Janet Melville reports:
Our March monthly meeting was very well attended even members from Jeffreys Bay attended. The Theme was publishing your family tree. Pamphlets were handed out with the recommendations of several members of Buitenposten with their findings on the various programmes they use. I offered to help people to get their information collated and published in one form or another. I had several of my books that I had published to show members what you could do with a little bit of effort even if you photo stated your information. A lot of positive feedback was received and as I have the entire set of Blue Books for all the archives, Cape, OVS, Transvaal, Kimberley and Natal that people can look up death Notices and discovered several which they could not find on NAAIRS because of the spelling. I've had several members at my house to come and work they bring their laptops with, I show them family search.org as well as other websites, and as I have copies of several East Cape NG churches as well as a copy of the Paarl baptisms and one lady found out that one of her forefathers was actually a bastardin, she has had her DNA done at Wits which was interesting as the findings in the Paarl confirm some of the blood in her ancestors. I have also purchased a lot of the CD's that have become available so they can do their own research under guidance.
The Eastern Cape also purchased the CD's A – K which they can search. The graveyard CD will also be a welcome addition to the CD's available. It was felt that to just have a monthly meeting and the rest of the month you forget about the members till the next meeting was not good enough we should communicate with members during the month re new websites or other interesting information. We are trying to see if we can get more new members and keep the old members interested. The Committee has suggested that we hold an additional meeting on a Saturday morning for those that might not want to travel at night. In the meantime the local LDS has approached me and I am now helping their members on the first Wednesday of every month at the church to do their research on their family trees, very nice as you have internet on tap etc. The first meeting was packed out and we could barely cope. 
The new committee was elected and the following members received award for services rendered to the GSSA. Trudie Marais, Janet Melville, John Wilmot and Selwyn Bouwer.
So the East Cape branch is still keeping the Candle burning. Click on the image to enlarge
{module East Cape Awards}