I last blogged from Windhoek, Namibia, where I was covering for our High Commissioner Marianne Young. I’m now back on my more usual perch as Deputy Consul General, Cape Town. I thought I’d update you on what we’ve been doing in Cape Town recently to promote the UK and the GREAT campaign. (It’s no secret that promotion of the UK in all spheres, whether commercial, cultural or political, is pretty central to what we do overseas!)
Right Royal Celebrations
We hosted two receptions that literally exploded the Jubilee in Cape Town. From top of the stunning cliffs overlooking Hout Bay harbour, we saluted her Majesty by firing two salvos of six cannons from the oldest working battery of guns in the world. We fired more cannons, and lit a beacon, at a public event at the famous V&A waterfront. A flotilla of Royal Cape Yacht Club boats sailed past the beacon and the Cape Town Highlanders performed for the public. Quite a sight!
London 2012 – holding the torch
Like other posts overseas we have also marked significant days in the countdown to the Games, including:
- hosting key contacts at the ‘Table of Peace & Unity’ held on Table Mountain – an annual event, attracting more than 700 people (including the Cape Town Mayor), organised in aid of abused Children. The Consul General’s presentation focused on the Olympic Truce, as well as London’s Olympic and Paralympics Games and The Diamond Jubilee.
- hosting an event with young English Premier League players and FA supported NGO ‘Coaching for Hope’ which gave us an opportunity to highlight 100 days to go to the Paralympics. Amongst the guests: South African football legends Aaron Mo-Kwena and Edwin Stein. The best part of the evening (my speech aside!) – a quick game of football between the premier league players and members of local Blind and Cerebral Palsy Teams.
In other news ….
We’re deepening our cooperation with the Cape Town police, following a week of sharing best practise on CCTV coverage (not to everybody’s taste I know, but an important element of crime fighting in the city). A colleague and I recently joined the police for a patrol of some of the worst crime-affected parts of Cape Town. An eye-opening experience, and one of importance – we do need to find a way of getting out of our ivory tower (or in our case, the 15th floor of an office block) as much as possible, if we ever hope to better understand, and translate, the place in which we live.
Expect more from me in around a month’s time…