Windows XP was recently been made redundant. So there will no longer be security updates on the software. This has put bit of a damper on expectations of whether Microsoft can provide a long term solid platform to work from. Don't be in a hurry to throw away old laptops and computers.

Why keep them?

Some will be saying but those laptops and desktops are so old, why keep them? With the move to Cloud computing these old computers are becoming useful. Programs hosted off the local computer free up substantial amounts of processing speed. The demand on old computers resources are substantially reduced. The old computer, with a simple internet connection becomes the champ again.
What about software updates?

The lack of Windows XP updates gives rise to exploration of the unknown world. We have discovered Linux and specifically Ubuntu. This product has proven to be easy to install and runs 95% of what we need. We then utilise this platform to link into our cloud services. The new lease on old computers has given us expanded ability to work.
Business strategy

We believe computing in the future will be very different from what we are used to today. Develop a business strategy to enhance solid cloud solutions. Think out of the box to how you can use your old computers to carry out this strategy.

Donate

If you are not using those old computers, think about sending them our way. We will happily set them up and donate them to schools that will use them.

Contact Sheldon Conway of Business Soul Accounting on 033 343 2164 if you would like to chat through this and get a few more ideas.

Grace College pupils, staff, families and friends gathered on the school's sports field on 27 May, with great anticipation and joy to welcome home the LEAP Challenge riders after their 11 day Mountain Bike ride from Cape Town to Hilton. A total distance of 1753km was covered, mostly on dirt roads. Greg Perrett, a parent at Grace, who initiated this ride in 2012, was accompanied by Greg Bailey (parent), Richard Cole and Scottsville Primary School Headmaster, Bobby Nefdt. Duane Smith, who started the journey with the team, had to withdraw due to illness. This ride is aimed to raise funds for LEAP (Learner Enhancing and Advancement Programme), an outreach initiative of Grace College. The school is greatly indebted to Greg, his fellow riders, their support team and the community who made generous donations to this fund, for this noble act of love. "Thank you and welcome home!"

A mounted patrol project started in Winterskloof Hilton last Monday, pictured here is Steve riding BeeGee. Together they will be patrolling the streets of Winterskloof on a daily basis adding an extra pair of eyes to crime prevention in our community.

Clear advantages of a mounted patrol compared to foot or bicycle patrol are that a horse covers much more ground in a shorter time especially in a community like Winterskloof!

From horseback the guard can see over most fences or walls and into bushes, and a mounted patrol is a much more impressive picture and less vulnerable then foot patrols.

'Residents in Winterskloof with horses are encouraged to join the patrol for an easy long outride like my daughter and I did on Friday morning.' said Christel Klein.

News and images supplied.

On Friday the 16th May Laddsworth Primary School participated in an inter-schools cross country meeting at Cordwalles Preparatory School where two Laddsworth Open girls achieved outstanding results. Leah Kriel broke the record with the new time of 14min 16sec and Emily Anders tied the record with a time of 15min 01sec. The previous record of 14min 32sec was set by Lauren Knobel, also from Laddsworth, in 2012.

Pictured on the left is Leah Kriel and below is Emily Landers.

News supplied by Laddsworth Primary School.

The St Anne's school sacristans, together with STEPP, initiated a project last week to pray for the safe return of the school girls kidnapped in Nigeria.

On Wednesday 14 June, the girls tied yellow ribbons around an oak tree and on the school gates. The idea of tying ribbons was inspired by the popular '70s song with lyrics about tying a yellow ribbon round the 'ole oak tree' to let a prisoner know he was welcome to return home. In this case, they symbolise hope for the safe return of the school girls and act as a reminder for us to continue to pray for this cause.

The girls requested a special chapel service to be held on Friday morning and the sacristans led the whole school in prayer for the release of the Nigerian girls. Over 200 candles were lit on the alter, one for each captive girl, in the hope that their prayers will be answered.

The girls of St Anne's want to encourage other schools, as well as the broader community, to join them in prayer and tie ribbons as a reminder to continue to pray for the safe return of the school girls and all the families affected by this desperate situation.

Tuesday and Thursday were relatively quiet days at the club, with fewer players than usual. On Saturday we filled six rinks, and played for avocado pears provided by John Fowler. As often happens, John's team won the prize. Thanks for your encouragement to our members, John.

At the close of play we gathered in the club house for a very pleasant social hour.

The Jaxx Roll will be played this afternoon (21st). On Saturday prizes will be vouchers from Lindsay's Coffee Shop, and next Thursday Lister and Lister will our sponsors.

League is in abeyance until 31st May.

The deadline for the first round of the Men's Singles competition has been extended to Friday 23rd May. Those who have not completed round 1 by then will be scratched.

Duties: 25 -31 May: OOD – Dave Garrard. Tabs: Fred Palmer. Lock-up team: Des Morrish. Teas Saturday 31st : Fred Palmer & Arthur Daugherty. Biscuits : 27 & 29 May: Pam Morrish & Mike Mylne.

News from Hilton Bowling Club.

Deirdre McQuade, well-loved and loyal member of our club died suddenly on Friday evening from a complication following recent surgery. She will be sorely missed and deeply mourned by her bowling friends. The entire club extends its condolences to Bill and his family.

The Chicken Run played on Thursday was won by John Fowler, Dave Stevenson and Richard Lister. Congratulations to this star-studded team, and grateful thanks to Quarry Spar for their generous support of our club.

All three of our league teams were in action on Saturday. The Ladies played away against Howick. They lost on both rinks by narrow margins. The Men's Third team travelled to Mooi River, where they won one rink and lost the other. Mooi River won overall and collected the bonus point.

The Men's Fourth league team played at home against Maritzburg and also won one and lost one, but managed to get the extra point.

On Sunday morning we hosted the Sanders Trophy match between Lynwood and Howick. A good win in the singles match secured victory for Lynwood.

Duties: 18 -24 May: OOD – Margie Garrard. Tabs: Dave Garrard. Lock-up team: Colin Watson. Teas Saturday 24th Anton Leisegang & Richard Lister. Biscuits : Bill Lambert & Des Morrish.

News supplied by Hilton Bowling Club.

Mountain Biking has been a popular sport at Grace College and has seen some brilliant riders coming through the ranks. The school is proud to announce that Velo Life, a well-known cycling company with a passion to coach mountain bike riders, has come on board to assist with the assessment and training of the aspiring Grace College mountain bikers. Johann Wykerd, a coach at Velo Life and very accomplished rider himself, and SA mountain biking athletes, Candice Neethling and Carla Van Huyssteen, have taken the task upon themselves to take Grace College Mountain Biking to the next level. It's a vital association and the school thanks them for their time invested in the sport.

Pictured from the left: Milan Comley, Kyle Walton, Carla Van Huyssteen (Time Freight Velo Life), Channell Da Rosa, Matilda Kelly, Georgia Teasdale, Candice Neethling (Time Freight Velo Life) and Kaila Jacobs.

News supplied by Grace College.

Another week of beautiful April weather saw many members out on the green. Friday's IF Tournament was won by Derick Hull, John Aubrey and Rob Tosen. Runners-up were Tom Hartley, Rina Tainton and John Arnott. Well played to all, and our sincere thanks to Investment Facilitators for their continued generous sponsorship.

On Saturday the men's 3rd league side hosted Howick and won one game and lost the other. The win was greater than the loss, so Hilton received the bonus point. Our ladies' league side played against Maritzburg at Hilton, and unfortunately lost both matches. Good luck to those playing league matches next Saturday.

Because of league last week, the Quarry Spar-sponsored Chicken Run had to be postponed. This will take place on Thursday 8th May, and not Tuesday as previously announced.

Duties for the week 11th to 17th May are: OOD – John Pluke; Tabs – Jill Bannatyne; Lock-up team – Anton Leisegang and team; Saturday tea – Derick Hull; Biscuits – Bill and Deirdre McQuade.

News supplied by Hilton Bowling Club.

The Jaxx Roll on Wednesday was won by Brian Ravno, Bill Ralphs and Burnice Shaw. Winners of the Dulcė vouchers were Chris Purchase, Fred Palmer and Vernon Hickinbotham. Congratulations to the victorious teams and thanks to Jaxx and Dulcės for their sponsorship.

Fred Palmer was in form again on Saturday, winning the Lindsay's prizes with Bill McQuade and Tony Barrington.

Thanks to Ulanda and her team at Lindsay's.

The committee has decided to change the tabs-in time back to 13:30. This time will apply all year round, with effect from 1st June.

Up-coming events include the Lister and Lister event on Thursday 29th and IF trips on Friday 6th June. Skips for the IF trips are asked to confirm their entry with Dave Garrard on 033 343 4246.

All league players are asked to attend a practice on Friday 30th at 14:00.

News supplied by Hilton Bowling Club.

Firstly, make sure you have good quality pruning shears that are well maintained – kept sharp, lubricated, cleaned and disinfected. If the branches are too big, use some heavy duty loppers or a saw.

PRUNING FUCHSIAS

Seasoned gardeners will tell you that the time to prune your fuchsias (and your roses) are the months with a "J" in them, i.e. January, June and July. Those old gardeners are quite correct, but to me this is a flexible guide and should be adapted to the area you live in and also the seasonal changes, taking into account global warming effects on the temperatures, particularly now with our recent warm spell.

So what happens in January? Your fuchsias, if you've cared for them properly, should have flowered from the end of September to December. By January they may be getting a bit leggy with a few flowers at the ends. It is time for a HALF prune to promote a second flush of flowers. How much to cut back? The plant will tell you where to cut back to. Oh yes, plants can communicate!! We just don't listen to them. Prune back the branches by about 30% to a new shoot. These shoots are just waiting to grow and flower. As soon as you remove the ends of the branches, the energy will be redirected to these young shoots. With a boost of feeding these young shoots will provide you with a second flush of flowers until at least Autumn. It is always good to remind ourselves that fuchsias flower on new growth. So promoting new, healthy growth on your plants is the aim.

Lets now get to the main prune (June and July). Why do fuchsias (like many other plants) need a winter pruning? There are a number of reasons, viz :

1. to remove dead and diseased growth,
2. to remove weak branches,
3. to shape the plant,
4. to promote strong growth, and
5. to promote flowering.

Your winter pruning could start as early as May or as late as the end of July to August, depending on how cold the Winter is in your area. Pruning in May will give you a chance of earlier flowering, but also the possibility of Uncle Jack Frost damaging those young shoots! Come on, be daring, prune in May and have a beautiful display in early Spring!

So how to prune? I like to take a good look at a plant and see which branches are the strong ones and those that are weak or dead. Using sharpened and disinfected pruning shears, remove all the dead and weak branches. The next step is to cut back the sturdy, next season's branches by ½ to ⅔'s. Cut just above a node, about 10mm, with a clean slightly angled cut. It is best to prune last season's growth to about 2 nodes above the old growth. Pruning into the old wood may cause that particular branch to die back. Remove any remaining leaves that may be harbouring any bugs or diseases.

Garden plants should now be given a good watering. Next add a 25cm layer of compost around the base, two handfuls of mature chicken manure and then cover with a layer of mulch, eg coarse pine bark, hay etc. Then give a good watering again. This gives the roots constant, slow-release nutrition, keeps them warm in Winter and cool in Summer. It is not necessary to loosen the soil around the plants as the worms will do this for you as they feed off the organic material. In addition, the mulch will give a good control over weed growth.

For those plants in pots, hold the pot on its side and scrape off some of the top of the potting mix. Take care not to damage those fragile surface feeder roots. Now top-dress with a mixture of potting mix, compost and chicken manure (proportion 4:4:2). Water, but take care not to over-water at this stage.

If nature works with you, the new growth will start to show in about 2 – 3 weeks time.

ROOT PRUNING

It is good practice to check the root health of potted plants at pruning time. Place your hand on top of the pot and turn it upside down. Firmly tap the pot on the edge of a table and it should pop off. You can now examine the root system.

If all looks in good shape and some healthy white roots are visible, replace into the same pot.

If there are a great number of matted roots, and particularly if they are circling the pot – it is time to root prune. Remove the old roots at the base, but leave the root ball beneath and around the main stem intact. Re-pot into a new pot with a mixture of compost and potting mix.

Take care after root pruning and re-potting, not to over-water or fertilise the plant. At this stage there are no leaves to make use of the fertiliser and the plant may die as a result.

My experience is that it is best to let the roots be. We have plants that have been in 25 cm pots for over 15 years without root pruning and are still perfectly healthy.

Let your motto be "If in doubt, prune – but not the roots".

PRUNING ROSES

Reading Ludwig Rose's recent newsletter on pruning, I found these wise words to share with you :

"Roses do not need to be pruned! Rose pruning is EASY! You cannot prune a rose incorrectly! The best pruning time is the second half of July. However, the rose will still perform well if it is done in June or end August! Sealing of cut wounds after pruning is not necessary! Spraying with Lime Sulphur after pruning is not necessary!"

Taking heed of these words from a seasoned rose grower, use the above fuchsia pruning guide to prune your roses.

GENERAL

Fresh stocks of compost, chicken manure and bark mulch have arrived for those of you who would like to compost mulch as recommended. Remember what you put into the garden, will give you loads in return.

Acquiring a powerful garden shredder will be of great help to chop up all that pruning material. This will save you numerous trips to the dump and also provide loads of composting material.

News supplied by Tanglewood Nursery in Hilton.

Thandanani is another local lady who has made is as a Miss Earth South Africa KZN finalist! Thandanani recently completed her studies at Cedara college and the photgraph here was taken by Erika Whitby Photography.  Erika said, 'Thandanani also played touch rugby for Cedara and she is a delight, I realy enjoyed doing her photos.'

News from Erika Whitby Photography Studio.

The juniors at Hilton Pre-Primary visited the Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg this week where they had fun playing with the fallen autumn leaves.

News submitted by Hilton Pre-Primary.

Would you like to know:
• What forgiveness REALLY is?
• Whether you are ready to forgive?
• How detrimental un-forgiveness is?
• How to move away from the unhealthy emotions (anger, guilt, resentment)
• How to give yourself the gift of FORGIVENESS

ARE YOU IN BONDAGE DUE
TO UNFORGIVENESS?

Then this workshop is for you!!!!!
Come and explore how to equip yourself to learn how to forgive, to take your personal power back and to rid yourself of guilt, anger, resentment.

This will bring you the FREEDOM you want....
VENUE: Methodist Church Hall, Hilton Gardens
DATE: 14 June 2014
TIME: 8am to 12:30 pm
COST: R300.00 per person, payment secures your place.

To book your place, please e-mail Cherri on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., (082 801 8961) or Marina at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (082 372 1218), as space is limited.

PRESENTED BY: New Insights Life coaches-Cherri Forsyth (VIP Coach) & Marina Miller (Elite Life Coach)

Watch this space for upcoming Grief Workshops.

The KZN Inter-Schools' Squash Tournament, hosted at Epworth and St John's, took place on 9/10/11 May. The A Section provided some very exciting squash especially between Epworth, who have won this particular tournament since 1986, and a hungry St Anne's side. St Anne's clinched the matches at 4, 5 and 6, but lost at 1 and 2, and eventually won the tie 15/11. This means that for the first time St Anne's Diocesan College has qualified to take part in the Top Schools' Squash Tournament, which will be held in Pietermaritzburg in July. A jubilant St Anne's team, consisting of Ana Chemaly, Jessica Britton, Bridgette Mennie, Harriet Matthews and Nolene van Zyl look forward to taking on the challenge from the winners of the other provincial inter-schools' tournaments at the Top Schools' Tournament.

In the B Section St Anne's 2 proved too strong for their opposition, coming 1st with 59 points. St John's 2 came 2nd on 41 points, with Epworth Colts ousting GHS 1 to come 3rd on 37 points. GHS and The Wykeham Collegiate came 4th and 5th respectively.

St Mary's Kloof were runaway winners of the C Section with 63 points, followed by Danville on 54 points and Epworth 4 (43 points) and Epworth 5 and 6.

Final A Section results were as follows:

1. St Anne's College 71 points
2. Epworth 1 71 points
3. St John's 1 39 points
4. TWC 1 36 points
5. Epworth 2 4 points

Pictured here celebrating their Top KZN School Squash victory are, left to right, Kath Lowe (Head of Sport), Nolene van Zyl, David Arguile (College Head), Bridgette Mennie, Ana Chemaly, Jason Breedt (Coach), Harriet Matthews, Dalmain Strydom (Coach) and Jessica Britton (in front).

News supplied by St Anne's Diocesan College.

Stylish, effective, efficient and delightful!

Most of our competitors are like the yesteryear Fords of fireplaces....you can have any colour, so long as its black.We like to have choice and believe you do too. For us that means choice in colour, size, shape, thermal output and installation but without any impact on function. That is to say, form should enhance function not mar it. 

Our wood burning fireplaces and stoves, like our pellet burners, marry the best of Italian style and design with uncompromising quality and impressive function.Wood is readily available in South Africa and offers a good alternate fuel source with which to heat your home. The closed combustion design ensures temperatures of over 300°C resulting in a small amount of ash to clean out of the ash tray. Say goodbye to sweeping a fireplace!

One to two weeks lead time from order to installation. Don't delay - get yours before winter hits.

Visit: Renen Renewable Energy Solutions

Pictured are some of Grace College's "Born Free Generation" voters, excited to be part of the first group of people born after apartheid ended to cast their first National vote: Tyron Shaw, Jocelyn Perry, Jack Perrett, Gabi Krüger and Kenzley Abrahams.

Image supplied by Grace College.

Dawn Fallet of Floral Creations has expanded her florist line to include homemade box frames which are perfect as gifts or hospital flowers. The frames accommodate fresh or silk flowers. Simply line the box with cellophane and pop a little oasis in, have fun arranging if you enjoy doing your own flowers at home.

The frames can be sized and coloured to suit your home. Add a dowel or two and you have a scarf, belt or accessory hanger. Chicken mesh can be positioned within the frame so you can display your favourite objects. Your imagination is the only limit!