FROM YOUR CHAIRMAN
H
o Ho Ho! Can you believe Christmas is here? I don’t
think the shopping centre will be quite ready for Xmas
shopping as we first thought but it is certainly well on
the way to completion. Won’t be long now till we have
complete convenience on our door step. For some it cannot
come soon enough and for others, can we wind back time!
That we cannot do so let me update you quickly on progress
regarding our interactions with the various parties. The general
feeling is that Nevada are being open about their plans for the
shops and will listen to our input regarding traffic lights over
traffic circles but they want to get finished. They have pointed
out that development is a matter of progression, as traffic builds up traffic circles
are great but traffic lights will be inevitable eventually. To that end we have just
completed our own traffic study as the last one was done while the rat runners
used to pour past our gate. We expect the results shortly and our team will en-
gage again to see if that changes anything.
Part of our team on this one is Charmain Webb Bestel. Charmain was our Legal
Trustee but due to other commitments has had to step down as a Trustee but will
continue to assist on a couple of projects that are ongoing so our deep thanks
to her for that. Charmain brought a fun but serious side to the Board and we will
miss her in the board meetings that is for sure. Thanks Charmain from all of us in
Thornhill for your contribution over the years, very much appreciated indeed.
Crime is never far away and I don’t like bringing it up if I don’t have too but
personal experiences certainly make things very real compared to reading about
them here or in the newspapers. A couple of Friday’s ago now I was sitting in my
company boardroom having a jovial staff meeting while our asset management
team were meeting in the room next to us. My offices are just off Jan Smuts
Avenue in Craighall Park and in over a decade that we have been there, we really
have not had a hassle. That all changed on that Friday around 11:20am when
my business partner, Dr Liz Lear, drove in past the building to the parking at the
back. There must have been over 14 people in the office that day and not one of
us saw the two men follow her in, push guns in her face as she exited her car in
the car park and thrust her into the back seat. A minute later they were off up the
driveway past the office and away with Liz pushed down in the footwell of the
back seats. An hour later they threw her out of the car at the side of the N3 close
to our off-ramp at the Engen. A passing motorist stopped to assist and that was
the first we heard that she had even been at the office and had been abducted.
She is fine thank goodness, if not a tad grumpy, but the shock we have all been in
has been very real. Now up go tons of cameras, in comes security at the gate and
you all know the drill. On edge for the foreseeable future till our bubble comes
back. That is life in SA, but we have great weather! Just the thought of it upsets
me but it brings forth my gratitude to everyone in Thornhill that contributes to
Continued....
Your Thornhill Estate Contacts
WEBSITE: www.thoa.co.za
EMAIL: [email protected]
GUARD HOUSE: 011-608-4361
ESTATE OFFICE: 011-608-0835