Beginning A New Chapter

It all started back in February 2010.

A New Beginning

It all started back in February 2010, when my wife and I, moved into a bigger house with a yard in Panorama, Humansdorp.  Growing up with Koi from childhood up until my early working years, I felt the need for a Koi pond. Soon I managed to set up a temporary pond to get things going. I started looking around for Koi of descent quality and quickly saw that the only Koi around here are pet shop Koi. There was very little available in the area in terms of pond supplies or medicine. I also quickly realised that the hobby in the area was undeveloped here and the people had very little knowledge about Koi and water keeping. I was surprised to learn that many years ago there was a SAKKS chapter in Port Elizabeth.

By this time my whole family got bitten by the bug again and we decided to start breeding again and to start a Koi outlet again. We looked up our old contacts and got hold of a few fish. My wife and I went to the George show in 2011 by invitation of Phillip Muller, where I was part of the net and bowl team under Mike Harvey and Marie - Anna. At that show we joined SAKKS and all of this made the bug bite even harder. The East London show came up and we made up our minds and booked two vats.

As time went by, a few keepers around here emerged and new people showed some interest and a few new ponds were build.

We became friends with the hobbyists, old and new, telling them about the shows and SAKKS and the friendships among Koi keepers. I realized that the passion for the hobby are growing day by day and they all liked the idea of SAKKS, but both the chapters we were supposed to be a part of, were to far away.  It was difficult, sometimes impossible, to attend or partake in events like pond safaris, shows or meetings. High fuel prices, danger to travel on our roads and high accommodation costs being the biggest culprits.

Me and my wife were talking about starting a chapter for a long time, to try and get the hobby of the ground here, but battled to get every thing in place. With time, one conversation led to another and I ended up by Chris Neaves. I explained our problem to him and he helped me through to whole process. The Kouga Chapter was born out of an idea and with enthusiasm.

We managed to get a couple of people together and we had our first meeting over a Bring and Braai, on the 28 July 2012 and we elected our committee. We ended up talking Koi for hours... what a nice day. It boosted the spirit high and the guys are very enthusiastic. Some already have some new members they want to introduce. Due to bad weather and short notice some guys made excuse but will attend the next meeting. Hope to see you all with the next meeting and we hope to meet a few new members to.

We have a few events planned which we hope will happen and will be successful. But, we are still a new born baby and will need lots of help and patience, so guys please bear with us.

Our next meeting will be soon and the agenda will be around the show for 2013.

We need to discuss a show date, what we will need, who we will need and funding solutions.

Any donations or help will be highly appreciated.

The Kouga Chapter will serve Humansdorp, Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay, Aston Bay, Paradise Beach, Port Elizabeth, Hankey, Patensie, Kareedow and Joubertina.

May this Chapter grow by number and success in future, we all have a vision in mind and that is to make the hobby grow in this chapter, better the quality of fish in the Kouga, educate and advise the people around Koi and most of all - Build on friendships and have families involved.

For any enquiries regarding the chapter or membership, you can contact me on 084 304 9314.