The Mashonaland Flying Club (MFC) has now been in existence for 52 years, when the Marlborough Flying Club became the Mashonaland Flying Club in 1957.

As you will be aware the club has fallen on hard times in recent years. In the good times MFC had about 850 members, but, as a result of people leaving the country and those remaining having to tighten their belts to cope with rising costs, these figures have dwindled. Currently membership figures are nearer to 100, of which only half are active members in Harare.

Many ex Mashonaland Flying Club students are now enjoying good careers flying for major airlines world wide; Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Thomas Cook, Thomson Airways, easyJet, Air Mauritius, MK Airlines and of course Air Zimbabwe to name a few. MFC has also produced many private pilots and has always provided a warm and happy welcome to all those who have walked under the Vampire arch. One only needs to have a look at the current MFC facebook site, to see how many of us look back on our days at MFC with sheer happiness.

In order to celebrate both MFC’s wonderful history and its continuing survival against all the odds and Concorde’s 40th Anniversary, Fiona Del Giudice, a Sussex based artist, has been commissioned to paint John Reid-Rowland’s legendary photograph of Z-MFC and Concorde at Harare Airport, 31st October 1993.

The water colour in its double mount measures 16” X 20”, the starting bid is £425-00, an absolute bargain for an original aviation watercolour of such a high standard. Please e-mail your bid to mashflyingclubauction@hotmail.com ( please give your name and bid in UK pounds ).

The bidding will open on Friday 27th November and will close on Saturday 12th December at 18-00 GMT (e-mails will be sent out intermittently advising you of the current bid). The winning bidder will be required to pay for shipping of the picture from the UK. Once the auction has closed all money raised above £425-00 will be donated to MFC to help with their fight for survival.

PLEASE BID GENEROUSLY IN ORDER TO HELP KEEP THIS WONDERFUL CLUB ALIVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS!!!!

Please note: This auction is not being conducted by chirundu.com, I am just advertising it. If you require more information, please email mashflyingclubauction@hotmail.com

This video by David Scobie of his hit-single, “Gypsey Girl” from way back in 1980 brings back so many good memories, including that of watching Sounds on Saturday on ZBC.

This original video of the song, shows a very young David, aged just fifteen wondering around Harare. The single was released in October 1980 and it went to No.1 in Zimbabwe that November, staying there for the next four months. It was then released in South Africa in April 1981 and it bounced up and down the Springbok charts for nineteen weeks. Gypsey Girl eventually went on to go Gold in both countries and David became an over-night celebrity.

Like many Zimbabweans, Tendai Mtawarira is living and working far from home. Unlike most of us, Tendai plays for the Springboks. He is far from the first Zimbabwean to play for the South African rugby side (Take a look at my post on Zimbabwean Springboks) and I am sure he won’t be the last.

I cannot speak for him, but if he is anything like most Zimbabweans I meet, he would much rather be living and working in Zimbabwe. But until things get better, many of us will continue to live in a foreign country, giving them the benefit of our skills and depriving Zimbabwe them.

Last week, I noticed with interest that the South African Sports Ministry has accused the South African Rugby Union (SARU) of poor administration regarding their handling of Tendai Mtawarira’s eligibility for playing for the Springboks.

Apparently “The Beast” as he has been nicknamed was in danger of missing the year-end tour if the Sports Ministry weren’t satisfied with the reasons that a foreign national had been selected for the Springboks. Tendai Mtawarira debuted for the Boks in 2008 after completing his three-year residency and has played 19 Tests and has already toured with the Springboks to the UK last year, as well as Australasia this year and in 2008 and so it is strange that they are bringing up the issue now.

SARU apparently wants to speed up the process of getting Mtawarira’s South African citizenship, by asking a government minister to use his influence.

‘This request to have the Minister use his position to have the process of securing permanent residence and subsequently, citizenship expedited ahead of the year end tour in Europe, has exposed our sport administrators’ clear disrespect or lack of understanding of our laws,’ the ministry said in a statement.

‘Talented as he is, Tendai, like all foreign nationals plying their trade in South Africa, is bound by the laws of this country. The migration laws of our country are clear on issues relating to permanent residence and citizenship. We expect our sport administrators to understand and respect legislation that regulate their business. None of the athletes, sport codes, or federations can be bigger than the country.’

The Sports Ministry also questioned whether Mtawarira is that much better than other looseheads in the country to gain the special treatment that allowed him to tour.

‘While Tendai is a live wire on the field of play, the question is whether it is, in the first place, justifiable to say he has scarce skills – the rationale that would have enabled him to obtain the current work permit. If we go the route our rugby administrators are requesting us to take, and facilitate the fast-tracking of Tendai’s citizenship, what would this say to all rugby players in our country? We cannot as a government department responsible for sport and recreation in this country, afford to insult our players like this,’ added the statement.

‘The principle here is clear: Only citizens of our country can play for our National team, irrespective of the sport code. Therefore, no foreign national can play for any of our national teams, no matter how outstanding they may be. If any player in any code is to become a South African citizen, this has to be done within the legal framework of our country.

‘Federations, provinces and clubs, are more than welcome to approach us for advice on similar issues, instead of trying to slip a player through the legal framework.’

SARU responded by saying they would not comment on the Sport Ministry’s statements.

The Beast

If you are wondering why Tendai is known as The Beast: It had something to do with him being “a bit of a bully” in his primary school days in Harare, Mtawarira has stated. It was also back then, when his huge frame was knocking down smaller contemporaries in a football match, that a local rugby coach thought he might be better suited to the rough and tumble of the 15-man game. It has only been in the past two years, though, that Mtawarira has made a name for himself as a beast of a prop.

AWARD-WINNING Zimbabwean singer, David Scobie, has unveiled his long-awaited website, http://davidscobie.org/

He made the announcement via his Facebook profile recently. “The new website is finished and we hope to get some interest in the old music again,” says David. The multi-media website features David’s profile, discography, photos and singles released, among other great features.

Visitors to the site can preview and purchase his best selling 1981 album, “Cleaning Up!” for the first time in 28 years which features hit songs like Gypsey Girl, Taking The Easy Way Home, Maybe Life Don’t Care and On The Phone. The CD is also available for download. Other albums are available to preview and download. These include: Reborn (1983), Photograph (1984) and David Scobie Special Edition (1989). These albums will be re-released on CD and downloads by the end of 2009.

Brogue CDs are also available for purchase and download on the site. Brogue is David’s new project. He teamed up with Zimbabwean singer, Brigitte Rodrigues to form the duo producing Scottish/Celtic music. They have released three albums to date: Rhythm Of The Celts (2007) (which has already gained silver disc status in Scotland and is very close to gold) Girls And Strong Whisky (2008) and Popscots which has just been released (2009).

Visitors can register for a newsletter to keep up-to-date with news.Visitors to the site are struck by its ease of use, especially as it includes all content areas that are integral to David’s brand. It has been designed to be the premiere destination for all his fans.It is fresh, interactive, and of high quality competing with all other big artist websites. David aims to reach his growing fans through the site and other multimedia outlets available now. The highly interactive site has already garnered tremendous interest and responses from David’s fans. The Guestbook, especially, has already attracted a lot of attention.

Born in Dundee, Scotland, David was exposed to traditional Scottish folk music from the age of six. His parents took him to his first live concert held in Dundee where popular folk Duo “The Corries” blew David away. In 1973 the Scobie family moved to Harare Zimbabwe. From the age of ten, under the instruction of a close musical family friend, David began learning rudimentary chords on a guitar his parents had bought him. In 1980 David, aged fifteen had a hit-single in Southern Africa called “Gypsey Girl”. The single was released in October 1980 and it went to No.1 in Zimbabwe that November, staying there for the next four months. It was then released in South Africa in April 1981 and it bounced up and down the Springbok charts for nineteen weeks.

The single went Gold in both countries and David became an over-night celebrity. His next single “Taking The Easy Way Home” was recorded in April 1981 and by that June it had reached the Top Ten in both territories again. He went on to release four albums.

From 1983 to 2004 he endured a fruitful career in advertising jingles, producing and engineering. Over the years David repeatedly earned Zimbabwe Advertising Awards for his efforts. In 1998, he staged two musicals and two comedy theatre productions to full houses around the country.

David has teamed up with Brigitte Rodrigues producing Celtic music and call themselves Brogue and they are now based near Edinburgh in Scotland. http://www.broguemusic.com

Visit David’s website at: http://davidscobie.org/