Smart hacks, free fun, and one very delicious vetkoek.

Welcome to your Summer Family Special — created for all the South African families navigating six long weeks of school holidays in the UK (with a smile, a budget, and maybe a folding chair in the boot).

In this week’s issue, we’ve packed in:

So grab a cuppa, dig in, and feel free to pass it on to anyone who needs a bit of South African spirit and British practicality all in one place.

Here’s something hardly anyone mentions when you move to the UK: your local library card might just be your new secret weapon — especially if you’ve got kids home for six long weeks.

Once you’ve got one, you can tap into a ridiculous range of free perks, including:

And the best part? You can sign up online in most areas and get instant access to apps like Libby or BorrowBox — which means a full digital library on your phone within minutes.

👉 Visit your lo

and look up “library card” or “library membership.” You might be surprised by what’s waiting.

📚 One little card. A whole summer of freebies.

The UK school holidays have officially begun — and if you’ve got kids (or grandkids), now’s the time to plan ahead and keep them busy, smiling, and away from screens (and trouble).

Here are two brilliant, budget-friendly options South Africans in the UK will love:

Outdoor cinemas are popping up all over the UK — and South Africans love this kind of thing. Think picnic blankets, kids in pyjamas, popcorn under the sky.

🎟 Top Tip: Bring your own snacks and camping chairs to save on costs.

Think village greens, homemade cakes, sack races, tombolas — and good old-fashioned community.
From Oxfordshire to Yorkshire, towns and villages are hosting local summer fêtes, family fun days, and school field days. These are usually:

🗺 Find one near you: Search Facebook Events, your local council’s “What’s On” page, or try wherecanwego.com — a great UK-wide listings site.

We’ve put together a full FREE SPECIAL REPORT with all the best kid-friendly, budget-saving activities across the UK this summer — including:

🎁 Click the button below to read the full guide online.

👉 Free Special Report: Budget-Friendly Summer Fun for Kids

(This guide isn’t copyrighted — it’s made for sharing.)
If you know someone with kids in the UK who’d find this useful, please pass it on.

They can read it for free — they’ll just need to subscribe to SA Connect UK to read it and get future updates.

This week, we honour the memory of Paige Bell, a young South African stewardess whose life was tragically cut short in the Bahamas — just days before her 21st birthday. Paige, described by friends as “a golden girl,” brought joy and light to everyone around her.

She’d only recently matriculated from Hillcrest High School in KwaZulu-Natal, and had been working aboard a superyacht when she was brutally attacked by a crew member. Her family now faces the heartbreaking task of bringing her home — emotionally and financially.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to ease the burden, and at the time of writing, donations were nearing the R1 million mark. The goal is $60,000 — and they’re close. If you'd like to help, or simply share the page, you can do so here:
🔗 gofundme.com/f/honoring-paige-bell-support-her-family

Our thoughts are with Paige’s family, her friends, and the many South Africans who knew her or felt connected to her story. May she be remembered with love.

We recently took a sunny day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon — and honestly, it was one of those lovely, simple, memory-making days that just works. So if you're looking for a wholesome family outing this summer, here’s what we did (and what we’d absolutely do again):

Why we loved it: It’s beautiful, calm, easy to explore on foot, and just feels like a proper treat. Like Stellenbosch with swans and Shakespeare. Pack hats, sunblock, and your picnic basket — you’ll have a cracker of a day.

We promised you the best vetkoek recipe — and now it’s here.

Thanks to Sarah, you can now make proper, golden vetkoek at home — with the perfect curried mince to match.

It’s simple, nostalgic, and totally budget-friendly. Whether you take it on a picnic or serve it hot from the pan, it’s a taste of home that never gets old.

Tired of Googling “What’s on near me?” and getting endless ads? We’ve got the fix.

WhereCanWeGo.com is one of the best-kept secrets in the UK — and it’s brilliant for finding free and low-cost family events, summer fêtes, village shows, library days, markets, nature trails, and workshops near your postcode.

✅ Just pop in your town or region
✅ Choose “family” or “free” in the filters
✅ Get instant ideas for wholesome days out

Perfect for planning your summer weekends — with or without the kids.

Next Saturday, we’re bringing you a fresh dose of summer sanity:

It’s another week of clever, cost-saving, soul-lifting ideas — perfect for the halfway mark of July.

And that’s us for this Saturday.

The world’s feeling a little weird lately — there’s tension in the air, sabres rattling, and uncertainty just beneath the surface.

As South Africans living far from home, that makes it all the more important to stay connected, look out for each other, and build the kind of quiet community that helps us all stand a little steadier.

So thank you — for reading, for sharing, for sending people our way. This little newsletter is growing week by week, and it’s all because of you.

Wishing you sunshine, good company, and a proper vetkoek.

See you next Saturday. 🇿🇦🇬🇧