On 2 June 2017, the St Anne’s Old Girls’ Guild awarded Sarah Collins (1987, Usherwood) with The Award of Excellence for her incredible journey empowering impoverished women with the Wonderbag.In 2008, during the rolling blackouts that gripped South Africa, Sarah had an idea. She had found her destiny and was about to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of women across impoverished areas of Africa.
The next day, Sarah created the prototype for her heat-retention cooker, the Wonderbag. After food is brought to a boil, the pot is placed in the heavily-lined bag where it slow-cooks for up to 8 hours. "Finding firewood for cooking takes a huge amount of rural women's time," explains Sarah, "and gathering it is very dangerous. The wood fires used to cook then cause indoor pollution, a leading cause of death worldwide in children under five. Having the Wonderbag would empower the women to feed their families, generate an income, and save them time."
The Wonderbag eases the impact of health, social, economic and environmental problems facing Africa and developing countries. It enhances people’s quality of life by reducing time spent cooking. This small home business has expanded into a global social impact business. It is a dual model company with The Wonderbag Foundation focused on distributing bags to the poor. The busy Wonderbag factories produce hundreds of Wonderbags daily and a percentage of the proceeds from each Wonderbag purchased around the world are donated to the Foundation, helping them distribute Wonderbags to poverty-stricken communities.
Sarah's new goal is to sell 100 million Wonderbags to people worldwide. With the sales of these Wonderbags, the Foundation is committed to programs that continue to support the donation of bags to families in need which will act as catalysts for change!
Sarah spent an afternoon interacting with the St Anne’s girls and imparted much inspiration. She is a true visionary and has an incredible heart for people. Her enthusiasm and dedication for this cause can only lead to its continued success.
Photo Caption: Sarah Collins receiving The Award of Excellence from Old Girls Guild Member, Claire Hoatson.
News supplied by St Anne's Diocesan College.
The winter holidays are upon us already ..... is it just me or did this term fly by faster than ever?
Time: 7pm, entry R25, bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale. Musicians who want to play at MiTH, please contact 
St Anne’s is very proud to have eight girls currently singing in the KZN Youth Choir, including the choir Head Girl, Sarah Thornton-Dibb, who has been a member of this prestigious group for four years.
We, at La Popote, are trying something different for Friday's. Perfect for those of you who want a quick lunch.
Recently, a group of Grace College staff and students visited Sunnyside Park Home to spend time with some of the residents. While there, they participated in hand-making chocolate and playing Bingo while entertainment was provided by Megan Pluke (Grade 11) playing the ukulele. Students enjoyed the time chatting to the residents and listening to snippets of their life stories.
Omar Wilson, a Grade 5 pupil at Laddsworth Primary School, took part in the KZN MTB XCO Provincial #3 race on Saturday, 3 June, at Cascades, Pietermaritzburg.
Grace College recently hosted a netball tournament for senior netball teams from Jabula, Willowfountain and St John-Paul Combined Schools as well as from Siyanda, Asibemunye and Zuzulwazi High Schools. The teams competed with spirit, the winner was Asibemunye High School and the runner-up was Siyanda High School.
William Luxford in Grade 10 at Grace College completed the "Impi Hard Enduro" at Tugela Ferry this past weekend. This is one of the toughest endure races of the year, they raced for three days.
Senior sport teams from Grace College entered the Laddsworth Night Fun Run/Walk on Thursday 15 June where our star trail runner Nick de Scally finished in first position.
Kimé Brits, a Grade 7 pupil at Laddsworth Primary School, competed at the Royal Show on her horse Cruisia Nikki.
This morning, Karl Wörner from Karkloof Safari Spa officially handed over a Game Viewing Vehicle to our Headmaster George Harris. Karkloof Safari Spa has donated this vehicle to our Conservation Centre and this generous gift enables us to make the natural wonders of the nature reserve more accessible to the school community.
Laddsworth Primary School Chess teams participated in the Midlands Junior School Chess Championship at St. Nicholas Diocesan School on 29 May 2017.
Time: 7pm, entry R25, bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale. Musicians who want to play at MiTH, please contact 
We are THRILLED to have been selected as an official beneficiary of funding from the N3TC Touching Lives Initiative! It has been an answer to our main challenge which is to find funding to be able to commit to our knitters on a regular, monthly basis.
Laddsworth Primary School will hold its annual Night Fun Run/Walk on the 15th June at 18h00. The race caters for young and old, fit and unfit, as there is a 6km and a 4km marshalled route. The race starts and ends at Laddsworth Primary School and runs through parts of Hilton and the St. Anne’s College Wetland. This year we are also inviting schools, clubs and companies to enter teams, dressed in their sports or corporate gear. The aim of the Laddsworth Night Fun Run/Walk is to bring friends, family, businesses and schools of the Midlands Community together for a bit of fun. There are many lucky draw prizes that will be handed out on the night. Put your takkies, headlights & lumo kits on and come and join us for a fun night out! The first 500 entries will receive glow paints and glow sticks in their race packs.
Chelsea Kilian, in Grade 8 at Grace College, competed at the Royal Show achieving the following results;