As you read this, the final section of an attempt to recreate for you and for posterity, a historic glimpse into the last 50 years of the Club rich in character and tradition.You will hopefully have found the effort that has gone into this production worthwhile. Those amongst our older members, will perhaps be nostalgically transported back into the past, remembering people and events, which had been almost forgotten. Whilst those of you who have joined more recently may now understand, what and who have shaped this Club of which I am proud to have been part of,  for a good number of years - perhaps the records can tell me how many.

Jo Hobbs with Elsie Martin at the 50th Jubilee Celebration.

My sincere thanks to and admiration go to Jo Hobbs, who took on the mammoth task of editing this booklet and having read the draft text I can only congratulate her on a difficult task done excellently. Thank you Jo, and thank you to all those who contributed the material both written and visual which has made this production possible. Had the history of our Club not been documented and consolidated now many personal recollections of the early years would have been lost in the passage of time.

My father Rudolf, was intimately associated with the Club newsletter over a period exceeding 20 years as well as being vice chairman under Gerry Broekhuysen for a long period and it was therefore inevitable that I should spend time in the presence of names firmly entrenched in the Clubs history, but bird watching (or birding as we call it now) was not a passion of mine during my school or university days although much of my birding knowledge was drip fed into me at that time as I was to discover during the early 1970's when my interest in the hobby finally flourished.
I do remember Gerry Broekhuysen well but mostly as Professor B senior lecturer on the subject of behaviour in my 3rd year of Zoology. The hard wooden benches of the old Zoology lecture theatre where the Club met for many years at therefore also very firmly etched into my memory.

Stan Clarke

Club camps at places such as Schrywershoek and Bottelary on the Langebaan Lagoon and Kersfontein on the Berg River as well as ringing Kelp Gulls and Sacred Ibis on Schaapen Eiland in the lagoon are also distinct memories. The portable loo which has languished in Stan Clarke's ceiling for many years and which causes instant amusement when mentioned during discussions of Club assets at Committee meetings. It was a vital part pf those early camps.
For some unknown reason Hank Pfister's production of excellent breakfast omelettes at Kersefontein, with the addition of a liberal dose of baking powder and rapid shaking in a tall Tupperware container, is as clear in my mind as wading in the Berg River to explore the heronry whilst trying to anticipate possible holes in the sandy river bed into which one might disappear, binoculars, camera and all.

Jan Hofmeyer                                           Nico Myburgh

During a four year spell in Johannesburg in the early 1980's I rather lost touch but on returning to Cape Town in 1984 I was rapidly plunged into the CBC activities working in the same building and department as Jan Hofmeyer who was the Chairman at the time. His enthusiasm and ability to initiate new projects and ideas really turned the Club around, the production of the Clubs calendar based on Nico Myburgh's excellent photographs being prime example of hard work and perseverance which brought pleasure to many and also boosted the Clubs coffers. His Chairmanship also saw the first courses being run, an innovation which has been a major and ongoing success story. His vision of bringing birding to folks in the northern suburbs led to the establishment of the Durbanville (now Tygerberg) Bird Club, an achievement which required a major commitment on his part in its early years. Several of the other regional clubs were also established during his chairmanship and with his input.

The Atlas of the Birds of the South western Cape was another project close to Jans heart. It saw the light of day in early 1990, and I remember Julie te Groen and I, who were doing the penultimate shift of pasting up the material at the typesetters premises, late one Friday night decided to complete the job which we did with a great feeling of achievement at 1am on the Saturday morning.

Julie te Groen

In September 1987 Jan invited me to attend the Chairman's Workshop held at our offices during the SAOS AGM which our Club hosted in that year. This gave me some insight into the workings of the national body which I was to become intimately involved with in the years that followed. He was also very persuasive and at the August 1988 Club AGM I became vice chairman. 
I was about to reinforce the theory that children never listen to the advice of their parents as I became Club chairman in February 1989, something my father had long suggested I try to avoid.

It has however been a rewarding time with the Club growing steadily. The start of the SAOS (now BirdLife SA) to draw the clubs more into the decision making process of the society by expanding the Council to include Club chairmen. This has greatly increased liaison between clubs and has taken me on council business to a number of venues with great potential. However meetings of 8 to 11 hours duration over a weekend have not always allowed this potential to be fully exploited and council activities have certainly added a major extra dimension and commitment to the role of a branch chairman in recent years, evermore so as the society and its activities grow in response to it assuming an African and global role.

As the Club enters its second half–century and we near the end of an historic and often turbulent century, I think we can all look proudly back on the first 50 years of the Cape Bird Club, the vision of a handful of dedicated people, which has brought and will undoubtedly continue to bring pleasure to many more keen birders young and old, beginners and experienced members alike.

May the Club continue to prosper in the spirit of its many dedicated members.

Ringing Sacred Ibis chicks on Schaapen Island, 
January 1964. Archie Brown, Gerry Broekhuysen, 
Stan Clarke, Jack Winterbottom, young Otto Schmidt
and Steve Pringle in front.