Pink and Pretty

Pink Ribbon Breakfast at Brackenridge Country Retreat. Photo supplied by Pete Monk.

Brackenridge Country Retreat and Spa transformed overnight for the Pink Ribbon breakfast held on Friday 1^st July. It was a wonderland of roses and a tribute to the organisers of the event.

Fine china teacups decorated the tables. Pink champagne was poured, and Trestle and Mortar provided a decadent breakfast which set the scene for animated discussion and spirited support for the fundraising auction. 

Ably compered by Angela Sweeney, with the consummate skills of Carl Petersen as auctioneer, the bids kept rolling in. There was considerable competition for the very generously sponsored prizes. Over 70 sponsors had provided a wide range of products, gifts, and experiences. 

Susan Stephens, one of the main organisers of the event, says that the support from the community is phenomenal and we are so grateful to every one of them. It allowed us to raise $23,500.00 which will go to the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation. This is the largest donation we have ever made. There are few people in the community who do not know of at least one person who has had treatment for Breast Cancer. I suspect that is why this event is so generously supported. Tickets sold by word of mouth before the event was even advertised. 

More than 100 people attended.

Lyle  Griffiths

“Storylines” visits Martinborough School

Paul Beavis illustrates how to draw Ms Mo’s Monster.

With digital technology often displacing the enjoyment of reading, the impact of groups such as Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust play a vital role in encouraging children to want to read books and write their own stories. 

As part of their annual National Story Tours, “Storylines” recently came to visit the Wairarapa schools. Four talented artists and writers came to talk to the children about the work they do, to inspire a love of reading and writing. 

Paul Beavis, an illustrator who has worked in children’ s animation making cartoons for BBC and Channel 4 engaged the children with Mrs Mo’s Monster. Mrs Mo’s Monster is a character from one of Paul’s books. There were no murmurs from the children of “I can’t draw.” Each armed with an A4 sheet of paper and a pencil they created their own monster. Breaking the design down in to simple concepts of the shapes of a sock, a potato, the letters p, q, u and w, every child was totally involved. Very credible monsters appeared. There were lots of smiles on the children’s faces as they shared the finished results.

Meanwhile, Pamela Morrow, a writer and visual effects artist for film and television, was exciting another class discussing “future” writing for youth fiction. Pamela’s talk explored an emerging way to approach the future, using the ideas underpinning ‘protopian’ stories: today is better than yesterday, and if you make great choices today, tomorrow can be better than today.” … Continue Reading

Uncovering an astonishing musical talent

MARTINBOROUGH MUSIC FESTIVAL 23-25 SEPTEMBER, MARTINBOROUGH TOWN HALL

“I’ve always had a natural attraction to the violin. It fascinated me as a kid, the way the bow would pull sound out of the strings, the beautiful design of the whole instrument”-Toloa Faraimo.

Toloa Faraimo was born into a musical family in Porirua in August 2002. He began his musical journey learning the piano by ear, and then switched to the violin at age 12 in 2015 at Rangikura School through the Virtuoso Strings In-School Programme. It was this programme that uncovered Toloa’s astonishing musical talent.

The Virtuoso Strings Charitable Trust was formed by former Wellington Orchestra musicians, Elizabeth Sneyd and Craig Utting in Porirua in 2013. They had noted the natural musical talent in this community particularly among Māori and Pacifica students and spent their savings on 150 violins beginning free lessons in decile 1 and 2 schools in Porirua East. More than 200 children annually benefit from their non-auditioned, no cost programme. Driving this initiative was their belief that adequately resourced children from all backgrounds can achieve excellence. Toloa Faraimo is a star graduate of the Virtuoso in-schools programme. … Continue Reading

How Well Do We know People in our Community?

Reid and Reid, or otherwise Chris and Stewart are the owners of the Gin distillery in Martinborough.

Chris trained initially as a wine maker. Having finished his degree at the EIT in the Hawkes Bay he came to Martinborough to work at Ata Rangi, helping in the vineyard. He then worked vintages overseas in Oregon and at the Domaine Rion in Burgundy before being asked to be the assistant winemaker at Ata Rangi.

Meanwhile Stewart had completed his engineering degree and was positioned in Scotland working on wind farm developments.

The two caught up in Edinburgh where they became fascinated by the modern gin making techniques that were becoming popular. Botanicals were being added to create new flavours, a move away from the traditional London dry style. “We did a lot of tasting” laughs Chris.

“ When I came home I began experimenting in the back room. I wanted to create a quintessential New Zealand gin. The botanicals I chose after a lot of experimenting were Kawakawa, Horopito, and Manuka, and of course Juniper. Many New Zealand native plants have little flavour or have only a limited flowering season, so we wanted to use plants that were readily available all year around. Manuka has an oily floral character. Manuka and Kawakawa are known for their medicinal qualities and Horopito is quite peppery. When they are distilled the aromas are redolent of the smells one breathes in when you are walking in the New Zealand bush. Savoury and Peppery. … Continue Reading