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Sandy aftermath takes native’s home – Portales News

Superstorm Sandy hit close to home for one Portales resident. Kelly Cradock said her brother’s home in Belle Harbor, N.Y., a community15 miles southwest of Queens, burnt to the ground Tuesday along with 11 others as a result of flooding. “My brother said it’s just devastation everywhere,” Cradock said of the New York City area. …

Superstorm Sandy hit close to home for one Portales resident.

Kelly Cradock said her brother’s home in Belle Harbor, N.Y., a community15 miles southwest of Queens, burnt to the ground Tuesday along with 11 others as a result of flooding.

“My brother said it’s just devastation everywhere,” Cradock said of the New York City area. “He’s in the police department, so he’s seeing it everywhere.”

Cassidy Tibbets, a 2001 Portales High graduate, is a patrol officer for the New York Police Department and a staff sergeant for the U.S. Marine Reserves. He was helping provide disaster relief when his house was destroyed.

“It’s funny because I got this weird gut feeling before it happened and I called them before the hurricane (Sandy) to see how they were doing and what they were going to do,” Cradock said of her brother’s family, “They weren’t sure if they were going to evacuate or not because they didn’t for the last hurricane. But they did for this one, thank goodness.”

Hurricane Sandy, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 30 people on the East Coast, swept through Tibbet’s community, destroying homes and damaging others. It was a spark from electrical wiring sparked in a neighborhood home that caused the fire.

“There’s no way to get in contact with them at the moment,” Cradock continued. “Their cell service isn’t working that well. I did get a text from his wife (Barbara) after I messaged her. She said, ‘we love you too. We are doing fine.’”

Living in the New York house with Tibbets and his wife were his mother-in-law, Carol Nellen, and his 3-month-old daughter, Riley.

“He (Tibbets) called my mother then my mother contacted me,” Cradock said. “She (Cradock’s mother) was distraught. She said she feels helpless because she lives in Missouri, so she lives in between family (who is all in Portales and New York).”

Cradock said her brother’s family is staying in the house of “a friend of a friend” while Cradock has opened a local Portales bank account at J P Stone Community Bank and is asking local community members to help by donating funds to her brother.

“She just says, ‘We’re fine; we’re alive,’” Cradock said of her sister-in-law. “She’s a really strong woman, so she’s not one to focus on,  ‘We’ve lost everything.’ She’s not the type to call out for sympathy. But I can’t imagine trying to deal with all of this with a newborn.”

Cradock said New York native Barbara Tibbets was also living in Belle Harbor where her brother now lives in 2001 when an American Airlines plane crashed into the community, killing everyone aboard and five people on the ground. The incident happened two months after Barbara had lost numerous friends and other loved ones in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks.

“I was just in shock and I just feel for their loss,” Cradock said of the Tibbets losing their home and all their belongings, including the Iowa Jima Memorial sculpture her brother was given last year when he was named Reserve Marine of the Year.

“I can’t imagine losing everything,” she said. “And they had such a beautiful home and have such a beautiful family. It’s just so sad.”

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Sandy aftermath takes native’s home – Portales News

Superstorm Sandy hit close to home for one Portales resident. Kelly Cradock said her brother’s home in Belle Harbor, N.Y., a community15 miles southwest of Queens, burnt to the ground Tuesday along with 11 others as a result of flooding. “My brother said it’s just devastation everywhere,” Cradock said of the New York City area. …

Superstorm Sandy hit close to home for one Portales resident.

Kelly Cradock said her brother’s home in Belle Harbor, N.Y., a community15 miles southwest of Queens, burnt to the ground Tuesday along with 11 others as a result of flooding.

“My brother said it’s just devastation everywhere,” Cradock said of the New York City area. “He’s in the police department, so he’s seeing it everywhere.”

Cassidy Tibbets, a 2001 Portales High graduate, is a patrol officer for the New York Police Department and a staff sergeant for the U.S. Marine Reserves. He was helping provide disaster relief when his house was destroyed.

“It’s funny because I got this weird gut feeling before it happened and I called them before the hurricane (Sandy) to see how they were doing and what they were going to do,” Cradock said of her brother’s family, “They weren’t sure if they were going to evacuate or not because they didn’t for the last hurricane. But they did for this one, thank goodness.”

Hurricane Sandy, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 30 people on the East Coast, swept through Tibbet’s community, destroying homes and damaging others. It was a spark from electrical wiring sparked in a neighborhood home that caused the fire.

“There’s no way to get in contact with them at the moment,” Cradock continued. “Their cell service isn’t working that well. I did get a text from his wife (Barbara) after I messaged her. She said, ‘we love you too. We are doing fine.’”

Living in the New York house with Tibbets and his wife were his mother-in-law, Carol Nellen, and his 3-month-old daughter, Riley.

“He (Tibbets) called my mother then my mother contacted me,” Cradock said. “She (Cradock’s mother) was distraught. She said she feels helpless because she lives in Missouri, so she lives in between family (who is all in Portales and New York).”

Cradock said her brother’s family is staying in the house of “a friend of a friend” while Cradock has opened a local Portales bank account at J P Stone Community Bank and is asking local community members to help by donating funds to her brother.

“She just says, ‘We’re fine; we’re alive,’” Cradock said of her sister-in-law. “She’s a really strong woman, so she’s not one to focus on,  ‘We’ve lost everything.’ She’s not the type to call out for sympathy. But I can’t imagine trying to deal with all of this with a newborn.”

Cradock said New York native Barbara Tibbets was also living in Belle Harbor where her brother now lives in 2001 when an American Airlines plane crashed into the community, killing everyone aboard and five people on the ground. The incident happened two months after Barbara had lost numerous friends and other loved ones in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks.

“I was just in shock and I just feel for their loss,” Cradock said of the Tibbets losing their home and all their belongings, including the Iowa Jima Memorial sculpture her brother was given last year when he was named Reserve Marine of the Year.

“I can’t imagine losing everything,” she said. “And they had such a beautiful home and have such a beautiful family. It’s just so sad.”

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Sandy aftermath takes native’s home – Portales News

Superstorm Sandy hit close to home for one Portales resident. Kelly Cradock said her brother’s home in Belle Harbor, N.Y., a community15 miles southwest of Queens, burnt to the ground Tuesday along with 11 others as a result of flooding. “My brother said it’s just devastation everywhere,” Cradock said of the New York City area. …

Superstorm Sandy hit close to home for one Portales resident.

Kelly Cradock said her brother’s home in Belle Harbor, N.Y., a community15 miles southwest of Queens, burnt to the ground Tuesday along with 11 others as a result of flooding.

“My brother said it’s just devastation everywhere,” Cradock said of the New York City area. “He’s in the police department, so he’s seeing it everywhere.”

Cassidy Tibbets, a 2001 Portales High graduate, is a patrol officer for the New York Police Department and a staff sergeant for the U.S. Marine Reserves. He was helping provide disaster relief when his house was destroyed.

“It’s funny because I got this weird gut feeling before it happened and I called them before the hurricane (Sandy) to see how they were doing and what they were going to do,” Cradock said of her brother’s family, “They weren’t sure if they were going to evacuate or not because they didn’t for the last hurricane. But they did for this one, thank goodness.”

Hurricane Sandy, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 30 people on the East Coast, swept through Tibbet’s community, destroying homes and damaging others. It was a spark from electrical wiring sparked in a neighborhood home that caused the fire.

“There’s no way to get in contact with them at the moment,” Cradock continued. “Their cell service isn’t working that well. I did get a text from his wife (Barbara) after I messaged her. She said, ‘we love you too. We are doing fine.’”

Living in the New York house with Tibbets and his wife were his mother-in-law, Carol Nellen, and his 3-month-old daughter, Riley.

“He (Tibbets) called my mother then my mother contacted me,” Cradock said. “She (Cradock’s mother) was distraught. She said she feels helpless because she lives in Missouri, so she lives in between family (who is all in Portales and New York).”

Cradock said her brother’s family is staying in the house of “a friend of a friend” while Cradock has opened a local Portales bank account at J P Stone Community Bank and is asking local community members to help by donating funds to her brother.

“She just says, ‘We’re fine; we’re alive,’” Cradock said of her sister-in-law. “She’s a really strong woman, so she’s not one to focus on,  ‘We’ve lost everything.’ She’s not the type to call out for sympathy. But I can’t imagine trying to deal with all of this with a newborn.”

Cradock said New York native Barbara Tibbets was also living in Belle Harbor where her brother now lives in 2001 when an American Airlines plane crashed into the community, killing everyone aboard and five people on the ground. The incident happened two months after Barbara had lost numerous friends and other loved ones in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks.

“I was just in shock and I just feel for their loss,” Cradock said of the Tibbets losing their home and all their belongings, including the Iowa Jima Memorial sculpture her brother was given last year when he was named Reserve Marine of the Year.

“I can’t imagine losing everything,” she said. “And they had such a beautiful home and have such a beautiful family. It’s just so sad.”

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Book Review: "The Housemaid’s Daughter" by Barbara Mutch

It is somewhat a rare feat when the voice of a novel’s narrator is so compellingly convincing that the reader has to marvel how it is possible to enter their mind so effortlessly. You will have to forgive Mutch for persuading you to believe that you must be reading a novel, which is based on …


It is somewhat a rare feat when the voice of a novel’s narrator is so compellingly convincing that the reader has to marvel how it is possible to enter their mind so effortlessly. You will have to forgive Mutch for persuading you to believe that you must be reading a novel, which is based on a first hand-account of events. And yet it is not.

Mutch’s debut novel, “The Housemaid’s Daughter”, recounts the story of Ada, the protagonist in the book, as told through her very own eyes. Set in the midst of the apartheid regime with a time frame spanning from the 1930s through to the 1980s, Mutch refrains from producing a novel, which could essentially be in danger of being read more like a history textbook than a gripping novel. Instead, it is through her presentation of the novel’s characters that author is successfully able to convey the rippling effects of apartheid throughout all corners of society. All the characters are essentially products of their environment and therefore continuously find themselves indirectly or directly affected by the harsh reality of the apartheid regime, no matter what their colour or creed may be.

Ada’s life is arguably portrayed as somewhat of a paradox.  On the one hand, apartheid dictates that she is confined to her role as black maid serving a wealthy white family in Cradock, a town in the Karoo in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Yet on the other, she simultaneously finds herself in a more agreeable position in comparison to her black peers, not least because of Miss Cath, the white “Madam” of Cradock House and fellow striving protagonist in the novel, who travels from Ireland to South Africa for the simple purpose of marrying Edward, the Master of Cradock House. Mutch also serves the reader with a narrative from Miss Cath who writes and exposes her most inner thoughts in a diary. In an interesting twist, Miss Cath’s thoughts appear to run parallel to those of Ada and so it would seem that the recurring theme of oppression is not just limited to the most obvious victim.  A definitive contestant for the most favourable character in the novel, Miss Cath cultivates an unexpected compassionate relationship between the pair, while possessing a genuine interest in ensuring the welfare of Ada wherever possible.

From her personal and insightful narrative perspective, beginning with her life as a child at the start of the novel to her very last days, the reader is gradually driven to empathise with Ada’s character. In her youth, she struggles to understand the implications of apartheid and finds it somewhat illogical. It is in her days as a young woman that Ada experiences tumultuous points in her relationships with the residents at Cradock House and indeed further afield that will determine her fate and shape the rest of her life. While her life thereafter proves to be forever marred by the consequences of turbulent events, it is the glimpses of hope, resilience and redemption that come to prevail in the cruellest of circumstances and are precisely what makes The Housemaid’s Daughter a captivating and thought-provoking read.

The Housemaid’s Daughter is currently available in hardback, ebook and audio and in paperback from January 2013.

Read an interview with the author Barbara Mutch here

WIN! Stand a chance to win a copy of the book by entering your details below. Competition closes on Thursday 8 November.

Win a copy of The Housemaid’s Daughter.

Who wrote ‘The Housemaid’s Daughter’?

 

 


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Fanny Cradock

Wine show entrepreneurs behind Veritas, Michelangelo and the Old Mutual Toasty Show will be rubbing their hands in glee with news of an innovation that will increase capacity at tastings and their revenues: tampons to refresh judges between glasses of wine.  As reported in the Guardian yesterday, the UK’s leading celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, at Ellerman House …

Wine show entrepreneurs behind Veritas, Michelangelo and the Old Mutual Toasty Show will be rubbing their hands in glee with news of an innovation that will increase capacity at tastings and their revenues: tampons to refresh judges between glasses of wine.  As reported in the Guardian yesterday, the UK’s leading celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, at Ellerman House earlier this month, notes “if you drain the moisture in your mouth you experience richness, creaminess and sweetness more intensely … and there is really nothing much more absorbent than a tampon.”

At the recent Diners Club Winemaker of the Year tasting (above) held at the Grande Roche in Paarl, I was initially thrown by the palate cleansers supplied by the hotel – pepper flavoured water biscuits – which throws question marks at the Old Mutual Toasty Show Shiraz results, held at the same venue.

Diners’ judge Margaret Fry swears by a glass of milk and I find that olives are useful to counteract tannin build-up.  But the tampon trick from Heston clearly has merit.  Although the pompous palates favoured by some shows will likely need designer tampons as tasting in a bow-tie with a little string hanging out of your mouth would be just too ridiculous, even for Old Mutual.  Tasting tampons could even be branded by a sponsor like Diners Club in the case of blind tastings, by Tops at Spar if Orange River wines are in play or the Platter Guide in the case of sighted assessment.  Presumably red tampons for red and rosé wines and white for white wines.

Modest Heston assigns credit for the tampon brainwave to oral physiologist Don Prince.  ”Don is the equivalent of me in the physiology department: he’s brilliant but barking mad and although I think he surpassed himself this time, it was not uncharacteristic.”

As Heston notes: “if you have a spoonful of ice-cream then put a tampon on the tongue for a couple of minutes, when you eat the ice-cream again the taste will be richer.  It’s certainly not something I would do for culinary enjoyment purposes, but it’s an interesting way to explore the taste receptors in our mouth.”  If tampons can clean up after ice cream, imagine what they would do for a flight of young Pinotages.

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Jenkins wins sixth Fish Marathon title

9 October 2012 After a titanic battle with Hank McGregor, Len Jenkins raced to a sixth victory in succession in the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon on the weekend and with it claimed the 2012 South African K1 River title. Jenkins and McGregor had been neck and neck for the majority of the two-day, 82 …

9 October 2012

After a titanic battle with Hank McGregor, Len Jenkins raced to a sixth victory in succession in the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon on the weekend and with it claimed the 2012 South African K1 River title.

Jenkins and McGregor had been neck and neck for the majority of the two-day, 82 kilometre event and for the first time in decades it came down to an end sprint to separate the pair, with Jenkins edging ahead of McGregor just meters from the finish line.

Jenkins, dubbed the “Fisher King” for his uncanny dominance in the race for more than a decade, was full of praise for his adversaries after seizing control of the race in the closing stages when McGregor was slowed by waves in the Golf Course Rapids.

‘A good race’

“I’d definitely rank my first win in 2001 as the most memorable, but it’s still great to have one and it was nice to have a good race against Hank (McGregor),” said Jenkins
afterwards.

“It was a different win. It was a really strong field this year and there were a lot of good guys here. Hank and Grant (van der Walt) are fantastic athletes, so it was tough.

“I tried not to do too much work today. With Grant just behind us, obviously he was always going to do his best to catch us and I could’ve tried to fight it, but I decided to take it easy instead and it paid off for me in the end,” he explained.

Having started the day together, the pair was caught by Van der Walt between Long Acre Bridge and Gauging Weir, and the three then made their way towards the notorious Cradock Weir.

Shot the weir

Jenkins and McGregor shot the major obstacle in the most unconventional manner when the two of them went over the weir at precisely the same time and remarkably both boats and paddlers paddled on unscathed, with Van der Walt left 20 metres off the pace.

“It used to be faster shooting from left to right, but
since they removed the sandbank it’s actually quicker the other way around now, and so I made sure I was on the outside which gave me the chance to get going again first,” said Jenkins.

McGregor, however, was not done and put in a superb interval to catch and pace the defending champion. A rare mistake through Golf Course Rapid by McGregor gave Jenkins the gap he needed and through he went.

‘Stopper waves’

“After Len got away at Cradock, I managed to catch and pass him after a kilometre, but then I just hit a couple of stopper waves at the bottom, which really slowed me down and I just couldn’t get past again,” said McGregor.

“Full credit to him, though. He’s a phenomenal paddler, especially on the Fish River, and deserved the win. He timed it right and it all worked out for him.

“It was a good race, though. It was close the whole way and was anyone’s race all the way up until Cradock Weir,” he added.

Van der Walt had to
settle for the third step on the podium, finishing 50 metres behind the leaders after a monumental effort on the second stage.

Fourth place

Local hero Greg Louw powered his way into fourth place ahead of Lance Kime and Cam Schoeman.

“I didn’t quite realise Cam was that strong and Lance was just impossible to shake off,” said Louw. “Cam had an unfortunate swim at Gauging Weir, though, and I went over Cradock Weir ahead of Lance, and from there I just put my head down and managed to get clear.

“There were six world champs in their various categories out there this year and only three of them finished ahead of me, so I’m very chuffed,” he smiled.

Ladies’ race

The overnight leader in the ladies’ race, Michle Eray, enjoyed a career highlight when she crossed the line ahead of former champion Robyn Kime to become the first Eastern Cape paddler to win the K1 title in 15 years.

It was a fitting victory as Eray emulated the
late Danil Conradie, who mentored her in her early years as a paddler.

“I’m absolutely over the moon,” said Eray. “Danil won the Fish when I was in matric, so to now win the race myself all these years later and take over from him is amazing.

“The Sella and the Fish were the last two races he won before he passed away in 1998, and I won the Sella earlier this year and now this just incredible,” she explained.

Overcame injury

The win was even sweeter for Eray after the former Olympian was forced out of action by a debilitating wrist injury for much of 2011. This year’s event was her first major race, other than her efforts at the recent World Marathon Championships in Rome, since August last year.

“Obviously I haven’t exactly had the most ideal preparation for this race, with not much time to train, so I just had to go with what I knew,” said Eray.

“Today was meant to be easier with it being shorter, but I actually felt
worse than I did yesterday. I just tried to keep it at 90 percent throughout the day and a group of guys caught me early on, so I stayed with them until my swim at Gauging Weir.”

“Fortunately, I still had enough of a buffer to portage Cradock and I’m super stoked to have won,” she concluded.

Second and third

Kime claimed the silver medal, with her team Best 4 Kayak Centre team mate Abby Adie claiming bronze.

“I felt a little stronger today than yesterday, but Mich (Eray) was just too good,” said Kime. “It was a great race, though, and as always it was lots of fun.

“I also didnt swim today, which helps things and which doesn’t happen often for me.

“I couldn’t see Mich by the time I got to Cradock, so decided just to go for it and it was great to make it cleanly,” she added.

Jenna Ward had a superb two days as she came home in fourth place, with ICF World Marathon Series champion Hilary Pitchford rounding out the top
five.

Age group titles

Grant van der Walt claimed the men’s under-23 title ahead of Lance Kime and van der Walt’s younger brother Brandon, while it was Robyn Kime, Abby Adie and Jenna Ward who claimed first, second and third in the women’s under-23 section.

In the hotly contested junior boys category it was KZN’s Murray Starr who claimed the top spoils ahead of under-16 paddler Louis Hattingh and Murray Haw. The junior girls’ race was just as tight with Jordan Peek winning ahead of Kerry Segal and Kerry Shuter.

International paddlers figured prominently once again, with Australian Josh Kippen finishing 16th, just behind Czech Republic star Jakub Adam, who has committed five months to prepare for The Unlimited Dusi in February with his K2 partner Michael Odvarko, who finished 19th.

Olympic bronze medalist Brigitte Hartley, together with Nick and Paul Burden completed the event successfully together in a K3, while former Springbok
captain Corn Krige completed his support of local schools when he crossed the line with race organiser Pieter Marais and Krige’s good friend Billy van Zyl.

RESULTS

Men

    1. Len Jenkins 5:01.41
    2. Hank McGregor 5:01.41
    3. Grant van der Walt 5:02.12
    4. Greg Louw 5:08.07
    5. Lance Kime 5:09.40
    6. Cam Schoeman 5:10.27
    7. Jacques Theron 5:10.52
    8. Brandon van der Walt 5:15.11
    9. Ant Stott 5:15.19
    10. Thulani Mbanjwa 5:16.28

    Women

      1. Michle Eray 5:39.58
      2. Robyn Kime 5:42.39
      3. Abby Adie 5:47.08
      4. Jenna Ward 5:58.09
      5. Hilary Pitchford 6:01.39
      6. Jordan Peek 6:09.06
      7. Kerry Segal 6:09.39
      8. Kerry Louw 6:11.39
      9. Kerry Shuter 6:12.23
      10. Brittany Petersen 6:15.52

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Manny Lopes Appointed New CEO of EBNHC – East Boston Times

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center’s new CEO Many Lopes with wife Lee at a recent EBNHC function. Anyone involved in the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center knows that Manny Lopes is a dedicated leader and one of the most recognizable figures in and around town. So it came as no surprise last week when President …

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center’s new CEO Many Lopes with wife Lee at a recent EBNHC function.

Anyone involved in the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center knows that Manny Lopes is a dedicated leader and one of the most recognizable figures in and around town.

So it came as no surprise last week when President Jack Cradock and the Health Center’s Chairwoman Rita Sorrento announced Lopes as the new CEO of EBNHC. Cradock, who served as both President and CEO will remain on as EBNHC’s president through 2014. Cradock will concentrate on external relationships and providing advice and support to the new management team.

“Manny’s breadth of experience at EBNHC provides him with an unparalleled understanding of the health center, our community, and the vital importance of providing high-quality health care to those we serve,” said Cradock. “This extraordinary insight, combined with Manny’s expertise and leadership acumen, means that we’re in excellent hands. Please join us in congratulating Manny on his spectacular achievement.”

Lopes appointment to CEO is the culmination of a strategic succession planning process that involved senior management and the health center’s Board of Directors over the past several years.

Lopes’ ascension is a story that embodies EBNHC’s mission and commitment to the community.

More than two decades ago, Lopes joined the health center as an 18-year-old researcher, working with Dr. Jim Taylor on a blood pressure study. In the ensuing years, Lopes went on to hold positions in the Human Resource and Operations Departments. Lopes later served as the Health Center’s Vice President and Chief Information Officer, providing organizational vision and leadership with an eye for technology and collaborative innovation.  In 2010, Manny assumed the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and began working closely with Cradock as part of the health center’s succession plan.

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Rain soaks Eastern Cape

Rain continued to cause havoc in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, with parts of the N2 closed to traffic, Eastern Cape Disaster Management said on Sunday. “There is a huge hole, about 25 metres wide and 50 metres deep on the N2, by the Pumba Game Reserve, between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown,” said Captain John …

Rain continued to cause havoc in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, with parts of the N2 closed to traffic, Eastern Cape Disaster Management said on Sunday.

“There is a huge hole, about 25 metres wide and 50 metres deep on the N2, by the Pumba Game Reserve, between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown,” said Captain John Fobian.

“The road has been closed off and traffic is being diverted from Port Elizabeth to the Cradock Road N10 around Cookhouse and back to Grahamstown or East London.” 

Before the road collapsed on Saturday, a truck which had been caught in the flooding, overturned and police, divers and a rescue team were called to save the passengers.

While they were still involved in the rescue, another car hit a pothole and collided with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction. One person died in the crash.

“It was then that the road gave way, as it was completely saturated from all the rain we’ve had since October 16,” Fobian said.

The coastal road between Port Elizabeth, via Port Alfred, to East London was reopened at 7.30am on Sunday morning after landslides and flooding forced its closure on Saturday.

SABC reported that Kouga Municipality spokeswoman Laura-Leigh Randall said the Sand River bridge between Cape St Francis and St Francis Bay had been washed away and the water was still strongly flowing.

According to the broadcaster, she said a technical team had assessed the damage and said it would not be possible to construct a pedestrian bridge, but that people were crossing the river where the water was flowing less strongly.  

Port Elizabeth’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) rescued 76 people and a dog early on Sunday.

A religious group was stranded upstream of the Swartkops River, cut off from the mainland by rising water, the NSRI said.

It said quad bikes and 4×4 vehicles were used in the rescue operation, and that the trunks of fallen trees and ropes were used to guide the group safely across the river. No one was injured.

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Lessons in the key of life

I was four when I started to play the piano. My teacher was my Irish grandmother, by then in her 80s yet still able to coax a Chopin waltz or a Beethoven sonata from slowly stiffening fingers. We studied from an ancient book called the Progressive Primer for the Pianoforte. I have it still, its …

I was four when I started to play the piano. My teacher was my Irish grandmother, by then in her 80s yet still able to coax a Chopin waltz or a Beethoven sonata from slowly stiffening fingers. We studied from an ancient book called the Progressive Primer for the Pianoforte. I have it still, its tattered pages held together by yellowed strips of sticky tape, its pencilled marks the only record I have of my grandmother’s writing. I can’t say that I was a model pupil, but it didn’t seem to matter. “Grand,” she would say of my halting efforts. “Just grand!”

Sitting by her side on the piano stool, happily breathing in her 4711 cologne, our sessions soon strayed beyond the progressive primer. I loved stories and my grandmother loved to reminisce. No subject, it seemed, was off limits. I wonder, do the very old know that the very young are indeed listening? Or do they simply love to recall the past for their own sake? Their own comfort? I’m not sure.

What I do know is that I hung on to her words as readily as I lapped up her genius for the piano. Lessons in life emerged between attempts at Come to the Green Wood and Dance of the Gnomes.

My grandmother was born and brought up in northern Ireland in the late 19th century. She trained as a music teacher and became engaged to a young man in her village. It was an era when many people were looking to the colonies for a future. When my grandfather was offered a job managing a shoe shop in a small town called Cradock in South Africa, it must have seemed a wonderful – if somewhat daunting – chance to make a new life. The couple hoped to marry in Ireland before setting off for South Africa. But their adventure was delayed. My grandmother was required to remain behind in Ireland, while he went on to South Africa, until it was deemed that the engagement had been properly observed.

Their separation lasted for five years, their only contact the weekly letters each wrote. Finally, with her wedding dress in her suitcase and a chaperone in tow (of course), my grandmother was allowed to travel to England by train and boat, and then board a Union-Castle liner from Southampton. The first major port of call would be Cape Town where she would disembark and marry my grandfather on the same day. No time for either to change their minds. After a brief celebration, the newly weds would take the train to Cradock for their honeymoon.

But – and here her eyes sparked at the memory – there would be a twist to these careful plans. She met another suitor on board ship: a dashing English army officer returning to his regiment in India. She never said as much, but it was clear to me that they fell in love. Imagine serving five years of engagement apart, then when you are about to marry, you meet someone else.

She never told me his name; perhaps it had already faded from her mind. But his intentions were clear. He urged my grandmother to stay on board and travel to India with him, where they would marry as soon as they docked.

I can still remember my excitement at this potential wickedness. Why not? After all, no one back home would know until the first letters arrived and by then it would be too late to object. And the marriage would always carry the possibility of a return to the United Kingdom after a spell in India.

It must have been tempting. Marriage in South Africa would be a commitment for life. There would be no prospect of returning to see family and friends, no chance to re-settle back home. But my grandmother was a woman of her time, bound by duty and the conventions of her upbringing, and by genuine fondness for her fiancé. She set aside the shipboard romance, disembarked and married my grandfather on the same day, and started out on her new life as planned.

She and my grandfather – who, sadly, died before I was born – built what appears to have been a contented and music-filled life in their adopted country, with their four children. Did she ever regret her decision? Did she wonder – as the years went by – what she had missed?

She never said. Perhaps there was no time for regret. Certainly, there was much to her new life to distract from thwarted romance or what might have been.

When I look back on those years at the piano I realise that she operated with a very light touch. She suggested rather than insisted. She dropped hints, rather than imposed rules. Those precious lessons in life that I only dimly understood at the time were not born from instruction, but example: the way she lived and loved, and particularly the way she treated those around her. Even as a child I sensed she used a different approach from other adults. It came out in the way she spoke to me, as if I had an opinion that counted; and in the way she spoke to our housemaid, more as friend. And was I imagining it or did I detect a frisson of disapproval from the other adults in earshot? These were tiny nuances that set her apart, perhaps even from her own children – and then somehow skipped a generation and lodged within me.

What governs what we remember? Why is it that, even as young children, we store away a tone of voice, the choice of a word? For me, her gentle memories fed a quietly building crescendo in my own life. Sometimes I used to play in the family garden with the daughter of my parents’ housemaid.

I remember wondering why we could play together today, but tomorrow we would have to go our separate ways. Would this sense of injustice have risen up in me without my grandmother’s subtle influence?

Too often we ignore the elderly. We dismiss their stories as dated. But perhaps this passing on of memories is the most important part of ageing; a fundamental – and final – gift to the very young. My grandmother died when I was 13. By that time I had moved on from the intricacies of Chopin and was playing pop and ballads. At first, I thought that her greatest gift to me would be the music: her early encouragement, her delight in my progress even when I strayed from the classics, her passion that sparked a lifetime of pleasure for me at the piano. That would surely have been enough.

But as I grew up, her way of looking at the world began to assume greater importance: love versus duty, generosity versus inhibition and the ability of music to overcome prejudice.

None of us can know where the formative experiences of our lives will come from or where they will lead. I was lucky enough to meet a remarkable woman who, for a few years at the end of her life and at the beginning of mine, sat me down on a piano stool and taught me about life, love and the joyous, healing power of music. For that, I can never thank her enough.

• The Housemaid’s Daughter by Barbara Mutch is published by Headline Review for £16.99. To order a copy for £12.74, with free UK pp, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846

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New chapter for hoppy ale

A group of pub licensees has produced a new ale inspired by the best selling book Fifty Shades of Grey. The four men developed the beer, called Fifty Shades of Ale, on a training course run by Everards Brewery, of Enderby. They are expected to stock the beer in their pubs – The Heathcote, in …

A group of pub licensees has produced a new ale inspired by the best selling book Fifty Shades of Grey.

The four men developed the beer, called Fifty Shades of Ale, on a training course run by Everards Brewery, of Enderby.

They are expected to stock the beer in their pubs – The Heathcote, in Croft, The Cradock Arms, in Leicester, The Globe, in Leicester and The Final Whistle, in Southwell.

The Globe’s Tom Lawton said: “It’s an auburn hoppy ale with a citrus twist.”

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Landscape lighting design takes shrewd eye, technical skill

The intensity of colour, the refinement of shadow, the synergy of shapes — such phrases are usually reserved for fine art classes or a Group of Seven tour through the Art Gallery of Ontario. But today they are the catch-phrases of a new breed of artist: the landscape lighting designer. What once was perceived as …

The intensity of colour, the refinement of shadow, the synergy of shapes — such phrases are usually reserved for fine art classes or a Group of Seven tour through the Art Gallery of Ontario. But today they are the catch-phrases of a new breed of artist: the landscape lighting designer. What once was perceived as the last thought for residents after buying or building a property has now become a design priority. That is, if one wants to fit into the aesthetic zeitgeist of Toronto’s neighbourhoods, which are being slowly lit up one by one.

“No one tells Michelangelo to only use 250 colours when he really needs 300 to create a masterpiece,” says Bill Cradock, owner of Starlite Lighting Concepts. “It’s the same with landscape lighting. The most challenging thing about it is that the client may not share your vision. But it’s got to be done right.” Mr. Cradock describes his craft as “painting with light,” a talent best appreciated when the lighting serves more than a basic function and actually reinvents the outdoor space: “We cast the shadows of trees on to driveways, recreate the light of the moon or the sun, and allow a homeowner to feel as though the outside is an extension of the inside of their house.”

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Scott MacKinnon of Light Emitting Design (LED) says North American cities are lagging Europe in this field. “European architecture is lit up so that pedestrians can walk through the city at night. Toronto is definitely a work in progress, but it’s a trend that’s really increased in popularity.”

Mr. MacKinnon, who used to light films, including Focus with William H. Macy, says LED bulbs open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to illuminating outdoor spaces. “No one wants blinding floodlights at the back of the house,” Mr. MacKinnon explains. “With LED lights you can really control exactly where the light is going and there’s no ultra-violet rays or swarms of bugs because the bulbs aren’t hot.”

LED lights are also non-toxic and contain no mercury or cadmium, so they can be thrown out in the regular garbage. “This is one concrete way that consumers can reduce their carbon footprint for real,” brags Tom Herstad of Regal Lighting Designs. Mr. Herstad, notably known as the man who lit Mike Holmes’s home, also likes the ease with which LEDs can be manipulated: “There are specific optics with LED that allow only the object to be lit, so that you don’t have lights shining into other people’s yards or sightline.”

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Mr. Herstad says this especially comes in handy when lighting a big cottage: “When you’re out in cottage country, the expectation is that landscape lighting follows dark-sky compliance, which means that lights can’t shoot up into the sky or be blasted from your dock across the lake, but must be limited and controlled.” Mr. MacKinnon concedes, “people at the cottage want to be able to extend their indoors, like sitting out on the deck comfortably or walking safely out on the dock. A lot of cottage work is functional because it’s just pitch black without it.”

What determines how something is lit, however, really depends on the property, the landscape itself and the personalities of the people who live there. “It’s funny,” Mr. Herstad says. “Women always prefer a warmer light, but men usually like something more bright.”

Mr. Cradock says a great way to light a property is to picture it throughout the seasons. “Take a maple tree, for example,” he says. “In the fall, you can light the red and yellow leaves, but then in winter, highlighted bare branches can be just as beautiful.”

At Starlite Lighting Concepts, a project can have wildly different price points, running anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000, depending on the size and complexity of the property. This tends to be the general price range across the board, with an average Toronto backyard costing $3,000. Mr. Herstad discusses the minor cost to a person’s electricity bill.

“With LEDs, you can light a backyard for an entire year for only $1 per light. This is a light that will be on all night, 365 days a year, with no light bulb changes.” The lights also have no risk of burning out right before a dinner party because a transformer is installed as backup.

One critical mistake that amateurs make is to light every feature of a backyard property. “Lighting should be subtle and selectively placed,” Mr. Herstad enthuses. “If you light everything, nothing stands out.”

And herein lies the art of lighting. “It’s just something,” Mr. Cradock says, that “you have to have a feel for.” Or maybe these artists are heeding the call to light up the darkness one household, one cottage, one poolside patio at a time.

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Funnygirl Debra spares her blushes to play cooking’s favourite F word

COMEDIENNE Debra Stephenson had to ditch her inhibitions to play Sixties TV kitchen queen Fanny Cradock for a series of shows. Debra admits: “I’ve said the word Fanny so many times and it sounds so rude but you just get used to it. Thankfully, the comedy wears off.” The Impressions Show star Debra plays Fanny …

COMEDIENNE Debra Stephenson had to ditch her inhibitions to play Sixties TV kitchen queen Fanny Cradock for a series of shows.

Debra admits: “I’ve said the word Fanny so many times and it sounds so rude but you just get used to it. Thankfully, the comedy wears off.”

The Impressions Show star Debra plays Fanny for a run of special programmes on More4 on Sunday, giving her take on recipes from the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

And at 10pm there will be a pilot for new show Fanny And Friends, which sees Debra in character helping a housewife cook a Sunday roast.

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Workers still exposed to dangerous chemicals

Sithandiwe Velaphi Inspectors from the department of labour have found that some employers in the midland areas were still exposing employees to “hazardous chemicals” without issuing them with protective clothing or equipment. The inspection blitz was carried out last week and it covered municipalities like Inxuba Yethemba, Camdeboo and Senqu. Labour provincial spokesperson Vuyokazi Mbanjwa …

Sithandiwe Velaphi

Inspectors from the department of labour have found that some employers in the midland areas were still exposing employees to “hazardous chemicals” without issuing them with protective clothing or equipment.

The inspection blitz was carried out last week and it covered municipalities like Inxuba Yethemba, Camdeboo and Senqu.

Labour provincial spokesperson Vuyokazi Mbanjwa said after the blitz, the department had issued 89 contravention notices and 11 prohibition notices in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Mbanjwa said they checked compliance within the wholesale and retail, farming, hospitality and domestic sectors as well as compliance with the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

“Out of the 762 targeted employers, 759 sites were inspected, with 471 companies complying and 291 companies not complying,” Mbanjwa said.

“While we were in Cradock the inspectors inspected 94 farms with 64 farms complying and 30 farms not. Employees in this sector are still paid below the prescribed minimum wage. Farm workers there are not issued with pay slips,” Mbanjwa said.

In Graff Reinet, out of 49 farms visited, only eight were not compliant with minimum wages and pay slips.

Livingstone Matiwane, who heads the inspection and enforcement services in the Eastern Cape, said labour inspectors had a duty to create awareness and educate employers and employees about conditions of employment.

“The blitz helps to address some of the challenges immediately as we are able to send a team of inspectors right to the spot after a complaint has been received,” he said.

The department will hold wholesale and retail sector hearings as well as taxi sector information sharing sessions in its East London offices today.

provinces@thenewage.co.za

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Sport stars raise funds for Cradock youth

16 October 2012 Supporting charities has become a key part of the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon and this year’s event, held on 5 and 6 October, was no different as former Springbok captain Corn Krige and Olympic bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley lent their support to the fund-raising efforts. Krige, who competed in the race …

16 October 2012

Supporting charities has become a key part of the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon and this year’s event, held on 5 and 6 October, was no different as former Springbok captain Corn Krige and Olympic bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley lent their support to the fund-raising efforts.

Krige, who competed in the race for a first time, raised R70000 for schools in desperate need of financial support in the Cradock area.

Delighted with the support he received, Krige has pledged his support to the event and his campaign on an annual basis in years to come.

‘Fantastic’

“It was only the first year that we ran this campaign and so to have raised what we did is fantastic,” he said. “It’s been so pleasing to see how everyone came on board and offered their support so generously.

“It’s great to know that we’re able to help others, especially young children, with this money and to see those children’s faces will
be amazing,” he added.

Krige, who teamed up with his former high school friend Billy van Zyl and race committee chairman Pieter Marais in a K3 (three-seater kayak), admitted to being a little nervous going into the opening day of the two-day spectacle.

Together with his relative lack of experience on a river, he also had to overcome the difficult emotions the occasion brought back as he paddled with his late niece and nephew in mind, while Van Zyl, whose son drowned tragically six years ago, also had an emotional mountain to overcome going into the event.

Near perfect adventure

The significance of the trio’s efforts to help other young children in need, however, soon took over and a near perfect adventure unfolded before them.

“For both Billy and I, it was obviously quite an emotional and stressful time. It was particularly tough for Billy, who lost a child to water six years ago and now had to conquer a bit of a fear and get back into
water himself, so I was very glad to be there with him and try help through it all,” Krige explained.

The efforts by the former rugby star had already raised a significant amount towards what has become known as the Corn Krige Charity when it received a further boost from Olympic K1500m sprint bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley, who generously donated one of her Olympic tops from the London Games for auctioning at Saturday’s prize giving, with all proceeds going towards the drive.

Close to her heart

Charity, especially the support of young children, is something particularly close to Hartley’s heart and the paddling sensation was thrilled to be able to support Krige’s campaign.

“I have quite a soft spot for charity and I’ve always hoped that my efforts and achievements when I paddle will help inspire people to achieve whatever they set out to,” she said.

“If there are, however, other ways that I can try use my name or achievements
to help those in need out, then I love to help, and this was definitely one of those times.

Explaining her decision to donate one of her tops, Hartley said she had tried to help out with fund-raising by selling bits and pieces, but with trying to prepare for her first river race since 2008 she found it quite tough, “so, I thought giving one of my Olympic tops to be auctioned would be a small way in which I could try help a little more.”

Popular item

Despite economic times being tough around the world, the item’s popularity was soon clear for all to see as bidders battled it out for the coveted item.

“When I heard the opening price was R1000, I thought there was no ways it would even be sold at all. Then, as people started bidding and the price went up and up, I just stood there with my mouth open. I couldn’t believe it!” said Hartley.

The item was finally sold to Port Elizabeth-based Paul Lynch, who has been heavily involved in
sport at a youth level for many years.

“I’ve been involved in the junior section of the local lifesaving club for years and was part of the nippers before that. I also spent many years as a mini hockey coach,” explained Lynch.

“This year’s Hansa Fish was my fourth Fish, but this time I had the privilege of paddling with my 16-year-old daughter in her first Fish and after spending the past three months of training hard with her I really can appreciate just how incredible it is to be able to do something like that with your child.

Fortunate

“I’m also fortunate enough to be in a position where I can afford to do things like [bid in the auction] and so it was fantastic to be able top off what had been a great weekend on the water by doing something like this,” he added.

Knowing his curiosity with auctions, Lynch had been discouraged from taking part by those close to him. However, his final bid of R25000 was successful and he now plans to
enable his fellow paddlers to view the item before finding a special spot for it in his own home.

“I’m just a sucker for auctions. Being in the wool industry, I go to auctions on almost a weekly basis, so when it was announced at prize giving my wife immediately turned to me and said ‘No!’,” Lynch laughed.

“It will probably go on loan to Bluewater Canoe Club, my local club, for a little while where everyone can then get the opportunity to have a look at it and be part of it,” he added.

SAinfo reporter

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Nigella Lawson: kitsch fantasy or ironic work of art?

BEFORE sitting down to watch the second episode of Nigellissima on BBC2 tonight, have a look at American artist Martha Rosler’s 1975 film, Semiotics of the Kitchen. Part of the women’s movement of that period, the film [see clip below] shows Rosler wearing a dowdy apron and standing in front of a kitchen counter in …

BEFORE sitting down to watch the second episode of Nigellissima on BBC2 tonight, have a look at American artist Martha Rosler’s 1975 film, Semiotics of the Kitchen. Part of the women’s movement of that period, the film [see clip below] shows Rosler wearing a dowdy apron and standing in front of a kitchen counter in a mock-up of the classic TV cookery formula.
 
Instead of doling out helpful tips on the best way to achieve stiff peaks when whisking egg-whites for a meringue à la the celebrity chefs of the time – Julia Child in the US or Fanny Cradock in the UK – Rosler is sour-faced and violent.

I is for Ice-pick, she indicates, as though the latter were a perfectly normal part of a housewife’s armoury. K is for Knife: she stabs at the air. N is for Nutcracker: she opens and closes the implement in a menacing gesture. The message is clear: domesticity is a form of enslavement for women.

Nearly 40 years on, and domesticity is a form of retro fetishism. Cupcakes are iced in the colours of the Union Jack, knitting is fun, burlesque is a way to wind down after work. These trends were precipitated by Nigella Bites (2000), which introduced TV audiences to Nigella’s luminous beauty, as well as her propensity for sexualising even the most hum-drum of cooking processes. Nigella is part of a relatively recent historical shift whereby “[women of the upper-classes] actually began to cook themselves, instead of employing other people to do it for them.”

These words are borrowed from the late novelist Angela Carter’s 1977 review of a book called Food In Vogue, a collection of columns from the magazine. Nigella too would later become a Vogue food columnist. If the 1930s were fraught with a recession akin to our own, that decade also witnessed a blossoming of upper-class foodie obsessives. The columns were devoured by readers, “as if something of the mana of ladies and gentlemen of wealth, birth, and distinction may be absorbed via the ingestion of dishes”.

Carter is referring to the mystical power of aspiration. Simply by reading about “pheasant with gin and juniper… as elegant in its excess as Cole Porter,” those without the financial means could imagine themselves to be part of a more glamorous reality. Food has always been a symbol of status; “the heartless innocence of style” is exemplified by recipes that include exotic and expensive ingredients beyond the reach of the majority.

Following the first episode of Nigellissima last week, there has been much Nigella-baiting by mostly male critics. Their desire for her seems tinged with contempt. Nigella has built a career on conflating two of the oldest feminine archetypes: the wife and the mistress. Domesticity and sex combine to affirm her as a flawless male fantasy: giving, nurturing, mothering, on the one hand, and suggestive, salacious, and finger-sucking, on the other.
 
The series begins [see clip below] with Nigella throwing open the blinds of the Florentine hotel where she worked as a chambermaid at the age of 19 during her gap year. She is celestially lit, but she is wearing a Wednesday Adams style black top and white collar. Nigella has often commented on the irony with which she licks her spoon, so to speak, and though that irony is difficult for the viewer to detect, there is a definite Hammer Horror edge, which throws the whole seductress act off-balance. Nigella has something macabre about her: that unreal, china-white skin, those staring, smiling eyes. As she herself has explained: “I’ve got a dark underbelly.”

This is Nigella’s saving grace. Her otherworldly performance of perfection is too excessive to convince. For this reason, it is fascinating. Her love of food is clearly authentic, but her claim to be only accidentally alluring is disingenuous. Why bother to pretend that you’re not trying to titillate when you’re happy to pose for a photo-shoot with salted caramel dribbling down your face like an internet porno (Stylist cover, 2010)?

Unlike the chirpy and empty personas of Lorraine Pascale and Rachel Khoo, Nigella possesses a siren-like gravitas more appropriate to 1950s Hollywood than lifestyle TV. Her charm is undercut by pathos. Her purple prose is defiant, even confrontational, in the context of a culture that reviles pretension of any kind.
 
Although she shares none of Rosler’s choreographed rage, Nigella is aggressive in an obscure way. She proclaimed on Desert Island Discs in 2003 that she had chosen Eminem’s Cleanin’ Out My Closet, a song which graphically details the rapper’s wish for his mother to burn in hell, because: “I love the mixture of beautiful music and hate.” Similarly, she said in a 2010 interview: “Often people think I’m jollier than I am because they presume that someone who likes cooking and baking would have a merry temperament, which I don’t at all.”

From Smack The Pony’s sketch of a hysterical female chef in a busy restaurant kitchen (2002) to Julia Davis’s brilliant rendition of Fanny Cradock in the biopic Fear of Fanny (2006), the conventions of TV cookery have been mocked by feminist comedy. Nigella’s hyperbolic femininity is a parody of itself, but she never lapses into natural laughter. By aping the figure of the ideal woman, she exposes its absurdities. Her shows are ravishing, grotesque and erotic. In a different light, they might be performance art.

  • Zoe Pilger is an art critic for The Independent and is writing a PhD on sadomasochism and romantic love at Goldsmiths, University of London.

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Pride of Reading nomination for Paul Branston

An innovative Reading businessman who braved the recession to venture into a brand new market is in the running for a 2012 Pride of Reading award. Nominated by Gary Cranford from Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, Paul Branston of Reading could scoop the Entrepreneur of the Year award in this year’s ceremony for his confidence …

An innovative Reading businessman who braved the recession to venture into a brand new market is in the running for a 2012 Pride of Reading award.

Nominated by Gary Cranford from Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, Paul Branston of Reading could scoop the Entrepreneur of the Year award in this year’s ceremony for his confidence in the consumer marketplace and a willingness to take risks in an already well-supplied industry sector.

Nominate online here

Mr Branston, 53, from Mortimer, has successfully run his electronic component manufacturing business in Reading for more than 25 years.

Stontronics in Chancerygate, Cradock Road, continues to thrive but in March, Mr Branston decided to take the plunge and diversify into high end garden furniture.

Inspired by the Aldo Gucci quote: “The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory”, he braved this summer’s rain to open Berkshire’s newest luxury showroom, also located in Chancerygate.

As well as ranges of teak, rattan and wicker garden furniture, Branston Luxury Garden Home Furniture also stocks bird tables, stoneware, fountains and planters.

And, after surviving Britain’s monsoon season, Mr Branston is now expanding further by importing and selling premium interior furniture from Italy.

After a complete refit, the showroom will boast Italian ranges Porada, Bonaldo and Cierre as well as classic British hand-made sofas from Collins and Hayes.

In March 2013, he hopes to open a mezzanine floor at his 400 square metre Cradock Road showroom so he can display and sell indoor and outdoor luxury furniture at the same time.

Mr Branston said: “I’m really pleased to be doing what I’m doing and to be nominated for this award.

“It’s been hard work to get where we are today and it’s nice that this has been recognised.”

Mr Cranford said: “What really impressed me is Paul’s entrepreneurial spirit. The furniture market is very crowded and what Paul has decided to do shows bravery in the current climate.

“His diversification into selling a luxury commodity is a testament to his confidence in himself, his company and his product.”

Entrepreneur of the Year is sponsored by hibu.

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Killer Mosquitos reunite for ultimate match

slideshow Some get it and some don’t — Ultimate Frisbee is a real sport. Just ask anyone who’s ever been part of Cleveland’s team, the Killer Mosquitos, formerly known as Wildcat Ultimate. Long-time Cleveland High School teacher, swim coach and now principal, Steven Craddock, has been teaching local youth the sport for 21 years. Since …

Coach Steven Craddock (center, holding Frisbee) will organize a 21-year reunion for the Killer Mosquitos, a local Ultimate Frisbee team he has been coordinating since 1991. Cradock said team veterans would be coming in for the weekend from as far away as Washington.

slideshow

Some get it and some don’t — Ultimate Frisbee is a real sport.

Just ask anyone who’s ever been part of Cleveland’s team, the Killer Mosquitos, formerly known as Wildcat Ultimate.

Long-time Cleveland High School teacher, swim coach and now principal, Steven Craddock, has been teaching local youth the sport for 21 years.

Since 1991, hundreds of faces have come to recognize Craddock as the local leader sharing his passion for the game.

This weekend, Craddock is organizing a team reunion, a “coming-of-age birthday celebration” where 40 or more players will unite.

Both former and active players will face off Saturday at 1 p.m. on the quad at Delta State University to spend an afternoon of Frisbee and friendship, honoring the proud Ultimate tradition of Cleveland.

The team’s camaraderie is evidenced by the distance players will travel to attend the reunion.

Team veterans will be coming in from as far away as Virginia, Washington, Atlanta and Dallas.

“The fact that people are willing to come from such great distances shows to me the bond that we’ve had as a team for so many years,” said Craddock.

“Some of the older guys will be playing against the newer players for the first time.”

The current team meets every Sunday for competitive pickup; a staple activity that Craddock, who still plays, said has become a very important part of his life.

The club originally formed as cross training for Craddock’s swim team at CHS, but soon other local youth joined and stuck with it.

“I loved Ultimate and thought it was a great way for my swimmers to stay in shape,” said Craddock, who first fell in love with the game as a student at Ole Miss in 1984.

Legend has it Craddock used to give troublemakers at CHS two options — go to detention or strap up the cleats and hit the Ultimate field.

“Since I wanted nothing to do with detention, I came out to play,” said Mike Carr, CHS class of ’99 and 16-year team veteran. “It was a great policy; however, in retrospect, it did create a team full of big talkers.”

Carr said he has nothing but admiration for Craddock’s dedication to the group.

“I have looked up to Coach Craddock as a mentor since I was about 15-years-old,” he said. “He loves the sport, loves our team and has devoted a lot of his personal time — and funds — over the years designing uniforms, T-shirts, discs, logos and making sure we all stayed in touch with each other.

“Coach’s leadership has really helped me keep up with Cleveland High School, Delta State and the next generation of Ultimate players.”

Teammate Shane King, who has played for 10 years, echoed Carr’s gratefulness.

“Coach’s experience on and off the field led me to follow his every instruction because I knew he wouldn’t lead me in the wrong direction,” said King. “His leadership on the field taught me to always listen to the advice of elders, because even if I believed deep down that I was right, their experience always helped.”

The Killer Mosquitos are more than just a local presence; they regularly travel to tournaments throughout the Southeast region.

Craddock and the team have attended tournaments across Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee.

The furthest they travelled for a tournament was over eight hours to Maryville, Tenn.

“One of my fondest memories is when we won our first game in ’98, and of course, winning our first tournament in 2006,” said Craddock.

For those less familiar with the rules, Ultimate Frisbee runs at a non-stop pace, mixing features of other sports such as soccer, basketball and football.

Teams must complete passes of the Frisbee from one end of the field to the other, before scoring in the end zone, much like in football.

There is no limit to the number of throws a team can complete before scoring, and the Frisbee can be thrown forward or backward.

Any time a pass is dropped, intercepted or thrown incomplete, the opposing team immediately gains possession and moves down the field in the opposite direction.

Once a player catches a pass, he must stop all momentum to the quickest of his ability; there is no advancing of the Frisbee by running with it.

Much like basketball, once the Frisbee is in possession and momentum has stopped, the player may then establish a pivot foot.

The player pivots as needed to avoid a block from the defense, and has 10 seconds to complete a pass to a teammate.

Similar to soccer, players are always on the go, anticipating openings on the field.

The team completing the most catches in its offensive end zone wins the game.

Ultimate began in the late 60s by high school students in New Jersey, and the game has gained popularity throughout the world over the decades.

It was even a medal sport in the 2001 World Games in Japan, and the professional league known as the American Ultimate Disc League began in 2012.

As the Killer Mosquitos remain a proud team, this weekend is a milestone for Craddock and the crew.

“I’m really looking forward to playing with alumni that I haven’t seen in years,” he said. “It will be an emotional time catching up with everyone who’s shown dedication for so long.”

The team is open to new players joining for pickup and tournaments. Those with or without experience are welcome to come out.

Pickup occurs every Sunday at 1 p.m. on the DSU quad.

To learn more about the sport, visit www.usaultimate.org.

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Jenkins pips McGregor to win

Other Sport Cradock – Len Jenkins claimed a sixth victory in succession in the Fish River Canoe Marathon, pipping Hank McGregor to the finish line at the end of a titanic battle over two days and 82 kilometres, continuing his domination of the event in a K1 and in the process claimed the 2012 SA …

Other Sport

Cradock – Len Jenkins claimed a sixth victory in succession in the Fish River Canoe Marathon, pipping Hank McGregor to the finish line at the end of a titanic battle over two days and 82 kilometres, continuing his domination of the event in a K1 and in the process claimed the 2012 SA K1 title as well.

Jenkins and McGregor had been neck and neck for the majority of the event, which was doubling as the SA K1 river champs, and for the first time decades it came down to an end sprint to separate the pair with Jenkins getting the decisive jump on McGregor just meters from the finish line.

Jenkins, dubbed the “Fisher King” for his uncanny dominance in this race for more than a decade, was full of praise for his adversaries after seizing control of the race in the closing stages when McGregor was slowed by waves in the Golf Course rapids.

“I’d definitely rank my first win in 2001 as the most memorable but it’s still great to have one and it was nice to have a good race against Hank (McGregor),� said Jenkins.

“It was a different win. It was a really strong field this year and there were a lot of good guys here. Hank (McGregor) and Grant (van der Walt) are fantastic athletes so it was tough.�

“I tried not to do too much work today. With Grant (van der Walt) just behind us obviously he was always going to do his best to catch us and I could’ve tried to fight it but I decided to take it easy instead and it paid off for me in the end,� he added.

Having started the day together the pair were then caught by van der Walt between Long Acre bridge and Gauging Weir and the three then made their way towards the notorious Cradock Weir.

Jenkins and McGregor then shot the major obstacle in the most unconventional manner when the two of them went over the weir at precisely the same time and remarkably both boats and paddlers paddled on unscathed with van der Walt left twenty meters off the pace.

“It used to be faster shooting from left to right but since they removed the sandbank its actually quicker the other way around now and so I made sure I was on the outside which gave me the chance to get going again first,� said Jenkins.

McGregor, however, was not done yet and put in a superb interval to catch and pace the defending champ. A rare mistake through Golf Course rapid by McGregor gave Jenkins the gap he needed and through he went.

“After Len got away at Cradock I managed to catch and pass him after a kilometer but then I just hit a couple of stopper waves at the bottom which really slowed me down and I just couldn’t get past again,� said McGregor.

“Full credit to him though. He’s a phenomenal paddler, especially on the Fish River, and deserved the win. He timed it right and it all worked out for him.�

“It was a good race though. It was close the whole way and was anyone’s race all the way up until Cradock Weir,� he added.

Van der Walt had to settle for the third step on the podium finishing fifty meters behind the leaders after a monumental effort on the second stage.

Local hero Greg Louw powered his way into fourth place ahead of Lance Kime and Cam Schoeman.

“I didn’t quite realize Cam (Schoeman) was that strong and Lance was just impossible to shake off,� said Louw. “Cam (Schoeman) had an unfortunate swim at Gauging Weir though and I went over Cradock Weir ahead of Lance and from there I just put my head down and managed to get clear.�

“There were six world champs in their various categories out there this year and only three of them finished ahead of me so I’m very chuffed,� he added.

Overnight leader in the ladies’ race, Michéle Eray, enjoyed a career highlight when she crossed the line ahead of former defending champ Robyn Kime, becoming the first Eastern Cape paddler to win the K1 title in fifteen years.

It is fitting that it is Eray who takes over the title from the late Daniël Conradie, who mentored her in her early years as a paddler.

“I’m absolutely over the moon,� said Eray. “Daniël won the Fish when I was in matric so to now win the race myself all these years later and take over from him is amazing.�

“The Sella and the Fish were the last two races he won before he passed away in 1998 and I won the Sella earlier this year and now this just incredible,� she added.

The win was even sweeter for Eray after the former Olympian was forced out of action by a debilitating wrist injury for much of 2011 and this year’s event being her first major race, other than her efforts at the recent World Marathon Champs in Rome, since august last year.

“Obviously I haven’t exactly had the most ideal preparation for this race with not much time to train so I just had to go with what I knew,� said Eray.

“Today was meant to be easier with it being shorter but I actually felt worse than I did yesterday. I just tried to keep it at 90 percent throughout the day and a group of guys caught me early on so I stayed with them until my swim at Gauging Weir.�

“Fortunately I still had enough of a buffer to portage Cradock and I’m super stoked to have won,� she added.

Kime claimed the silver medal with her team Best 4 Kayak Centre team-mate Abby Adie claiming bronze.

“I felt a little stronger today than yesterday but Mich (Eray) was just too good,� said Kime. “It was a great race though and as always it was lots of fun.�

“I also didn’t swim today which helps things and which doesn’t happen often for me.�

“I couldn’t see Mich (Eray) by the time I got to Cradock so decided just to go for it and it was great to make it cleanly,� she added.

Jenna Ward had a superb two days as she came home in fourth place with ICF World Marathon Series champion Hilary Pitchford rounding out the top five.

Grant van der Walt claimed the men’s under 23 title ahead of Lance Kime and van der Walt’s younger brother, Brandon whilst it was Robyn Kime, Abby Adie and Jenna ward who claimed first, second and third in the women’s under 23 encounter.

In the hotly contested junior boys category it was KZN’s Murray Starr who claimed the top spoils ahead of under 16 Louis Hattingh and Murray Haw. The junior girls race was just as tight with Jordan Peek claiming the title, Kerry Segal finished second and Kerry Shuter third.

International paddlers figured prominently once again, with Australian Josh Kippen sixteenth, just behind Czech Republic star Jakub Adam, who is committing five months to preparing for The Unlimited Dusi in February with his K2 partner Michael Odvarko, who finished nineteenth.

Olympic bronze medalist Brigitte Hartley, together with Nick and Paul Burden completed the event successfully together in a K3 whilst former Springbok captain Corné Krige completed his support of local schools when he crossed the line with race organizer Pieter Marais and Krige’s good friend Billy van Zyl.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS –  FISH RIVER CANOE MARATHON
DAY TWO
Men Second stage time Overall time
1.Len Jenkins 2:09.51 5:01.41
2.Hank McGregor 2:09.51 5:01.41
3.Grant van der Walt 2:08.12 5:02.12
4.Greg Louw 2:11.38 5:08.07
5.Lance Kime 2:13.08 5:09.40
6.Cam Schoeman 2:13.57 5:10.27
7.Jacques Theron 2:12.48 5:10.52
8.Brandon van der Walt 2:14.33 5:15.11
9.Ant Stott 2:17.15 5:15.19
10.Thulani Mbanjwa 2:13.49 5:16.28
11.Mark Mulder 2:13.15 5:16.41
12.Ryan Louw 2:16.19 5:18.57
13.Pierre-Andre Rabie 2:16.51 5:21.45
14.Stuart McLaren 2:16.55 5:21.50
15.Jakub Adam (Czech Rep) 2:15.43 5:22.18
16.Josh Kippen (Aus) 2:15.46 5:22.23
17.Sibonelo Zondi 2:15.50 5:22.25
18.Alex Roberts 2:16.32 5:23.10
19.Michael Odvarko (Czech Rep) 2:16.21 5:25.42
20.Andrew Birkett 2:13.21 5:26.42

Women
1.Michéle Eray 2:24.13 5:39.58
2.Robyn Kime 2:23.42 5:42.39
3.Abby Adie 2:26.22 5:47.08
4.Jenna Ward 2:31.04 5:58.09
5.Hilary Pitchford 2:30.56 6:01.39
6.Jordan Peek 2:34.37 6:09.06
7.Kerry Segal 2:37.37 6:09.39
8.Kerry Louw 2:37.47 6:11.39
9.Kerry Shuter 2:40.23 6:12.23
10.Brittany Petersen 2:36.43 6:15.52

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Jenkins wins Fish River Canoe Marathon

Dave MacLeod-Livewire Media File picture of Len Jenkins. Cradock – Len Jenkins claimed a sixth victory in succession in the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon, pipping Hank McGregor to the finish line at the end of a titanic battle over two days and 82 kilometres, continuing his domination of the event in a K1. In …

Dave MacLeod-Livewire Media

File picture of Len Jenkins.

Cradock – Len Jenkins claimed a sixth victory in succession in the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon, pipping Hank McGregor to the finish line at the end of a titanic battle over two days and 82 kilometres, continuing his domination of the event in a K1.

In the process, he clinched the 2012 SA K1 title as well.

Jenkins and McGregor were neck and neck for the majority of the event, which was doubling as the SA K1 river champs, and for the first time in decades it came down to an end sprint to separate the pair with Jenkins getting the decisive jump on McGregor just meters from the finish line.

Jenkins, dubbed the “Fisher King” for his uncanny dominance in this race for more than a decade, was full of praise for his adversaries after seizing control of the race in the closing stages when McGregor was slowed by waves in the Golf Course rapids.

“I’d definitely rank my first win in 2001 as the most memorable but it’s still great to have one and it was nice to have a good race against Hank (McGregor),” said Jenkins.

“It was a different win. It was a really strong field this year and there were a lot of good guys here. Hank (McGregor) and Grant (van der Walt) are fantastic athletes so it was tough.

“I tried not to do too much work today. With Grant just behind us, obviously he was always going to do his best to catch us and I could’ve tried to fight it but I decided to take it easy instead and it paid off for me in the end,” he added.

Having started the day together the pair were then caught by Van der Walt between Long Acre bridge and Gauging Weir and the three then made their way towards the notorious Cradock Weir.

Jenkins and McGregor shot the major obstacle in the most unconventional manner when the two of them went over the weir at precisely the same time and remarkably both boats and paddlers paddled on unscathed with Van der Walt left twenty metres off the pace.

McGregor, however, was not done yet and put in a superb interval to catch and pace the defending champ. A rare mistake through Golf Course rapid by McGregor gave Jenkins the gap he needed and through he went.

“After Len got away at Cradock I managed to catch and pass him after a kilometre but then I just hit a couple of stopper waves at the bottom which really slowed me down and I just couldn’t get past again,” said McGregor.

Van der Walt had to settle for the third step on the podium finishing fifty metres behind the leaders after a monumental effort on the second stage.

Local hero Greg Louw powered his way into fourth place ahead of Lance Kime and Cam Schoeman.

Overnight leader in the ladies’ race, Michéle Eray, enjoyed a career highlight when she crossed the line ahead of former defending champ Robyn Kime, becoming the first Eastern Cape paddler in fifteen years to win the K1 title.

The win was even sweeter for Eray after the former Olympian was forced out of action by a debilitating wrist injury for much of 2011 and this year’s event being her first major race, other than her efforts at the recent World Marathon Champs in Rome, since August last year.

“Obviously I haven’t exactly had the most ideal preparation for this race with not much time to train so I just had to go with what I knew,” said Eray.

Kime claimed the silver medal with her team Best 4 Kayak Centre team mate Abby Adie claiming bronze.

Jenna Ward had a superb two days as she came home in fourth place with ICF World Marathon Series champion Hilary Pitchford rounding out the top five. – Sapa

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Apartheid In (Mostly) Black-And-White

In South Africa, apartheid institutionalized racial segregation in every facet of life and the struggle against it took many forms. From the outset, photography was a critical element both in documenting the impact of the system and the resistance to it. The International Center of Photography has put together an extraordinarily wide-ranging exhibition that spans …

In South Africa, apartheid institutionalized racial segregation in every facet of life and the struggle against it took many forms. From the outset, photography was a critical element both in documenting the impact of the system and the resistance to it.

The International Center of Photography has put together an extraordinarily wide-ranging exhibition that spans the Afrikaner nationalist ascension to power in 1948 through Nelson Mandela’s assumption of the presidency in 1993.

An expatriate, I was accompanied to the center by a current Johannesburg resident who was less than unenthusiastic about spending precious limited time in New York at an exhibition entitled “The Rise and Fall of Apartheid.” However we were both absorbed and moved and would have liked to have more time than the two hours that we’d allocated.

Curators Okwui Enwezor and Rory Bester have assembled an array of work by well-known South African photographers such as Peter Magubane, David Goldblatt and Jurgen Schadeburg and by photographers you’ve probably never heard of, 70 artists in all. Most of them worked in black and white.

At the entrance of the exhibit, a video of De Klerk’s watershed 1989 speech unbanning the ANC is rolling. As you move through the opening galleries, De Klerk’s voice constitutes a curiously juxtaposed soundtrack for the Treason Trial several decades earlier. The young Mandela of this period was entirely unknown to generations of white schoolchildren.

The apartheid struggle was essentially one of black vs. Afrikaner, particularly in the ’80s and ’90s. Yet from the very beginning, you can’t but notice the names of people identified in the photographs: Mary Turok, Rose Schachter, Shulamit Muller, Leon and Norman Levy, all of whom were associated with the Treason Trial either as defendants, spouses or lawyers.

And then there were the photographers themselves: Eli Weinberg’s work in the ’30s and ’40s, Dan Weiner in the ’40s, David Goldblatt from the ’60s. Among the contemporary artists: Gideon Mendel, the late Giselle Wulfsohn, Paul Weinberg, Jillian Edelstein. As whites moved to the periphery in terms of active politics, Jewish artists continued to bear witness.

Images range from posters to press photographs. Sue Williamson’s series on the town of Cradock stands out. She presents two Cradocks: one the Cradock of the local city council, “white” Cradock, and the other that of Matthew Goniwe, one of the “Cradock Four” assassinated in 1985.

An extraordinary photo of Steve Biko’s open coffin that I had never seen before remains with me. Sam Nzima’s iconic photo of Hector Pieterson, shot on June 16, 1976, is all too familiar yet retains its power.

Amid the horror that was apartheid, all is not dark. Billy Monk’s work focusing on edgy white Capetonians in the Catacombs has a Felliniesque quality.

The exhibition is vast, and visitors would do well to allow sufficient time for it. Apart from the photographs, videos, including the well-known William Kentridge series, are available for viewing.

At this time when many of us are confronting memory, I found myself thinking of the words of Chile’s Jose Zalaquett, who worked with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission: “Identity is memory. Identities forged out of half-remembered things or false memories easily commit transgressions.”

The images in this body of work are searing, compelling, occasionally humorous, embarrassing and always truthful.

“The Rise and Fall of Apartheid” runs through Jan. 6, 2013, ICP, 1133 Sixth Ave. (at 43rd Street), (212) 857-0000, icp.org.

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