Chairman’s Report 2025

Chairman’s Report 2025

 

Lead Project – Oyster Bay Dune Field

 

Throughout the course of 2024, there has been continual dialogue between Eskom, who own the land and the Biodiversity Stewardship Facilitator for the GKS Initiative, Dr Wentzel Coetzer. Our proposal outlining our objective to have all or at least part of the  16 km dune field protected from future human interference, in particular, sand mining and prospecting, was submitted in late 2023. 

The Oyster Bay Dunefield stretches an incredible 16km, making it the longest headland bypass dune field in South Africa and one of the largest in the world. It is truly one-of-a-kind, considered unique on local, regional, and even global levels. It is an archaeological asset with significant heritage value, surrounded by valuable flora and fauna and supported by a natural hydrological underground system which is quite unique and the entire environment sits on our doorstep. It is of immense heritage value and a unique natural asset that should be afforded protection for heritage and environmental reasons. 

This piece of work will clearly take a great deal of time and effort to make inroads and it is our intention to continue with this lead project and the dialogue with Eskom during 2025 with the intention of securing protection status as a nature reserve for all or some of the dune field. 

That all said, there has also been some great work undertaken by Trudi Malan of Thyspunt Alliance in their intentions to have the greater Thyspunt area including the Oyster Bay dune field owned by Eskom declared as a Cultural Landscape of National Importance (Grade 1 Site). Knowing this would be a lengthy process, Thyspunt Alliance also submitted a further application as a back-up plan to the SAHRA for Provisional Protection, however, this applies only to the Eskom owned Thyspunt land, which still includes the Oyster Bay dune field. 

Provisional Protection by the SAHRA in 2024 of the Eskom owned Thyspunt site for a period of 2 years was successful. The original cultural landscape application for the greater Thyspunt area will continue to be progressed during the 2 year provisional protection period.

Wildlife Sanctuary

Since the wildlife sanctuary was re-ignited with the arrival of Mandy Cromarty in 2023, the local exposure that the sanctuary has received to date has ensured that Mandy has been kept busy. 2024 started successfully with the release of two hand-reared Black-collared Barbets in late February. 

Spring to autumn has been the busiest time of the year when youngsters are being reared and with all the exposure the sanctuary has received, Mandy is receiving on average 2 calls per day relating to injured wildlife. A significant number relate to nestlings and fledglings that have fallen from their nest or perch and young birds that have collided with windows. Some are rehabilitated and released and unfortunately, some succumb to their injuries and are put to sleep. 

Quite a few calls relate to buck, mostly Grysbok and Bushbuck, some injured by cars, snares, fights with other bulls, young buck attacked by predators or separated from their parents and panic when attempting to force through fencing. Intervention isn’t necessary unless for example, bones are clearly broken making it impossible for it to run/flee from predators or to feed itself or it is clearly suffering. 

We have received calls and taken in a variety of birds including Black-collared Barbets,  Yellow Bishop, various Doves, 4 Crows, 5 Ibis, 2 Thick-knees, 4 Lovebirds, Swift, a few Sparrows, Brown-Hooded Kingfisher, a few Spotted-eagle Owls, 1 penguin, 1 Cape Spurfowl chick, a Plover, a Cormorant and and a few other species to add! 

Other wildlife of note and unusual incidences include the newborn Caracal found perished on the beach near Jeffrey’s, quite a few tortoises either bitten by dogs, floating down the Kromme River, young tortoises in dangerous places such as roads or rescuing tortoises from the local settlement. We had a couple of requests to have puff adders relocated to  a safer environment. 

We also played a role in an adult turtle that was eventually rescued along the coast. Probably the most strangest of calls in 2024 was this summer when some Cape Rock Dassies took a ride in the chassis of a tourists car and concern was raised for the animals. In summary, the population of dassies in the area has now increased and they will soon settle in to their new home unless they hitch a ride back home course.  

Mandy has certainly had her work cut out and despite the amount of time, energy and commitment that she has applied she has not been able to do this alone. We extend our thanks to Dr Nerine Botha and Dr Annelise Barker for their invaluable assistance, Mark Griffiths (Buck assistance), Marizanne Kemp-Ferreira (advice on all wildlife mammals), Marc Hannekom (Bees), Charl de Lange (Snakes), Andrew Morris our committee member, Tracey Whitehead from Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town (Turtles), Ruth from Bayworld (Turtles), SANCCOB team in Gqeberha and local responders (Seabird Rescue), Jodie from Animal Anticruelty and of course, anyone who has assisted in any shape or form over the past year.

Eco-Kids

The Kromme Enviro-Trust offers an educational programme, ECO-KIDS, for young members (4-10 years) of our community. During 2024 the programme took place across six Saturday mornings with different topics for each and also two Ocean Clean-up activities. 

The first session of the year was sponsored by Rotary St Francis and and led by Johan de Wet of Roaming Lions from Jeffreys Bay. The theme was ‘Äquatic Wonders’ and focused on activities that taught the children about floating and sinking in nature. 

Other topics focused on Soil, Plants and Recycling (and chickens!). We went on The Trail of the Bees with Marc Hanekom and John Suckling, who provided each child with natural honey. This programme together with Shells and Sand Castles proved to be most popular.

We offered a programme on Healthy Eating hosted by Nevermind and in November we went on a Nature Trail at the St Francis Nature Reserve and discoveries included a Christmas Tree. 

Eco Kids families were involved in the two Coastal Clean-ups of 2024 and prizes for the kids were once again donated by Bayview Boating to whom we extend our thanks. 

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Rotary St Francis, Clint from The Farmyard Nursery, Marc Hanekom, John Suckling and The Links, Mrs Yvonne Bosman for the shells, Julia Randalls and Nevermind, FOSTER and last but not least, Cheryl Douglas and Jenny de Beer, co-presenters of the programme. A Big Thank You to the parents for bringing their children. 

In 2023 we also received sponsorship for Eco Kids T-Shirt and caps from Rotary St Francis. Children who signed up for all the sessions received these items and wore them to the sessions. 

Eco-Kids kicks off in February and each child that signs up for the year will again receive a sponsored Rotary shirt and cap. (Kids grow!). We are again planning to present eight events: six educational activity mornings and two clean-up/community activities involving the children.

Bruce’s Ocean Museum Cafe

No major changes took place in 2024 but once again Bruces Ocean Museum Café has attracted an increased number of visitors this year. The Whale information corner at the entrance has been modernised and refreshed with new permanent information boards on display. The presentations on the screen were kept up-to-date, relevant and during the summer season, the footage gained a great deal of attention from visitors. 

This year, however, will be an exciting one as we are planning an expansion to the Ocean Museum into a new space that is currently under renovation upstairs from the coffee shop.

Creating a meeting place of people, thoughts and ideas, with a focus on the beautiful environment we find on our doorstep, remains the focus of this museum. 

Our thanks go to Nikki and Ernest Bendeman and their incredible team for the enthusiasm and commitment they show for this venture. It is due to them that Bruces Ocean Museum & Coffee Shop continues to be a great success.

Greater Kromme Stewardship 

The Enviro-Trust is a founding member of the Greater Kromme Stewardship (GKS) in partnership with the local wind farms. The purpose of the initiative is to identify potential conservation areas in the district and facilitate their formal declaration as protected areas. Conservation Outcomes is contracted to undertake this work and Wentzel Coetzer has been managing the initiative for us since 2015. Five nature reserves and one protected environment have been declared and another five are in the final stages of the declaration process. Over 1500 hectares of valuable biodiversity have been secured for protection so far, an achievement that has been identified by an independent assessor as having done more for conservation in this area than any other initiative in the last fifty years. 

Greater Kabeljous Partnership 

The Enviro-Trust is impacted by the land invasion that took place on the Papiesfontein state land at the end of 2022, as this land is one of the areas ear-marked for conservation by the GKS. It is an exceptionally important stretch of biodiversity, being the last significant remnant of Humansdorp Shale Renosterveld on earth. It is also a breeding area for Black Harrier, a highly endangered bird of prey, and so it has been identified as an offset conservation area by the Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm. 

For all these reasons, the Enviro-Trust has joined the Greater Kabeljous Partnership, a group of conservationists, business people, and environmental activists working to end the land invasion and establish a formally-protected nature reserve on the land. Along with the Kabeljous Nature Reserve and privately-owned neighbouring properties, the Papiesfontein state land will form a reserve from the Gamtoos River to the Kabeljous River, a treasury for fynbos and fynbos creatures unique in the world. 

Response to Development Proposals 

Every year brings a new wave of development proposals for our area, and our role is to review the Environmental Impact Assessments for those developments and respond appropriately. 

During 2024, we engaged with the new wind farms being constructed in the west of the district. The developer is Enel Green Power, who already operate the Gibson Bay and Oyster Bay wind farms in our area. They are now constructing three new wind farms, Impofu East, Impofu North and Impofu West, of 19 turbines each. Their environmental authorisation requires ongoing membership of the GKS and also includes specific conditions relating to a breeding Martial Eagle pair in close proximity to the wind farms. Our engagement with them related to a new mitigation method for reducing raptor fatalities, the painting of two red stripes on one turbine blade. They have agreed to join the ongoing scientific test of this method and nineteen of the 57 turbines will have painted blades. 

A national development during 2024 was the publishing of the Gas Master Plan by the DMRE1 in April, with a request for comments. Anika Meyer responded on our behalf, submitting that the plan defies South Africa’s agreed nationally determined contribution (NDC) mitigation targets in terms of the Paris Agreement, fails to plot a way forward that adequately reduces the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, and sacrifices the long-term health of its population for the sake of resource exploitation. 

Finally, in June Total Oil withdrew its proposals to extract oil and gas in specified blocks off the southern Cape coast. However, it appears to be persisting with its environmental application for those blocks (which extend as far as Cape St Francis), although the final submission date has been postponed three times and is now advised as May 2025. We will continue to monitor the situation.

Environmental Clean-Ups

Every year we will host two coastal clean-ups, one in the Autumn and then another, which coincides with the International Coastal Clean-Up in September. We, at the Enviro-Trust have hosted the international event for a number of years, with the objective of encouraging community members and visitors alike, to gather up and dispose of rubbish along our coastline. Recognised as a global movement with over 6 million volunteers taking part. 

The International Coastal Clean-up for 2024 was quite poignant in the fact that before it took place, the South African coastline had been subjected to a number of container spills from container ships, resulting in a vast quantity of contents spilling into the waters, including pharmaceuticals, materials and a great deal more. Like many of the communities affected by this along the coastline, the Greater St Francis community responded and attended the event in significant numbers, certainly in excess of what we had witnessed in previous events and for that we are truly grateful. 

However, the one event would not be enough to ensure the coastline remained pristine and further events were organised by a number of individuals, including businesses to stem the levels of container spillage that was washing up along the coastline. Again, we recognise the great effort, commitment and energy invested by everyone who took the time to assist in cleaning up and highlighting the ‘hotspots’ where a clean-up was a priority and we are thankful for that.

Two Harbours Trail

High seas and strong winds continued to wreak havoc along the 2HT. The horizontal walkways installed across difficult to traverse sections were washed away for the second time. This, after what was salvaged from the original walkways installed in previous years was rebuilt. However not much was salvaged the second time round. 

A “Perfect” Storm where the wind direction was near straight on to the coastline occurred resulting in extensive damage to the 2HW coastline. Two meters plus of dune were eroded, the worst hit being the highpoint dune at the middle of the walk. The erosion of the toe of the dune resulted in the collapse of 3 sections of pathway at the highpoint. The previous years’ work done along the highpoint was destroyed. 

To prevent the further collapse of the dune and as it was unrealistic if not impossible to reinstate the dune, it was decided to “bridge” the affected sections with a timber construction. This was done over a 4 month period by Neale Grobler and his team who constructed at cost, often working over weekends, to fit their busy workload. Our thanks to Neale, Ryno and their team for all the good work. Three wooden bridges of 15m, 11m and 6m in length were constructed. Of the wood, main bearers and poles were donated by BUCO SFB. Our thanks to Wendy the manager for the donation of R5000. Moreover, we are extremely grateful to Rotary SFB for coming on board and financing the whole project to the tune of R50 000+- 

A later storm close to the year-end resulted in further damage. Heavy rains resulted in damage to the Romazini valley crossing. There were wash-aways in 2 sections which created dongas up to 1.5m deep. The bridge crossing had to be salvaged and repositioned to enable safe crossing of the donga again, completed by Neale’s team. 

A dune approximately 550m from the Port was also affected by the last storm. The subsided section of dune required a 6m bridge. Unfortunately Neale’s team could not construct it before the year-end holidays started. When the team went to construct the bridge in January, the gap had grown to 10m, this due to walkers causing a further collapse of the dune. 

The gabion section lies between the Esmeralda Road parking point and the highpoint and is approximately 80m in length. Gabions were badly damaged and the pathway along the  top of the structure became dangerous. It is best to do this section at low tide walking in front of the existing gabion. A new gabion section in front of Erf 1214 has been constructed at the owner’s cost. This is a properly engineered and constructed retaining wall structure far superior to the previous effort. A new gabion wall will need to extend to Erf 1217 to replace the old path.

Community Garden

The garden is beautiful at this time of the year, though the odd drop of rain would always be a benefit. There have been many visitors to the garden, adults and children alike. The garden brings so much joy to its visitors with the sound of children playing and many visitors who have just simply sat on the lawn and benches in quiet contemplation. 

Of course, the gardens don’t take care of themselves and we must express our gratitude and thanks to local volunteers who are committed to maintaining the gardens so beautifully. To Glynn and Dr James Potts and their gardener, Dennis Titus and also Edmund and Dusty Elton who all undertake a variety of jobs within the gardens including removing litter, pruning, restoring and replacing sections of the pathways. In addition, Masibulele Peaceful Mqina and Sibulele Kqweni from The Links who care for the lawns each month and also assist in other activities with the volunteers. Our thanks to them all and also to The Links staff who arrange for their staff to assist in the gardens. 

Shade is much needed in the months of December to February so the focus has been maintained on keeping stairways intact and the clearing of pathways for pedestrians, making them easily accessible to all areas of the garden. The foreign invaders do seem to be under control but remain along the start of Two Harbours Trail near the coastline. 

The challenges that have been recognised over the past 12 months and require attention include the following: 

• Refuse is continuously discarded in the garden so we will consider what options are available to us and how we can reduce or prevent this issue.
• Cyclists continue to ride through sections of the garden resulting in cracked pavers which need to be replaced regularly.
• Vandalism is evident with some of the signage being destroyed or removed. 

Long may this peaceful haven continue to provide the opportunity for residents and visitors  alike to escape the day to day life of work, traffic and general noise pollution and relax in the peace and quiet of the beautifully maintained gardens, all thanks to those mentioned.

Fundraising

The success that emanates from Bruce’s Coffee Shop cements the foundations for a regular financial contribution that is invested in many of our existing projects. It really does make a difference and is such a wonderful partnership between ourselves and Bruce’s. This financial support goes a long way in allowing us to keep our membership fees as low as is possible, thus, allowing anyone to join us and support our work. 

In the early part of 2024, the NSRI, through our Financial Officer at the time, Sara-Jane, organised two presentations by Captain Nick Sloane, a world renowned Salvage Master and talked about the raising of the Costa Concordia. Proceeds raised from these presentations were split and we received just over R10,000. Our thanks to the St Francis Brewery who hosted the event. 

Back in June, we held our annual golf day in support for World Environment Day and again, our thanks to St Francis Links and all the team who hosted the event. The support was outstanding and the event again, raised in excess of R90,000. 

Recyclable shopping bags is a new initiative and we extend our thanks to Chio Laine Kraak and her company, ‘Tote’s For Change’ for the royalties we receive from their newly designed recycled and re-usable bags made primarily from plastic water bottles. Chio has partnered with Spar – St Francis Bay who are now selling the bags in support of the campaign. Of course, the bags are also available from us here at the Enviro-Trust. 

An additional means of raising funds was the joint venture with St Francis Tourism where we introduced back in 2023 a pack of playing cards featuring stunning photographs of well known greater St Francis spots. Having initially raised sufficient funds to pay for the printing costs, the Enviro-Trust has since the date of inception raised just over R9,000 from  the packs of cards we have sold. 

Finally, not a fundraiser but more a giving opportunity. It was such a privilege for us to support an ongoing recycling initiative headed up by Sivuyisiwe Mapapu, a Conservation Intern with Conservation Outcomes in partnership with the Kouga Municipality and the Greater Kromme Stewardship. It was such a pleasure to visit Kleinplaas Primary School and donate four recycling bins in support of their recycling project. The waste bins donated to the school will be used by the pupils to educate them about the importance of proper waste management, separation of waste and the 3Rs, in turn encouraging these young minds to take this practice back to their own homes.

Fishing Line Bins

With the committed support of our local resident and volunteer co-ordinator, Denys Rothero, we continue with the ‘Fishing Line Bins’ initiative. To date, we have 14 bins in the St Francis area and 7 in Cape St Francis. They have been placed at well known fishing spots where we encourage fishermen and residents alike to place any discarded fishing line and / or tackle into the bins safely. 

We are confident that this contributes to preventing fewer entanglements and injuries, not only to the local wildlife, but also to domestic animals, particular dogs who have over the years been subjects to fishing hook injuries to their mouths and paws. 

Denys not only co-ordinates volunteers who check on the bins every few weeks but also arranges repairs and replacements of bins where necessary. In addition, we extend our thanks to our local volunteers Janine Prins, Alison Price, Anthony Sherrin, Brian Saunders and Matt Gennrich who monitor the bins and empty them when required.

Communications

This is an area that we would like to enhance further during 2025, especially in respect of increasing our membership.  Our main communication feeds continue to be the Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/krommetrust/ which stands at 2.3 thousand followers, an increase of 200 followers on the previous year and also our website, https://stfranciskrommetrust.co.za/ that contains many links pertaining to our ongoing projects, the Greater Kromme Stewardship, how to join and much more.

We continue to be available at the St Francis Saturday Market where we have a stall with numerous displays and information about our ongoing projects. This has been made possible thanks to Hantie and the market organisers who allow us space at the market at no extra cost. 

To enhance communication and the sharing of information, we continue to have representation at our committee members from Rotary (Richard Vauqulin) and FOSTER (Trevor Gascoigne), both of whom provide a valuable input in many of our projects and events. May I extend a warm welcome to Richard who has been a long-standing member of Rotary and he replaced Peter Long as the Rotary representative earlier this year as a result of Peter having to re-locate. 

Following on from its inception in 2023, we have continued to share throughout the year a number of Members Newsletters providing an insight into the latest Enviro-Trust updates including environmental threats, forthcoming events and project news. We do hope that you have found these useful and if there are any suggestions on how we can improve the newsletters or any area of the communication strategy then please do let us know.

Ward Committee

We continue to support the Ward 12 Committee of the Kouga Local Municipality from an environmental perspective and have played a proactive part in a number of issues that have been raised during 2024. These have included the continued storm damage and erosion to the coastline including Grannies Pool and the Two Harbours Trail, the protection of vulnerable flora at Erf: 554 which we managed to partially peg off with wooden stakes so that a number of vulnerable plants could be protected from vehicular traffic and also the re-location of two Cycads from the Cultural Centre in Humansdorp to the traffic circle at the entrance of St Francis Bay. 

This was a collaborative effort between our organisation and St Francis Links with the full  support of the Kouga Local Municipality who assisted in the operation to remove the plants from the Cultural Centre. The ancient, endangered plants were successfully re-planted at a temporary home on The Links while the final plot was carefully prepared with organic-rich soil, appropriate drainage and aesthetic enhancements, including rocks and river stones. The two cycads were finally re-planted into their new home where it quite apparent that they are flourishing and settled in well. The successful relocation of these Cycads highlights the importance of preserving these ancient botanical treasures and the benefits of collaboration between environmental organisations and local authorities in safeguarding precious plant species.

Presentational Talks 

Unfortunately, during 2024, we did not manage to host as many talks and presentations as we would like to have done. We will be looking to rectify that for this coming year with the introduction of a new portfolio of ‘Presentations Co-ordinator’ and will be led by our committee member, Sara-Jane. So, should you have any suggestions of interesting talks that can be presented during the year, please do get in contact with us. 

However, we certainly started with a bang in February and would like to extend our thanks to everyone who attended the talk with Nick Norman and Prof Richard Cowling (FOSTER) at The St Francis United Church on the 7th February. 

Nick discussed with Richard and the audience about his latest publication, ‘The Woodpecker Mystery’ which was both interesting and fascinating. Following the talk, there was a book-signing session and refreshments made available. 

Nick kindly donated R1,000 to the Kromme Enviro-Trust from his book sales on the day and also gifted a copy of ‘The Woodpecker Mystery’ to the St Francis Community Library. Our sincere thanks to Nick for both of these generous donations and to Prof. Richard Cowling for supporting this fascinating event. 

Finally, our thanks also to the St Francis United Church, particularly Laurin Geuther, for the use of their venue for the afternoon and to the attendees who kindly made donations to the Church in the total sum of R1,840. 

This has already been touched on under ‘Fundraising’ and was organised by Sara-Jane Smith from the Enviro-Trust and the NSRI.  Two presentations were given by Captain Nick Sloane, a world renowned Salvage Master on the raising of the Costa Concordia. Proceeds raised from these presentations were split and we received just over R10,000. Our thanks to St Francis Brewery who hosted the event.

Books and Reference Sources

Reference is made to a couple of publications to just remind the reader of their existence and to raise awareness. One of our own publications, ‘Our Coastal Treasure’  which was available in paper back, is also available online since 2022 and is available to view at our website, https://stfranciskrommetrust.co.za/. Covers a variety of subject areas including, wildlife; amphibians; snails; birding; marine life; shipwrecks and the Heritage Centre and Community Garden. 

‘The Monument Around Us’  authored by the late Robin Simpson was first printed in 2006 and covers the history of St Francis and the Hulett family. The Enviro-Trust were appointed to curate the proceeds and we, along with a number of other outlets, sell this book and funds raised are then used towards projects which are of a benefit to the community.

Thank You 

It goes without saying that we would like to thank all our members and supporters. In particular, we extend our thanks to:

• The Kouga Municipality, also the invaluable guidance and support we received from Councillors Lorraine Maree and Shena Ruth.
• To BUCO St Francis, both Wendy and Larry who have generously supported us in the renovation of the Two Harbours Trail where they have donated materials to assist in re-building sections of the boardwalk and of course, as already mentioned, supported our annual Golf Day at The Links as the headline sponsor.
• Rotary St Francis for their continued support for our Eco-Kids Programme throughout 2024 and the sponsored kit (tee-shirts and caps) which we handed out during 2024 and will continue to do so in 2025. Also, for their generous donation for engaging the help of Johan de Wet of Roaming Lions from Jeffreys Bay to run a couple of sessions. Also, our thanks to Richard Vauqulin for his support and input throughout the year as the Rotary representative with the Enviro-Trust.
• Much gratitude and thanks to Wentzel Coetzer and Sivuyisiwe Mapapu of Conservation Outcomes for the support, guidance and energy applied particularly to the dune field lead project but they also should be recognised for the wider environmental work they are concerned in with numerous agencies especially the identification and subsequent proclamation of nature reserves.
• Matt Gennrich and Trevor Gascoigne of FOSTER for their continued support of our events and maintaining a close relationship, co-operation and sharing good practice between both organisations.
• Trudi Malan of Thyspunt Alliance for her sheer determination, energy and drive in supporting everything environmental particularly the success of the Provisional Protection of the Eskom owned Thyspunt site for a period of 2 years.
• The annual coastal clean-ups that we host twice a year play an integral role in encouraging the community to get involved and our thanks to Bruce’s Coffee Shop, Nevermind, Sport for Youth Academy, FOSTER, Rotary, Kouga Municipality, St Francis Tourism, St Francis Safaris, Slipway Surf Crew and Bayview Boating for their continued commitment and participation.
• Our thanks to St Francis Tourism for their continued support in what we do including the Market Days, promoting our events and the ongoing project of the St Francis playing cards that feature stunning photographs of the local area. Again, our thanks to Hantie Van Der Westerhuisen for initially inviting us onto this project and for us to share half the proceeds from the playing card sales.
• We welcome with open arms the local community support who assist in maintaining the Two Harbours Walk which is a never ending project whether it be cutting back the bushes, collecting litter or the continued upkeep of boardwalks and steps for example. Our thanks to Frank Dabrowski who oversees the Tom Brown Boulevard section and to all those members of the Coriander Crew who concentrate on the Coriander Crescent towards the Port section of the walkway.
• Our sincere thanks to David Conradie and Cecil Holmes, local residents in Santareme who took on the project of renovating the old Romazini Wildlife Pond. With the support of Darius Katz of Crossfire Home Improvements who provided equipment and labour, the pond was transformed into a beautiful water feature that has attracted a variety of wildlife, a wonderful achievement and our thanks to all involved.
• ‘The Monument Around Us’ book that was highlighted earlier in my report is available from a number of outlets and our sincere thanks to St Francis Tourism Office, Bruce’s Ocean Museum Cafe, Tradewind Coffee Shop and Kouga Print who stock and sell copies of the book.
• There are organisations that support us in other ways and we extend our gratitude to Paul and Tracey Middleton of Calibre Security for their contribution on everything

    security and also to Jared Comley of Sewerage Works for his continued contribution to    

    us and the Heritage Centre.

• To the many NGO’s of the greater St Francis who apply so much time, effort and commitment in their area of work and able to achieve so much success across all the projects they are concerned with. Many members are resident to the greater St Francis and it really is a privilege to be able to work alongside so many of them in order to achieve so much.

Finally, the Kromme Enviro-Trust committee. Over the past 12 months, the reins have been handed over in a couple of positions. Andrew Barton who was the Public Officer since 2016 has stepped down and handed over the responsibility into the capable hands of Jacqui Caister. In addition, Sara-Jane Fouche who had been the Finance Officer since about 2017 has also stepped down and handed over the role to Carol Rothero. On behalf of all the committee, I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to both Andrew and Sara-Jane for their dedication, guidance and commitment to their roles and their support to the Enviro-Trust. We wish both Jacqui and Carol all the very best in their new positions and so grateful to have them onboard. It goes without saying, but a sincere and heartfelt thank you to all of the Kromme Enviro-Trust committee members for their valuable time, commitment and support that they have personally invested to our environmental projects over the past year