Glamour & Gumboots time is here again!

Rachael Colton in her gumboots.

There has been plenty of reason to be wearing gumboots lately, but how about adding some glamour and entering this year’s Glamour & Gumboots competition!

Charlotte Harding and Nicola Halliday came up with the idea for some winter fun that did good last year and launched the first Glamour & Gumboots competition. It was a slow start but once it gained traction the entries flooded in. Not only were people getting creative but they were also making a koha for the region’s four foodbanks.

At the end of the competition Featherston, Martinborough, Carterton & Masterton food bank each received a payment of $250.

This year the competition is back and the goal is to raise $1000 for each food bank, which means we need you! The competition opens on 1st July for the month closing at 7.30 pm on 31st July. Entering is a two-step process. Email us your pic and make a koha (suggested $5) to the givealittlepage.

With permission from entrants, we post all the pictures on our Facebook page Glamour & Gumboots Wairarapa.

There are multiple categories: individuals, kids, and groups, the people’s choice and Spirit awards and we hope to see some family entries this year too.

A little incentive comes by the way of some great prizes local businesses across the region are donating. These currently include Toast tickets, a B&B voucher for Copthorne Solway, Schoc chocolate shoe, massage vouchers and more! If you are keen to donate just drop us an email at glamourandgumbootswairarapa@gmail.com

“We can’t wait to see the creativity that people bring to the competition this year” add Charlotte & Nicole.

From the Mayor

Fredericka Walker-Murray and Martin Connelly sitting in front of some of her works in Martin’s office.

By the time this edition of the Star comes out, the Council will have set its rates for the year.  I regret to report that the rates have been set at a higher rate that I would like.  There are two reasons for this happening:

1. The clearly expressed views of people who responded to our recent consultation and said the Council needed to spend more on Water Infrastructure than we, the Council, had proposed doing.
2. The state of our Wastewater plants.

The Council has known for some time that it had problems with its Featherston Wastewater plant.  But recently, problems have emerged with the plants in Greytown and Martinborough.  The Martinborough plant has reached capacity, no more connections are allowed to be joined to it.  It requires cleaning (or ‘desludging’) and it has an abatement notice.  

An abatement notice is a legal instruction requiring us to operate the plant in accordance with its resource consent.  If we ignore the abatement notice, we may find ourselves receiving a hefty fine.  Getting the plant back into a condition that meets its resource consent will cost money, but better to spend the money that way than on legal fees and fines.

Desludging should occur round about every ten years, but we understand that the Martinborough pond has never been cleaned. Thus, the need to make progress quickly.  The council also needs to get cleverer at programming these long-term, infrequent maintenance jobs, so that they get properly signalled in our long term plans, and don’t just pop up and surprise us with unexpected bills.  … Continue Reading

Fashion Extravaganza – travelling through time

Carmel, Claire and Jude making tough decisions about what garments to include.

“Fashion Extravaganza” on Saturday 15 July at Kuranui College promises to be a fabulous affair.

Join us for a journey through time with a parade of fashions from last century to the present day. From the glamorous to the glitzy, you will be impressed by the array of gowns, outfits and styles modelled by Wairarapa locals. 

You’ll even be treated to award-winning WOW designs from Wairarapa designer Taralee Freeman and her co-designers Marie Wright and Zach McDonald–Wright.

The fashion show will be presented in the transformed Kuranui College Auditorium, with tiered seating to provide a great view of the show.

Tickets include a glass of wine and canapés, with a cash bar. 

There will also be a silent auction of goodies on the night. Why not make a night of it, and get a group together. This stage production will be a highlight of the Festival of Christmas.

Funds raised will help build a new shed at Cobblestones Early Settlers Museum so that the horse drawn vehicles and engines in our collection can be accessibly displayed and conserved for the future.

The friends of Cobblestones would like to acknowledge everyone who has kindly lent their precious garments as well as all the wonderful volunteers who are working so hard to make this a memorable event.

The Fashion Extravaganza is proudly sponsored by Property Brokers.

Tickets are limited so get yours now either at Cobblestones or through Eventfinda.

Dark Sky Reserve leaders honoured for project

From left: Dr Tom Love, Viv Napier, Prof Chris Linnet, Sir Maarten Wevers.

Three South Wairarapa residents have been honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand for their work which has helped create the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve. 

The Society’s “Bright Star Award” recognises the work of the trio in achieving accreditation for Wairarapa as an international dark sky reserve, as a significant landmark in dark skies advocacy, and as a boost for astrotourism in NZ.

The trio are: 

Viv Napier, chair of the dark sky group; Patron, Sir Maarten Wevers; Committee member and long-time amateur astronomer Tom Love.

The three winners were each awarded a trophy and a copy of  “Bang! The Complete History Of The Universe” by Brian May, Patrick Moore, Chris Lintott and Hannah Wakeford

Dr Love has also been awarded the prestigious Murray Geddes Prize, a top honour from the Royal Astronomical Society New Zealand which recognises his nearly 30 years of active astronomical work which began in 1995 at Mt John Observatory in Tekapo, searching space for dark matter.

He is currently engaged in spectroscopy (analysing the colours of light of stars on a variety of astronomical objects) from his Martinborough backyard observatory, and in  promoting amateur astronomical research nationally. … Continue Reading