Perskor welcomes Farmer’s Weekly

GEORGE NICHOLAS writes: When Perskor took over Republican Press in 1979 its purchase also included the Farmer’s Weekly magazine. The accompanying photo, taken at a two-day seminar held at Mobeni, shows the past and present editorial personnel welcomed at the time by the new Perskor owners.

Front Row: Ian Barr (retired former chief editor of Farmer’s Weekly, promoted to Chief Executive Editor of the Friend Newspaper group’s publications); George Nicholas, the magazine’s Central Bureau editor in Pretoria; Carl Havinga, chief editor in succession to Ian Barr; and staff members Capel Hemy (retired and living in Howick), Charles Byford-Jones (Natal regional editor for more than two decades),and Nic Snyman (mechanisation editor living in Hermanus).

Back Row: André Roux (reporter), Lionel Mundell (later chief editor of the magazine in succession to Carl Havinga), Bill Prinsloo (Eastern Transvaal correspondent), Symond Fiske (intellectual and feature writer), Robin Hood (ex-Rhodesian who joined Farmer’s Weekly in 1972 as senior technical reporter and edited several booklets on selected agricultural subjects), John Shapley (with beard, field reporter), John Hayward (the magazine’s roving photographer), Wilkie van Schalkwyk and Franz Schäfer (both senior reporters at the magazine’s Central Bureau in Pretoria).