Guest Book

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to say thank you to all of you for reading the "Blog" and for leaving a message in the Guest Book, Melina, Laurence, Paul, Lynn and everybody it was so nice to read your messages. Hopefully in the new year we can have lots of posts from everyone, so email me at the gmail address and I will create a mailing list to let you all know when I update the blog.

Take Care

Love

RED

Greetings from Karen -15/12/06

Received an email from Karen with all her news, thought I would share it with all of you:

Hi,

We still at the office - hoping to get away next week.

Planning on going up to Quissico, Mozambique (about 500km north of Maputo) Is a piece of ground between the sea and lagoon - we have an old pop up caravan there and tents.

Is really 'primitive' - only a borehole/spring for fresh water - and have now dug a loo (long drop style) and made 'rural showers( reeds as the walls in a snail form (so cant look directly in) and then a bucket for the water!!!!

What is so wonderful is that we are the only ones for about 7km then is next neighbour who has a 4x4 campsite. also the last ones on this track. If walk along the beach is about 1 - 2 km along the coast to them. Is so great as is quiet and no 'modern' things. Can really relax and be disorderly without anyone raising eyebrows!!!

Gert was in Nigeria and Ivory Coast for 2 weeks. Was an exhibition in Abuja(nigeria). Says that this city zillion times better than lagos. He will have a hectic schedule early next year - to pemba), Quelimane, Nampula and Beira and the Maputo to install machines. He will be travelling by car - roads not always so good - so will be a 3 week trip This is Jan

Then in Feb - it is a round trip - Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. Doing a presentation for swedish company. Again will be in car - so lots of kms and plenty border > officials. Cant remember what happening in march.

Kids all well - Both passed - Christoph now going to gr 11 (std 9) Markus going to gr 6(std4) . Markus nearly my height. Christoph is a bit taller than Butch - but don't think he will get much taller.

Can you believe it was a year ago that you were here!!!!! I cant...................... time just seem to go by so quickly....

Wish you a Merry Christmas and may 2007 be a good year!

Cheers

Karen

Merry Christmas

I just realised that all the schools in South Africa will have broken up by now, and most people will be taking or about to take their Annual summer vacation, so I thought I should put up a last post for all of you!

I just wanted to say that it has been great to get in touch of so many of the ex-premier people after all these years, I have spoken to either on email or on the phone Lucia, Charlie, Andre, Dave, Michelle this year after not hearing from them in almost 10 years. Don't be strangers now, I am hoping that a few people will email in some photographs in the new year and we can update the blog.

Kenny took some pictures at the Secret garden so as soon as he sends those over in January I will put them up, Karen sent in some news on ex-prems which I will put up soon as well, and Michelle sent some info.

So until then I'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year, lets hope that 2007 is a good year and we can create a few more ties. To all our regular ex-prem buddies thanks for all the emails, Pete hope to see you in Houston in July and you too Dave, if not in LA. Pierre looks like Jersey may have to wait another year, and all those in Oz may be another 2 years before we get there if not longer, but we're coming!

Till then, as David Gresham would have said "keep your feet on the ground, and reach for the stars" (no wise cracks from you, please Charlie!)

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS

Pierre on the 17th of November

Carol on the 17th of November

Mario on the 29th of November

Hope you all had a wonderful birthday!

The "Secret" Garden - Fourways

I am so envious that we are not going to be in SA on Sunday the 3rd of December to meet up with all the old Premier folk. I am sure whoever is going it is going to be an absolute gas, it would be interesting to hear your tales next week, so email me and I can put them up on the blog or leave a message.

Here is a link to more information about the place: http://www.restaurants.co.za/details.asp?resId=3048, it gives directions, menus and all other kinds of details. There is also another web site : http://www.dining-out.co.za/member_details-MemberID-2298.html

The address is:

16b Penguin Drive
Norscot Manor Recreation Centre
Fourways
2055

If You are attending on Sunday, please, please, please take some photos and send them to me for the blog!

Anyway Guys - have a drink for all your missing collegues and send us a text message, we will be thinking of you all.

Yay South Africa won a rugby game !

A reunion with the "Balnaves"

Hi everyone

I mentioned in my last e-mail about us visiting SA on the way to Aus, and about trying to plan a meeting day. We have made a lunch booking at The Secret Garden in Norscot Manor, Fourways. I picked up the directions etc by searching for The Secret Garden in Fourways. It also gives you menus and prices (Unfortunately we cannot offer to pay for everyone but I think the prices seem reasonable). It has an outside childrens play area and big lawns. Also bring a picnic blanket because if the weather is okay, you can eat out on the grass (their food I guess, but they have cakes and snacks etc), and we can move out onto the grass after the meal

We are booking for Sunday 3rd at 12 noon for Sunday roast dinner. If you will be there for lunchtime they suggest you book. I have told the Secret Garden that if you are joining us, you will phone them and book yourselves, but ask that you be at the Balnave table (I have asked for either a big table depending on how many of you phone to add on to our booking or else tables that are next to each other and we can move around).

If you are not eating a big lunch with us, then please pop in in the afternoon (they close at 5pm so make it lots earlier) for snacks and drinks (see menu). You may want to book a table anyway for the later time, in case the weather is bad and we have to be indoors.I am sorry we are not going to have much time in SA but would love to see you. Please mention this to anyone you know who knows us, as not everyone is on e-mail.

The Secret Garden phone number is: 467 1191

Look forward to hopefully seeing lots of u.
Luv Jean, Kenny, Skye and Amy

Charles Castle ... watch this space

Photos

Does anyone have any photos from the old Premier Milling days? It would be so cool to put them up here for everyone to see. Send them to me if you do at the gmail address!

How did our mothers let us go out like that?

Do you remember those BIG specs? I told Gwen I wouldn't put this picture up on the blog but I couldn't resist. This was taken in June 1992 or 1993 when I was working at Premier.

By the way I haven't smoked for 15 months tomorrow and Derrick is going on 5 - pretty good!

The "Balnave" family Holdiday

Hi Kenny,

Thanks for the message in the visitors book, how about sending us some updated photographs for the blog, if not now then when you get back from your round the world trip to Australia, South Africa and the States. Who knows you may even get to see some of the ex-premiers.

Back in town ...

Hey everyone, I'm back waiting patiently for all you emails and interesting news to put up on the blog page, so email me !

VACATION

I'm going to Barbados ...

Don't we wish, but anyhow I'm going on leave so don't expect to see any updates on this page, there may be some on the www.redrowe.blogspot.com but then maybe not. Will be back in full swing in November.

BYE !!!

Dublin in pictures

Dublin

Okay I did say I was going to tell you something about Dublin in the hope that everyone else will send me something to put up on this page.

Well Derrick and I have been living in Dublin now for over 5 years, Derrick arrived a month before me and had the task of finding somewhere for us to live. I don't know who got the raw end of the deal, me packing up in SA or him finding somewhere in Dublin.

I must say I was very impressed he found an apartment block on the South Side of Dublin (which is supposed to be the better side), the apartment overlooked the Dodder river and was just cosy enough for the 2 of us. It only had 2 bedrooms, small kitchen, lounge and that was it. Once Emily came along it became too small, but luckily we found another apartment in the same complex double the size of the last one for practically the same amount of rent.

Dublin is a quaint town, it has so much history - it is over 1000 years old and I think what I love about Dublin the most is the culture. Trinity college is world renown for turning out so many famous writers and poets.

Irish people in general are very friendly and they have a wonderful accent almost as nice as the Scottish but still not as nice. We live about a 10 minute drive from the nearest beach, however you wouldn't really want to swim there, the nicest beaches are either an hour South or North of Dublin. However the water is pretty cold, although not quite as cold as it is on the west coast.

Another great thing about living in Dublin is its close proximity to the rest of the world bar of course the Southern Hemisphere. Dublin is a small town and probably a 10th of the size of London, it reminds me of Jo'burg in the early Eighties.

I am not a statistician but I think the whole of Southern Ireland has a population of about 4.5 million people, and at least 1.5 million of those live in and around Dublin. Dublin is becoming more and more cosmopolitan especially with all the new EU countries. There are also over 100,000 Polish people living here, and can you believe it about 45,000 ex South Africans. Not to mention the Lithuanians, checks etc.

Should we keep this page going?

I was thinking about deleting this page, due to lack of interest - No one seems to be interested in keeping it going, sharing or adding to it.

So VOTE now - let me know if you think I should delete this page!

The place where I live ...

I was just thinking that I have not put up any posts on the "where are they now?" blog for awhile, so of course no-one is going to bother even signing in. I know everyone is really busy with their own lives and work and stuff, but it would be really cool if everyone would just send in a short story about where they live and maybe a photograph. I know I would be interested to hear all about it, even if nobody else is and just because you live in Jo'burg or Alberton doesn't mean you don't have to send in something. There are loads of people out there who would love to hear about Jo'burg.

I'll start off by telling you all a bit about Dublin.

A note from Karen

Name: Karen

When did you leave Premier? Dec 1999 (remember the hype 'year 2000')

What have you been doing since then? Own business - export into Africa

What country to you reside in? SA

Who would you love to get in contact with from Premier?

Anything else you want to tell us?

I just realised that I only have one photograph from Karen, which I already have up on this page, so while we wait for another one, here is a joke she sent me a while ago.

Thank You !!!

Thanks Maria, Gwen and Lucia for posting messages in the "Guest Book" it would be great if everyone who visited the page would put up a message.
Thanks again!

PAUL DOCHERTY - My ex-ozzie Jo'burg buddy

Well here's a story for you ... one day a while ago, I was installing "Skype" onto the PC at home and it picked up the name Paul Docherty as maybe being one of my contacts. Turned out that Paul lived in Melbourne and I had heard via the Grape Vine that Paul and Amanda were living in Melbourne.

So I get into contact with "Paul" and it turns out that it is not OUR Paul but another guy who lives in Melbourne, we get chatting and to cut a long story short but just to show what a small world it is out there, Paul tells me that he is a genuine Ozzie and is moving to South Africa. And No not to Cape Town but leaving Australia behind him to settle in Johannesburg.

Paul has been in Johannesburg for almost 2 months now and loving it.

I have never met Paul, but he and his partner Elliot live in Johannesburg and we have become quite good skype / email buddies. Every time I get an email from him he talks about Johannesburg with such passion that it makes me home sick. He says that Johannesburg just has the best vibe and a wonderful place - now please tell me how many people you know can be so passionate about Johannesburg.?

WELL DONE DAVE

Dave guessed it ... AB it is and here are some other pictures he sent in:

Dave has won a week-ends accommodation for 2 at the Rowe B&B in Dublin !!!

For further details contact me.

AND THE ANSWER IS:

Just a nice picture

New closing date for competition

Decided that maybe we need to give everyone an extra couple of days to find out the answer, so the new closing date for the competition will be Wednesday 20th September 2006.

Competion Closes at Midnight on Sunday

Thanks for all the entries - 4 so far, and some are quite funny ;-) - I thought I had better put a closing date and time on the competition, so you have until Sunday Night 17th of September to enter, Midnight GMT for those of you in strange time zones.

The winner will be announced on Monday morning 18th September 2006.

GOOD LUCK !!!

COMPETITION TIME

Guess who the ex-premier employee is in the photograph and win a week-ends accommodation!

Please post your answer under the comment section of this page.

Alan, Johan & Vic

Lynn Z

Lynn's Portfolio

Name: Lynn Zieseniss

When did you leave Premier? July 1998

What have you been doing since then? I arrived in the UK the 26th September 1998 and started work for a BPCS consultancy firm 5 days later. Work for them for 18 months then worked for an American company Xelus for 12 months and now work for De La Rue going for 5 years on 10 September. I am living in a terrace house which I purchased 4 and a half years ago. Have done loads of travelling and was in Dulles VA for 11 months working on a project in a print manufacture environment. Just completed managing a large project implementing IFS into a paper factory.
What country do you reside in? England, United Kingdom

Who would you love to get in contact with from Premier? Everyone

Anything else you want to tell us? NO COMMENT

News from the Middle East

Shaheed

Name: Shaheed Nair
When did you leave Premier? 1996
What have you been doing since then? Moved to IBM-za then to Al Rajhi Bank
What country to you reside in? Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Who would you love to get in contact with from Premier? Paul Doughty
Anything else you want to tell us? I have been giving the management thing a bash got the last few months... Seriously thinking about moving back MVS... No a more serious note - Man Utd is going to win the Premiership this season.

While we wait for a shaheed to send us a picture, here is some information on the city he lives in, you can also click on the title of this page which will take you to a link of photographs.

Riyadh

Riyadh, which lies in the Central Region, is the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and now rivals any modern city in the world in the splendor of its architecture. Broad highways sweep through the city, passing over or under each other in an impressive and still growing road network. Trees now bedeck the broad streets and avenues, giving pleasure to passers-by and shade to those who linger beneath them. Today the city extends for some 600 square miles (1600 square kilometers) and has a population of more than 4.7 million.

The name Riyadh is derived from the Arabic word meaning a place of gardens and trees ("rawdah"). With many wadis (a former water course, now dry) in the vicinity, Riyadh has been since antiquity a fertile area set in the heartland of the Arabian peninsula.

Of all the Kingdom's developmental achievements, Riyadh is perhaps the most obvious and accessible to the foreign visitor. From the moment he lands at the King Khalid International Airport, itself a marvel of design wedding the traditional Arab style with the best of modern architecture in a happy marriage of spacious practicality, the traveler is aware that he has reached a city that must be counted one of the wonders of modern times.

Ina

Here is a pictue I found of Ina taken back in 2003 at my stork party! Can you see Daryl in the background, and Trevor & Kirsten directly behind us?

The Ostles

Sydney, Australia

I hope Melina and Lawrence don't mind us puting their picture up, if you do please let us know. It's a beautiful picture.

FOUND

Found these pictures on SAReunited of Jay Vousden

AKA Marilyn Manson

Name: Jonathan Vousden
Surname at School: Vousden
Nickname: Vousie
Country of Residence: United Kingdom
City of Residence: Norwich
Date Last Updated: 9 Jul 2004

Notes:

Been back England since '99. Remarried with four Kids. I work as a senior technical analyst on AS/400 computers with Norwich Union in duh! Norwich. Drop me line, it's interesting to hear what old mates are up to. See ya. Jay(Vousie)

Gwen

Maria - Pecanwood, Harties

And those that went South ...

Zelda & Reece

It seems that the "New South Africa" is not where we all think it may be, but it is part of Australia now, I'm sure we all know more than one person who has moved there, just from the old premier people there are:

Zelda - Happily married to Rawden with their 6 year old son Reece in Perth (Did we all pack for Perth with pickfords)
Lucia - I believe is somewhere in Oz
Lawrence & Melina - Sydney
Amanda & Paul - East coast Australia
I am sure there are loads others as well.

London July 2005 & March 2006

Daryl and my other brother Daryl

Here is a picture of Daryl taken in September 2003, we came out to South Africa when Emily was 3 months old ... where is Dion?

Karen - Johannesburg, South Africa

Karen & Gert taken at Trumps
Sandton Square, December 2005

Davey Jones - Aliso Viejo California USA

Dave & Aimee

Name: Dave Jones
When did you leave Premier? December 1993, although technically I never worked for Premier.

What have you been doing since then? Getting older it seems! Still in IT, still not enjoying it
What country to you reside in? USA, but hanker for life in SA. Still a few issues they need to work out though.
Who would you love to get in contact with from Premier? Anyone I worked with
Anything else you want to tell us? Thanks Rose for setting this up!

Pierre - Jersey Channel Islands

Pierre's home and Family