ROYAL WEDDING CELEBRATED IN MARTINBOROUGH 

The recent Royal Wedding was duly

celebrated by the Thursday Walking Group at a lunch at the home of Di Bunny.

A splendid lunch was enjoyed by all and a toast was made to the Royal

Couple. The Queen was present together with the Royal corgis. She had been

driven to the function in the Royal Commodore by the ‘Duke of Martinborough’

who then retired to his Palace for a sandwich.

Standing LtoR  Di Bunny, Cynthia Maling, Ann Parkinson, Leone Teagle, Esther Read, Di Martin, Barbie Cox, Bev Hancox, Helen Morrah, Gay Chadburn.Diana Cresswell.

 Sitting LtoR  Francie Lawrence, Sue Hughes, Bee Blundell, Marg Walmsley

The airtight lid

It is probably surprising to learn that the airtight  lid ( Milo, paint tins etc.) was designed by a New Zealander. Away back in  1884 a Dunedin tinsmith,

John Eustace designed a lid with a flange which clicked into place. Up until then lids were plain and slid on , and just as easily off. 

He and his brother  started manufacturing  tins with the lids which proved to be really popular. To  meet the growing demand they designed an automatic machine however it required a die to be cut for it in England. They did patent their invention but for some reason only for in New Zealand.

They were legally unprotected anywhere else, there was nothing to stop the die making company from stealing their idea – which, on realising that it was not patented in England it did. This company was soon producing millions of lids.

This bad fortune  did not seem to faze John and his Dunedin company’s business thrived to where he was making  100 tons of lids a year.    

Rotary Update

Youth in focus

At a recent South Wairarapa Rotary Club meeting, five Wairarapa youths reported back about their experiences at Rotary-sponsored courses.

Freya Lewington was sponsored to the Fiji Swimming Championships. The event incorporated team building and personal development workshops which Freya found both challenging and exciting.  She managed to achieve some personal best times in her races and in the process, was awarded three bronze medals for her part in the 13-16-year-olds’ relay events.

Jade Walker and Rosa Hassall presented a very interesting overview of their experiences at the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) run by the Rotary Club of Inglewood in New Plymouth.
Although they found it a bit overwhelming at first, they soon began to fit in, forming new friendships and finding common ground with other attendees. In the end, the girls found themselves feeling quite sad to be leaving.  They outlined several events and programs they participated in which challenged their self-perceptions and taught them some useful team-oriented skills. They thanked the Rotary Club for selecting them for this course, citing huge personal growth which came in the wake of these new experiences. … Continue Reading

Pony Club enjoys a successful season.

The South Wairarapa Pony Club has completed a very successful season in which they provided four of the five riders in the Wairarapa- Wellington Team which won the NZPCA Mounted Games Teams National Title. This was capped by the team captain Jeremy Thurston being selected for a national team to travel to America.

The New Zealand team will attend competitions being held in Le Grange Kentucky from the 9th to the 15th of July. There they will be competing against teams from Australia, South Africa, Canada and The United States. The biggest challenge is that they will be riding provided ponies and that they will only have three days to get used to and bond with before the competing starts.

The NZPCA Teams Championships were held over two days at Solway with teams from all over New Zealand competing. The Wairarapa-Wellington  team of Jeremy Thurston, Piper and Lucy Marshall  Xanthe Furket and Alex Anstis won from Hawkes Bay in a nail biting finish. This is only the second time the Wairarapa- Wellington team have won this prestigious contest with much of the credit going to the team coach Ginni Thurston. … Continue Reading