Bowler from GR delivers letter to mayor of Bristol

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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEOS - Not only did Colleen Piketh, South Africa's top female bowler, excel at the recent World Bowls Indoor Championships in Bristol, England, she also helped to open the door for better relations between George and Bristol.

Piketh and Jason Evans represented South Africa at the championships where she went through to the last 16 in the ladies singles event and, paired with Evans, won a bronze medal in the mixed pairs.

Last week after she returned to George, the George Bowling Club related how it came about that she delivered a letter on behalf of Leon van Wyk, the mayor of George, to the mayor of Bristol.

Van Wyk recently opened a memorial tournament for the late Elma Davis at the George Bowling Club where Van Wyk asked her to deliver the letter on his behalf. While in Bristol she handed the letter to a representative of the mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees.

Piketh (49), originally from Gauteng, is no stranger to international competition and has represented South Africa numerous times.

She is regarded as one of the top 10 female players in the world and was the only South African to be chosen as part of a Rest of the World Team vs Australia in 2019. On a local level she has won the SA Masters Singles title (male or female), a record seven times.

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She has been playing bowls for 28 years and has won many international titles. She recently participated in Gqeberha in the South African National Championships.

Piketh told George Herald that she plays bowls because of her love for the game and she also loves a challenge.

Talking about the indoor tournament in Bristol, she said there is a huge difference between playing outdoors and indoors. If you play indoors it can be compared to rolling a ball on a tile floor. As the surface is much quicker, controlling the ball is much more difficult.

"For me it is a challenge to play indoors. I know outdoors."

She intends to play bowls for as long as possible. She will hopefully be part of the South African team that will be participating in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in England in July/August.

Why George made contact with Bristol

George Mayor Leon van Wyk writes about the interaction with Bristol in England:

In 2016, KPMG International studied second cities around the world in an attempt to understand what attracted people to live there, how they ensure sustainability, how they developed specialisation of economic activities. The successful ones are termed as "magnet cities".

Second cities are similar to what we now term as intermediate cities in South Africa. George is categorised as one of these 19 cities along with Mbombela, Rustenburg, Polokwane, Pietermaritzburg, Kimberley, Drakenstein, Stellenbosch and others.

In the study, emphasis was placed on Bristol in the west of England and the successes they have achieved in creating a vision for the future.

I saw the opportunity of contacting the mayor of Bristol when Ms Colleen Piketh from George represented South Africa at the World Bowls Indoor Championships in Bristol in April. The objective was to gain some insight into their learnings and approach in successfully becoming a magnet city.

The KPMG study describes seven principles for successful magnet cities. In reading their report, I noted several touchpoints where George is displaying similar emerging features that are compared below:

1. Attract young wealth creators with a profile including developers of new businesses, who respect the environment, enjoy outdoor pursuits, artisanal food and drink: George is attracting younger families who have moved to George with some breadwinners continuing to commute to businesses elsewhere in the country. George offers a safe environment, high quality education and health facilities, and the natural beauty of the Garden Route.

2. Undergo constant physical renewal through new housing stock and physical renewal that includes gathering areas and public spaces: In George we are seeing the emergence of private sector investment in the renewal of buildings and new builds, funky gathering places. Examples include: Elvis Brew, Cornerstone development, The Pottery, Ground Zero’s bike track for juniors, Outeniqua Farmer’s Market, etc. The Go George bus service has improved interconnectivity.

3. Define the city identity through which some global cities have clear identities: George is largely safe with a focus on its relaxed lifestyle and numerous outdoor and leisure activities. Adventure sport is highly attractive ranging from trail running, mountain-biking, surfing and paragliding to golf.

4. Connect to other cities through effective travel: The George Airport is an important link to Johannesburg, Cape Town and other centres.

5. Cultivate new ideas. Bristol is home to academic research, technological innovation, IT that attracts a highly skilled young workforce: George displays some similar features with opportunities for growth in a number of economic sectors. Significant advances are being made in agricultural product innovation: berries, kiwi fruit, avocados, nuts; and events (including youth-focused sport) that attract tourism.

6. Stimulate investment through private and public investment: George continues to attract national attention through examples of the support for Go George and through the R1,2-billion BFI grant to upgrade water infrastructure. Nationally and provincially attention is being given to ensure that infrastructure and service delivery is being geared to be attractive investment.

7. Develop strong leadership. In Bristol, there is a vision for the city to succeed to benefit all its citizens: In George, we need to nurture and grow economic sectors that will benefit and improve the lives of many citizens through jobs and skills development. To achieve this is a strong leadership drive to renew and grow infrastructure, provide alternative energy sources, establish high quality service delivery, planning, promote economic development and tourism as enablers for attracting investment that will enable job creation.

The mayor of Bristol has already made available documentation on their one-city strategy for the next 30 years which includes managing environmental challenges. This documentation will be studied and we are planning to collaborate in future to gather further ideas.

The seven principles described along with the documentation provided on Bristol will assist in enhancing our understanding of the building blocks necessary to inspire and create a vision for George to nurture key economic sectors, attract investment and provide growth for citizens in our attractive environment.

We hope to interact with stakeholders on their vision, thoughts and plans for George. We recognise the need to keep our eyes on the horizon as we seek solutions and opportunities arising from our many challenges.

Colleen Piketh, South Africa's top female bowler, practising at the George Bowling club.