11 June 2024

Multi-award winning author, journalist, and international filmmaker Hamilton Wende has covered some seventeen different conflicts and wars around the world and written ten books. At the grand age of 10 he won the English prize in Grade 3 – giving him, an uncertain child, a moment to discover self-belief. Perhaps our uncertainties never quite do resolve themselves, but Hamilton tells us of his award-winning career as journalist, novelist and TV producer, and how bearing witness to the stories of our country and of our time has led to a life of deep purpose and meaning.

A Bateleur soaring above the African bushveld is one of the iconic sights in nature. Avid birder and conservationist Anton Odendal celebrates this magnificent raptor with beautiful images taken by BirdLife Overberg members over the years.
The numbers of Bateleurs have decreased by 50% over the past forty years, with less than one thousand pairs left. Anton Odendal will discuss the threats that the species are faced with and highlight remedial conservation actions such as the Bird of the Year campaign, as well as details of educational resources being disseminated.

Create your own unique soy candle by applying your artistic talent as Andrea Liddell teaches you the basics of waxes, wicks and the wonders of essential oils. This is a hands-on workshop where you get to learn the art and technique involved in producing your own aromatic soy candle to take home.

Ashwill Kleinbooi will teach you all the technical skills such as cooking the perfect sushi rice, rolling like a pro, working with raw fish and perfecting your presentation. In just a few hours you will feel confident enough to be able to make your own fresh and delicious sushi at home, including salmon and avocado maki rolls, tempura prawn and California rolls, nigiri and gunkan maki.

Create your own celebratory wreath to be placed in front of a mirror or cupboard to enjoy all year round. Susan of Lilly Rose Florist in Hermanus will show you how a wreath can add charm, elegance and ambience to a room. The materials you’ll be using will include fynbos, herbal plants and preserved elements, finished off with a beautiful ribbon. Susan will take you through the process in a relaxed setting, step by step, and you’ll go home with your own unique wreath that will bring you pleasure for a long time. The ticket price includes all materials, refreshments and a light lunch.

Join Dal Botha as she demonstrates how to make a mini container from different fabrics, learning a technique which can be applied to many other creations, including unique pot plant holders. As an accredited quilt teacher with over 30 years’ experience, Dal enjoys the challenge of breaking free from patterns and creating original fibre art. Let your creativity loose and allow the magical combination of beautiful fabrics and slow stitching to relax and inspire you. No previous knowledge of stitching is necessary. All materials will be supplied and you’ll be taking home your own versatile fabric container.

Felicity Jervis reveals her ancestral home and its multi-ethnic people waltzing through years of fame, power, glory, social scandals, music, art and intellectual brilliance, rising liberalism but growing racism, secession, assassinations and invasions, as the great Austrian Empire stumbled towards wars and degeneracy.
Story of the City of Music and Dreams, home of Emperors, The Waltz King, assassins, secessionists and a motley of citizens – some brilliant, some bad, and one who escaped the wars to live in South Africa. This 60-minute presentation will include over 250 slides, music and videos.

Soup is the ultimate comfort food in winter and often a meal on its own. Get inspired to cook healthy soups that will not take too much time, using fresh, seasonal ingredients. Vegetarian has never been easier or more delicious. Caterer, food consultant and cookbook author Christine Capendale will show you how to get it all done in less than thirty minutes.

Put the troubled world aside and join three of Cape Town’s top musicians for an uplifting evening of beautiful music inspired by legend and fantasy.

Get up to date with the most exciting wines in South Africa today when three experts choose and present for tasting the finest and most interesting wines in their view. Wine Writer’s Choice: Tim is the author of Wines of the New South Africa. He is a long-established wine writer as well as taster and associate editor for the Platter’s South African Wine Guide.

One of the most famous of all English gardens, Sissinghurst was created by Vita Sackville-West, an Edwardian lady, poet and writer and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. She was more famous for her garden than any of her many books.
Delving into her colourful and unconventional past as well as her flamboyant family, Vita was as well known for her lovers as for her remarkable garden. Today Sissinghurst is the most visited garden in all of England and it is still breathtaking as well as original, just like its creator.

If you have not discovered the traditional Japanese dish of Ramen, you are missing out! Much more than a soup, it is a bowl of deliciousness bursting with rich umami flavours. Well-known local chef Wander Bester will show you how to make a restaurant quality Ramen in the home kitchen, ready for dinner, using ingredients that are easily available from your every-day shop.

In 1899, four Boer brothers rode off to war. Remarkably, three of them kept diaries. In Bullet In the Heart, Beverley has retrieved the forgotten fates of these brothers in war. In 1986, seven young men were shot and killed by police in Gugulethu in Cape Town.
In Hunting the Seven, the author reveals who plotted their assassination.
Christopher Hope will talk to Beverley Roos-Muller about how both books celebrate the saving grace of memory. Only by reviving these forgotten lives do we remember who we are.

Join these three talented musicians from three different generations on a musical journey. Together they perform songs that young and old have grown to love, with rhythms crossing generations of boundaries, interwoven with stories that inspire.