Information brochure.
Maj. Tony Gordon is planning to undertake another one of his famous field trips. (For anybody who has been on one of his field trips will know that he is an absolute fount of knowledge and is able to make your head spin with thesalvoes of information and amazing facts and figuresthat he fires off in the course a normal outing!) The forthcoming trip will take place on Saturday, 11th of May, and will start with a visit to the military cemeteries of the Cape, which will cover the CWG graves and Boer PoW graves/memorials at the Maitland cemetery, and will end at the old Plumstead cemetery. Time constraints will, unfortunately, exclude a visit to the Simon's Town cemetery. If you are interested in joining the group, please liaise with Maj. Gordon as space is very limited, as well as to obtain closer details of the field trip (Tel: 021-671-4500).
1. Saturday morning: Depart Durban 07h30, RV at Ultra City at 09h00 for departure 09h30. ETA Blood River at 11h30. DVD presentation in the Interpretation Centre on the Battlefield, followed by discussion at the Voortrekker laager site. Picnic lunch at Blood River, after which we proceed to the Ncome Museum across the river. Time permitting, we'll view the battlefield from the Zulu commanders' position on Intaba kaNdlela (Ndlela's Hill) across the Mathambo plain. Cost: R20 pp entry fee.
2. Saturday afternoon (+- 16h00) we stop on the right bank of the Mzinyathi (Buffalo) River for preliminary discussion on the next day's battlefield tour. ETA Lodge 17h30.
3. Sunday morning: Proceed to site of Maj Gen Sir William Penn Symons's camp for phase 1, followed by retracing of the route through the town of Dundee taken by the British troops en route to Talana. Phase 2: Stop overlooking the Steenkoolspruit for briefing on the British assembly point. Phase 3: Proceed to Talana Battlefield for final phases of the Battle. Climb Talana Hill to view the Battlefield from the Boer perspective, followed by lunch on the battlefield and tour of the museum. Cost: R15 pp entry fee.
More details from ken.gillings@mweb.co.za
Information brochure.
More details from: Fifi Meyer - info@ladysmith.co.za
South African Military History Society / scribe@samilitaryhistory.org