Residents continue to enjoy the sunny days using the shade area to its full capacity.  The residents have also enjoyed games of bowls and quoits on the lawn.

Many activities have been happening at Wharekaka.  Residents have planted out the new table vegetable garden with winter veges.  Thanks to Larry our rather obliging Maintenance Man and Andy Sutherland for their input into this project.

We are looking at setting up a Men’s shed at Wharekaka.  Donations of tools and assistance would be gratefully accepted.

Thank you to the knitting ladies that have resumed their monthly meetings.  Next meeting will be held on 21st May at 1.30pm – all welcome.

May is a month full of entertainment.  Thank you to Lance, Gail and Joe who will be entertaining everyone in the coming weeks.  Everyone is welcome to come along and enjoy these afternoons.
Wharekaka also has an interesting daycare programme, Monday-Friday, for people in the community.  Daycare residents can be collected in our van from their own homes and returned at 2.30pm.  You will also enjoy a home cooked lunch from Gail.  If you are interested please contact Wendy on 3069701.
Volunteers are always welcome at Wharekaka.  Do you have a spare ½ hour to read our daily newspaper to residents?  Also, with the colder weather coming would you like to play board games, scrabble, or cards?  Maybe you have you a special skill or have you been on a holiday that you would be keen to share with our residents.  Please contact Wendy to discuss being a Wharekaka Volunteer on 3069701.

Finn Bargh reports:
My name is Finn and I play soccer as a mid-fielder.  Esava, George, Jonathon, and Miloslav from the Wairarapa United Football Club have come out to our school on Fridays to coach football/soccer to all our students.

They have been giving us lots of training like passing the ball to each other on one foot and then the other foot,   and if we got mad or angry they put up blue cones in a triangle and called it the fridge, so you could go there and cool down.

I tried out as goalie but prefer playing in the middle of the field. The coaches told us the four rules which were safety , respect,  to learn, and after that they put a dotted line under all those and put FUN.

George is a really good football player and the coaches all joined in our practice games, which made it very exciting and hard work too.

“I was very aware that many people in Martinborough, and those interested in the area, hadn’t seen the book and there would be considerable interest in having it available again,” says Ian Grant.
The Canoes of Kupe is a comprehensive account of Martinborough and its personalities from the beginnings of settlement by Maori to the 21st century.

“It’s a story enhanced by Roberta McIntyre’s comprehensive research in private and public archives and her oral history interviews,” he says. “Roberta has also skillfully placed the district’s history within the context of national and international events that had repercussions for life in the town and through its hinterland.”

As Professor Tom Brooking wrote in History Now, “ …. this is a most useful local history which thoroughly deserved its elevation to a Montana history category finalist” The Canoes of Kupe also won the J. M. Sherrard Award for excellence in New Zealand local and regional history.

Roberta McIntyre, an independent Wellington historian, is also the author of Whose high country? A history of the South Island high country of New Zealand published in 2008. 

Roberta McIntyre will be talking about the discoveries she made while researching her award-winning book, The Canoes of Kupe,  at the Wine Centre at 5.30pm on Saturday 25 May.

Before that, we’ll be combining with the Wellington Community Choir for ‘Singing In Martinborough’, on May 18, at St. Andrew’s Hall, in Dublin St. There’ll be an afternoon ‘sing-shop’ (i.e. workshop) from 2-5pm, led by Julian Raphael and Carol Shortis, followed by an evening concert, at 7.30pm.

Both Julian and Carol are fantastic teachers, and I know we’ll have a great time, and learn lots of interesting songs. Anyone is welcome to attend both these events, and participants in the sing-shop will also combine with the Wellington Community Choir for a few of the concert items which we’ll learn in the afternoon sing-shop. Admission to the afternoon event is $10, and that’ll also include entry to the concert. Admission to the concert only is $10, or $5 unwaged.

For any further information, and/or if anyone is interested in joining the choir, please contact me:
Victoria Jones, tel: 3069917/021 054 0212, or email: vicbjones@gmail.com

The contest will be held on Saturday June 1st. Judging will be at the Tora woolshed commencing at 6pm sharp. The judges will be the public, so come along and make your choice.
The categories are:
1 The great Tora paua fritter.
2 Other seafood.
3 Wild game.
4 locally farmed animals
5 home grown produce.
6 Dessert.
7 For children 14 years and under using any of the above.
So all you amateur chefs out there, hone your skill at a favourite recipe and show us your expertise.
For further details contact Anne Dodds Phone 3078 833 email annedodds@xtra.co.nz . Or Joan at Tuturumuri School 3078 110 email office@tuturumuri.school.nz
The event is a fund raiser for Tuturumuri School, in particular to raise funds to build a compost system or the school garden.

Today Paul Harris awards are presented to Rotarians or community persons that have made a difference over the years to their community. Graeme asked Rotary South Wairarapa President Beth Taylor to announce the recipient of Rotary Paul Harris community award. The award was presented to David Kershaw of Martinborough; to a tumultuous applause. Beth relayed off a very long list of David’s community work which include being a Lions member for 20 years, Justice of the Peace, Business Association, Relay for Life, organising Blood Donor facilities to name but a few.

In reply, David confessed that he and his wife returned from Perth a few hours earlier and nearly did not make the evening due to flight disruptions. He said that he and his wife had received community support over many years and he felt it was his duty to return some of that support to the community and to help the community grow. David thanked the community and Rotary for the award to a standing ovation.
. Congratulations to David Kershaw and thank you from the community for all your work over the years.

We will be kicking off the garage sale in the Town Hall 10am O Saturday the 8th of June as we mentioned and it’s promising to be bigger and better than last year, we are going to have a bouncy castle for the kids, a coffee cart and BBQ set up outside so those lining up early at the doors will have plenty of real coffee and sumptuous bacon sammies to keep you happy until the doors are thrown open at 10am sharp.

Remember to phone  Linda and Viv on 3066176 if you have some second hand goods suitable for the garage sale. If you would like to help out on the day on a stall we would love to hear from you
The last 6 months we have been drafting up our new plunket room plans and exploring if replacing our current rooms which have been found to be an earthquake risk (as has our library) is a viable option for us. We could not have done this without the support of local designer Geoff Kunac of GK Architecture who has held our hand through the whole investigative process. we will update you regularly how this process is going.

We are always glad to have more people join our committee and be involved, it’s not always about sipping coffee and eating cake (tho I might add we have very fine cakes and coffee to help us through our meetings and brainstorming sessions..)… We’d love to hear from you.
Linda and the Team at Martinborough Plunket.

Peter and his wife Heather recently retired and moved to Martinborough after 42 years in the same Wellington home. They began coming to Martinborough years ago, returning each summer to the Fair, and often thought they could retire here. A few years ago they began looking seriously, found the home they wanted, and “never looked back”. They have “fantastic neighbours, friendly and helpful” and find that many of their visitors, especially Wellingtonians, look enviously on their choice of community. “I don’t know what it is but nobody has a bad word to say about the place,” says Peter.

Congratulations to Peter on an impressive milestone achieved and the community spirit displayed in being a blood donor for so many years – and a very warm welcome to Martinborough.

A total of 104 litres of blood were collected on the day. This is the first time that more than 100 litres have been collected – so congratulations to all those generous Martinborough Donors.

Rachel McCahon

Wayne is self employed as Thomas Electrical, providing installations, appliance repairs, Freeview installations and general electrical work.  As a father of two, daughter Silva age 9 and Devon age 5 months, time for other hobbies are rare but does enjoy time at his bach at Ningnong Bay (Tekopi) and a bit of fishing.

He remembers well the 16 hours of fighting a vegetation fire near Ngawi a few years ago.  It was a huge fire, requiring a lot of hard work by the brigade along with rural brigades.  Wayne’s  first aid training came in handy as he was called on to assist in the treatment of a women at the scene for smoke inhalation.  He says there are many other stories but best to ask him over a beer sometime.
Wayne says for those thinking of the fire service “It’s great for a young person.  I’m personally not into some of the military aspects but I realise there is discipline required to make sure crews can act professionally and safely when the pressure is on.”

Wayne Thomas

Started by the First Church in Martinborough the current organisers Nick Arnold, Ann Brodie and Robin Ormerod believe this to be the 16th consecutive  year that the lectures have been held. As someone remarked last year “It is what we do in winter”.

The café will open at 6.30 p.m. for nibbles and drinks and the lectures begin at 7.30. The cost is $20 per lecture and this year a donation will be made to the Town Hall fundraising campaign at the end of the series.