Locked in – again

Who takes responsibility for the roads which connect Martinborough to the outside world?

Who will step up to solve one of Martinborough’s increasingly vexing issues – isolation by flooding that leaves a community dependent on farming and tourism virtually cut off from the outside on an increasingly regular basis?

In both April and early July the community was effectively marooned behind a rising tide of river and surface flood waters.

Farmers in some cases were flooded into their land, or had their road access to local townships overwhelmed by water.

In Martinborough, some business owners had to reduce staff by two-thirds or more so out-of-town dwellers could get home safely ahead of the rising river waters.

In some cases they were unable to return to their paid employment for several days. In other cases, business owners dossed down in the town as they were unable to drive out to their out-of-town residence.
Locals out of the district on business faced the reality of being cut off from their residence and forced to find accommodation until the flooding subsided enough. … Continue Reading

Know your town

The John Martin Family

John Martin arrived at Wellington along with nineteen family members on the ship ‘Lady Nugent’ on seventeenth of July 1841. Six years later he married Marian Baird who came from the Fountain Hall area in Scotland. They had ten children: Elizabeth, Arthur , Sarah, Robert, John Jnr, William, Edward, Albert, Marian and Jessie.

John Martin initially worked carting goods around Wellington but in 1860 went south where he had relatives. He made considerable money selling livestock at the goldfields, coming back to Wellington he used the money to speculate in land and property.

He purchased Otaraia run from the A Giles estate in 1869 putting his wife’s nephew, J D Baird in charge, Baird established the Waihinga township in 1870. John’s son Edward took charge of Otaraia then later Arthur. … Continue Reading

Inner Wheel

This has been a very busy month for our club as we have had two changeovers (when a new president starts the new Inner Wheel year). The first was on 10 June when District Chair, Dale Julius, handed over to District Chair Judi Newborn, at the ANZAC Hall in Featherston. Our members catered, and decorated the venue. The second changeover took place in the Cobblestones Exhibition Hall in Greytown with a Roaring Twenties theme, and we were privileged to have the Featherston Gentlemen’s Choir perform songs from the same era.

Judy Shakespeare handed over her chains of office to Dr Anne Hayden. As can be seen from the photos, both events were very successful. … Continue Reading

Council seeks input on notable tree register

Historic and beautiful trees help to create attractive environments. That’s why the South Wairarapa District Council has protected trees in the Wairarapa District Plan on almost 100 sites across the district.

Some people believe more trees in the district warrant such protection. The Council has decided to update its list of protected trees and now seeks community input on the desirability to include other trees on the list. The Council will work with a professional arborist to assess the merits of such inclusion and will use the nationally agreed STEM criteria to make decisions about any changes to the current list.
The Council will also seek the views of the owners of the land on which the tree is situated, as it prefers to not include trees when the land owner has strong objections. … Continue Reading