Tracey Roake, Lance Roake, Neal Roake Lance Roake, David Roake, Neal Roake,Tracey Roake

My grandparents on my dads’ side now reside in Paradise Beach, just outside Jef-freys Bay. My grandfather was born in the UK in 1932, and moved over to Zambia where he started working from about the age of 14. My grandfather started his own business, a taxi service, and this is how he and my grandmother met. Later on they moved to Natal, where my grandparents started various businesses, such as ice-cream vans, coffee shops, restaurants and pies. My grandfather is not one for monotony. They are currently making the special “Oven Door Pies” from home and they supply a few shops in Jeffreys bay as well as Port Elizabeth. His next destination is Brisbane, Australia. My grandmother just laughs. Gypsy should be our second name!

Tony Roake

Mariam Roake, Tony Roake

Mariam Roake, Tony Roake

Mariam Roake and Tony Roake 2010

My grandmother was born in Zambia in 1939, her parents were origi-nally from the UK as well. My grandmother was 16 years old when they married. They stayed in Zambia for a few years and they went on a world cruise when my dad was about seven years old. Later on they moved to Natal, where my grandparents started.

Mariam Roake 2010

Tony Roake

My parents together with my grandparents started a restaurant called Monsoons. We stayed in Jef-freys Bay for a good ten years.

Mariam Roake, Tony Roake, Scooby 2010

Betsy Roake

My mom, born and bread Afrikaans South African, was born in Potchefstroom and grew up in Welver-diend. At 17 she finished school and moved to Johannesburg where she worked for attorneys. My mom ended up working for Volkskas, now called ABSA in Potchefstroom where she met my dad. My mom has supported my dad in all his decisions, and is now a housewife and they are still hap-pily married.

Betsy Roake

Tony Roake Betsy Roake

Lance Roake

I come from a very creative and diverse family. My dad was born in Zambia, and then later moved over to Natal with his folks, where he finished school and then went and did his apprentice with Telkom in Potchefstroom. From there my dad got a job with Sun International, as a technician and so they moved down to Port Shepstone, and worked at Wild Coast Sun. My parents got married in Amanzimtoti, natal, and my sister was born the very next year in Port Sheptone. Two years from this I was born in Port Sheptsone. From here my dad was transferred to Tha ba nchu Sun, so we moved over to Tha ba nchu for a few years when I was about 3yrs old. When I was about 5yrs old we moved to Rustenburg, as my dad was once again trans-ferred to Sun City. We eventually ended up living in Sun City.Life was great, free entrance into the val-ley of waves and free tokens to play games!

Lance Roake

My sister Shannon Roake lives in Port Elizabeth and is engaged to Cyril Bratt, to be married in December 2010. Cyril was born and raised in Port Elizabeth. He stud-ied to be a qualified CA(SA) at NMMU and he now works as the Financial Controller at Mario Levi Manufacturing SA, Uitenhage.

My sister qualified as a Fashion designer and started her first job designing at Billabong menswear up until today. She lives in Port Elizabeth and is engaged to be married in December 2010.

Cyril Bratt and Shannon Roake

Shannon Roake

Shannon Roake Cyril Bratt and Shannon Roake

I believe my parents’ decisions and influences has served as the basis for my creativ-ity and ability to capture moments. I have realised how quickly things can change and how different things can look, and with a camera I can capture this. I would like to thank my parents and my sister, even though times weren’t always easy. They are the reason for my creativity and ability to capture epic happenings. They have taught me to hold on to my memories as well as make new ones, as this is what keeps my life in-teresting. Roakes are like gypsies: “labourer’s who move from place to place as de-manded by employment”. And together with this movement comes a feeling of wanting to know more and experience more! This is what has moulded me into the person I am to-day!

Ryan Roake, Betsy Roake , Shannon Roake Ryan Roake

Valley of 1000 Hills, KwaZulu Natal