PAST EVENTS

Following a last minute offer by a prospective guest speaker to deliver a special talk on "The General who saved his Nation", pnovided his talk could be delivered as close to the 20th August as possible, as this date was relevant to the subject and of historical importance, our chairman, 'SB', agreed to defer his own scheduled talk to a later date, and so Prof Mike Laing addressed our August meeting instead. The talk started interestingly enough with a number of brief but unconnected sketches, supported by slides, of a number of WWII commanders such as Wingate, Slim, Rommel, Eisenhower, Montgomery, a more detailed one of Patton, and a brief one of Zhukov, who was then identified as the intended subject of the talk and the 20th August as the date of the battle of Khalikhalin-Gol. The significance of all this unfortunately became completely lost in the subsequent, altogether incoherent, discourse on a series of changing topics such as the reading out of a circular referring to some social activities committee, the poor quality of food at the University cafeteria, a slide of a building which had blocked the view from the speaker's office, a slide of Durban and the Bluff; some critical remarks about the yacht race and Rio de Janeiro as a city, slides of some generally unknown people in a laboratory, of posters and a poster exhibition, and so forth.

As the evening wore on and as the speaker had obviously abandoned the subject of his talk and even the subject of military history in general, the audience began to melt away till, nearly 3 hours after it had begun, the meeting came to a much belated end. However, Mike Laing phoned the Chairman the following morning and apologised to any member who might have become irritated or embarrassed by his unconventional and, at times, controversial and aggressive manner and approach.

FUTURE EVENTS

Members who wish to join the weekend tour, initiated by the S.A. Naval Officers' Association, to Blood River, Khambula and Hlobane are welcome to do so. The tour will be conducted by 'SB' Bourquin, who may be contacted for further details (Phone 031 - ...078) and will take place over the weekend 12 and 13 September 1987.

JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF HEAVEN : 3RD AND 4TH OCTOBER 1987.

The Durban Publicity Association has organised the above tour, which will be under the guidance of Ken Gillings, to the heart of Zululand, taking in aspects of Zulu culture and heritage, including Shakaland (the set of the T.V. series "Shaka Zulu"), as well as battlefields of the Anglo/Zulu War of 1879.
For further information and bookings please telephone the Durban Publicity Association 031 - 304..... PROGRAMME 0F MONTHLY GET-TOGETHERS

SEPTEMBER 17TH N.B. THIRD THURSDAY.       Fellow-member Steve Watt, from Pietermaritzburg, will give an illustrated slide talk entitled "Deelfontein - Hospital in the Karoo during the Anglo/Boer War - A cemetery today."

October 8th        Fellow-member Ian Sutherland - "The Battle of Culloden".

November 19th        Major Darrell Hall - Illustrated slide talk about 1820 Settler, William Corey.

December       In recess.

1988 January 14th        Our Chairman, 'SB' Bourquin will give an illustrated slide talk entitled "Shaka's Heritage".

February 11th        Fellow-member Vic Conrad will talk on "The Birth of Israel" and will show some slides of places of interest.

The venue for all meetings will be the 'Bourq Inn', lower ground floor, 'SB' Bourquin Building, on the corner of Jan Smuts Highway and Buro Crescent, Mayville. This month's meeting will take place on the THIRD THURSDAY in September, commencing at 7.30p.m. Please bring your own glass and canned or bottled refreshments. Ice will be supplied. FRIENDS AND INTERESTED PERSONS ARE WELCOME TO COME ALONG.

WELCOME

A hearty welcome is extended to new Durban Branch members Messrs Tubby Waldeck of Amanzimtoti, Mike Rowan of Kloof, and Mr & Mrs Lawrie Wright of Durban.

(Mrs) Tania van der Watt,
Secretary, Durban Branch,
S.A. Military History Society,
Box 870, HILLCREST, 3650.
Tel. (031) vvvvvv