Monday 24 November 2008

Volunteers!

At The Darling Trust, we have a great number of things that we are very thankful for, one of which is our volunteers! During the year, a number of volunteers help out in the office and with our projects. Their help is invaluable and always appreciated! At the moment, we have two volunteers helping us out in the office.

Arks Smith is a very talented woman from Cambridge in the United States. She arrived at the beginning of November and has been a huge help since her arrival! Arks has created a brilliant filing system for the office as well as helping Pieter-Dirk and Kotie with some of their projects. Arks has proved to be a real asset and has become part of the family here. What an amazing woman!

A recent arrival at The Darling Trust is Catherine Powell. She has recently graduated from Harvard University in the United States and is spending some of her gap year in South Africa. Although she is based in Cape Town, she will be volunteering for 2 two days each week here in Darling. So far, she has started to work on our newsletter and is currently redesigning it. She will also be involved in arranging and running theatre workshops during her time here.

We are very grateful for those people who give so generously of their time. Thank you!

If you are interested in volunteering at The Darling Trust, please let us know. There are always possibilities for people wanting to lend a hand!

Tuesday 18 November 2008

The Talent Show - Success!

The Talent Show on Friday night was an outstanding success! Wow! What a great night!
The atmosphere was electric - people were full of energy, enthusiasm and most of all - TALENT!

Omnia was a brilliant MC and kept the show going smoothly. The Perron staff were a great help and a big thank you must go to them and the Trust staff for all their hard work.

There were so many people taking part! A father and son duo played the piano and saxophone. A group of children did an amazing hip hop dance routine. Sol from Steve's Electrical told a story like only he can. He had everyone laughing! Another star from Steve's Electrical - Joanne - wowed us with her jazzy rendition of the classic, "Summertime". Such a beautiful voice!
I even took part! Wilferd and I performed Abba's "Waterloo". What fun!

The Talent Show was filmed and hopefully we will soon compile a DVD that will be available for those interested in remembering the very special night, or for those who want to see what they missed out on!

Monday 10 November 2008

The Darling Trust's 9th Annual Talent Show!

This Friday evening sees the 9th Annual Talent Show organised by The Darling Trust! We are so excited about this special event!

As a teaser, allow me to share with you some of the people who will be performing...

First, we have Gloria. She is a weaver at the local basket factory and sings like an angel. She will be joined on stage by her very musical family! Brothers and cousins from as far afield as Tulbagh will be joining us on Friday night.

Then we have Joanne, the receptionist at our local electricians' shop. Her jazzy voice is pure velvet! She will be accompanied on piano by Owen, our resident quilt expert. Owen will also be playing the flute for us on Friday.

Guswill, a 16 year old boy from Darling, has a voice of gold. He is a classically trained opera singer and will be wowing us on Friday with an extract from one of his favourite operas.

Also, a very talented group of teenagers, calling themselves the Krump Masters, will be blowing us away with their rhythm and style.

These are only a few of the talented people who will be on stage on Friday. Hope to see you there!

Tickets cost R10 and are available from Evita se Perron (022) 492 2851

Monday 3 November 2008

The Groot Wit Olifant Sale

What can I say! What a great weekend!

The Kitchen Kabinet (the fundraising arm of The Darling Trust) held their first Groot Wit Olifant Sale this past Saturday at the Rondebosch Craft Fair. It was a great success, and such fun!

Books, handbags and costume jewellery were very generously donated and all of these items were then put on sale on Saturday. The 6 best handbags (3 Louis Vuittons (one of which was donated by Judy Sexwale), a Gucci, a Bally and a Tod) were raffled off.
The stall caused quite a stir at the Fair! Although we still need to finalise the figures, provisionally we raised just over R14,000 at the sale! All of the proceeds will go towards the transportation of disabled children from Darling to Wilge Day Care Centre in Atlantis.

Special thanks to Jane Raphaely, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Paula Harker, Jenny le Roux, Omnia Grobler, Cheryl Holmes, Jean Raubenheimer, the Rondebosch Craft Fair and all those who donated items. Thanks also to Sandra, Lizette, Trevor and Ann for helping on the day. Also, a very big thank you to all those who donated items!

The few items not sold during the sale will be put on sale on 6 December at the Christmas Fair in Darling. The Christmas Fair is an annual event in Darling and a great opportunity to enjoy the Christmas spirit in a small village. Hope to see you there!