The museum was invited again this year to participate in the Christmas decoration competition organized by the Bethulie Residents and Ratepayers Association. This year businesses got a mountain bike rubber Tyre to decorate.
The museum committee members all participated in making the decorations. The members are Trudie Venter, Sydney Goodman, Jeanne Morgan-Le Fay and new members Charlotte Naudè, Samelia Adams and Ronel Rusher who just joined the team. They all got together at Trudie’s house to assemble the parts that each of the member made.
The committee decided to keep the decorations simple by using mostly white and blue as the colour scheme instead of the traditional green, red and gold. That way the decoration could stand out from the rest of the entries. We chose the theme of the birth of Jesus and made three dolls to represent Joseph, Mary and Jesus. The faces of the dolls were painted on calico using fabric paint.
The bodies were made with calico and other scrap pieces of material. The arms and legs could be bent into different positions, because there was wire rolled into the inside of the limbs.
Sticks were wrapped into the tyre with material to provide a framework that acted as support for the dolls. The dolls were bent into the desired position and then sewn into position onto the fabric and gold spray painted sticks.
Other decorations that were added were the star of Bethlehem, gold and silver pompoms made from crochet yarn, representing more stars. Dangling at the bottom of the tyre was a dove of peace made from a recycled milk bottle.
All the entries were displayed on the trees in Voortrekker Street for the town’s people to go and view them.
The winner was selected by a process of voting and the museum entry got the most votes and was therefore the winner of the competition.
Trudie Venter, the chairperson of the Bethulie Heritage Foundation committee represented the museum in receiving the prize which consisted of R500 in cash and Christmas yummies that included herb tea, biscuits, biltong, marshmallows, sweets and other delicious Christmas related treats worth R500. The total value of the prize was a R1000. The food was shared amongst the BHF committee member so they were all rewarded for their participation in making the decoration that ended up being the winner of this year’s competition. The cash portion was added as donation to help cover the museum expenses.