“There are two gifts we should give our children, One is roots and the other is wings”

Family History

The More Family

Dora Winifred Dunning, born in Kimberley in 1888, returned from England to South Africa after 17 years. She married Guy Aubrey Chalkley of Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A and settled in Johannesburg. In 1920 they came and settled in White River where, as one of the early settlers and pioneer farmers, they were actively engaged in citrus and dairy farming.

During Dora’s long residence in this district and one who gallantly shared all the hardships of those days, founded the large Folly Farm Native school which was so superbly and efficiently run. It was as a result of her devotion and drive that many hundreds of pounds were collected for the Swedish Mission, in White River. She had a wonderful gift of being able to spot the genuine in both people and inanimate objects.

Dora’s son, Tony married Irene Katherine Fragozo, from Lourenco Marques, in 1939. Tony joined the South African Airforce and was sadly sent up to North Africa and was then declared missing in the Sahara Desert. Irene never remarried and their daughter, Louise, was born that same year in 1941. Louise grew up in the happy surroundings of Folly farm. Irene was a private person whose life was greatly enhanced by her dogs and her birds, which overflowed into her specific attention for Warthog Wallow, where her policy of non-intervention of nature’s ways has protected it as a wonderful retreat for family and friends.

Nicholas More recalls that Irene was a wonderful grandmother “who gave all the extras” and that they would always remember the warmth of the Chalkley household, which made their stays at Folly Farm “just the best”.

John More married Louise, only daughter of Guy Anthony and Irene Catherine, in 1966 on Folly Farm in White River. They had three children, Nicholas John born 1967, Guy Richard born in 1969 and Robert Thomas born in 1972. They lived in Johannesburg until 1978, when John More introduced Kingstown, part of the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, to the public when he built two camps – River Lodge and Bush Lodge. Through generations and family history, The More Family, are passionate about nature and their love for the bush is inherent.

John also planted mining timber on Folly Farm and ran a very successful timber operation, sadly there was a devastating fire that swept through Folly Farm and other farms and destroyed the planted area. The original houses on the farm were miracously saved. It was then that John purchased a farm in Swaziland, Piggs Peak, previously owned by Barlows. He moved his family there and again very successfully, with hard work and perseverance, established and built up a very successful family business. Here Louise More showed a sincere interest in the wellbeing of these Swazi children and their schooling and assisted in establishing and maintaining the two farm schools that still exist today. These schools provide the necessary education and support to the employees families on an ongoing basis and through The More Family, the traditions of being able to do this are still prevelant and appreciated.

Today, Guy Richard More, manages this family business in Swaziland. His love for Swaziland and the Swazi people is genuine and giving and through that, he has successfully followed in his Dads footsteps. Robert Thomas and Nicholas John have very successfully transformed Kingstown into a well visited Private Game Farm destination, in the Sabi Sands. Guy Chalkley, in his brilliance, had provided an enormous opportunity for his family to create something unique and magnificent to share with the world.

Lion Sands

Lion Sands’ community outreach programme is the Bhubezi Community Project. Over the past 10 years the project has worked together with the leaders of Huntington Village to assess the village’s most urgent needs and is working towards achieving these in a manner that best serves the community. This includes working hand in hand with the Community Development Forum and other stakeholders within the community to bring services to the people. In partnership with The More Family, many generous guests and local corporates, we have been able to create and sustain a daycare centre for 40 babies, a pre-school of 180 children and an HIV clinic. Looking to the future we hope to continue our partnership with government with a view to enhancing the educational facilities in the local communities. We are also looking to establish a skills development centre through which our community members can be equipped towards creating long-term sustainability for all. Our mission statement, “To strive for visible community support for children, orphans, women and to ensure that the progress content reflects community needs and priorities”, continues to guide our strategy as it has over the past 10 years and will remain the basis upon which our projects are administered.

Jenny More

I was born in Johannesburg, in 1970, and am one of four siblings. My childhood years were always busy, a healthy outdoor exsistence, superb education and at the same time priviledged to be surrounded by a loving family. My mum, Gillean, was a keen gardener and spent years working with charities, teaching ladies to creatively sew and market their items. She was and still is a Rotarian and so consistently interacts with fundraising and support for the elderly and less priviledged.

I attended an all girls school in Johannesburg, St Mary’s during my high school years. I studied a BSC in Psychology and Genetics at Wits University, Johannesburg. I then went on to Van Zyl and Pritchard Computer Programming College and spent my early working years in the Computer Programming field. Through my studies and qualifications, I travelled around Europe, experiencing different cultures and meeting incredible people. I have recently completed a Course in Counselling Children and Adolescents. I have always had a genuine love and interest for children, their wellbeing and the effects of environments and family structure on them.

I married Guy Richard More in 1997 and moved to Swaziland. We lived here for ten very special years. This is when I got involved in the school on the farm, called Jenny More Preschool today and spent my happiest years here. My three children, Thomas Guy, Catherine Lee and James Chalkley were born in Johannesburg and spent their early years of childhood in Swaziland, barefoot and totally unspoilt in the most beautiful mountains of Swaziland. We eventually moved to White River, as our eldest started preschool and so my life began in this beautiful setting in the Lowveld, Folly Farm, White River.

My involvement in Henna all began when Nick, my brother-in law, tragically passed away. The family needed someone to get involved in the day to day running of the Henna Preschool, Nick had so genuinely been supporting. There was an amazing lady Thembi running the community projects and school and I needed to work closely with her, to keep Nicks dream alive. As a family we decided to create The More Community Trust, which would manage Bhubezi Community Projects, an Ngo organization. As a family, we would cover all the administration costs of running a project like this, to ensure that all donations are 100% used for the right causes.

I have loved my time working closely with Thembi and the staff at Henna. They are all positively making an impact on this small community and providing the most important gift of life – the opportunity for education. We look forward to a good year ahead and to achieve our goals, which are forever changing and challenging.

A QUOTE “There are two gifts we should give our children, One is roots and the other is wings….”

Thembi

Content to supply

GA CHALKLEY INVESTMENTS

Folly Farm was bought by Mr. Guy Anthony Chalkley in 1921 which consisted mainly of Eucalyptus plantations.  GA Chalkley Estates was established in 2003 to run the farming operations on Folly Farm.

Gradually over the uears, the farming landscape has been changed from Eucaluptus to Macadamia’s.  Currently there are approxametly 80 hectares of various varieties of Macadamia’s in production.

Over the last 3 years, GA Chalkley Estates has undergone an extensive expansion programme which will provide an additional 340 hectares of Macadamia’s.

Togetehr with the expansion of the Macadamia’s, GA Chalkley has built a factory for drying and processing of our own crop.

The future for GA Chalkley involves planting of around 50 hectares of Avocado Trees.