A letter to George Pain (1846 – 1937)

Kia Ora,

On behalf of the people of Martinborough we offer our heartfelt gratitude for your many contributions to Martinborough, including generously gifting the Pain Farm Estate. 

You continue to be fondly remembered and appreciated.

Pain and Kershaw celebrated 150 years of operation last year. They are the longest-serving whānau owned business in New Zealand and we’re sure you would be as proud of them and the new store, as we all are (and yes, your name is still proudly displayed).

Your collection of tāonga acquired throughout your life and travels up and down the East Coast of Aotearoa, was donated to the Wellington Council and has recently been the inspiration of a whole exhibition – Te Ohonga, The Awakening (on display at Wellington Museum, until April 1 2024).  … Continue Reading

Amiki Trio concert – Tales of Love & Enchantment

Recently formed after a corridor conversation at Marsden School where they’re all itinerant music teachers,, the Amiki Trio’s vocalist Barbara Paterson, flautist Karen Batten, and pianist Rachel Thomson,  decided to make music together.

“Amiki” as a verb in Maori means to tell a story in detail, and the Trio has developed this concert

programme on the theme of “Tales of Love and Enchantment.” The scope for this combination is wide, and Amiki Trio has explored repertoire ranging from expressive French lyricism to contemporary composition. 

Voice, flute and piano blend and contrast as the musicians take you through a varied programme, from subtle French colours to a narrated tale of an emperor and a bird. Hear the nightingale sing, the shepherd sigh, the water swirl around a water nymph, in compositions by Delibes, Ravel, Schubert and Reinecke.

Chamber music is an important element in the freelance careers of all three musicians. All agree that the intimate performance of these trios and duos allows all to relish the essence of chamber music: emotional communication through music and thus connection with the audience.

Other musical activities that contribute to the busy lives of the three freelancers are teaching, orchestral performance, and choir direction. 

Rachel is an examiner for Trinity College of London, which sees her travelling the motu throughout the year. 

Barbara is currently an Artist Teacher of Classical Voice at Te Koki New Zealand School of Music, teaches privately and also conducts the Capital Choir. 

Orchestra Wellington provides Karen with plenty of challenging orchestral repertoire, and she has just rejoined the RNZAF Band, after a hiatus of 18 years to raise her two boys.

AMIKI TRIO – Tales of Love & Enchantment: 4 p.m. Sunday 7 April at 57 Wood St, Greytown.

Admission $30, children $10. For bookings email efjacooke@gmail.com, or ring 06 304 9497.

Burnouts, skids, donuts doing major Palliser damage

By Ray Lilley

“It’s absolutely shameful the damage that has been done to our land” by 4WD, quad bikes and other vehicles being used to do burnouts, skids and donuts on tangata whenua properties east of Cape Palliser lighthouse on the southern coast.

“It’s indiscriminate, all over the place, as they (drivers) think they have the right to go anywhere, doing donuts and wheelies in the paddocks,” Haami Te Whaiti, chair of the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Settlement Trust told The Star.  

Drone footage of some of the damage has been collected by the landowners.

“There are lot of those in the drone footage … driving backwards and forwards when it was quite wet and going through the wheel ruts. We want that stopped.”

“We can identify some of the vehicle number plates” from drone footage, he said. … Continue Reading

Catalogue of heavy traffic bypass woes for Council

Heavy trucks, particularly log carriers, are causing more water leaks, more noise, more surface damage and a menace to child safety as they travel through the Dublin St heavy traffic bypass past Martinborough School, South Wairarapa councillors were told at their recent meeting.

Submitter John MacGibbon ran through a catalogue of noise cacophany, a list of persistent water leaks (“some water leaks have been repaired four times”), and noted “double wheel trucks are wrecking the new (street tarmac) surface already” _ only months after it was patched.  

His main focus was on speed, already reduced to 40 kmh past the school area. … Continue Reading