It was a dark and stormy night!
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As we navigated our way around the potholes on the road out of Howick to the Tumbledowns Cafe & Restaurant on the Curry Post Road the venue for our Annual Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony.
And then the heavens opened.
And then the lights went out! (only a true South African will be able to find the humour in all this!)
But the show went on as we gathered together to acknowledge the work done by members. The nomination letters were read out and it soon became evident why they were about to receive their awards. We have some very hard working members doing amazing work.

Fellow

Rentia Landman

Dr Keith Meintjes

Ferdie

Rentia Landman is so well known in the Genealogical world that her nomination for Fellow was inevitable. She has been on the radio and television, and has written articles for Familia and other journals. Her work for the Society and the Pretoria Branch has been invaluable and she is a worthy recipient of this award.
Keith Meintjes: For more than 40 years Keith has been an active genealogist, has reformatted and indexed the Meintjes family history and has had numerous articles published in Familia , Capensis and other journals. He has funded projects at the NGK Archives in Stellenbosch and was also a founder member of eGSSA.
Ferdie van Wyk, who sadly passed away earlier this month, was an invaluable member of the Genealogical community at Branch and National level where he was editor of Familia and managed the Website.
The Golden Banner
Is awarded to those who have made a valued contribution to the genealogical community. This year the recipients were:-
Riana le Roux 300Riana le Roux who took over the eGSSA gravestone project from Alta Griffiths at the end of 2015 and since then she and her helpers have added more than 156,000 photographs to the web-site.
The Genesis Editorial team: Genesis is a showpiece for eGSSA. The team work well together and their experience, creative abilities and genealogical knowledge contribute to the excellence of the publication.
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Doreen Piner who has been a most valued member of the Johannesburg Branch, helping out with all aspects of the running of the Branch.
The Extra Mile
Award is made at the sole discretion of the National President. This year he nominated three members for their contribution to the Society.
 

Otto Diedericks

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Andrew Kok

Otto Diederichs who, on his own initiative, put together an Access data base consolidating members information and financial data from the branches.
 Robert Bush was nominated for his contribution to the smooth running of the Johannesburg Branch as well as his contribution to the Elephant project.
Andrew Koks contribution to Genealogy is immense –through the Western Cape Archives, NG Church Archives, the Huguenot Society and GISA.
 
 
 
The Best Article in Familia is a Northern Transvaal award and they decide who the recipient will be
This year they nominated Charlie Els for his article Die Verstoteling
 Long Service
certificates are Branch awards and some are amazing as can be seen by those of the Western Cape Branch and certainly needed to be acknowledged. Simone Kay handed the certificates out at their April 2019 branch meeting.
Gerhard
 
Shirley
Gerhard Geldenhuys- 43 years
Pierre du Plessis - 33 years
Shirley du Plessis - 33 years

Hudsons

 

 June

Russel & Edna Hudson - 32 years
 
June McKinnon - 20 years