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Launch of new Westlake Primary School

Westlake Primary held its grand opening ceremony on Friday August 26, 2011. The Principal of the new Primary School is Landie Diamond, with whom the Emmanuel Educare has close ties as most of the Grade R children at Emmanuel will progress to Grade 1 at Westlake Primary less than a kilometre away.

Two news reports regarding the launch are included below. Click on the links to read the full story.

Constantiaberg Bulletin Report

People’s Post Report

Women’s Day in Westlake

The Westlake Women in Action, who are part of the Westlake Community Foundation, celebrated Woman’s Day on the 18th August, when 160 beautifully dressed Westlake women walked down a red carpet decorated with rose petals, into the community centre hall where they were pampered. They had their nails done and had shoulder massages. The Avon ladies demonstrated their products, and there was a table for breast cancer awareness. The Councillor (Denis Joseph) introduced the guest speaker, Naomi Claasen from CCFM Radio Station. She encouraged the women with the message ‘don’t judge her, you are not in her shoes’. Westlake’s own Pavarotti, Glenville September entertained the women with his amazing voice. The women were served a 3-course meal donated by Alan’s Car Hire, who provided the chicken, and Gourmet Junction, the malva pudding and custard desserts. This was such a special treat for our women of Westlake, everyone had an amazing time! They are still talking about it.

WUCT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Westlake United Church Trust Annual General Meeting Celebration was held on Monday 25 July 2011 at 6.00pm  in the Westlake Community Centre Hall.

Principal of the pre-school, Eleanor Lawrence was the master of ceremonies for the event, and after her opening welcome Rev David Gray led the opening prayer. This was follwed by a very moving singing of the National Anthem, after which James McGregor, Chairman of the Trust, delivered his report for the 2010 financial year. In his speech he stressed the importance of education – a theme expanded on by the guest speaker, Landie Diamond. Ms Diamond is the Principal of the new Westlake Primary School, and she spoke on the importance of Foundation Phase education, particularly in Early Childhood Development Centres.

Ms. Diamond’s talk was preceeded by two songs by the Sopimelela Gospel Choir which was enthusiastically received by the audience. So too was the Ballroom Dancing demonstration by Junide’s Ballroom and Latin Dancers.

Tembekazi Siyo, from the crafts project delivered her testimony which was followed by two songs by the Home Based Care Department. Now there’s a team with great spirit! Well done to you all.

After the closing prayer and thanks everyone gathered for tea and snacks. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event and many compliments were received.

Some photographs from the evening are included below.

Chronic Diseases Support Group News

36 members of the Westlake Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle Support Group had a busy morning today (Tues 26 July ’11), when a visitor, Glen, came again to do breathing exercises with them in the hall. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves whilst learning new breathing techniques. Afterwards they had their sugar levels taken by Thobeka, one of our carers, and Beatrice, the Facilitator of the group, whilst Gladness and Tembeka served the tea. See the photos below!

Cadiz Steenberg Classic cheque handover on 24 May

The Cadiz Foundation recently handed over a cheque for R 150 000 to WUCT. The funds were raised at the Cadiz Steenberg Classic Golf tournament. The cheque was gratefully received by Dave Barnes, Manager, and Jamie McGregor, Chairman of the Trust.

This is not the first time that WUCT has been a grateful recipient – past contributions helped us considerably with the renovationa and extensions to Emmanuel Educare. WUCT would once again like to thank the sponsors for their generosity, investment and partnering with WUCT in the service of the Westlake Village Community.

For more information, please view the video cip (click here).

Masivuke Food Garden moves

Linah is very proud of her new garden. She has moved from behind the Community Hall to a new allotment in Lynx Way as her old site is to be developed into a playground. As you can see, she now has a tunnel (and is waiting for some seedlings to go in it), and recently a truck load of compost arrived. So, her organic vegetables are starting to grow and she has already produced some magnificent broccoli! The cauliflowers are still small, but no doubt will soon be edible… and the spinach is also coming on nicely…

TUTU Tester in Westlake

We were thrilled to welcome the TUTU Tester to Westlake on Saturday 16 July. The TUTU Tester comes under the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, in partnership with US Aid and the French organisation, Alliance Francaise Developement. It is a highly sophisticated research mobile clinic,undertaking free TB and HIV testing (including CD4 counts), Blood Pressure monitoring, testing for diabetes, and Body Mass Index. It was a very successful event – 55 people in total were tested, and because many had to be turned away, they have decided to come back next week! We are still awaiting the final stats. WUCT would like to thank the Tutu Tester staff, as well as our staff who assisted, for giving up their Saturday to come and work extremely hard for 5 hours in the hot sun! We really appreciate their effort.

STOP PRESS!!

The Tutu Tester came again on 21 July AND 22 August ’11! Altogether they have tested 117 people in Westlake in the past 2 months! Awesome response! Thank you Tutu Tester!

Here are some interesting facts – (A new study conducted by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation with the help of the TUTU Tester found that the longer you wait between HIV tests, the higher your risk of testing HIV positive).

- 1 in 4 adults in Masiphumelele (a township in the Southern Peninsula of Cape Town) is HIV positive.
- 1 in 20 who tested HIV negative within the last year are now HIV positive.
- 1 in 10 who hadn’t tested for 2 years are now HIV positive.
- Most positive tests occur in women ages 26-40 and men ages 31-45.
- 1 in 5 individuals who would need ART (HIV treatment) are not taking medicine.

“WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP REDUCE THE SPREAD OF HIV IN YOUR COMMUNITY?”

1. USE CONDOMS
2. TEST AGAIN
3. TEST OFTEN

Here are some photos -

Mandela Day : Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Happy Birthday, Madiba!

The children at the Emmanuel Educare Pre-school at the Westlake United Church Trust were blessed abundantly on Monday 18 July 2011 which marks the 93rd birthday of Nelson Mandela. Not only is Reddam House School working to improve the Emmanuel playground by installing a super new jungle gym, irrigation system and roll-on lawn (see our facebook page for more news), but we were also visited by various friends bearing gifts.

Proud parent, Deon Lambert of Westlake provided chips and lollipops, and Brian, Esther & Chisomo from the Sagitta Group, Steenberg Office Park, provided sweets.

Jenny Williams and Andrea Knott delivered delicious and colouful cakes and cupcakes on behalf of the staff of the dealing room and treasury at Rand Merchant Bank, Great Westerford.

Michelle Sedgwick and her team from Run/Walk for Life Constantia brought us a very generous supply of sandwiches for the children.

To all of you, a big THANK YOU! Your generosity and thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated. All the children left school with their presents in a special party-pack in celebration of this special day.

Common Ground Church gives clothes to Westlake women

Thursday 7 July 2011.

The women of Westlake women were delighted to receive clothes from Common Ground Church on Thursday 7 July. We would like to thank Common Ground for this gesture. We really appreciate your kindness and generosity towards our community.

Orphans & Vulnerable Children outing to Waterfront

On Sat 25 June 2011, we took 26 of our orphans and vulnerable children (ovc’s) to the Cape Town Waterfront.

The day began with Terri Martin arriving at the Community Centre with an armful of blankets – each child was given one. Thank you Terri for your extreme generosity! Then we were all transported in 2 of Reddam’s mini buses, kindly organised by Martin Oosthuizen of the Orphan Care Foundation.

We had an awesome time at the aquarium, where we were all amazed at the different types of fish, the sizes of the sharks, and the feeding of the penguins. We also watched a puppet show which provided great amusement, and then everyone was treated to KFC for lunch. Afterwards we enjoyed a boat trip around the harbour, saw the seals on wheels, and then went out of the harbour where the sea was very rough – luckily no-one fell overboard!! Back at the Waterfront we were entertained by street buskers blowing fire and a contortionist sitting on a tower of small tin cans with his legs wrapped around his neck. Needless to say, the children (and the 8 adults) were amazed! We ended the day with ice creams and the trip back home. It was a great experience and I’m sure everyone slept well that night.

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Recent News

• Christmas Greetings from the WUCT Team
• Bracelets from Willow Creek Church, Chicago.
• Phillippi Trust Facilitator training
• Kids Club Christmas Party
• Westlake children entertain guests
• Our Involvement in World Aids Day Activities 2011
• Farewell to Evelyn of Home Based Care
• HIV Awareness/Health march in Westlake
• 2011 Graduation, Prize-Giving & Nativity Play
• Cadiz cheque handover