council. And in 1931, the church was renovated at a cost of more than £3,000 and thereby heavily improved. Thanks to the example of the Hofmeyr family and the inspiration they provided, Somerset East remains a missionary church. Membership figures Somerset-East's number of professing NGK members was always somewhere near the middle of the rankings of large rural villages in the Eastern Cape. The following table shows the overall decrease in membership in the inland portion of the province. In cases where congregations merged, their numbers are combined throughout. These include Middelburg and Middelburg-View; Grahamstown, Grahamstown-Border, and Albanie; Somerset-East and Cookhouse; and Queenstown, Queenstown-East, and Queenstown-North (the latter two combined for a while as Queenstown-Gardens). Each town's peak membership is indicated in bold. This shows that Graaff-Reinet, Cradock, Queenstown, and Aliwal North peaked in the mid-20th century and that Burgersdorp's membership declined after 1933. The congregations from Aliwal North, Cradock, Grahamstown, and Queenstown all included more members in 2014 than around a century earlier. The joint membership numbers of the churches reached a high point of 14,743 by 1952, but had returned to 11,373 by 1995, less than the 1933 total of 11,548. Between 1990 and 2000, the total decreased from 11,373 to 10,572, but in the next 15 years, the decline accelerated as the congregations lost 2,932 members to reach a total of 7,641, amounting to a loss of more than a quarter of members. Select pastors George Morgan, 1826–1841, later with the Scottish congregation in Kaapstad (probably the Presbyterian congregation of St. Andrew's) John Pears, 1841 – June 18, 1866 (died in office) Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, 1867 to August 25, 1908 (died in office) John Murray Hofmeyr, 1907–1940 (emeritus; died December 15, 1943) Izak Jacob Viljoen, 1940–1956 Johannes Hermanus Frier, 1944–1946 Gabriël Jacobus Lotter, 1947–1963 Hendrik Johannes de Vos, 1956–1965 Stephanus Johannes Hofmeyr van der Spuy, 1964 – November 18, 1969 (retirement from the ministry) Hercules Philippus Malan, 1966–1970 Nikolaas Jacobus du Toit, March 14, 1970–1974 Heinrich Franz Heymann, January 23, 1971 – April 1976 Carel Aaron Anthonissen, 1975–1979 (also a missionary) Johannes Jochemus Eucharistius Koornhof, 1976–1981 Barend Hermanus Smit, 1980 – 23 Julie 1987 (resignation, further studies) André Schmidt, 1982–1987 Jan Frederick Marais, 1987–1991 Petrus Jacobus Naudé, 1990–1992 Dr. Adriaan Ferreira van der Merwe, 1991–2002 Petrus Johannes Bester, 1992–2002 Hermanus Venter (Herman) Burger, 1992–1999 Dr. Izak Johannes van der Merwe, 1995–2000 Christoffel Johannes (Chris) du Raan, 2002