Upington Rocks!! – May 2019

Jislaaaik!

We did it again! Three nights at the Upington Agri Expo, playing for Die Vryburger Pub & Restaurant in the Upington Showgrounds. As always, our best road-trip of the year. Not too much sleep, but lots of fun.

The Vryburgers are a service club, much like Rotary or Lions, and they lead fundraising initiatives in order to bring happiness and growth within local communities. Upington Vryburgers are an active group of volunteers who give up time and resources to raise funds and ‘give back’ to their communities. Last year they made generous donations to the ‘Op die Voorpos’ Primary School (established in 1885) and to Upington High School. (“Uppies’). Over the years we have come to know many of the Vryburgers guys, and particularly Rikus Visser (chairman, and a guitar builder of note), Willem du Toit from Agri Solar (previous chairman), and Kallie Thomas (vice chairman and probably one of the hardest working Vryburgers in Upington.)

Other great supporters of the Vryburgers and who drive aggressive corporate social responsibility policies are Specsavers Upington (they pay transport costs to get live entertainment from Cape Town to Upington), the Desert Wolf Spur who donated burgers and steaks for sale at the show for three days, and Brown’s Manor guest house. Browns accommodated a pile of major celebrities who were part of the show line-up, including Pierre Spies of Springbok Rugby fame. At Browns we got the usual warm and friendly reception from Bonnie, for whom nothing was too much trouble.

Our gig rocked on for 3 nights, and the highlight was when Willem gave us the nod on the last night to crank up the volume. Jeez.. what a jol!

Well, on behalf of the Vryburgers, and the sponsors, we must say a huge ‘Thank you Upington!’ for supporting a great cause and spending so much money at Vryburgers. Record sales were achieved and all the money went to a great cause… (… the a little on the side for the band. 🙂 )

‘See y’all next year…. and Willem has challenged us to add more Afrikaans songs to our setlists…, so, the challenge is out there.

Upington Rocks!!