Attendance figures have been down a bit lately at Hilton Bowling Club as more of our members choose to play in some of the events at other clubs during the week. The spirit however remains strong.

On Thursday we played for vouchers sponsored by Lister and Lister. John Arnott celebrated his birthday by leading the winning team that included Richard Lister and Ingrid Oellermann. Richard gave his prize to the club, and we auctioned it off.

Ladies from Collegians and men from Eddels visited us on Saturday to play league fixtures. Collegians beat our ladies on both rinks and took away 5 points. Our men won overall, but lost on one rink, thus collecting 3 points. The men's fourth league team travelled to Umgeni for their match. We scored a full 5 points.

Skips intending to enter a team in the IF trips on Friday 6th June must confirm their participation with Dave Garrard.

Duties: 8 – 15 June: OOD – Derick Hull. Tabs: Des Morrish. Lock-up team: John Pattrick. Teas Saturday 14th June: Chris Purchase & Ron Buchel. Biscuits 10 & 12 June: Ingrid Oellermann & George Oldham.

Local Estate Agent, Gwyneth Nortje says, "Well what a rollercoaster year and a half I have had. Thank you to all of you for being patient with me.

The great news is I have started my own real estate company, Gwyneth Gosling Properties, with my son Dominic!

I will be offering you all the same degree of professionalism with much more of the personal touch.

By doing this I will be able to interact with my sellers and buyers on much more of a one to one basis and deliver a service of excellence to all of you.

I intend to put professionalism, fun, optimism, honesty and trust as core fundamentals in my business.

With these as a basis to work from success for all of us will follow.

I thank you all for your past business and friendship and invite you all to join me on this exciting step forward for all of us."

Call Gwyneth on 0829350078 or email addresses are This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dominic's telephone number is 0825576944 and his email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Gwyneth Gosling Properties web site is under construction and the address is www.goslingproperties.co.za

Hilton Pre-Primary and Laddsworth Primary School joined forces in hosting a presentation by Kevan and Karen Zunckel of Zunckel Ecological and Environmental Services as part of the Eco-Schools programmes. The Zunckels spoke to parents about how families can change their thinking and lifestyles to save money and live more efficiently.

Homemade soups made on parabolic stoves by the Eco-Schools Committee and homemade breads were served.

Pictured below on the left is Kevan Zunckel and on the right is Karen Zunckel with their SunStoves.

•SA CAN stands for South African Community Action Network.
•SA CAN is comparable to the American 911, but offers significantly more comprehensive and personal service.
•Knight Security Solutions (KSS) is the company that has brought SA CAN to the Midlands.
•The Midlands Community Safety and Liaison Office (NPC) and Incident Management Centre (IMC) are being housed from the new KSS offices at 2 Greenfields Place, Merrivale.
•SA CAN offers support to KSS in terms of technology, SMS, MMS, eAlerts, family matters, crime prevention, medical services (ER24 and numerous other local providers), emergency flight
operations, support to wildlife, SPCA, crisis care and roadside assistance, just to name a few of the 93 organisations and strengths of SA CAN.
•Critically, SA CAN offers a network that binds all South Africans into a common cause, primarily to support one another and the SAPS.
•SA CAN is a KZN-based initiative with National coverage, ensuring that all medical service providers are able to offer rapid response anywhere in South Africa.
•SA CAN is neutral and works with all role players. In the linking of SA CAN with Knight Security Solutions, no matter where you are in KZN or South Africa, as a Knight Security Solutions client, SA CAN, Gary, Debbie and the full Knight Security Solutions team are there to support you, for any concern or emergency you may have!
•SA CAN charges a subscription of R39.90 per family member per month. The principal member also pays R15.10 per month, which goes towards the running of the Midlands IMC.
•Subscribing members to SA CAN also get access to the AAA (Anything, Anytime, Anywhere) Button on your cell phone, which when pressed, gives SA CAN your location anywhere in South Africa.
•Check out the SA CAN website for more information on what SA CAN has to offer: www.sacan.co.za
•SA CAN and KSS hope to have a Violent Crimes Apprehension Team (VCAT) permanently stationed in Howick within the next year.

For more information phone:
Knight Security Solutions on 033 330 5911
SA CAN on 08 616 72226

When local musicians Paul de Fleuriot, Pete Holland and Charles Webster recognised the need for an open mic forum where local music talent could be showcased in a friendly, accessible environment, the Midlands Music Club was born.

Officially launched on March 26, 2014, the club has already established itself as a feature of Hilton life every Wednesday night at 7pm. It draws young and old, new and experienced musicians, and also substantial support from non-musicians who come along to support in a nurturing setting.

"The intent is to provide a regular platform for musicians to display their musicianship. Whether they're experienced songwriters wanting an outlet for new, original material, or youngsters who've never performed in front of an audience, they can express their talent in warm, encouraging setting," said Webster.

"Music is an intensely social and emotional thing for musicians, and is usually best enjoyed with good friends. So it's great to know that if you're learning an instrument, or writing a song, there will actually be somewhere to perform it...it gives life to the music. We meet every Wednesday evening, we are constantly looking for new performers, and there's an open invitation to all non-musicians who just love music and would like an enjoyable evening out with mates in a really friendly environment."

Pictured here are Xehex Hector Houston and his buddy Barnes.

For details of upcoming meetings and venues, please visit our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/791263687551615/

Contact details: Tel: (+27) 033 347 5481/3 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Supplied by Midlands Music Club

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.

"I have confirmed with Howick SAPS that the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) march planned for tomorrow, 10th June 2014, will be commencing from Howick Falls and moving up to the municipal offices in Dicks Street. I believe the times they have been granted permission to march are between 8am and 1pm. It may be best to avoid the Howick CBD tomorrow morning in order to avoid delays in traffic, as roads will be closed along the route the marchers take." - Janis Holmes, Ward 2 Councillor, uMngeni Municipality.

From the Knight Security Solutions news update.

Laddsworth Primary School is proud to share that two of their hockey players have been selected to play for the boys KZN Inland hockey teams. Brogan Tedder has been selected to play for the U13a team and Tyler Francis will play for the U13c team.

Pictured here L-R Brogan Tedder and Tyler Francis.

Omar Wilson (Laddsworth Primary School)came first in the KZN Schools MTB trials (Under 8 event) held at Cascades last Saturday, 17 May 2014. Pictured below with his medal is Omar Wilson.

Hilton Garden Club recently visited Endebeni Forest is a very large farm garden belonging to John and Adri Smithers. The garden was originally planted with masses of azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias, berberis, crabapples, dogwoods and other exotics that thrive in a cold climate. The plane trees in the photograph are underplanted with bluebells which make a wonderful show in spring. A river runs through the property and there is also an ornamental dam and a 9-hole golf course.

Adri has opened up the garden and the area around the house, making it more like a park. The AUTUMN COLOURS WERE BEAUTIFUL. Adri took us on a long walk through the garden, explaining what she had done and what she still plans to do. The weather was perfect and it was an exhilarating and inspiring morning.

Form 4 Student and Theatre Monitor, Rebecca Manners-Wood, earned herself a back-stage pass to the #RoyalRockShow held at the Royal Show in PMB. Rebecca was invited to attend the weekends' productions whilst job shadowing Mr Brian McFall, AV & Theatre Technology Manager at St Anne's, as he mixed 64 microphones working as the Sound Engineer for the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra on Sunday morning. She was exposed to some of the best lighting and sound engineers in the business and spent a very valuable two hours training under the Lighting Engineer for Prime Circle.

An added bonus was that she got to meet some of SA's hottest talent including band members from Prime Circle, Gangs of Ballet and Watershed to name a few. So eager to learn and such an impression Becca made that supplier of technical personnel and equipment for the event, Big Beat Productions MD, Kevin Liddell, commented that he would "offer her a job tomorrow".

Pictured here on the top left is Rebecca Manners-Wood with Prime Circle lead vocalist Ross Learmonth.

Pictured below Rebecca Manners-Wood learning the skills of sound monitoring from Bryce Breeds of Big Beat Productions.

News and images supplied by St Anne's Diocesan College.

Emergencies such as trauma, infections, tick bite fever, snake bites, poisonings and seizures are all a reality when it comes to your pets. Such events often take place at night when it is difficult to find a vet. Severely sick animals require emergency 24 hour monitoring and treatment to aid in their survival.

Hilton Vet Hospital would like to take the opportunity to inform you of our new opening hours and our 24 hour emergency service for dogs and cats in the Midlands area. Hilton Vet Hospital is extensively equipped for the monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of small animal emergencies. The veterinarians on call have access to specialist advice and support at all times.

Each animal has a clearly defined treatment plan and hospital monitoring sheet. Patients are monitored all night by staff employed on night duty only for that period. This is particularly important for critical animals such as seizure cases and poisonings that need 24 hour constant monitoring and treatment.

This process is further monitored by CCV cameras and telemetric equipment. All other veterinary practices in the area will be able to refer cases that need 24 hour monitoring to Hilton Vet Hospital. Animals can return to their normal veterinarians once the crisis is over.

A veterinarian will be at the hospital for your dogs and cats from 7:30 am until 9 pm on normal working days, from 9 am until 12 pm on a Saturday and from 9 am to 10 am on Sundays and Public Holidays.

Outside of those hours all you need to do to activate our emergency services is to contact our veterinarian telephonically. The number of the veterinarian on duty will be found on our message; which will be heard, by phoning (033) 343-4602.

Although normal consulting is by appointment, emergencies are attended to immediately.

This will be commencing on Thursday 29th May 2014.

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.