FULL OF WESTERN PROMISE

Published: 23 July, 2008

By Stuart Peskett

Western Wines has pledged long-term support for the Ikaya school in the South African township of Khayamandi in Stellenbosch. The Shropshire-based company has already donated 100,000 to the school, and now, with the launch of its Inzala brand in the UK, will continue to fund school projects, including a pre-primary school, new playing fields and even a craft shop. The shop will sell items made from waste dry packaging from Western Wines' Kumala range - for instance, the company uses gold foil for its bottle labels, but throws away 5km of it a year. A smelter may even be made available to melt down empty wine bottles and turn them into glasses. The Inzala range (the name means progeny' in Xhosa, and was chosen by the schoolchildren) includes a 2003 Chenin/Colombard/Chardonnay and 2003 Pinotage/Merlot/Shiraz blend (4.99 each), and a 2003 Chardonnay and 2003 Reserve Shiraz (5.99 each). Western's operations director in South Africa, James Reid, said that although progress had been hampered by red-tape-induced delays, work should be under way on the pre-primary school within one month: We started in September, but we only just got approval for the pre-primary school,' he said. We've put up garden huts as a temporary measure, which will then be used for the craft business. The school doesn't have a soccer field, and the kids are very passionate about their soccer, so we're getting some sports fields and basketball fields set up. We want to put something back. Parents just can't afford [school fees], and the school suffers from a lack of basic equipment. In the long term, we want to make sure that the kids can go to secondary school with a basic education.' The Inzala range is available now at 560 Tesco stores.

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