Seven Seas Club PO Box 177 Simon’s Town 7995		Klub Sewe Seë Posbus 177 Simonstad 7995
	Tel: +27 21 786 2989 Email:  sevenseasclub@telkomsa.net

Having been adrift for some months, I humbly offer my sincere apologies for the long silence and neglect in keeping our members informed of goings-on at the Seven Seas Club.  Control of the 100 Club draw suffered too however, we are back on track - it now behoves me to bring you up to speed.

Notably, at the end of January 2005 we bade farewell to our President, Rear Admiral Eric Green as he retired from the SA Navy.  Added to this sad occasion, we also said farewell to our Patron, Vice Admiral Johan Retief as he too swallowed the anchor.  Thank you Sirs, for your loyal support and commitment to the affairs of the Seven Seas Club at all times.  We wish you and your spouses, Nikki and Helena respectively, bon voyage and a happy future during your years of retirement.  The rest this affords, is more than well deserved.

On a happy note, we are honoured to welcome the new Chief of the SA Navy, Vice Admiral Refiloe Mudimu as our Patron and, Flag Officer Fleet, Rear Admiral Hennie Bester as our new President.    May your association with our Club be a long and happy experience and we look forward to entertaining you, along with Yvonne and Toetsie, on many occasions.   Suitable functions to officially welcome them are being arranged - the first of which will take place on Friday 27 May at 16:30 to welcome R Adm Bester. 

YOUR COMMITTEE

The AGM is many months behind us and since then, several changes in the committee, as selected, have occurred.  For those who are not fully in the picture, your committee now stands as follows: 

Chairman – Cdr Claude Harris                         

Honorary Secretary – Capt Dave de Wet who, regrettably leaves us at the end of May.  Dave, many thanks indeed for all you have done for the Club.  You have been a stout supporter in every way and we will miss you.  In his place, we welcome Mrs Cynthia Fryer and wish her best of luck with the complicated job which lies ahead. 

Honorary Treasurer – Mr Braam Esterhuizen   

Entertainment:  Capt Glen Marlow, Cdr Keith Luyt and Mrs Ansie Esterhuizen, who has in the meantime also resigned from the committee.  We say thank you to her for the hard work and many hours spent in ensuring a successful social programme of events during the past few years.

Club Facilities:  Mr Sean Gourley, Prof Jimmy de Jager, Capt Glen Marlow and Cdr Ricky Groome.

Communication:  Cdr Peggy Pysden.

Due to his sea going duties, Capt Colin Sharwood serves in an ad-hoc capacity when available.

Our Club Manager, Cdr Ters van Heerden, after serving the Club for eight years with due diligence and considerable loyalty has also found it necessary to move on.  Ters, we thank you for the sterling

job you have done in running the Club.  It has not always been easy for you and we wish you to know that we appreciate all you have done.  We wish you all the best in this, your second retirement and look forward to you dropping in for a “wet” from time to time.

Behind the bar we continue to be ably served by Mrs Annatjie Jacobs and Mr Theo Kent, while Mrs Annette Arendse continues to maintain the premises in a pristine state of cleanliness.

MESSAGE FROM YOUR CLUB CHAIRMAN

On behalf of the Committee, my thanks and appreciation to all members for their continuing support of the Club.  Your ever increasing attendance on Fridays in particular, has made the Club a hive of activity and a pleasant and social place to be!  Thank you all!  

We still have a fairly large number of members who have not paid their subscriptions which were due at the end of October 2004.  I appeal to you to settle these accounts before we resort to posting defaulters names on the notice board.

CATERING

Anita Paulses has served the Club extremely well for over a year now and has done much towards enhancing our facilities and general ambience in the Club.  She does need your support though.  In this respect, she has advised that, due to lack of support no catering will be available on Saturdays unless pre-arranged bookings are made for groups of at least eight or more.

As numbers have been declining, we remind you about the Sunday Lunches which occur on the

1^st Sunday of each month – they offer real value for your R’s.    

With winter having arrived, and God willing, plenty of rain for the drought stricken W Cape, what could be nicer than hibernating in the pleasant surroundings of our Club with good food, plenty to wash it down with and good company?

CLUB SOCIAL PROGRAMME

Functions to look forward to and place in your calendar of events include:

11 June – Seafood Buffet and dance, and

16 July – Christmas in July.

Watch the Notice Board for details.

NEW MEMBERS

The following proposals for membership have been approved since January:

Messrs E. Mawhinney, M.J. Butler, J.C. van Tonder, C.F. Blaikie, H. Currie, T.C. Smith, D.C.U. Brinkman, W.W. Naude, M. Aylward, H.J. Wolmarans, J.H. le Roux, Dr D.A. Fourie,

R Adm (JG) S.L. Pillay, Cdr W. Kwak and S Lt A. Frost.

We welcome the above on board and trust that they will enjoy many years of amicable socializing at the Seven Seas Club.

Members are reminded to make every effort to introduce nominations for membership to committee members.  To facilitate this effort, the Committee is available in the Club from 17:00, after Committee meetings, on the 3^rd Tuesday of every month.  A situation of somewhat disturbing regularity is occurring lately in that, members are signing nomination forms for membership of people they do not

know at all or only know vaguely.  This situation is not acceptable and members are requested to give due consideration before nominating/signing such application forms. 

CROSSED THE BAR

Much sadness is expressed with the Crossing of the Bar of Capt AP le Roux on 20 April.  He was a founder member of the Seven Seas Club (in its present format) and in keeping with his wishes, his wake was held at the Club, attended by many of his shipmates.  We will miss him.  Our condolences go to Marlene, his beloved, and dare we say, long suffering wife!  He was some character.

REFURBISHMENTS

You will be pleased to hear that an air induction and extraction system and air conditioning units have been installed in the Club ensuring a pleasant atmosphere, particularly on those unpleasantly hot, humid and windless days.

The Club has also finally purchased its own computer and will soon no longer need to rely on the generosity of committee members.  Hooray!  Email will no doubt continue as is for the time being.  You will be advised when a change-over occurs.

100 CLUB DRAW

After a marathon effort to get all the monies in, we have at last been able to commence the draw.

Please contact the Manager to claim your winnings.

RECIPROCITY CLUBS

The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club has advised that they now have a web site at www.rcyc.co.uk and their Club Secretary, Louise Morton can be contacted by email at louise@rcyc.co.za

We are pleased to confirm continued reciprocal arrangements with them.

DRESS CODE

The Committee finds it necessary to remind members that a shirt with a collar is required and that

t-shirts are not acceptable.  Please ensure that your guests are suitably attired when visiting the Club.

In conclusion, we wish Ricky Groome a speedy recovery from his recent operation and return to his vacant seat around the Committee table.

Till next time and

Yours aye

Peggy Pysden – or, peggyp@xsinet.co.za