Monthly Speakers & Topics

General monthly meetings

On the third Wednesday of each month a General Meeting is held at 9:30 for 10:00 in the Fish Hoek Civic Centre Hall. Tea, coffee and biscuits are available. Presentations and talks are given by prominent speakers, often experts in their fields, on a wide variety of topics. These talks are free to members and visitors are welcome for a small fee.

Copies of previous topics - Please click on Link to access document or video

• Links to Various Audio and Video Presentations 2021 onwards-

• 17 November 2021 - Clem Sunter "Thinking the Future"

• 21 October 2021 - David Bristow - "The Lion, the Dung Beetle and the Veld Tool Box:"

• 15 September 2021 -Robin Cook "Protecting Trees from Elephants with African Honeybees"

• 18 August 2021 - Lilian Lomofsky -"Mediated Learning to enhance thinking, reasoning and memory retention for all ages"

• 21 July 2021- Prof. Anwar Mall: "Mucus: Slippery, sticky, but sweet and satisfying"

• 23 June 2021 - John van der Linde "The Boer who escaped from Paradise"

• 19 May 2021 - Dr. John Rogers - "Geological Adventures in the Fairest Cape""

• 21 April 2021 - Dr Ian Glass -“Nicolas-Louis de La Caille and the pear-shaped earth”.

• 17 March 2021 - Emeritus Professor Julian Cooke - "Japanese Architecture"

• 17 February 2121 - Sarah Waries "Missing in action: What happened to False Bay's iconic white sharks?"

• 20 January 2021 - Dr Dean Allen - "Lessons from History - The Spanish Flu and Post Covid Recovery"

• 19 February 2020 - Prof Anwar Mall - "The Gut - the 2nd brain, its contents and discontents"

• 15 Ja nuary 2020 - Lauren Carlyle (exec of TEARS) - "TEARS - the broader picture"

• 20 November 2019 - John Myburgh - "The Rise of Roosevelt and Stalin"

• 16 October 2019 - Franke Dangereux -"My Life in Food"

• 18 September 2019 - Lyn Mair – "The Southern Atlantic and the Falkland Islands"

• 21 August 2019 - Pippa Haarhoff – “Wildlife on the West Coast 5 million years ago – a safari with a difference”

• 17 July 2019 - Justin Bonello - "Neighbourhood Farms"

• 19 June 2019 - David Bristow - "The Game Ranger, the Lion, the Knife and the Sheep"

• 15 May 2019 - Sarah Buitendag -"Hearing and the brain"

• 17 April 2019 - Melina Lewis - "Writing & self-publishing a book"

• 20 March 2019 - Michael Walker - "Travels from Simon's Town to Muizenberg 1743 - 1899"

• 20 February 2019 - Douglas Anderson - "Meteorite impact craters"

• 16 January 2019 Justin Smith - ’50 years of WWF in SA & what it means for the environment & conservation going forward’

• 17 October 2018 - Professor Justin O’Riain, Professor in Biological Sciences, UCT and Director, Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa - “Baboon fences and shark barriers: learning to be good neighbours with wildlife”

  • 19 September 2018 - Phillippe Menache “Church Tourism in South Africa: architectural styles, architects and heritage concerns”

• 15 August 2018 - Dean Liprini "The Sacred Sites of Table Mountain"

• 18 July 2018 - Professor Peter Ryan of the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, UCT “Oceans of Plastic”

• 20 June 2018 - Pauline Solomons, Fundraising and Legacy Coordinator, Children’s Hospital Trust : “Stories of Healing and Hope”

• 16 May 2018 - Trish Wood “The History and Renovation of Poepaskraal Farm (Sunnydale)”

• 18 April 2018 - Professor Tim Noakes “The Lore of Nutrition: The story behind the book and what you should be eating”

• 28 March 2018 - David Miles "Electromagnetic Radiation and You"

• 21 February 2018 - Dr Kevin Winter: “Tackling the Challenge of Cape Town’s Water Crisis: Implications for the future, if we get it right”

• 17 January 2018 - Anita Wilkinson “Cape Leopard project”

• 15 November 2017 - Rosalind Spears “Frank Spears, South African Painter and Broadcaster”

• 18 October 2017 - Gavin Keller “21st Century Schooling: Why Play is the gateway to creativity and innovation”

• 20 September 2017 - Michael Fielding “Body Language”

• 16 August 2017 - Rachel Colenso “In a high and desperate place”

• 19 July 2017 - Derek Stuart-Findlay - “The History of the Silvermine Valley and Farms”

  • 21 June 2017 - Dawn Glover - Manager of Cheetah Outreach

• 17 May 2017 - Tony Budden: “Hemp and its future applications in Africa”

• 19 Apr 2017 - Prof Eric Harley “The Quagga”.

• 15 Mar 2017 - Phil McLean, Invasive Species Specialist – “Alien Species; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – So what’s the problem?”

• 18 Jan 2017 - Rayne Stroebel - The Geriatic Giants

• 19th October 2016 - Dr Mike Raath - “Why is Homo naledi – our newest fossil human relative – so controversial?”

• 21st September 2016 - Lyn Mair - “A Personal Perspective of Israel”

• 17th Aug 2016 -Dr. Lizanne van Vuuren "The All Female Coxless Crew"

• 20th July 2016 - Advocate John Myburgh - "The US Predidential Elections"

• 15th June 2016 - John Matisonn- "The Current Situation in South Africa and some possible solutions."

• 18th May 2016 - Jackie Clayton: “Seven Impressionist Artists"

• Sepember 2015 - April 2016 Speakers

• April - June 2015 Speakers

• 18th March 2015 - Dr. Helen Robinson - "Constantia and its Neighbours"

• 18th February 2015 - Jackie Clayton - "Erotic Passions in Art"

• 19th November 2014 - Margaret Philips presents: "The Vaudeville Companions"

  • 15th October 2014 - Advocate Paul Hoffman - "Why Accountability is More Important Now than Ever" (Also available in Audio Downloads)

• 17th September 2014 - Professor Gavin Manefeld -“Botanical Encounters of the Marine Kind”

• 20th August 2014 - Dave Steward- "Our Constitution 16 Years On"

• 16th July 2014 - Wolf Langa - “South Africa: Coast to Coast – Namibia to Mocambique”.

• 18th June 2014 - Patricia Davidson - "The Role of Museums in South Africa"

• 21st May 2014- Patricia Glyn - "Dawid's Return"

• 16th April 2014 - Rear-Admiral Phillip Schoultz -"The South African Navy"

  • 19th March 2014 - Henry Holloway - "My Legendary Music Friends"

• 19th February 2014 - Jackie Clayton - "Delinquent Caravaggio"

• 20th November 2013 - John Byett - "4 Bikes 4 Singapore" - Cape to Singapore on Motorbikes

• 16th October 2013 - Tony van Ryneveld - "Sir Pierre van Ryneveld's flight from London to Cape Town in 1920"

• 18th September 2013 - Wolf Lange - "Lighthouses of the Western Cape"

• 21st August 2013 - Lewis Walter - "Turkey - 50 years off the Beatentrack"

• 17th July 2013 - Nicola Okes - "Spacial Ecology and Health of Cape Clawless Otters"

• 19 June 2013 - Claire Barry - "The San People of the Kalahari"

• 15th May 2013 - Wouter van Warmelo - "Orkney Islands"

• 17 April 2013 - Dr.Hans Fransen - "False Bay: Old Towns and Villagers"

• 20 March 2013 - Jacqueline Clayton - "Godfathers of the Renaissance

• 20 February 2013 - Helen Robinson - “The Trovato Link”

• 6 December 2012 - Elfie Tomlinson - Film on "Curitiba"

• 1 November 2012 - Robin Castell - "The History of St. Helena"

• 4 October 2012 - Helen Robinson - "Villages of the Liesbeek - an historical talk"

• 6 September 2012 - John Feitelberg - "An Introduction to Napoleon Bonaparte"

• 2 August 2012 - Tony Lindeque - "Exploring Cape Waters"

• 5 July 2012 - Joachim Zimmer - "The History of Atoms for Peace & War

• 7 June 2012 - Ivan Groenhof - "The Rim of Africa - A walk of no ordinary proportions"

• 2 May 2012 - Wouter van Warmelo - "The Mystery and Beauty of Crop Circles"

• 5 April 2012 - Wolf Lange “An Illustrated Talk on Somalian Piracy”

• 1 March 2012 - Jacqueline Clayton -"SalvadorDali"

• 2 February 2012 - Robin Hammond “Phoenicians,who, where, when and why.”

  • 1 December 2011 - Helen Harris’ selection of Choir Singing & John Fritz’s classical music entertainment.

• 3 November 2011 - Jenny Trethowan - “Baboon Matters”

• 6 October 2011 Margaret McCulloch - “Brave Exploits of the NSRI Volunteers”

• 1 Sepember 2011 - Yvonne Viljoen - "Rare and Interesting Peninsular Wild Flowers"

  • 4 August 2011 - Lyn Mair - "Casablanca to Cape Town"

  • 7 July 2011 - John van der Linde - "Galapagos Evolution's Workshop"

• 9 June 2011 - Matthew Cook - "Journey of a Sangoma"

• 5 May 2011 - Lilian Birch - " Two to Peru"

  • 7 April 2011 - Robin Hammond “Egypt - the value and history of its oases”

• 3 March 2011 - Jackie Clayton "The Glories of Florence"

• 3 Feb 2011 - Andrew Smith "Masiphumelele – A view of the township from an NGO"

• 4 November 2010 - Val King “Adventures on Mountains of Fire & Ice”

• 7 October 2010 - Mollie Townsend "Early Painters in Southern Africa"

• 2 September 2010 - Alastair Gets "Marriage between Waste and Clean Energy”

• 5 August 2010 - Anne Price: “Cairo to Cape Town - Cycling Tour”

• 1 July 2010 - David Cowley: “Thomas Bain’s Engineering Feats”

• 3 June 2010 - Peter Slingsby: “T P Stokoe – the man, the myths, the flowers

• 6 May 2010 - Lynn McGregor “Shakespeare on the human condition – is he relevant today”

• 1 April 2010 - Jacqueline Clayton “Vincent Van Gogh”

• 4 March 2010 - Wolf Lange “SALT/ Sutherland Overview”

• 4 February 2010 - Michael Fielding: “Body Language”