MARTINBOROUGH COMMUNITY BOARD NEWS

Have you remembered that Local Body Elections are rapidly approaching with only a few months to go before voting in October? The present Community Board has put in three years’ effort and managed to achieve much to improve our town’s facilities. We would like to encourage other locals to stand for election for the next term. Being a Board member is not that difficult and can be very satisfying, so give it a go! You can get all the information you need from the SWDC.

Recently the Board was made aware of the follow-on effects of the Palliser Walk’s increasing popularity as a dog walking spot. The owners wanted to install some dog-poo bins to make visitors’ journeys more pleasant and the Community Board assisted with the purchase and installation of these. Some will also be erected in Jellicoe Street.

Our swimming pool was a huge hit over the past long, and what can now be considered ‘hot’ summer, and it’s bound to become increasingly popular from now on. We wish to thank the Council, following our submission, for installing the much-needed new covers.

Several Grant Applications were considered at recent meetings. Funds have been given to this year’s Martinborough Music Festival, which was so successful in 2018. The Martinborough Community Garden is now well established and doing (and growing) great stuff so the Board had no hesitation in providing money for materials and tools they need to improve the area. Another local enterprise doing excellent work in town is the Breakfast and Homework Club, which was awarded a grant. The Wairarapa Rape Crisis organisation was also granted assistance.

There is a further round of grant applications to be considered coming up soon. Any groups or organisations who wish to apply, please note that your request forms need to be completed by August 15^th. All applications are given careful and thorough consideration to ensure our town benefits in the best ways. Information and the required paperwork to complete is also available from the SWDC.

Maree Roy.

Under The Martinborough Stars

“Wairarapa house and night sky star trails (Photo by Glen Butler)
NOTE: The building is on private property and permission for the image was obtained from the landowner.

By Becky Bateman

My house is north facing and I get people telling me all the time how good my tomatoes must be. On face value that seems a perfectly fine and normal comment but, thinking deeper, it shows how much the sky affects our lives.

The more I thought about this, the more complicated and amazing it is how much the sky influences our day-to-day living. Like me, you’ll think of the obvious ones first; that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West to mark our day and that by midday it is in the North.

Look at Martinborough. It is a perfect place to grow grapes for award winning wine, as most vines are planted facing north in the full sun and protected from strong winds. This little town is also perfect for night time stargazing as it is in the proposed Dark Sky Reserve and the community are involved in keeping the night sky dark for all.

We can look at compasses on our smart phones if we need to find our direction, but long before such technology existed, we had to read the sky to know where we were.

All the planets, the Moon and the twelve signs of the Zodiac rise in the East and set in the West. They follow the Sun’s path, which is known as the ecliptic. … Continue Reading

Museum news

There’s been quite a buzz recently about the discovery of million year old moa footprints in a river in the South Island. If you are intrigued by this strange and now extinct bird follow the moa prints around the square to the Martinborough Museum where we have our very own moa collection. It was created back in 1976 by Robert Cairns, a 13 year old Masterton school boy who did it as a science project. It includes bones, egg shell and lots of information about the bird.

This old photograph, courtesy of Mate Higginson, shows well preserved moa leg bones (including the claws) that were found at Haurangi Station. It graphically demonstrates their huge size.

The museum is open Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays 1.30-3.30pm. Admission is free but any donations are much appreciated.

Know your town

Destruction following the 1942 earthquake . A path has been cleared to allow customers to get into the shop.

George Pain corner

For those who think Pain and Kershaw’s was established on the Square in Martinborough in 1873 , please think again. The building there now is the third George Pain Building,  having been completed in July 1908. The first store and dwelling was built in 1873 on George Pain’s land in where the road branched south to go to the  Smith and Bidwill’s farms or west to the Inn and Ferry crossing.  The track is now the boundary of Martinborough Transport yards.

The store was run by George Pain’s wife while he went around the  Stations selling good  from his pack horses. There is  no photo of this store but it was probably of the same  plan as his second store.

George Pain later sold his business to John Gallie however a few years later he  bought the  business back from Gallie and  formed a partnership with  T O Haylock to form the company Pain and Haylock.  John Kershaw was the accountant for this company becoming a third party in 1899 with the store then trading as Pain, Haylock and Kershaw. John Kershaw bought out  Haylock in 1905 with George Pain becoming a silent partner at that time. 

The second store was opened on the Martinborough section in 1882. It was a stop gap building as while the present building was planned and built. 

In 1907 work started on an new upmarket building on the Square, this featured an ornate façade. The Kershaw family bought the building from the  George Pain Estate when he died. 

On the night of July 22nd 1908,  just as the new store was preparing to open, store number two caught fire and burned down.

During the 1942 Wairarapa earthquake most of the facade fell down and that which didn’t was pulled down  by the army First Battalion Scottish Regiment  who camped in the Town Hall during the operation. Grimmer and Bicknell builders from Carterton boarded up the frontage  to make the building workable.  In the early 1950s Riggs did the complete restoration of the building. 

In 1973  the company celebrated one hundred years of service and is now looking forward to the one hundred and fifty years celebration in 2023. Over the years  both the Pain and Kershaw families have given freely to many causes in the district.

Mate Higginson