2006 A Toy Run
Written by: David - 7th January 2009
by Karen Terblanche
We left Jo’burg on Friday lunch time with a whole lot of others eager to escape the rat race - but the roads were packed. We went via Brits, Thabazimbi. And then onto Lephalale - a small hitch in the GPS which wanted us to ‘do dirt’ as that was the shortest route, a quick re-calculation and not such a quick detour took us a longer route, but as we were towing the bike, the safer option.
Arrived at Lephalale (ex Ellasrus) - really hot and humid, only 90km from the Botswana border. The roads though Thabazimbi to Lephalale were brilliant - really wide and well maintained.
That evening there were about 50 members - full house was going to be around 105 members. We settled down and had a lovely meal.
A bit of a history lesson here - Thabazimbi means “the mountain of iron” - the main reason for the establishment of the town was the discovery of phenomenally lucrative iron ore reefs in the area. As the mines’ activities increased a town developed.
These rugged mountains looming from bush-covered plains are the spectacular setting for the mine and the town that has grown around it. The mine boasts one of the largest mining shafts in Africa. More than 2 million tons of ore are mined every year and hauled by train to Iscor’s iron and steel works.
The excuse for meeting was our Year-End function, and as it coincides with the Annual Toy Run weekend, it had to incorporate a Toy Run.
David modeled the new Club’s GS shirt featuring the BMW racing colours which was favorably accepted.
Note that these are available at R 270 per shirt - please speak to Rita on 076 164 7263. Club members only. Variants of these are also available - replace GS with RT, GT, etc.
| We retired for a night cap at their pub which boasted an abundant variety of trophies - the animal variety - gazing from the walls. Staff informed us that the bar closed at 11 o’clock which was quite fine - we all retired to our rooms for an early evening avoiding some really large bugs which were flying around - eek! |  |
The next morning we all had breakfast and then people split into separate groups to do the ‘bike thing’ or just explore Lephalale - lovely Woolies there - some even bought their summer cozzies!
During the day all the others who could not make it on Friday arrived - and the mood was getting festive…
The main agenda for the afternoon was the Toy Run - we had to leave the lodge at 1:15pm to get to the Lerukhureng School by 2pm. We loaded all the pressies and off we went. …
 |
As an aside - Lerekhureng School was chosen by the local community in Lephalale as most needy. The school caters for farm kids, is situated 50 km from the Botswana border. It also features a “hostel” for the kids that live too far to go home after school.Dark clouds were looming but that didn’t dampen any sprits form the children or the bikers - everyone was so excited. |
| Amazingly, the children had all traveled a long way to be at the school on a Saturday after the school term closed on the Friday - and were all present in their school uniforms looking lovely, neat and tidy. The children were ecstatic to see all of us - WOW all these bikers at their little school. |  |
The actual school was really well built and maintained, brick, ceilings, windows, electricity, desks blackboards - all supported by the government.
Everyone gathered and they brought out one school table for our gifts…then two tables… then three table…after four tables they realised that the gifts we were bringing were beyond their expectations and they gave us a whole classroom!
The children started off the proceedings by singing the National Anthem. Thereafter the Deputy Head-master enthusiastically called out all the children by name to receive their very own T-shirt which had the school emblem embroidered on the front with their name embroidered below. The BMW Central logo was on the back of the T-shirts. Along with their personalised T-shirts they also received chips, sweets, ice creams cooldrinks etc.
The children thanked us in their own unique lovely way - by singing and dancing their thank-you songs, just then the heavens opened and we had rain joining us too.
We all left there in high spirits - it was a lovely experience - it left a good feeling in our hearts…
That evening was our Year-end Evening. We had a raffle, chaired by our chairman David - a lot of good buys were secured and it was a real fun time. We had a tasty braai and all the extras leading us into some fun songs, lovely gifts of hip flasks for all, plus a treat of chocolate covered nougat
The last day most had breakfast - and then we are on our way home - careful of the tortoises and warthogs!
A brilliant weekend - exploring another part of South Africa - South Africa is huge and so diverse, it’s so special to learn a little bit more on another weekend and expanding our knowledge and also meeting and socialising with fellow bikers.
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