Effective 5 April, vaccine passes will no longer be required at Council facilities

Our Covid-19 settings are changing in response to the Government’s recent announcement on the Red Traffic Light setting. These settings are vital for reducing the spread of Covid-19 throughout the pandemic.

From April 5, vaccine passes will longer be necessary at any of our venues. This removes the need to show vaccine passes at our Martinborough, Greytown and Featherston libraries and adjoining facilities.

Council meetings will now be held face to face as opposed to being online, and will be recorded for our YouTube channel where technology permits.

Mask wearing and social distancing will continue to be required indoors. Scanning will no longer be mandatory but will remain for those who want to record their visits.

South Wairarapa libraries will revert to normal access. The Wairarapa Library Service’s new HomeLink and Click and Collect services continue to be available for those who wish to have books selected and either readied for pick up, or delivered to their home.

Aratoi

Aratoi Autumn exhibitions

Our major Autumn exhibition, Toitū Te Whenua, The Land Will Always Remain, takes up the main gallery, with large installations and thought-provoking images to encourage the viewer to think about the forces that shape our environment. A pulsing heartbeat of light contrasts to the exhibition’s underlying narrative of deep time and eons of the Earth.

Understanding the role of immigrants in the Wairarapa, and how the land came to be changed with families arriving, the portrait exhibition; William’s Legacy: The Beetham Portraits is a rare look at one of the oldest immigrant families in the region and their family story.  … Continue Reading

Carless days

The 1979 revolutionaries who over threw the Shah of Iran also nationalised the country’s oil wells evicting the foreigners operating them and so disrupting the oil exports. As a major producer this resulted world oil prices quickly escalating to eventually double. With New Zealand’s balance of payments already in a precarious shape Prime Minister Muldoon hastened to pass a number of edicts to reduce the use of oil imports.

The principal one was that every motorist must nominate a day on which their car would not be used. Brightly coloured stickers with the chosen day were issued to be affixed to the windscreen. … Continue Reading