WHAT'S
NEW (Date added in parenthesis)
| We welcome new members, Laurie & Maureen (formerly Keefer nee Sanger) Bond. The Current Members Page has been updated and photos have been added to the Membership photo album (available to members). (August 19, 2011) |
| Welcome to new members, Arthur (Felix) and Pauline Clarke. The Current Members Page has been updated (July 21, 2011) |
| Welcome to our newest member, Roger Blowers. The Current Members Page has been updated. (July 12, 2012) |
| From Linda Kelly: Johannesburg reunion Sat. Sept. 24th 2011 for all those born around the mid 1950's and schooled in Bulawayo. The website http://bulawayo1950.webs.com/ explains how to register. (June 26, 2011) |
Frank
Kennerley has provided the following information about "Smitty" (J E Smit):
"I managed
to contact him on Friday 24th June 2011 just as his landline came back
into operation, talk about timing.
What a
difference. The old Smitty again, full of life in volume and tone.
He reports
that he has regained some eight kgs in weight, he has been hunting
(!!), doing his own driving and on the hunt trip he drove for two hours
before calling it a session.
Tomorrow,
Monday 27th June 2011, he is going for a check up scan and sounds
confident that it will give him either a clean bill of heath or a much
improved profile, I am not quite sure which way he is looking at it,
but confident, man oh man, he is.
So
there is the good news."
Added June 26, 2011
|
| Thanks Leo
Fincham for a photo added to the We Remember album
(available to members). The picture includes the late Doug McLennan and
the late Roy Burrett.
(June 26, 2011) |
| A Mini reunion was held at The Goose
when we visited London during March 2005. A Picture of the
group, consisting of the Austins,
Bales, Jacks and Adams can be seen in the 331(3) photo
album (available to members) (June 26, 2011) |
| Thanks to Robin
Graham for a tribute to Doug McLennan posted
on the We Remember Part 2 Page. The 2
photos referred to are in the 331(2) album (available to members) (June
25, 2011) |
| Thanks
to Robin Graham
for 4 new photos posted to the Custom Houses, Ports,
Places Etc. photo album (available to members) (June 19, 2011) |
| Welcome to our newest members, Jan & Geraldine Cornelius,
bringing our membership to 216. The Current Members Page has been
updated. (June 19, 2011) |
| Thanks to John
Glynn for the new photo added to the 331(2) photo album
(available to members) June 17, 2011) |
| Thanks
to Neil Harper,
9 interesting photos have been added to the Custom
Houses, Ports, Posts & Places photo album (available to
members).
June 17, 2011) |
| Dave
& Bev Chittenden are welcomed as our newest
members. The "Current Members" Page has been
updated. June 17, 2011) |
| 1 photo has been added
to the "Membership" album and 2 have been added to the 331(2) album
(albums available only to members). Thanks to Don Cowie for
these. (June 17, 2011) |
| Welcome to our newest member, Alyson Owen (nee van Wyngaard)
bringing our membership total to 213. The Current Members Page has been
updated. (June 12, 2011) |
| Thanks to Eric Thomas, 4 new
pictures have been added to the photo albums (available only to
members) (June 12, 2011) |
|
| The Joburg
Reunion 2008 keynote address by
Leo Fincham has been added to the Joburg Reunion 2008 Page
(June 12, 2011). |
| Thanks
to Frank Kennerley,
a new picture has been added to the "331(2)" photo album (available
only to members). (May 25, 2011) |
The
following is an edited excerpt from a message received from Maurice
Beckley's son, Bruce
Beckley regarding Tony Close:
"I
see a lot of people asking about Tony Close and I see
Sheena Lidell has posted on the site that she’s Tony’s neighbour. She's
fantastic to Tony and does all shopping now that he cannot drive and
really
looks out for him.
If
anyone wishes to contact Tony, they can text him (tel # removed) – his
speech is very bad now although I can understand him
perfectly. He’s very good with his text messages though!"
(Contact the
webmaster if you want Tony's telephone number)
(Added May 11, 2011) |
The
following is an excerpt from a message received from Frank Kennerley
regarding Smitty
(J.E. Smit):
I
spoke to Smitty on Monday 9th April on his cell (mobile)
phone having not got an answer from his home phone number.
Smitty
was driving and he said that he was fine, just gets
tired pretty quickly.
I
had previously been round to see him early in April -
Saturday 9th April - when the news was still pretty new. The Smitty
strength
was there and he is a battler. Kerry was in support and you could see
the love
and concern she has for her man.
I
will be in Cape
Town
later this month and I will go and see Smitty and Kerry - on the basis
that it is suitable. I say this as when one is sick or
recovering from the
challenges of the treatment, the last thing one wants to do is
entertain. On
the other hand it is therapeutic to have visitors.
(Added May 11, 2011)
|
| A photo submitted by Dave Field has been
added to the Membership Album. Thanks Dave. (May
11, 2011) |
I am very
sad to report that I received a message from Ron
Thompson letting me
know that his wife, Myrle,
passed away on May 10, 2011. The "We Remember" Page has been updated
and Ron's message is included below.
"Dear
Arthur
Just
to let you know that my darling wife Myrle passed away last night 10
May 2011
A
simple appendix operation turned into a nightmare of infection which
she was not able to withstand.
Married
since 1966
I
would appreciate you posting it accordingly.
Kind
regards
Ron
Thomson"
(Added
May 10, 2011)
|
More sad
news to report. Maurice
Beckley passed away in Bulawayo on April 15, 2011.
Please see below the message I received from his son, Bruce
Beckley:
"Just
wanted to let you know that my father Maurice
Beckley passed away in Bulawayo on 15 April 2011 – heart attack in the
early hours of the morning. Very unexpected & a huge shock to
my
family as my oldman had been in good health. He was 65, birthday on the
29 May when he was going to be 66.
I
did post on the website some time ago about Tony Close and Hennie Uys –
both are well – I saw Tony on Saturday morning before flying back to
Sydney where I am currently working. Seeing Hennie Uys at the start of
June when I will be in the UK.
Regards
Bruce
Beckley" |
| Tony
& Margaret Ball have placed their pin on the
Guestmap making 72 pins in total. (May 9, 2011) |
| An email received from Ed Wainer regarding Doug McLennan has
been added to the "We Remember Part 2" Page (May 8,
2011) |
| 7 Pictures have been added to the Ports, Places
etc. photo album (available to exCUSTOMSnet members only).
Thanks to Jeff
Ker for submitting these. (May 8, 2011) |
| Liz & Don Bale have placed their pin on
the Guestmap. There are now 71
pins on the map. (May 8, 2011) |
| Welcome to our newest member, Mary-Lou "LuLu" McCrudden (nee Nobes).
The Current Members Page has been
updated (May 7, 2011) |
| We welcome
Ian and Marie Davidson to our membership. The Current Members Page has been
updated. (May 5, 2011) |
| Dan and Enid Schoonraad
have added their pin to the Guestmap.
There are 6 pins very close together around Perth, so you
might
want to click on the "Zoom" button a couple of times to see them more
clearly. You can also click on the "List" Button to see the
narrative entries. (May 1, 2011) |
| David
Wallace has been added to the "We
Remember" Page. He died many years ago.
Thanks to Mike Queen for the information. (May 1,
2001) |
The
following items were added to the We Remember Part 2 Page on April 30,
2011:
Some
details of Doug
McLennan's funeral
submitted by Ian Davidson;
Ian
Davidson's speech at Doug
McLennan's funeral;
and
A
Tribute to Doug
McLennan by his
Grandson, Kevin McLennan |
| We are sad to announce the passing of Marion
Louise Wason on March 3, 2011. The "We Remember" Page has been updated.
Thanks to Ken
Swinton for announcing this in the weblog. (April 28, 2011) |
A
note from Jean McLennan:
To
all Doug's friends and ex-colleagues. At the moment I am
unable
to express properly my thanks for the great comfort I have had for your
prayers and thoughts. What has touched me almost even more is
what you thought of Doug as a person - he was to me the best.
I
will be in touch with each and every one in due course and hope I can
find the right words at that time.
Jean (April 28, 2011) |
| A photo of Doug
McLennan, submitted by Jean, has been added to
the "We Remember photo album (available to exCUSTOMSnet members).
(April 28, 2011) |
| With
permission, an excerpt from Leo
Fincham's email to Jean McLennan has
neen posted on the We Remember Part 2 Page. (April 27,
2011) |
| Doug
McLennan's funeral service will be held in
Spain at 5 p.m. (Central European Time, GMT +
2) on Tuesday, April 26th. Jean tells me their two sons, Alan
& Andrew, will fly to Spain from Johannesburg on Monday, April
25. (April 24, 2011) |
| A
new photo of
the late Sid Shaw,
John Hancock
and Doug McLennan
has been
posted to the We Remember photo album (available to exCUSTOMSnet
members) (April 23, 2011) |
| Very sad news to report. I just heard
from Leo Fincham that Doug
McLennan passed away today (April 22) in
Spain. Sincere condolences to Jean and family from all
exCUSTOMSnet
members. The "We Remember" page has been
updated. (April 22, 2011) |
| Welcome
to our newest members, Linda
(nee Gibson & formerly Dixon) & Patrick Kelly.
The Current Members Page has been
updated. (April 6, 2011) |
|
| A link has been added below to a Youtube video making an appeal on
behalf of the elderly, frail & destitute in Zimbabwe.
Thanks to Tony
Ball for passing this on. (April 6, 2011) |
|
Hi all Ex Customs
This is rather a difficult task, I never thought I would be writing
anything
like this or similar.
I have been diagnosed as having an inoperable
tumour in the liver.
Unfortunately,
it appears that this particular cancer is rather resistant to
chemotherapy.
Nevertheless,
I am going ahead with the treatment.
I would just like to thank you all for having touched my life, making
it
richer. And wish you all well
for the future.
Regards
Smitty
Added March 28, 2011 |
Belgium has been added to the list of countries (see
below) where we have members. Keith & Maria Vaughan
are living there. (March 15, 2011)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sad
news to
report. Tony
Forrest passed away March 4th in Biloxi,
Mississippi after a battle with cancer. Thanks to Doug
McLennan for passing on the news. Our sincere
condolences to
Mary Pat and to his children. The We
Remember and
We
Remember
Part 2 Pages have been
updated. A copy of the newspaper obituary can be seen at the We
Remember
Part 2 Page. You can also visit Mary
Pat's (Tony's wife) weblog/artwork,
Claire Forrest's (Tony & Mary Pat's
daughter) weblog/artwork. or Kevin Forrest's
(son) web
page (March
9, 2011)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Welcome to our newest members, Anne & Robin
Brown, The Current
Members Page has been updated
(March 3, 2011)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please see Andre
Guernier's updated
blog
(February 22, 2011)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Roll of Honour Page
has been updated - thanks to John
Hunter and Frank
Kennerley (February
13, 2011)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We welcome John
Hunter as our newest member. The Current
Members Page has been
upodated. (February 13, 2011)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
More sad news as
can be seen from the following email received from Leo Fincham:
"Sadly,
I must tell you that Deidre Spurway, Roy and Fay Burrett’s daughter,
died on Tuesday last week. She had been suffering from multiple
sclerosis for some time, and this would have contributed to her passing.
Sheena
and I went to a memorial service this
afternoon, where were able to see Fay, Hazel (the remaining daughter)
and her husband Steve, and Robert, Roy’s and Fay’s son. I promised to
let you know so that the net could be told.
The
pastor who conducted the service was
none other than Chris Scott, also ex Customs, the brother of Peter
Scott. It is a small world.
Best
wishes
Leo" (Added
December 20, 2010)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sad
news received that Mavis
Jonker, wife of Buff, passed away at home in
Harare on 12th June, 2010 following a courageous battle with
cancer. Sincere condolences to Buff and all family
members. (December 20, 2010)
|
exCUSTOMSnet