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WLS Evening Book Club News

August 2, 2022 August 2022 Comments Off on WLS Evening Book Club News

By Dan Keane

The Wairarapa Library Service’s Evening Book Club gathered in July to discuss Something New Under the Sun by Alexandra Kleeman, a climate dystopia set in a future Los Angeles where fires ravage the hills and synthetic WAT-R flows from every tap. A fascinating set-up, to be sure—but after eight months of cheerful thumbs-ups from our readers, we discovered together the distinct pleasure of the universal pan.

It’s our tradition to start every meeting with each reader giving their very informal grade for the book, and usually we spend the evening outling the difference between a warm 70 and a glowing 90. Kleeman, bless her heart, struggled to earn anything over 50, and the collective thrill as the scores came in was palpable even over Zoom: there’s nothing quite like the glee of sharpening your knives alongside fellow indignant readers.

To be sure, there was grudging praise for Kleeman’s rich description and passionate engagement with our gloomy environmental dilemmas. But we had so many questions: did anybody actually like the sad-sack hero? Was the man in the grey suit the Angel of Death, and did we care? We proposed our own fixes: Alison the wife, the one who tore up her own lawn in a fit of ecological despair—more of her, she was great! We celebrated one surreal local highlight: late in the book, a villain declares her plan to escape to “seventy-five acres of pristine farmland an hour outside Wellington.” Maybe she dreamt of joining Evening Book Club, too? … Continue Reading

Spring Jazz Celebration

August 2, 2022 August 2022 Comments Off on Spring Jazz Celebration

After a couple of tricky years, including calling off the last festival with just two weeks to go, Jazz in Martinborough (JiM) is back, albeit in a new form.“We’re calling it a Spring Jazz Celebration,” says JiM producer Ted Preston.

The festival has suffered the ravages of covid including the loss of many key personnel.  “We’re a hardy bunch of remainders who, with the help and support of the community, have rallied around to produce two jazz concerts on our traditional first weekend in September,” adds Ted.

The Spring Jazz Celebration includes a return to the iconic Martinborough Town Hall at the Waihenga Centre for the two concerts.  “On the Friday night we will have Andrew London returning to Martinborough with April Phillips and The Retro Pack playing the Great American songbook,” says music director Lee Quayle.  “And I’m very pleased to say we have managed to bring back Duncan Haynes, after having so much interest in his concert last year – before it was sadly cancelled.”  

Here’s how Duncan describes his The Cool Jazz /West Coast Session: “The focus is on the cooler sound that evolved in the late 1940s as a counter-movement to the adrenalin rush of bebop. It continued through the 1950s propelled by superstars of the time: Dave Brubeck, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Shorty Rogers, Miles Davis, Lennie Tristano, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan.” … Continue Reading

South Wairarapa Tramping Club

August 2, 2022 August 2022 Comments Off on South Wairarapa Tramping Club

 Gentle Annie Creek – Old Rocky Lookout

Last time the Club did this tramp, according to our records, was 29 May 2010.  In our memory, the route up the creek then was a lot clearer than it is now, but of course it isn’t a maintained DOC track. We criss-crossed the creek, seeking the best routes, ducking under or clambering over fallen trees. After an hour we reached a small stream coming in from our right, and a stone cairn confirming that this was the point for us to leave Gentle Annie behind and start climbing.

Our track upwards, while steep in places, was a lot more straightforward than the creek. We admired the sprawling rata, still in flower, and the royal blue berries of dianella nigra shining in the sunshine. (Some people wondered if they were edible: Wikipedia says birds eat the berries, but they are very bitter, and may be poisonous if eaten in large quantities.) 

As we gained height the forest trees gave way to subalpine varieties such as dracophyllum. After a height gain of about 438m we emerged into bright sunlight at Old Rocky Lookout. No beautiful wooden decking, as the current Rocky Lookout has, but we made do with rocky seats and a view out to the plains for our lunch stop.  … Continue Reading

SOUTH WAIRARAPA ROTARY WELCOMES INCOMING PRESIDENT

August 2, 2022 August 2022 Comments Off on SOUTH WAIRARAPA ROTARY WELCOMES INCOMING PRESIDENT

Outgoing President – Anne Atkinson and Cam Sutherland.

With each Rotary year, which starts on 1 July, Rotary has a changeover of Presidents.  On Wednesday 30th June, past President, Anne Atkinson handed over the leadership of the South Wairarapa Rotary Club, to its incoming President Tamara Allerhand, at a function held at Brackenridge in Martinborough.

The function each year is attended by club members, spouses and special guests, which began with a dinner.  Tamara had chosen the entertainment which were – a dance performed by The Waiohine Belly Dancers, followed by a performance from Tamara’s classical ballet teacher Justine Kingdon.  Tamara and Justine  then performed a ballet together.  Finally, as a surprise tribute to Tamara, her dance group performed a beautiful middle eastern dance Isis Wings to music by Sting called Desert Rose.

Past President Anne spoke about her year as Club President – “I hand over my presidency to Tamara with a mix of feelings. It’s been a difficult year with two lockdowns and a number of our important fundraising events having to be cancelled.  I’m really sad that I didn’t manage to complete some of the events that I had in mind for our club.

“We have many dedicated and hardworking members who did their best to attend meetings and keep the club in good heart! Now things are back to normal, so I wish all the best for your year, Tamara”. … Continue Reading

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