A glass of warm glühwein and the promise of a great evening of entertainment greeted guests at Realty 1 of Louis Trichardt’s annual Christmas-in-July function at the Mountain Inn Hotel on Saturday.

And what an early Christmas it was, especially for members of the Soutpansberg Town Watch and the TAU SA’s farm watch! Both organisations received a generous donation of R15 000 each, raised though this very popular charity event.

"This is our way, and the community’s way, of saying thank you to all those men and women who sacrifice their time to keep a watchful eye over us. You are doing a wonderful job," said Mrs Gwen Loots, principal of Realty 1 Louis Trichardt.

Both organisations, represented by Mr Dirk Meissenheimer on behalf of the Soutpansberg Dorpswag and Mr Jacques Bouwer of the Farm Watch, indicated that donations are much appreciated and will go a long way in supporting their efforts.

Special thanks also went to all those organisations that assisted in making the evening a big success. Gwen said on Monday that several people and organisations had already asked her how they could be involved next year. This year’s sponsors of the evening included Mountain Inn (venue), Leach Printers, Christoff Cronjé (entertainer), Marius de Bruyn, Pieter Ferreira (auctioneer), Ernst van Tonder (DJ), Braam and Marisa van Wyk, Mark Zshoar, Helen van Heerden, Nicki Murray, Mortgage SA, Nedbank, Lusitania Food Products, M Premjee & Sons, Dinnermates, Spar Louis Trichardt, Pitstop Bottle Store, Fruit & Veg City, Seaworld, Pick ‘n Pay and Limpopo Dairy.