NEWS FROM WHAREKAKA

New manager

We welcome our new manager, Jenny Prentice, who joined Wharekaka in mid October. Jenny has worked in health care management and clinical roles for over 30 years including five years as the manager of a residential care home in Lower Hutt. She is a Martinborough resident who is looking forward to being able to walk to work and getting to know Wharekaka residents, families, staff and the wider community. 

Resident news

Residents have been making good use of the van with picnics and a drive to Lake Ferry. The tri-cycle has been taken out in the sunshine with Joyce and Thelma enjoying being driven by Stu from Green Jersey Cycles. Wharekaka is very grateful to the ‘Cycling without Age Support Group’ for their help in making these outings possible.

We are also enjoying our musical entertainment from Bill Young, Paul Mason, Pauline Craig and Jinx. … Continue Reading

Only in France

The French government is facing outrage after revelations that 30 bureaucrats in the southern city of Toulon were paid to do nothing for more than 25 years.

Taxpayers forked out more than $1.6 million a year (€1 million) for the public servants, who were left without jobs after water services in Toulon were privatised.

The city failed to find them new posts but continued paying their salaries, according to a report by the Provence-Alps-Riviera Regional Audit Office, first revealed by local newspaper Var-matin.

One of the “phantom” bureaucrats collected a salary while also working as a manager in the private sector, while others received automatic promotions and pay increases based on length of service.

Rergional Council Notes

With the local government elections now behind us and the swearing in of new councillors complete, the four councils that are responsible for Wairarapa need to get on with the business.

The three local councils and Greater Wellington Regional Council have all welcomed many new members to their teams bringing fresh ideas and an abundance of energy.  South Wairarapa and Carterton are also both headed by new Mayors Alex Beijen and Greg Laing while GWRC welcomes a new Chairman in Councillor Daran Ponter with Adrienne Staples elected as Deputy.

With all these new faces, getting on with the business will no doubt get tricky as the new elected members try to make good on their election promises and demand the change they campaigned on.

This is certainly true for GWRC which was in the spotlight on a number of fronts prior to the election.

Wellington’s buses come to mind however in Wairarapa the Proposed Natural Resources Plan would be at the forefront of many farmers concerns. … Continue Reading

Rotary Club of south Wairarapa 

In September the Club continued to support a wide range of activities, both local and international.  

As part of reaching out to the local community one of our members who has been involved in setting up the Greytown food pantry explained to us how it works. The principle is give what you can, take what you need.  The pantry is located at the Greytown Medical Centre.

Our club is also a supporter of cultural events and we had a very interesting presentation on Kokomai from Kathryn Seagrave who is on the festival board. She explained that the programme has been carefully designed so that events do not clash with one another as much as they did last year. 

Kokomai organisers were keen to include family oriented free events and as part of our 50^th anniversary the club has sponsored two free events for children – String Bean Puppets and The Paper Shaper. In addition these shows have New Zealand content as String Bean Puppets is a Wellington puppet company and the Paper Shaper has music by Wellington composer Gareth Farr.  … Continue Reading