Twenty pupils and five teachers from St Andrew's Preparatory School in Grahamstown have taken to the back roads of the Eastern Cape for 125 hours of cycling in celebration of the school's 125 Anniversary. They started off at 6 am on Wednesday, 10 February. Each hour will represent a year of the school's existence.

Participants in this week's bike ride will perform in relays on an 300 km radius route around Grahamstown that passes the Kap River Nature Reserve, the banks of the Kariega River and farms whose owners are members of the school family. The aim of the event is to link with the past and acknowledge our broader community who have supported the school over many generations, as well as to look to the future. The theme for the Prep 125^th anniversary year is: Celebrating our past and creating our future. St Andrew's Preparatory School started in 1885 and proceeded to survive the hard years around World War 1 and World War 2, as well as the Great Depression. The school is one of a trinity of schools, the others being its senior school St Andrew's College, which is 165 years old and the Diocesan School for Girls, which opened its doors in 1874.

The adventure follows the January 29 Birthday Parade through the streets of Grahamstown when schoolchildren and friends of the school formed a procession through the "City of Saints" accompanied by its marimba band, the senior school's pipe band, a fire engine, donkey carts, tractors and vintage vehicles. Other events on the school's 125th birthday calendar are a sports conference next month and a reunion dinner for past pupils in September. 

DAY 1: (Please click on the thumb nails to enlarge)
     
   

Day 2:
     
     
     
     
     

Day 3:
     

Day 4:
     

Day 5: