Bathurst pineapple farmers have thrown the town’s historic agricultural museum a much-needed cash lifeline by donating R120000 to construct more buildings to house the world famous collection.
Museum chairman Alan Pike yesterday said several pineapple farmers had rallied together and each pledged the cash value of a bin of fruit worth R6000 to fund the construction of more storage space.
“I have had many sleepless nights over the years worrying about how we would get money to build extra storage space,” he explained.
Although antiquated equipment and historic items are regularly donated to the museum from all over the country, trying to store the items out of the elements, away from the sea air, has been problematic as most of the display sheds are already jam-packed.
Pike said he recently had an epiphany late one night when he realised the only people they could ask to help were cash-strapped farmers.
“Over the past 10 years I got very despondent trying to come up with ways to raise funds for the museum. Government and the Ndlambe Municipality never help with any funding. Farmers are the only ones who do anything as it is part of their heritage.”
Even though R120000 has already been pledged by farmers, Pike said others were also going to chip in to try and solve the cash crisis.
Pineapple farmer Mark Harris said donating a R6000 crate of fruit to the museum was the least he could do.
“It is a no-brainer. You can’t ignore the history and heritage of local farming. Those people put in the hard yards.”
He praised the volunteers who run the museum and repair equipment.
Donated crates of pineapples are sent to the East London pulping factory and the museum was given the money.
Besides the cash donation to build storage space for antiques like the monster 10-ton Tangye water pump that was salvaged from the muddy banks of the Fish River, Pike said two other donations had been made by Eastern Cape companies to build a fully-functioning blacksmith shop.
He said the smithy would show people how things were done in a bygone era and could also be used to train township apprentices as well as be hired out for movie sets.
“With more funding we can build places that we can use to teach local people job skills. The possibilities are endless.”
Museum curator Buks Marais said they were constantly battling scrap metal dealers to try and save local history from ending up in the recycling plant.
He said the Tangye motor was erected on the banks of the Fish River by a farming collective in 1922, and it had pumped 1.3million litres of water every second day to their lucerne fields before it was covered in mud by a massive flood in 1974.
“The scrap dealers really wanted it because it weighs over 10 tons and is made from good quality metal. We managed to dig it out of the mud before they could get it and are busy restoring it.”
Besides all sorts of quirky working pieces, the museum has over 100 tractors, 22 of which still work.
Fundraising is done by charging an entry fee of R30 a person and over 1000 people visited last year.
Farmers give historic agricultural museum shot in arm
Museum chairman Alan Pike yesterday said several pineapple farmers had rallied together and each pledged the cash value of a bin of fruit worth R6000 to fund the construction of more storage space.
“I have had many sleepless nights over the years worrying about how we would get money to build extra storage space,” he explained.
Although antiquated equipment and historic items are regularly donated to the museum from all over the country, trying to store the items out of the elements, away from the sea air, has been problematic as most of the display sheds are already jam-packed.
Pike said he recently had an epiphany late one night when he realised the only people they could ask to help were cash-strapped farmers.
“Over the past 10 years I got very despondent trying to come up with ways to raise funds for the museum. Government and the Ndlambe Municipality never help with any funding. Farmers are the only ones who do anything as it is part of their heritage.”
Even though R120000 has already been pledged by farmers, Pike said others were also going to chip in to try and solve the cash crisis.
Pineapple farmer Mark Harris said donating a R6000 crate of fruit to the museum was the least he could do.
“It is a no-brainer. You can’t ignore the history and heritage of local farming. Those people put in the hard yards.”
He praised the volunteers who run the museum and repair equipment.
Donated crates of pineapples are sent to the East London pulping factory and the museum was given the money.
Besides the cash donation to build storage space for antiques like the monster 10-ton Tangye water pump that was salvaged from the muddy banks of the Fish River, Pike said two other donations had been made by Eastern Cape companies to build a fully-functioning blacksmith shop.
He said the smithy would show people how things were done in a bygone era and could also be used to train township apprentices as well as be hired out for movie sets.
“With more funding we can build places that we can use to teach local people job skills. The possibilities are endless.”
Museum curator Buks Marais said they were constantly battling scrap metal dealers to try and save local history from ending up in the recycling plant.
He said the Tangye motor was erected on the banks of the Fish River by a farming collective in 1922, and it had pumped 1.3million litres of water every second day to their lucerne fields before it was covered in mud by a massive flood in 1974.
“The scrap dealers really wanted it because it weighs over 10 tons and is made from good quality metal. We managed to dig it out of the mud before they could get it and are busy restoring it.”
Besides all sorts of quirky working pieces, the museum has over 100 tractors, 22 of which still work.
Fundraising is done by charging an entry fee of R30 a person and over 1000 people visited last year.
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