Highway councillor, Gillian Noyce steps boldly into new adventure
After serving the Upper Highway community for more than two decades, Gillian Noyce has retired from her position as the PR ward councillor.
AFTER years of dedicated service to the Upper Highway community, Gillian Noyce, the DA PR councillor for ward 8 and 103, has officially retired.
The Hillcrest resident was born in Johannesburg in 1942 and she still holds vague memories of her mother organising game evenings to help raise money for the troops during the war.
“My father was a magistrate, so we moved around a bit. My formative years were spent in a small village in the Transkei, Mqanduli, which is en route to Coffee Bay,” she said.
She boarded for three years at Clarendon Girls’ High School before her family moved to Pretoria, where she attended Pretoria Girls’ High School.
“It was my first real contact with Afrikaans speaking people,” she laughed.
After school she attended Rhodes University to complete a BA, with majors in history and geography.
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“I loved the history aspect but the geography has been more useful,” she admitted. “Our history professor was from Oxford and was very liberal. She opened my eyes to many of the truths of Apartheid, which I might not have known or perhaps even understood.”
She wished to study towards her honours in history but her father insisted she receive a qualification, so she studied to be a teacher at the University of Cape Town. It was here she met her future husband, Michael. After leaving UCT, she taught for three years, in terms of her bursary, and was later awarded a post at Rustenburg Girls’ High School, where she taught geography.
“With my bursary paid off, I headed overseas, like so many young people. Michael was doing his MSc in the UK and I taught in London for a year and travelled a great deal,” she said.
The couple returned home to tie the knot and soon after they headed to the United States of America, where they lived for three years. With family responsibilities back home in South Africa, they returned. Working for an international company, Michael was transferred to Durban and the family moved to South Africa’s Playground.
In 1996 the DA was in search of candidates to become councillors and Noyce said she was approached.
“I was excited at the prospect of doing something so different and jumped at the opportunity. After five years, we were amalgamated into the Durban Metro and a very different experience,” said Noyce.
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Chapter of change:
She became the ward councillor for Hillcrest, Waterfall and Molweni.
“This was my happiest spell as a councillor. Everyone worked together on the new ward committee and I grew o love Molweni and its people, It was a time of progress for the area as we had many new roads and sidewalks built, two new clinics were built as well as a provincial clinic,” said a proud Noyce.
She also belonged to the Hillcrest and Waterfall Ratepayers’ Associations, the Hillcrest Conservancy and CPF as well as the Shongweni Landfill Monitoring Committee. She also served in council on the Town planning Committee.
Towards the end of that spell, Michael suffered his first heart attack and was told to avoid stress wherever possible.
“He used to worry about me going down into the Valley on weekends and I decided to become a PR councillor instead,” said Noyce.
She has continued as the local PR Ward councillor and said her interests moved towards sustainability, climate change and biodiversity.
“The first knock I had this year was losing my husband and then it was the hip operation. The two have really hit me hard and I do hope that I can now travel and see more of my family. It is very all absorbing job and I think I should now focus more on my family and on myself,” she said.
Noyce said she will continue to help residents in need until a new councillor is appointed to the area.
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