Wildekanisland feeds hungry cyclists

- Imke Maeyer -

On Tuesday, 8 September, the group of 54 cyclists on the KKK tour (Kus-Karoo-Kus) that has made Prince Albert a stopover on their tourthe last seven years, arrived yet again. This was the third time that Wildekanisland benefited from the generosity of this group of enthusiasts.

Arno Botha, a Cape-Town based lawyer, is the energy and organising spirit behind the KKK mountain bike tour. His interest in Prince Albert was piqued after hearing a radio interview with the late Albert Odendaal of the Swartberg Hotel in 1992. Since then he has visited regularly and started bringing cyclists to the town in 2003. Arno married his wife, Vanessa, here in 2007 and his parents-in-law, Joan and Trevor Dean, have since retired to Prince Albert.

The riders arrived in town just in time for delicious buns and other goodies prepared for them by the hard-workingladies at theLizard.then had the afternoon to relax, before proceeding to the Bush PubRia Steyn and her team from Dennehoffirst cleaned and scrubbed and then had cooked them a delicious dinner.

Wednesday the 9th wasrest day for the cyclists, which meant zooming around our town andbeautiful surroundings on their bikes. After all, if you are a serious cyclist you need to get your daily fix of exercise!

That night, the parents and teachersof Wildekanisland transformed the Golf Club into a festive spring venue, and at 18h00 the cyclists arrived, courtesy ofërskool Zwartberg, who loaned us thebus for the occasion. They were fed a delicious dinner, and fun was had by everybody.

Two things struck me; onethe interest that these sportsmen andtook in our little nursery school and our town in general. Because they were aware that it was a fundraising event, when a tin was handed around, they emptied their pockets. We were amazed that at the end of the evening they had contributed over R1400!

The second was that we do live in a very special community. Wherever we turned to for help in preparation for this event, it was gladly given. The Golf Club shared theirWednesday club night with ustheir friendly barmen did more than their share of tidying up and helping. The Lazy Lizard jumped in, when at the last minute we were let down by the local supermarket, and baked over a hundred buns for us.

It would also be really nice if there wasa lot more parent involvement, as they form such a vital part in a child’s life. But maybe in time, this too will happen! In total, from the lunch, and dinner, we raised over R7000,is a wonderful boost to our funds.

It is so important that as many children as possible have an opportunity to attend a good nursery school, so that they may have a much better chanceadapting to the demands of "Big School".is the basic building block in any child’s life, and if we want our children to have a better future, this is the place to start.

Any money raised by Wildekanislandused to payteachers and maintain the school and to try and expand in such a way that we can accommodate more children.