University of the Third Age programme for March

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS - The University of the Third Age George has a varied and interesting programme of events lined up for March.

The programme opens with Armchair Travel on Wednesday 11 March with a talk by Jackie Haupt titled, 'Circumnavigating the Baltic sea, including Copenhagen in Denmark and Gdansk in Poland'.

Haupt was born in England, grew up in Northern Rhodesia / Zambia, lived in Botswana for 11 years and worked at the Wits Medical School in Johannesburg. She and her husband, Neil, moved to Mossel Bay in 2008.

In their professional lives, Neil was an electrical project manager and Jackie an academic administrator and researcher. Now retired, they enjoy travelling in South Africa and abroad, genealogy and local history.

In 2020 the couple booked a Baltic cruise. The global covid-19 epidemic and resulting shutdown led to the cruise being postponed to 2021, and then for another year. Finally in 2022, the world started coming out of isolation and the trip was on.

The long-anticipated circumnavigation of the Baltic Sea visited 7 countries. Part 1 covers Copenhagen, Gdansk (formerly Danzig) and Stutthof Concentration Camp, the first Nazi concentration camp set up outside German borders and the last to be liberated by the Allies. The talk will start at 10:30 in the Emmaüs Hall in Memoriam Street.

On 20 March in the Friday Lecture, the talk will revolve around Stan Harman's career as an air traffic controller with an introduction as to how ATC works. He sums up his career as “40 years as a controller - never a dull moment!”

Harman was educated in Harare, Zimbabwe, and trained as an air traffic controller at Harare Airport. He subsequently worked at Jan Smuts, Johannesburg; Muscat Airport, Sultanate of Oman, and in Hong Kong at both Kai Tak and Chek Lap Kok airports. He finished up as an instructor, examiner and supervisor before retiring in 2020 and has settled permanently in Plettenberg Bay. There will be refreshments provided at 10:00 and the talk will start at 10:30.

In the general meeting on Wednesday 25 March, Cassandra van der Westhuizen will talk about 'Controlling alien invasive plant species – why it matters'.

Van der Westhuizen refers to herself as an enthusiastic observer of something she believes to be unique in the universe and has thus put together a comprehensive presentation which covers biodiversity – the whats, whys and wherefores, eco-systems, and how alien invasive plants destroy them.

Van der Westhuizen will also define what is an alien invasive plant (AIP) , what the impacts are on the environment in terms of water, land, fire, fauna, access barriers to water, and toxicity. She will consider how to protect biodiversity and what legislation has been enacted in this respect, and finally she will look at the classification of plants and the need for controlling AIPs and the aim of such controls in terms of damage to the environment. Refreshments are at 10:00 and the talk will start at 10:30.

Jackie Haupt's travel talk will include notes on their visit to Copenhagen.