DID YOU KNOW

‘MADE IN WAIRARAPA’ is the title of a display of works by local artists on show at Ventana Gallery through February

BRUCE AND VAL JOHNS have been married for fifty eight years

A THIRD third of New Zealand’s MPs have only ever worked inside the government system. Another third built no real career before they tried to get into Parliament.

CATS SLEEP an average of between fourteen and eighteen hours a day. A fifteen year old cat may have spent up to ten years sleeping. At any one time Florence Nightingale owned seventeen cats . Totalling over sixty during her lifetime

“SOME PEOPLE regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.”–
Winston Churchill … Continue Reading

First There Was J.I.M. In Future, M.I.M.

J.I.M. or Jazz in Martinborough is the brainchild of Ian Cresswell.

Ian floated the idea for a Jazz festival several years ago. It caught the imaginations of Ted Preston, Lee Quayle and Bruce McMichael who took the idea and ran with it. J.I.M is now established as an annual event on the Martinborough social calendar. It has a high profile patron, Rodger Fox, and attracts increasing audiences locally and from outside the Wairarapa. 2016 was the sixth anniversary of the Festival.

M.I.M. or Music in Martinborough is another idea of Ian’s that is about to take flight. Ian thought that a classical music festival covering a broad spectrum of the repertoire would be successful. However the idea stayed dormant because of two significant difficulties. One was the potential lack of a venue to hold orchestral concerts. The other was not having a quality grand piano to attract soloists such as Michael Houstoun. … Continue Reading

Free swimming at local pools

A free pool entry programme for local pools designed to give access to pools to local children to ensure that all would get the chance to swim regularly through the school holidays. 
 
Between 2 January and 6 February, children who are registered in the programme will swim free on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In order to check that the child lives within the South Wairarapa electorate they had to register at one of the libraries where a special ticket was issued.
 
The three Community Boards worked together in order to run this free swimming programme for South Wairarapa children, support had been secured from a number of groups.
Martinborough Community Board has been sponsoring children’s free swims for a number of years. Lisa Cornelissen, Chair of Martinborough Community Board, said the Board leapt at the chance to sponsor an extended programme this year. “It is great to see the three Community Boards working together with South Wairarapa District Council to improve access to the pools” Lisa said.

From the Mayor

Happy New Year, the Christmas New Year break feels as though it was months ago, the New Year has certainly started with a bang and we have already had a council meeting.
The Waihinga Centre project has begun. The project has been in the planning and fundraising stage for several years. On 18 January 2017 Council resolved to go ahead with the project based on the final costings which were received at the very end of last year. … Continue Reading