Know your town.

The First ANZAC Service

The first ANZAC Service was held on 25th April 1916. Seven Martinborough men had lost their live in the Gallipoli campaign and worse was to come. From a population of only seven hundred and seventy two a total of one hundred and seventy Martinborough men enlisted in the forces and forty five of these died in the war.

The first Service was conducted by the Rev. J MacGregor with Mrs W. J. Martin the organist. Hymns included; ‘O God our help in ages past’, ‘Old hundredth’, ‘Praise to our God whose bounteous hand’, Kipling’s ‘Recessional’ and ‘ Holy Father in Thy mercy’.

Addresses were given by Mr A O Considine, Mr A.D. McLeod, and Mr. G.W. Cobb.

Library News

It’s been a tragic month for me – with one of my favourite authors passing on and knowing there will be no more Wee free men or Unseen university escapades.  Like him or not Terry Pratchett was a global legend and has left a huge legacy.  We have most of his books in the library and I am happy to give you a guided tour around them.

On a more positive note, we have a great competition coming up for 8 to 15 year olds.  It starts now and involves a prize of $50 (kindly donated by a Martinborough resident with an interest in encouraging literacy).  Come and see a librarian and watch for posters – with luck I will have got around to getting them done before this is published! … Continue Reading

Lock printing with Sheyne Tuffery

Talented artist Sheyne Tuffery recently held a block printing workshop as part of his “Retrospect” exhibition in the new Backspace Gallery at Thrive.

Sheyne is a Wellington based multi-media visual artist whose primary mediums are painting, animation and printmaking. Well known for the dynamic style of his prints and woodcuts, Sheyne describes himself as “a paper architect who uses his work to create and represent his own cultural context and sense of belonging.”
He tells us he “got into art” as it was his best subject at school. “I suck at maths” he laughs… “Ive always been creative & went through to art school to see if I wanted to do it & loved it, so just kept going”.
We were invited along to see the workshop in progress and talk to the artist – it’s fantastic to see an artistic event like this happening in the village… We are keen supporters of the arts and all credit to the team at Thrive/Backspace Gallery for putting this together. … Continue Reading

Community Board Notes

I am writing this at the end of a long weekend which has left me thinking about community spirit. I was amongst the hundreds of people who turned out for the ANZAC ceremony in Martinborough Square in a simple, but powerful, act of remembrance. Families, young, old, visitors to our town, Councillors & Community Board our Fire Brigade, representatives of our armed services and more, all came together at dawn to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

As ever, Archdeacon May Croft conducted a moving service and I’m sure I was not alone at being particularly affected by our school children reading the names of those long gone. It is important that we remember, and it is important that we come together as a community. … Continue Reading