In February, Union High School commenced with the renovation of the upstairs bathrooms as well as the guest bathroom at the school’s senior girls hostel, the Herby Arnott House.
The bathrooms, which were then gutted and completely redone by Colin Warner Plumbing, has recently been completed and the girls, as well as guests visiting the hostel, are now able to enjoy the new modern face-lifted facilities.
The boarders at Union’s Arthur Kingwill House held their annual braai on Workers’ Day, 1 May,
This time around, they were joined by Max Kroon House’s little ones who were entertained by Head Prefect, Peter Watermeyer, and Head of House, Khanya Butshingi, who played ball games with the boys.
It wasn’t long, however, before Mr. Christopher Felix and the rest of the boys started with their “famous” AKH touchies rugby
A huge bonfire and marshmallow braai ended off the evening for the Max Kroon boys before they went to bed.
It truly was a chilled, fun way to spend a mid-week holiday.
Nice one, guys!
On Election Day, Wednesday, 8 May, Union’s Herby Arnott House held a fun MasterChef competition to celebrate the mid-week public holiday.
All the boarders were divided into teams, after which they were all given the same set of ingredients with which to showcase their impressive food skills. The dishes were judged on creativity, appearance and taste.
There are definitely some chefs in the making at Herby Arnott, as the judges were very impressed with the level of creativity the boarders displayed during this fun and engaging cook-off.
The boarders at Union’s Herby Arnott House had a blast this past Wednesday, 1 May, celebrating the mid-week public holiday by competing amongst each other in some fun games.
Seen here are some of the girls participating in ‘Doughnuts on a String’ which is like “bobbing for apples” in reverse. Instead of dunking your head into water, you’re stretching as high as you can to nibble on dangling doughnuts. The doughnuts bob and sway, which is challenging enough, but then add the extra touch – no using your hands!
Early Monday morning, 15 April, Lyn Rose-Innes, the Governing Body representative of the Union Schools’ boarding houses, met with interested parents of the schools’ weekly and termly boarders. This meeting is held each term and enables parents to air their concerns, if any, and discuss other matters of import such as fundraising activities and the like.
The meeting is also used to convey information to the parents relating to the three boarding houses, Arthur Kingwill House, Max Kroon House and Herby Arnott House, that concern the boarders.
Among matters discussed this term, was the town’s prevailing water crisis and how this is impacting the boarders. The annual Farmers’ Market fundraiser that will be held over this year’s Interschools weekend was also discussed.
It was also mentioned that the boarders will soon have access to wifi. The wifi will be strictly regulated and only available between a certain timeframe, but it should assist parents in reducing their expenses relating to their child’s data usage.
Last night saw the highly anticipated General Knowledge Quiz and Arm Wrestling competition taking place at Arthur Kingwill House! The Quiz was very exciting with Arnott House coming out tops in the end. Damon Fouché emerged as arm wrestling champion for 2019! Thanks to Mr Hamilton and Mr Koeberg for overseeing such a fun filled evening for our boarders!
The two upstairs bathrooms at Herby Arnott House are currently being renovated by Colin Warner Plumbing. The girls’ boarding House was officially opened in 1959 and has served the school and its community faithfully over all these years.
Now it is time to give the inside of the building a facelift and our girls will be able to make use of two refurbished modern bathrooms. The bathrooms will be ready for use by the beginning of term 2 of this year.
The group of AK House cyclists gets bigger each week! This time the boys celebrate a 1% rise in the dam levels and the fact that Mr Hamilton joined them!
Each year, on Valentine’s day, the Arthur Kingwill House gentlemen invite the Herby Arnott House ladies (and the Max Krooners!), over to their lawn for a sunset picnic. Mr Kingwill and Mr Sullivan welcomed everyone and paid tribute to our amazing house mothers and matrons, and a beautiful evening was enjoyed by one and all!
Rainfall and all that goes with it, is of extreme importance in the semi-arid Karoo. With Nqweba dam’s levels having dropped to 1% of capacity, the veld dry and Graaff-Reinet’s water a real issue – water talk is common at Union. Then last week it started to rain! While the town itself has not received substantial rainfall at this stage, it fell heavily in the catchment areas on farms where some of our boarders live. On Monday morning some of this water reached the rivers that flow into the dam. With much jubilation, the Arthur Kingwill House matrics went to witness this wonderful event and saw the Sunday’s river in full spate after many, many months.
