Martinborough Mens’ Shed

Great activity continues at the Martinborough Mens’ shed. Over the last few weeks we have undertaken a wide range of activities. These have included:

• Refurbishment and donation of bikes to local schools and early childhood centres. To date over 90 bikes have been donated, largely to those youngsters who would have struggled to acquire one.
• We held successful fundraising stalls in both the fairs. These included goods made by members and also selling some surplus equipment. Thank you to Daphne Geisler who generously made her premises available for this.
• Our very popular speaker series, for March, featured Scotty the butcher who arrived with a sizeable lamb, (not running around). He demonstrated superb knife skills resulting in different cuts of meat. All attendees learnt a lot, enjoyed barbequed lamb as well as great entertainment, with many of the cuts sold off. We have received much positive feedback on Scotty’s session. Well done Colin Hadley for the inspiration.

Reminder of ongoing services available. These include tool and knife sharpening, repairs to many and varied items. Weekly hours are 10-12 on both Wednesday and Saturday.

The Mens’ Shed membership has a great and diverse range of skills available that can be deployed to many and varied projects.

The AGM will be held on Saturday April 21 at 10.00 am. We are keen to have a strong attendance and hear from as many members as possible.

For further information and/or suggestions please call Mike on 021 2953051 or 06 3068861.

Martinborough Community Board

SWDC are on the verge of bringing their new Long Term Plan to the community for consultation. We have been involved in the early stages of the planning and we are looking forward to hearing the thoughts of the community in the near future.

One area we have been strongly advocating for is funding for a district wide Spatial Planning exercise. Significant growth in the area over the last 10 years means that we are experiencing a housing shortage and a lack of available land to build on is putting significant pressure on prices. Outdated zoning in the district plan is exacerbating the problem.

We believe that SWDC needs to be in front of the growth – planning for future growth and managing land and infrastructure in a way that responds to this. We want our communities to have a say in how and where growth should happen and for the council to enable economic growth by supporting smart and sustainable development.

A public meeting will be held at the SWDC Council Chambers on the 12 of April – This is a chance to hear more about what is in the Long Term Plan and understand what is proposed.

The Boer War memorial is getting an upgrade – watch out for works in the square over the next couple of months.

Thanks go to the Martinborough Lionesses who have joined with us in a joint venture to provide bike stands throughout the town – these stands have arrived and we are waiting for the council contractors to install them.

Have a great April everyone,

Victoria Read

Maree’s musings

A WALK in the PARK.

You may recall a ‘musings’ from months back concerning a maritime journey through life. Not always plain sailing, as we discovered. So, you think: it’s a relief to be back on dry land. But maybe this is not so. For a start, arriving on shore ‘all washed up’, to coin a phrase, is Not a Good Start.

But here we are, and must press on. Life is an unknown territory, and it’s helpful for progress to have direction and a clear path. Some information about pitfalls along the way is useful too. Historically, pitfalls were real holes in the ground to catch unsuspecting animals, but you get the picture. Directions are sometimes dubious and no use if you come to a dead end. Straying off the ‘straight and narrow’, although it can be good fun at the time, can get you bogged down. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, which I’m old enough to have read, mentions ‘The Slough of Despond’ which may have been inspired by Squitch Fen, a slushy bog which Bunyan had to cross on his way to church. Even the name sounds messy. Just keeping to the path and making progress is also difficult if you’re weighed down with cares or a heavy heart. So many factors before you even start.

Of course, you’re bound to come across the occasional bump in the road: it may be only a molehill but they can look like mountains. The journey then becomes an uphill battle [particularly with no weapons to hand] to get to the top of your game. At last! From the summit you can see for miles but still may have no idea where you are. And from now on it’s downhill all the way (and probably a slippery slope as well). … Continue Reading

Letters

The Waihinga project

I read with interest the article in the Martinborough Star, March 2018, re the delays due to the weather and availability of building materials for the Town Hall project.

In the article, the CEO Paul Crimp states that he and the South Wairarapa District council “are extremely grateful to the contractors who are holding their prices even as the regular prices increase and are thankful that the construction management group is working hard to ensure the project stays on budget”.

I don’t understand why the council should be “grateful'” to Rick Zschokke for not passing on cost increases when we have a fixed price contract in place?

Weather conditions and shortages of material should have no bearing on a fixed price contract.  Where I come from, a fixed price is exactly that.  Or is this simply a way of softening up the ratepayer for the inevitable cost overruns for this project?

I look forward to some clarification from the council.

Yours sincerely,

Bruce Sullivan, Martinborough.