First, apologies for the late arrival of this newsletter, which was intended for distribution during  the third quarter of 2011, but is now going out in the last, as the year races to a close. 

Rob Leiper, Jenny Johnson, Shelley Brownlee, Debbie Mosca, Marilyn  Poole, Andries Willemse,  Maggie Oostendorff,  Rita Cadle, Paul Trim. 

Planning in the Village:

Members will know that for some time there has not been any clear way in which we were able to express our views on specific developments in the village from a Heritage and maintaining character point of view. This is since the former 'Aesthetics Committee' was allowed to lapse by the former Council. We are making representations to Municipality to have a planning advisory committee restored in order to have some influence on these issues. In the mean time it is possible for members to express views through the ward committee system through their area representative.

The burning question at the Museum - to coin a phrase - is when are we going to be back in business?  The answer is ... SOON.  For those who don't know, the unfortunate fire in the Tourism office resulted in having to remove the Museum exhibits to our garage, all covered in greasy soot but thankfully not permanently damaged.    (Many thanks to Atholl Hay for helping with the move on that Thursday night).

There is little to report here as the committee cannot proceed with agitating for rezoning and registration of the area as a reserve until after the site for low-cost housing has been officially announced.

The objective of the occasion was twofold: to  enable the pupils of McGregor Primary school to understand the concept of heritage, embracing family, possessions, buildings, our village and our trees and plants while taking part in enjoyable projects and, secondly, to contribute toward meeting the needs of the school where possible.

You may have seen our latest two Heritage Snippets about the wonderful work that this working group (Rob Leiper, Jill Hogan, Rose Kent and Betty Mitchell-Innes) are doing. The best news of all was that the Titanic Dinner raised over R10,000. A special word of thanks must go to Jill and Tiger at Green Gables who donated all the food for this event and helped make it such a success. Thank you Jill, Tiger, your family and staff! Also congratulations to all involved, particularly Betty and Rose who twisted many arms to get a full passenger list and extra donations.

As many of you know a survey was done of the Krans Nature Reserve on 27^th March by two teams from the South African Archaeological Society. Dr Janette Deacon has sent us a draft copy of the report of their findings, while she awaits answers to questions she has and comments from her team. In essence the report says that the two teams walked to and fro across the reserve, one starting in the north the other in the south, searching for stone tools and other artefacts. All items found were photographed and replaced. Each team had a GPS and tracked their search paths.

 They report that the flat plateau above the..

The McGregor Heritage Society has consistently opposed this development on the grounds that it would fundamentally alter the entire character of the village. Such a high density of housing in an area designated (by the Langeberg Municipality) for 1000sq metre plots will make a major impact on the character of McGregor.

Over the years the McGregor Museum has collected many items which are on display. Soon we will be adding a set of aerial photographs of McGregor over the ages – an interesting look at development and growth.

 Your committee has however seen the need for an acquisitions and retentions policy to guide the museum’s work. The draft policy is attached to this email and we would appreciate your comments on it by the end of May. Comments should be sent to Tony Saddington @ email tony@satoma.org

This will help us to refine the policy and the final policy will be taken to our AGM in June for acceptance.