Living life in the political fishbowl

After a couple of postponements, South Wairarapa Rebus Club said was a pleasure to welcome guest speaker, Mike Butterick MP, to the November meeting of the club. 

Since election in 2023 he says he has become somewhat used to being treated like a goldfish, constantly on view, having to consider that every word might be recorded or monitored and brought up at a later date to embarrass him or the party.

Having grown up on a mid-Canterbury finishing farm, on leaving school he went mustering for

a year. Then he was employed as a horse and dogs shepherd at Wairere Station, a major Romney stud breeder in Wairarapa, where he met his wife, Rachel. 

They bought their first farm in 1995 and, in 2015, a “town block” near Masterton. … Continue Reading

Lost, gazing into Space way back when

Russia’s Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957. We all remember that.

Carterton resident David Parr was a teenager when he saw it from one of Nelson city’s vantage points. 

Since then he has been absorbed with Space and related technological progress, an interest which was partlybderived from his son who now has a U.K.-based AI Space Research company. 

Apparently when the lad, young Master James, was at school his teacher observed that he spent a lot of time looking out the window. 

His bedroom walls were covered with posters and paintings of rockets and planets. In turn, James’ interest “brushed off” on David, whose phone is now “full of pictures of the moon, lunar rovers, satellites and so on,” he admits publicly. … Continue Reading

Martinborough Fire Brigade: another big year

2024 fire/emergency calls to end of November: 338

It’s been a big year for the brigade. We’ve welcomed a new Chief and a new Deputy Chief and have seen some great new recruits come on board. 

We still need more people so please get in touch if you are interested in joining us.

This holiday season we urge anyone lighting a fire of any kind outside to visit the Fire and Emergency “Can I light a fire?” online tool at checkitsalright.nz to double-check the fire season and conditions in your area are safe for the type of fire you want to light (assuming season is open) or if you need a permit. … Continue Reading

Martinborough Kindergarten sets up Paataka Kai

You may have noticed something new sitting outside the gate at Martinborough Kindergarten recently. This is our Pataka Kai which is a community food pantry. Over the last few years, our

Kindergarten has been on a journey towards using more sustainable practices and part of this journey included us joining Enviro Schools. During one of our enviro school hub meetings we noticed a Paataka Kai at another Kindergarten and this inspired us to make our own. We thought this would be a great place to share produce from our garden with our whaanau and provide a place where they could also share kai from their gardens. This provides the opportunity to share, show … Continue Reading