3, 2, 1 stained glass windows

A week ago I posted a picture of the big stained glass window in the St Augustine's Cathedral.  When I was doing the post I considered posted the three pictures in this post along with it, but decided that it was magnificent enough to warrant a stand-alone post.  So here is stained glass post #2 featuring a 3, 2, 1 combination of stained glass windows. So...

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The Lovemore Heights Chrismas House lights turning on this weekend

One of the pre-Christmas highlights in Port Elizabeth is the Lovemore Heights Chrismas House's annual event where they turn on the lights,  After skipping last year for personal reasons, the Grootendorst family and all their helpers are coming out guns (or in this case Chrismas lights) blazing this year with a full program this coming Saturday evening.  The Lovemore Heights Chrismas House is located at the top of Melsetter Road and if you want to get a good spot for the evening you better make sure you come early as it looks like there's going to be a lot of people.  The road is going to be closed so a good spot to park will be on the Charlo side of the water reservoir, a short walk down the hill.

Here is the programme for the evening of 2 December 2017:  

18H00-19H00:  The LoveMore Mascots will be out on patrol. Come take some photos with your favorite characters.

18H30 -19H15:  Young singers will entertain us with Christmas songs.

PARADE

19H00: Parade from upper St Clair’s Way down Edmonds Road to 24 Melsetter Road.  The parade includes the Algoa Calendonian Pipe Band, Santa and Mrs Claus along with the Elves and dancing girls with ribbons.  Everyone is welcome to walk down with them.

19H30: The programme starts at 24 Melsetter Road Lovemore Heights

Opening master of ceremony

Stephen Moore

Opening Prayer

Eastern Cape Junior Children Choir

Largo Vocal Ensemble preforming

Christmas carols sing along

Switching on of the lights

Natasha Tait Dance Studio

Algoa Calendonian Pipe Band

Photos can be taken with Santa

Looking along Kings Beach from the harbour

When was the last time you've walked to the bottom of Kings Beach and back?  Been a while or even never?  Do reward yourself with this stunning view up the beach looking at the beachfront skyline from the harbour wall.  

St Augustines stained glass window

St Augustine's Cathedral has some stunning and striking stained glass windows.  Dating back to September 1875, the windows are part of the original design and are from F. Barnett of Leith.

An Afrikaans inscription in a Catholic Cathedral

Imagine my surprise when I found an Afrikaans inscription on a plaque behind the baptismal font in the St Augustine's Catholic Cathedral. Very unusual.

St Augustine's tour

I got to see the inside of St Augustine's Cathedral for the first time a few weeks ago while on a tour of Route 67.  The church isn't generally open like St Mary's on the other side of the Public Library, so if you want to see it you need to make special arrangements or alternatively just attend a service.

The history of St. Augustine’s Cathedral

When the first Catholic priest, Father George Corcoran, set foot in Port Elizabeth in 1840 it wasn't just a case of getting off the boat and taking up his position. No, he was shipwrecked in Cape St Francis and had to travel the last 100km to town on horseback.  Once he arrived here he found that there were only 42 Catholics in the town.  But the show had to go on and in the ensuing years the Catholic community in Port Elizabeth started to flourish.  It meant that the congregation needed a church and Father Corcoran obtained a plot for a church on Prospect Hill / Castle Hill in 1844.  By 1847 a new two-storey building was erected on the site on which the MacSherry hall stands today.

In 1847 Dr Devereux who was based in Cape Town at the time was appointed as the First Bishop of the newly formed Vicariate of the Eastern Cape.  Father Corcoran died of yellow fever in South America in 1852 and Dr Devereux transferred Father Thomas Murphy from Grahamstown to Port Elizabeth.  Father Murphy was responsible for the building of the church as it is today although he first extended the then existing building which became known as St. Augustine’s Hall. This served as school, church and hall.

The design of the church was apparently based upon the style of a church in Selbridge near Dublin, Ireland with the plans being formulated by a Mr McCarthy but executed by the local architect and first Town Engineer of Port Elizabeth, Robert Archibald.  The Foundation Stone was laid in December 1861 and construction took place under the watchful eye of Father Murphy. Five years later on the 25th April 1866, with the steeple almost completed, St.Augustine’s was opened and solemnly consecrated by Bishop Patrick Moran.  It's very interesting to mention that this magnificent building was built as a parish church, not a cathedral.  Apon his death Father Murphy was buried beneath the high altar in the cathedral. 

The bronze statue of Christ the King which can be seen above the door was donated by the Frost family in 1931.

The parish church of St Augustine's became the bishop’s church and cathedral some 54 years later but was only formally declared and consecrated as a cathedral in 1939.

Information courtesy of http://staugustinespe.co.za/history/

St Mary's church (or cathedral) tower

Port Elizabeth has two cathedrals, both located in the city centre.  St Mary's Anglican Cathedral, where the foundation stone was laid in 1825, and St. Augustine's Catholic Cathedral where the first stone was laid in 1861.  Standing in front of St Mary's and looking up at the tower, I was wondering if it is referred to as a church tower or a cathedral tower.

Google Street View guy in PE

A month or two ago I was down in the city centre on a Sunday morning to take some photos and I noticed a guy with a funny thing on his back come walking up the road towards me.  As I passed I realised that it was the Google Street View camera. Cool! There may be photos of me taking photos of the Street View Guy on the net soon.

Fast forward to last week and Google launched 170 trails, all 19 National Parks and 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites throughout South Africa available on the Google Street View platform.  You can now literally follow a whole trail 360 degrees from the comfort of your chair and check it out before taking it on yourself.  

You can either go and search for the 170 trails on Trailfinder or go straight to Google Street View for a look.  

10 years of Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

Today is the 10th birthday of Port Elizabeth Daily Photo.  Yes, exactly 10 years ago to the day PE Daily Photo was started by SAM (Sue and Max Hoppe) with a post featuring some generic facts about Nelson Mandela Bay.  Two days later they were off and running, doing 500 posts before passing the baton on to me.  I did my first post on the 15th of March 2009 which means I have been at it for about 8 1/2 years now and this is the blog's 3555th post.  Although I don't post every day anymore due to time restraints, I do try to post as often as possible and it's still a great pleasure sharing this beautiful city I live, work and play in and it's surroundings with you all on a regular basis, busting the myth that there is nothing to see or do in Port Elizabeth.  Happy birthday PEDP! 

There was also a post on the worldwide City Daily Photo blog last week about PEDP turning 10, if you are interested in having a look. 

Prospect Hill

I'm posting this just because I like the photo.  I was waiting for Chaos Boy to pass during the Urban Run a while ago and was pointing the camera in different directions.  This was one I liked.

Wiggles in the sand at Kings Beach

It seems somewhere I've lost a whole week of posts.  No, not in lost, but in just so busy that I haven't even been able to think about blogging. I need days to be extended by 3 or 4 hours so that I can have some extra time to just sit back, relax and, most importantly, switch off a bit.  My mind is going at 1000 miles an hour and is all over the show, very much like the wiggles in the sand at Kings Beach I snapped a photo of two weeks ago.  Flip, is it two weeks already?