In July this year we will be up and running for three whole years - and what a great way of communicating.

We've had a lot of issues: we signed petitions for road safety, vetoed developments, changed wrong street name spellings, fought about our disused bowling clubs - but the most important is our Precinct Plan for Observatory.

We launched this website three years ago to keep you informed and ask your views - and sometimes money - and can now pat ourselves on the back: our plan is approved with clear guidelines of what is allowed to be built, and where.

But above all we had fun - a concert in the park, a street party, donkey derby, Valentine's ball and threw in the odd golf day too.

In a word: we are a community. We talk, fight, laugh together. And we work at making our suburb safe and clean.

You can read about the Observatory Ratepayers Association under ABOUT US. We’re just a bunch of people working voluntary to better our suburb. Nobody gets paid for anything. Even this website is free. Justin Hartman has carried the hosting for three years now. Your webmistress loses many hours of sleep updating (and is slipping, sorry. The weekly updates are now monthly.)

So how can you help? Register on the web under JOIN US. I then have your e-mail address and you’ll know when I update.

And e-mail me at with whatever query or question. We aim to please.

But most important: pay your yearly Observatory Ratepayers Association “club fee” of R200 – or R1,80c per day for the WHOLE year. Just click on join for our banking details and do that Internet transfer now…

Because Observatory consists of over 800 households. To play a pivotal part in the suburb, we need all households to join us. Once you are a member, you will have access to the whole website, join the hotly debated forums and participate in the surveys we will run to determine our residents’ needs.

We are NOT asking you for any donations (but won’t say no), but we ARE asking you to support whatever fundraisers we plan. And you can even advertise your business on this website @ R100 per month!

Which brings me to sponsorship: Diana Delmont has over the last three years poured tens of thousands of rands into being the main sponsor for this website. But she has now left Chas Everitt to join a new estate agency called InRealty.

The banner on top is waiting for a new sponsor…

Join us today and be part of our family!

Updated 26 March 2008 by Carine Hartman, your webmisstress at