10 Thursday August 15 2013 NEWS Bulletin

Gift of Tribute to women at work the gab don’t know their names. I There Billy will be “consulting” as ■ The don’t know where they live or well as dispensing and preparing debators of Igo home to at night, but my remedies for Steps to Health in Immaculata vote for the Women of the Diep River and overseeing man- Girls’High Month, through the 12 months ufacturing at AWhite’s Naturals. School in of this year and every year, goes This synergy between the two to the group I affectionately call shops sounds both a happy and a Wittebome The Black Ladies of Brocker Way. healthy ending. and Three times a week for the shop when the dust has settled High School in past six winters in the pre-dawn after renovations to enlarge the Bergvliet has light, I have caught glimpses in premises. Toad alert done the my car’s lights of a group of peo- These bottles have a history. August is the month when our province ple on the left-hand side of the They came from A White natural reluctance to touch large proud.They road. Chemist, that leading homeo- moist toads has to be overcome. reached the They have been dropped off pathic manufacturer from 1901 We must all do our bit to Save top 10 of the by taxis at the corner of Tokai whose premises at 59 Plein Street Our Toads as these Western national round of the South African Schools Moot Court Competition. Road and are now walking the were an institution. Leopards move around on their final kilometre to their place of Being so close to Parliament the bonking business on dark and Danielle Dallas and Olivia Habonimana,from Immaculata won the work. staff has probably helped gener- raining nights. provincial round in May and came fourth nationally.Thirty-six schools,four I know by now that they are all ations of MPs with medication for It’s amazing how seriously folk from each province,took part in the competition in Gauteng at the women, all large, all wearing indigestion after those heavy take the cause of this endangered weekend.Immaculata’s co-ordinator,Bev McArthur,said Red Hill High from black without a hint of a light- lunches in the House or sug- species when we have blithely let Gauteng came first and Durban’s Crawford College took second place. reflecting material and carrying gested remedies for painful piles pass into extinction so many Pictured are Danielle Dallas,Anabella Bekker,Erin Malan and Olivia big bags. from all the sittings. other more beautiful and lovable Habonimana.Anabella and Erin are from Bergvliet High School clinched I quickly switch my lights from Ian showed me one dusty old creatures. ninth spot in the national round. dim to bright so that I can see bottle with gold inlay which con- Still, it’s a good thing that peo- exactly how far away they are and tained a tincture for varicose ple have taken a stand to preserve how much road they have taken veins. something as ugly as this toad, up and dim them because I know Another large, handsomely accepting that our houses and pedestrians hate to walk with shaped bottle in clear glass will be shops have reduced the places strong lights in their faces. filled with a coloured liquid to where toads used to live and I marvel at the strength of decorate a window. breed and we have allowed our character of these ladies. They White’s closed down about six wetlands to become polluted. probably leave their homes so weeks ago. As well as buying the Cape Town is the only city in early for their long train-bus-taxi bottles, some dusty old dispen- the world where these toads are journey to work that they have sary books and a vintage apothe- found. left beds unmade, children cary dresser with little drawers, So during the breeding season asleep and supper dishes in the Ian has gained the services of when they migrate to and from sink. William “Billy” Bannatyne who breeding sites we must help them But when they arrive at their comes with years of knowledge of to avoid becoming road kills. destination they must immedi- homeopathy. Not only are they good insect ately start cleaning up other peo- His father, also William Ban- pest controllers but they indicate ple’s kitchens and bedrooms and natyne, was the second owner of that our city has a healthy biodi- somehow do it with good cheer. White’s which he bought in 1939. versity and also well-functioning When their working day ends Now 82 and standing upright wetlands and environment- around 3.30pm or 4pm, they as a statue in his white coat, Mr friendly gardens. have to reverse the two-hour Bannatyne (“We are not the process to get home where the whisky people... everybody gets it beds may still be unmade and wrong”) told me he had joined Moms and Dads their kitchens even more of a his father in 1952. Sometimes on Sundays I see mess. “That was just before we young men pushing a pram with And there is supper to start moved to Plein Street as our one, or even two, babies on and kids waiting to be loved. building at the top of Adderley board, while walking or running When is there any part of their Street was knocked down. We with the dog. busy day left for them? moved five times before our final As I smile approvingly they The Black Ladies of Brocker premises in 59 Plein Street.” say: “It’s the wife’s morning to Way are a sample of domestic The good news is that the sleep late.” workers all over the country. brand name of White’s, which There are some great Dads They are the salt of the earth and manufactured more than 600 around supporting the great the backbone of thousands of items, will not disappear. Mums who do this double walk- homes and families. They deserve Ian Wheeler has helped to ing act Mondays to Saturdays. to be honoured. orchestrate the revival of the manufacturing side under the name A White’s Naturals in Double dose Preserving history . Behind every successful man I dropped into Steps to Health in As a big step forward he is there is a woman and behind Diep River to admire some beau- moving into the city under the every unsuccessful man there are tiful old apothecary bottles which name of White’s Health Shop sit- usually two. will have pride of place in Ian uated in Plein Street, not far from Wheeler’s pharmacy and health Billy’s former working home. [email protected]

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