COMMUNITY PROJECTS

August 2009: Parkmore trail maintenance, August 23

Our Rangers, together with a couple of the local homeless people, embarked on a much needed trail maintenance project with much enthusiasm and energy. The work was concentrated on the section of river across from the Sandton Field and Study Centre. The dangerous pipe crossing was repaired and the section cleared to make the trail safer for riders and other trail users.

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6 June 2009: Paulshof Environmental Event and River Clean-up.

This year Paulshof’s Environmental awareness day and river clean-up coincided with World Environment Week and the launch of Pikitup’s big clean-up ahead of the Confederations Cup. The measure of success for the day were the loads and loads of bags of rubbish collected by hard working and committed environmentalists! A huge thank you to those that gave up their Saturday
morning to work like Trojans !
Lyn Aitken reports the highlight of this year’s event was the arrival of 50 indigenous trees assigned to Paulshof by Johannesburg City Parks for planting in and around the neighbourhood parks and riverine areas as the PRRA progresses with its programme to replace invasive species with indigenous trees.
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River Clean-up : 21 March, 2009.

We celebrated National Water Week with a bang this year. Our Rangers cleared 1500 kilograms of waste from the Braamfontein Spruit in Paulshof, building on support from Roedean Junior School pupils who took part in a community cleanup project on March 17. Special thanks to Collect-a-Can for sponsoring the green waste bags and to the team from Johannesburg City Parks (JCP) organised by Kgansi Mofakeng and Mulalo Mbedzi. JCP supplied a truck and trailer to remove the debris before the end of the day and the results speak for themselves.

Roedean pupils help to clean the Braamfontein Spruit.

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Feb 8, 2009:
ROBERT ZAKALIA has been employed by the JVMRR. He’ll be responsible for maintaining safe crossings and removing litter from the riverbanks in Paulshof and Sunninghill on a weekly basis. There will be no cost to local communities because he’s being employed directly by the River Rangers. So, if you see Robert working in the area, feel free say hello!
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New Riders, 2009: Vanessa Visser, Bronwyn Watkins and Brigitte Smith have joined the ranger team in Paulshof and 3 new horses called “Wizard”, “Leyla” and “Al” have joined our equine team at this base.
The patrol team based at River Park stables in Parkmore welcomes Tanya Cromme, Lara Dickson, Caren Elton, Ling Krassnokutski, Claire Nicholson, Lesley Thompson, Hilda McLoughlin and Carey van der Vyver.
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Dec 2, 2008. Paulshof ‘Carols on Horseback’ evening.

This was a popular outing. The community in Achter Road gave us their full support and helped us to raise funds for the Highveld Horse Care Unit. 16 riders led the way through the side streets of Paulshof and 3 patrol cars from the JMPD flanked the parade to control traffic. People on foot donned Christmas hats and carried burning candles. They added their voices to our mounted operatic team and everyone was invited to enjoy a glass of gluwein back at Rivonia Stables at the end of the ride. The stable block was decorated with glittering Christmas lights. Our thanks go to Lauren Hegele and Jenni McConnell for co-ordinating this special event and we hope to do it again next year.
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Nov 29, 2008. Field & Study Christmas Party.
There will be a party for needy children at the Field and Study Centre between 10AM and 2PM on Saturday. It is organised by Rose Johnson from FOFS and Fiona Butcher. The River Rangers are sponsoring soccer balls for the children and River Park Stables will supply ponies for pony rides. If anyone is able to donate second-hand (or new) children’s clothes for ages 6-13 these will be greatly appreciated and packages can be left at either yard this week.
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The following riders joined our patrol teams in 2008. We welcome you.
Lindi Berrino, Karen Blignaut, Kevin Butler, Shannon Brook, Karon Clare, Tony Davies, Shirley Douglas, Taylor Walker, Joanna White, Cheryl Luppnow, Michelle Lane, Caroline Rix, Gail Crow, Theresa Bezuidenhout and Angelika von Mellenthin-Young.
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June 7, 2008: Paulshof Clean-up Day.

There was a strong turnout for this event. Toyota were proud sponsors of the day and popular spot prizes were provided by local businesses. Rubber gloves and all the necessary equipment were provided by the PRRA. Their stand at the entrance to the park was a popular meet-and-greet point and their boerwors rolls fed the army of volunteers. Yum.
Ranger groups worked side-by-side with members of the community and teams from Johannesburg City Parks to remove hundreds of bags of litter from the banks of the Sandspruit and the Braamfontein Spruit. Old shoes, rusted car parts, tins, cups, plastic bottles, bicycle frames, broken hosepipes and more found a new home inside hard-wearing garbage bags. Pikitup provided 2 skips for immediate removal and the riverbanks are visibly cleaner again. Thanks to everyone who took part in this event. Good work!!
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May 1, 2008: Mad Hatters Party.
Lyn Aitken and the PRRA team organised a Mad Hatters Tea Party for the Paulshof community on May 1st and we took 3 ponies up to Brackenhill Park to join the fun. The autumn weather (with crackling leaves underfoot) gave us sunshine in abundance and dozens of enthusiastic children rode up and down the banks of the stream for 4 hours. Our regular patrol trekked into Bryanston before joining us at the community event so it was a busy day for Lauren and Helena Hegele and Theresa Cusson. Horses involved included Blue, Tazz, Star, Hector, Boss and Ziggy and our thanks go to Wayne for the catering…and to Lyn for her unflappable co-ordination on the day. It was a polished and successful event with the Free Me team providing new insights and deeper educational value.
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March 2008:
We’ve welcomed 3 new rangers who’ll ride from the Paulshof base this year and we wish Claire Pogson, Stacey Fannin and Regine le Roux every success.
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Paulshof Easter Fair, 15 March 2008.
PRA Community Co-ordinator Lyn describes this event in a recent email: “We were all set up and ready to get going in the park on Saturday morning when down came the rain! Everyone had to run for cover, but for those children who did arrive early goody bags were handed out and some fun was had before rain spoiled the day. The ponies from River Rangers were a great attraction even in the rain.
The good news is that the event has only been postponed and not cancelled. We’ll be repeating our fun day on Thursday 1st May. We’ve kept all the prizes so please keep all the beautiful hats and baskets and the competition will take place along with lots of other fun events. Look out for our posters promoting the day and join us for the May Day fun. The River Rangers have confirmed they will be back with their ponies.” - Lyn Aitken.
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BECF/Bryanston Community Cleanup, 15 March ‘08.
Andrew Murray has sent in a photo of some of the JVMRR Rangers who attended this event. It can be seen on our HomePage. Volunteer rangers made up a large proportion of those present and it was a productive morning.
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March 2007: Reach For A Dream - Outing at River Park Stables in Parkmore.
Thursday March 29th signified a landmark event for the Reach For a Dream Foundation. This was the first time they chose a group of children to ride under Ranger supervision at the Field and Study Centre. Six of these children are receiving medical treatment for renal disorders and two of them suffer from rare forms of diabetes, but it was love at first sight when they saw the ponies. We took them on a long outride through the park and along the river banks until, at the very end, they all laughed and said they wanted more.
Annie and Muzi and Innocent feel confident you’ll treasure this picture of them celebrating life on horseback with a group of their best friends from the Johannesburg General Hospital…and their new friends at the Field & Study Centre.
Thanks to all the Rangers and grooms who helped to make this an unforgettable day. We also trust this is the start of a long-term relationship with the Reach for A Dream Foundation so we’ll be planning more hospital outings in future.
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May 2007: Major Security Blitz and River Clean-up. Field & Study Centre.
The Field and Study Centre in Parkmore received a ‘Spring-clean’ in the middle of Autumn on May 11th. Units from the SAPS and the Department of Home Affairs joined forces with other Johannesburg Metro agencies to raid the growing squatter camps on the west bank of the Braamfontein Spruit at 5am.
“There was a huge contingent of police… I’d say between 200 to 300 SAPS and Metro officers on foot and in vehicles”, reports Lyndall Murray. “I think the numbers of squatters have decreased in this area since the first raid and if we can keep this up we can go a long way to solving the problem of the illegal camps.”
The police action was followed by a major clean-up operation along the Spruit from 7.30 am onwards. This was well attended by members of Pikitup, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and an enthuiastic group of Rangers together with Ward Counsellor, Gilda Hurwitz and CPF Chairperson, Judith Taylor. Significant numbers of Johannesburg Metro office staff also bent their backs to help.

The programme for May 11 was instigated by Gilda Hurwitz and organised by Joyce Sibeko, a popular manager in the Service Delivery Department at the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council. Joyce also engaged the services of a contractor to cut down non-indigenous trees and to mow the grass along the river trail.
There were two groups of people to clean up the litter along the riverbanks as well as the debris from the squatter camps. One group started from the River Road on the north side of Ballyclare Bridge in Bryanston and the other group set to work from the Field and Study Park”, explains Lyndall Murray. “It all went very well. Pikitup delivered two skips which were filled with debris by the end of the day.”
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June 2007: Paulshof River Clean-up, June 9.
City Parks teams and enthusiastic local community volunteers turned up in their dozens to help at this event on Saturday. Power-saws, prods, bags and trucks trailed the supporters and 240 bags of plastic and litter were removed from the Braamfontein and Sandspruit rivers by the end of the morning.
The majority of work took place along the east side of the Rivonia Sports Club and on the west bank of the Paulshof Ranger Base and there’s a visible improvement in these areas.
Some of the items retrieved from the water included bolts of red fabric, old carpets, broken shoes, torn winter blankets, toothbrushes, golf balls, the bumpers from 2 cars and a set of bent windscreen wipers! Strange what people discard in our city rivers, isn’t it?
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For more info see the PRRA website at http://www.paulshof.org