to both Mossel Bay and the Klein Karoo.

Mossel Bay residents can now recycle milk containers too. Although this item was previously excluded from the list of items that can be recycled, an agreement has been reached with Nampak for milk containers to be recycled as well.

The Municipality again appeals to Mossel Bay residents to support its waste recycling initiatives, both from a point of view of caring for the environment for future generations, and to ease the pressure on existing landfill areas and refuse transfer stations.

According to the Municipality the following items can be recycled:
Photostat paper; laser print paper; computer paper; all writing paper, letterheads and envelopes (regardless of colour); newspapers, magazines, books and pamphlets; all cardboard boxes and packaging material; cardboard displays; clean wrapping and packaging plastic; clean plastic shopping bags; plastic as well as cool drink and milk bottles; all beverage and canned fruit cans; glass bottles and jars (all containers to be rinsed).
The following are NOT suitable for recycling:
Any wet, smelly or soiled materials; diapers; carbons; chemically treated facsimile or heat sensitive paper; ice cream sweet, biscuit and chips wrapping and packets; used paper towels and paper serviettes; plastic-coated paper; wax paper; tinfoil; cling wrap; polystyrene food containers; cellophane; window glass; light bulbs; neon tubes, porcelain and pottery.
Enquiries can be addressed to the Waste and Pollution Section of the Municipality at telephone (044) 606-5143 during office hours, or to the recycling contractor, Elmarie at (044) 695-4918 or 0836170017. •

Mossel Bay’s iconic championship golf courses have announced that they’ll be holding a joint 2-day tournament during the town’s annual Sports Festival – and at an almost unbelievable price, too.
The Pinnacle Point and Mossel Bay Golf Clubs are hoping to grow the tournament into a not-to-be-missed, permanent feature of their calendars, and the organisers are hoping that local businesses will come on board with the event.
The inaugural event will take place on Friday the 3rd and Saturday the 4th of October, 2014.
Participants will play Mossel Bay on Friday, and Pinnacle Point on Saturday, with prize-giving functions for daily winners taking place at the respective club houses at the end of each day.
“And after Saturday’s prize giving and the announcement of the overall winners, we’ll have a wrap-up party at the Pinnacle Point clubhouse, with great food and drink and awesome entertainment – and hopefully with some merriment that’ll go on into the late hours of the night,” said AJ Steyn, the Assistant Director of Golf at Pinnacle Point.
The event will be open to all golfers playing with an official handicap.
The good news, said Mr. Steyn, is that entry will cost just R 600.00 per player.
“That’s amazing value when you consider that it includes two days of golf – with cart hire included on the Saturday – as well as an evening of entertainment,” said Mr. Steyn.
He said that he and Louw Strydom, the General Manager at Mossel Bay Golf Club, are working with Leisure Rentals (at Pinnacle Point) and The Point Hotel (situated on the sea-front at Cape St. Blaize in Mossel Bay) to create special accommodation packages for the weekend. Details will be announced on the clubs’ websites, and on www.visitmosselbay.co.za/festivals as they become available.
Mr. Strydom said that festinos will be invited to take advantage of Mossel Bay Golf Club’s all-year-round special offer for Sundays and Mondays. “A round of golf will cost only R 170.00 per player, or R 265.00 per player with golf cart hire, provided that the cart is shared with another player.”
“We at Pinnacle will also be running a family special during the remainder of the Festival period,” said Mr. Steyn. “We encourage the growth of the game, and the best way to do that is to involve the kids – so any child under 18 playing with a parent or responsible adult who pays the full rate, will play for free.”
A round of golf at Pinnacle Point during the Mossel Bay Sports Festival will cost R 490.00 (including green fees and golf cart).
Local businesses wanting to take part in the event – the organisers are looking for sponsors for prizes, and for assistance with the prize giving events and the party at Pinnacle Point – should please contact AJ Steyn (ajsteyn@pinnaclepointestate.co.za or 044 606 5300) or Louw Strydom (louw@mosselbaygolfclub.co.za or 044 691 2379).
The Mossel Bay Sports Festival will run from the 3rd to the 7th of October, 2014.
More information:
Mossel Bay: www.visitmosselbay.co.za •

by Jacques Valjean

I trade in “wow”. Wow, as in a 5-year-old Olivia standing close to me, her mouth right next to my ear, breathing a soft “wow” into my ear as she experiences for the very first time the wonderment of a sea urchin walking on stilted thorns on her hand.

I live for “wow”. Not from me – although I’ve had many wow’s in my life, even at my “advanced” age – but from others for whom I can open up the wonders around us.

Wow’s take many forms, have many causes. Wow is the first-time smell of cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, mustard seeds and turmeric dry-roasting in the sauté pan as the first step in creating one of those north-Indian curries. Wow is also Marius, seeing Saturn’s rings for the first time through my 8″ scope late at night in hazy weather, walking in circles, unable to stop saying “wow, wow, wow….” for the sheer beauty of the heavens. Wow is the stop at 2’32” into the recording, cautioning to listen to the sequence leading up to the chord at 2’52” of Wieniawski’s “Legend”, eliciting a softly breathed “wow…” and goose bumps for the simplicity of beauty.

Wow is the radical way of experiencing the Andante from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, the first movement of Bruch’s second violin concerto.

Wow is the high F on the flute, pianissimo, floating into the wide expanse and wonderful acoustics of the old church building, perfectly on pitch, unwavering, the instrument being one with me…
But these wows are not to be kept; like joy, it multiplies through sharing.

Wow is also the ensemble of beautiful voices, forcing them to stop at the end of bar 17, keeping the note, and gently moulding the sound to perfection – resulting in “wow”, because we did not realise we could produce such a beautiful sound.

The brief stop at the top of the pass, looking into the valley below, the small farm dams shimmering like miniature mirrors – a “wow”. The fresh mountain water streaming over the moss-covered rock that few know about, walking around a boulder and suddenly experiencing this beauty – is a “wow”.
Most of all, I love to hear the “wow” – as if I were the creator of the beauty; not in pride as the originator of the appreciation, but simply for the privilege of being in a position of revealing the “wow” and in the process bringing beauty and discovery in someone’s life.

I love revealing the beauty of the world and getting the “wow’s”. But, after experiencing the wow myself for the first time, and on revealing it to someone else, I never look at the wow itself – I look at the first-time viewer, to fully and completely experience the wow of seeing someone else going “wow”.

And always, always, I will hear the most wonderful “wow” of all – that soft, baby-smell voice next to my ear, saying “oooh, wow….” – and I am thankful for being a trader in wow’s.