This morning, I received an interesting comment on my blogpost titled What Does the Future Hold for the Cape Town Military Tattoo? It came from Simon Carter, the Executive Producer of the South African Tattoo. He said as follows: “The South African Tattoo is returning in October 2018 , performing 6 shows at a new…
The Children’s Hospital Trust held their annual Morning Tea at Kelvin Grove on 24 May 2017. It was such an inspiring and uplifting morning!
This year, we listened to the following speakers: Dr Roux Martinez told us about the challenging work done in the Burns Unit at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. She alone has worked with over 11,000 patients (all children) over the last years. The Hospital is the only dedicated paediatric burns specialist unit in Africa.
Thereafter, well-known South African entertainer and singer Aviva Pelham had us all spell-bound with some extracts of her mother’s extraordinary life story: “Santa’s Story” was turned into a one-woman stage play and has thus far seen runs in South Africa, Germany, Finland, and England.
15 June 1956 was the day on which the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital first opened its doors.
60 years later to the day, the Children’s Hospital Trust invited supporters, patrons, donors, friends and staff members of the Hospital to a special High Tea at Kelvin Grove in Newlands in celebration of that important event.
The two main speakers were Emeritus Professor Jenny Thomas, recently retired head of Paediatric Anaesthesia, and Braam Malherbe – extreme adventurer, conservationist, youth developer and international motivational speaker.
On 15 April 2016, we attended the Gala Concert of the SA Army Band Western Cape in the City Hall in central Cape Town. Although they are primarily a military marching band, their wide-ranging repertoire also includes classical, jazz, big band, rock and pop…
What an unforgettable, magical evening!
If you ever have an opportunity to see the SA Army Band Western Cape performing live, please grab it with both hands – you will enjoy every moment!
Cape Field Artillery / Cape Town Rifles (Dukes) / Defence Reserves / Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital
On 11 November 2015, the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Rondebosch held their special Remembrance Day service, in honour of the war veterans and servicemen who played such an instrumental part in the establishment of this wonderful hospital. The hospital’s name – containing the words “War Memorial” – already gives a clue that…
On Saturday 21 November 2015, initial early morning showers did not deter a huge crowd of bikers and supporters who made their way from the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club‘s clubhouse at 221 Kings Road, Brooklyn, to the Reserve Force military base of Fort Ikapa in Goodwood. As they had done in 2014, the Hells Angels…
On Sunday 25 October 2015, the Castle of Good Hope in central Cape Town hosted the 73rd anniversary commemoration service of the Second Battle of El Alamein. This annual service was organised by the Cape Western Provincial Dugout of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTHS), the Department of Military Veterans and the Cape Town…
A beautiful Remembrance Day service was held at the Cenotaph in the middle of Heerengracht Street in central Cape Town, on Sunday, the 8th of November 2015 – this being the closest Sunday to Remembrance Day, which actually falls on the 11th of November each year. The last time I had written about the Remembrance…
The timings of the entrances and exits of the various participating acts in this year’s Cape Town Military Tattoo were particularly slick, I thought. One act was hardly out of the arena, when the next one was already marching on – there was no time to catch one’s breath or to take one’s eyes away…
With the end of the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015, I was feeling a tad melancholic at not seeing my favourite bands and musicians again, so when I heard that the SA Navy Band and the Cape Field Artillery Pipes and Drums would be joining hands with the Salvation Army and the ERUB Children’s Choir,…
Since the very first Cape Town Military Tattoo, held in 2003, each performance has begun with two centuries-old rituals: Drummers would beat out the ‘Tattoo’ and the Castle Ceremonial Guard would close and lock the heavy spike-studded Van der Stel Gate to the Castle of Good Hope. Beating the Tap Toe The word “tattoo” is…
If you’ve ever wondered what is happening outside the Castle of Good Hope, while the massed military bands inside the arena are playing the 1812 Overture at the Cape Town Military Tattoo – this video taken by fellow photie Brent Best will give you some insight into the complicated process of ensuring that the Cape…
In the run-up to the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015, the Expresso morning show on SABC TV interwiewed our Production Manager WO2 Charles Canning, the Director of Music of the Tattoo Captain Vernon Michels, Major Asim Hussain, the Instructor of Music of the Pakistan Army Band and Major Dalene Coetzee. The video is finally available…
The Cape Argus has posted a short but wonderful video, containing some clips from the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015 – to the accompaniment of the Pakistan Army Band’s exotic music! Enjoy!
Ian Landsberg has put together this wonderful selection of little video clips recorded at the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015. It’s bringing back so many happy memories already – so enjoy! This year, we had a team of videographers recording the show each night, and I for one am chomping at the bit to see…
On Saturday morning, while I was writing the blogpost about that evening’s final performance (see Tonight is the Final Performance), I was frantically trying to upload photos at the same time. But multi-tasking like that doesn’t work so well in WordPress, and in fact it took so long that I thought my computer had hung.…
With the final night of the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015 sadly behind us, I took a drive through to the Castle this morning, an obliging Mom in tow, to get some ‘after’ pictures – having taken some ‘before’ pictures just over a week ago. See It’s Getting Real, Constructing the Jigsaw Puzzle, and Seating,…
Tonight is the final performance of this year’s Cape Town Military Tattoo, and I can already sense the familiar feeling of melancholy starting to seep in, between all the adrenaline rush and thrill of the performances and of being part of the whole Tattoo Experience. After tonight, alas, we will go our separate ways again…
After an absolutely rocking Opening Night at the Cape Town Military Tattoo 2015, I realised that I must have been beaming from ear to ear all the way home, humming the tunes of Band of Brothers, Highland Cathedral and The Prayer out loud. I felt like I was floating on a cloud! I had missed…
Tuesday was a long, looooong day. When I eventually returned home, totally whacked after 12 hours of dashing about with camera stuff, Miss Tuffy-Cat didn’t know whether to scold me for neglecting – yet again – to bring home some fresh chicken, which meant that she would be fed dry pellets yet again, or to…
Grains of Sand 
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