If you live in Knysna you are most definitely familiar with the Action Ads which docks for free every Thursday.
And if you aren’t clued into it yet, then you should have Fomo (fear of missing out).
If you are looking for a job or someone to do a job for you, then Action Ads is very useful as it serves the greater community of Knysna with little adverts, smalls, that don’t cost the earth.
It’s the only visitor our postbox gets and I always receive the little black and white magazine (it’s actually classified as a newspaper) with glee.
“Home-grown, it just reads better!” is its front page slogan and that’s a fact.
If you don’t get it in your postbox then copies can be found in strategic places such as the counters of the doctor, the dentist, the butcher.
Put it this way, you couldn’t miss it with 8,500 copies widely distributed weekly.
In the 10 years I have been in Knysna, I’m sure I have read nearly every issue from cover to cover.
I guess people who read in the toilet like it because it takes time to go through each page.
Then each issue gets saved in a pile for reference lest I forget the plumber’s contact details or the specials on at a local restaurant.
Like any newspaper, I save copies to clean windows and glass and sometimes put the cat’s feeding bowl on one of them.
I don’t have a parrot but I suppose they would fit quite nicely into the bottom of a bird cage. They fit very well into the bottom of the vegetable draw in the fridge.
So, what is it with this Action Ads that makes it so important to our community?
It’s packed with adverts not pretending to be anything other than a business directory such as where to get keys cut, read about a loving dog-sitter, hire jumping castles, a carpet cleaner, buy plants or where to have a facial.
This week’s edition has a full page of special prices happening at a local butchery and at their adjoining restaurant.
I simply have to find out how it is even possible in this day and age to pay only R89 for a rib and chip basket and you can bet your bottom dollar I’m not the only one who is interested.
Specials at the various respective grocery stores are also published and it’s handy to know who is selling the cheapest butter.
Action Ads is also an important platform for those job-hunting and way of advertising for a gardener, domestic helper, handyman, you name it.
It’s also the place to find out who died during the week because Action Ads carries obituaries.
Then for a proper read, there is the ‘Stoep Chat’ by Melanie Gosling.
She is a genuine Knysnarian and shares her family memories and all sorts of musings with her readers.
Her column “Sheeptail fat and dark wine” was about how her grandmother would bake biscuits for the Christmas holidays in a big wooden stove in their Noetzie cottage.
Melanie decided to tackle a batch of these zoet koekies and discovered there was nothing easy about a recipe that makes 16 dozen biscuits.
“Moon landing miracle” was about where she was when the moon landing happened 56 years ago.
People love these kinds of columns and look forward to what she has to say every week.
It all began 38 years ago when Julie Gosling and Hanlie van Niekerk (who has since passed away) started Action Ads, housed in what was little more than an outhouse behind the old Jimmy’s Café on Knysna’s Main Street.
They were just a two-woman band, with some capital from Julie’s mother, and a lot of passion and determination — and then Melanie came on board.
From that small beginning, when every Wednesday they worked right through the night to get the paper on the streets by Thursday morning, they now employ 12 people full-time and 14 part-time people.
Action Ads has become so much more than a job creator: it has become part of Knysna’s fabric in many different and positive ways, not the least of which is, though they are just a small business, donating hundreds of thousands of rand into the community over the years, particularly into the underprivileged areas.
Just some of these include sponsoring a variety of sporting events, teams and equipment; paying the unemployed to do long-term clean-up programmes in public places; paying school fees; and funding infrastructure development in many poorer schools and crèches.
Not many know about this side of Action Ads. Julie and Hanlie did their good deeds quietly without fanfare, motivated not by getting good publicity for their business, but by their innate generosity, big hearts, and belief in helping their fellow human beings where they can.
Over the years, this has not gone unnoticed. In 2017, Julie and Hanlie’s contribution to the Knysna community through Action Ads was honoured by Rotary when they were given the Paul Harris Fellowship Award — the highest honour Rotary can bestow on anyone.
Knysna Rotary Club president Doug Emanuel said at the time that the Paul Harris award was “not given easily”.
“It is awarded only to those who have demonstrated exemplary service to a community.
“We have with us a local lady who we feel is worthy of this award.
“With her business partner, Hanlie, Julie founded Action Ads in Knysna in 1986.
“Throughout that time Action Ads has been published weekly, communicating the activities of organisations and individuals among all the residents of the Knysna area, and has lived up to its slogan: Published by locals for locals,” Emanuel said.
Rotary acknowledged Action Ads for supporting the good work of many charities and NGOs over the years, including Rotary, which has been given free space to advertise.
This translated into increased Rotary funding and so more support going into the local community.
“Action Ads is hand-delivered to residents’ homes, a service that has always put it ahead of its competitors.
“It is ‘compulsory reading’ for newcomers and visitors to Knysna, as it reflects the lifestyle of Knysna in an unexpected way.
“Julie’s personal management of Action Ads makes her a worthy recipient of Rotary’s highest award for making a significant difference in the community,” Emanuel said.
Julie said they felt honoured to have received the award.
“Having Action Ads as a printed product [it also online] is of great value, particularly to the poorer residents.
“There are lots of adverts online, but many poor communities don’t have access to computers, and they are the ones who need to hear about that second-hand washing machine or old bike for sale,” she said.
Having said that, I go back to my last copy to see who is selling the cheapest gas since we need one more bottle before summer — and while I am flicking through, I see there’s a new doctor in town.
It really is essential to read this if you live here.
The Herald
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