South Wairarapa Tramping Club

Good autumn weather has contributed to some excellent club trips.
On 12 April 16 members walked into the Atiwhakatu Hut. It began raining while we were having lunch so the party came out fairly promptly. DOC has done a lot of work on the track and there are several new and impressive bridges. Altogether an excellent short walk.
On 26 April 20 members travelled to Somes Island. The weather was perfect and the party enjoyed several hours exploring the island and the various historic sites including gun emplacements and the remains of the quarantine station. … Continue Reading

Marvellous Marty Medical Centre!

This is a story of a stupid accident that fortunately has a happy ending thanks to our marvellous medical centre!
To set the scene- harvest had been fantastic but inevitably full on and pressured with the threat of that easterly system to beat. Pickers became as scarce as hens teeth with everyone jockeying for their vineyard to be the next on the list.

Just to throw an extra layer of stress we were bottling our precious 2013 wine so that needed filtering before going off the Martinborough Winemaking Services.All these are really weak excuses for why I was going too fast in the winery and cut my leg quite deeply.

Within seconds my stupidity had resulted in my leg being cut to the bone and my Redbands being forever dyed with more red stuff than “Bata” had ever imagined.

What followed is pretty easy to picture- lots of the use of one word in particular, some quick bandaging and a quick sprint to the Martinborough Medical centre. … Continue Reading

Cross Creek Blues Club

On the first Wednesday of every month the Cross Creek Blues Club presents some of the best musicians from the Wairarapa and Wellington regions and internationally, in an evening of Blues music in all its many hues.

The club name commemorates the historic 1878 railway settlement which marked the beginning of the steep Rimutaka Incline. Cross Creek was abandoned in 1955 when the Rimutaka tunnel was opened.

May was New Zealand music month and in addition to all of our own talented Kiwi musicians who play regularly at Cross Creek Blues, Carol Bean and Ray Ahipene–Mercer marked this for us with some sizzling home grown blues. This included a song Carol wrote about a certain Wellington City counsellor (who shall remain nameless), who took a Porche for a test drive…..through a fence and into a stream!!!
One of Wairarapa’s most influential musicians, “Mr Lenny T” (Te Whare) was our guest in June. Back in the day, Lenny was musical director for “The Drifters” and toured with Tony Bennett and Gary (Still got the blues for you) Moore. Lenny played a set of his favourite blues and originals supported by a programme from our musician members.

Next Cross Creek Blues Club at the Tin Hut on Wednesday 2 July 2014 from 7:15pm. Details http://crosscreekblues.org All welcome. Members $2. Visitors $5.

Community Board Update

We’re seven months into the triennium and we’ve been thinking hard about how we can deliver lasting, positive change for the Martinborough Ward community. We have made two big decisions over the last couple of months.

Firstly we reviewed the way we allocate our discretionary funds and have developed a new strategic grants policy. We will now only take grant applications twice a year, this will allow us to compare applications and make sure funds are allocated to those projects with the greatest community benefit.

Previously the maximum grant allowable was $500, we have increased this to $5,000 to enable us to consider more significant projects for funding. The first round of applications opens on the 1st August 2014 and closes on the 30th September for consideration at our November meeting. … Continue Reading