BLOOMING TIME FOR ROSE & FLOWER SHOW IN MARTINBOROUGH

The annual Martinborough Rose & Flower Show is celebrating its 77^th anniversary on Saturday 14^th November, 2020.  A small committee have been working behind the scene in our current turbulent times to ensure the show goes ahead. 

This is an opportunity to share your garden blooms with the locals and visitors, and be rewarded for your efforts with trophies and prizes up for grabs.

The Rose & Flower Show is a community event open for all garden enthusiasts, experienced and novice to enter your blooms in a range of categories, including Roses, Home & Garden, Cut Flower and Floral Art.  There is a Children’s section for the young floral enthusiast. If you are an amateur photographer, there is also the Photography section for you to enter. … Continue Reading

Under Martinborough Stars

The impact of this asteroid is thought to have started a chain reaction which ultimately killed off the dinosaurs. Photo National Geographic Society

Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight: I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.

On November 16^th and 17^th, Earth passes through a cloud of dust and debris left over from Comet 55P/ Tempel-Tuttle. This comet passes Earth every 33 years and leaves a cloud of dust behind it.

It is this dust that collides with Earth’s atmosphere and burns up, leaving a trail of light behind, known as meteors. Meteors is the scientific name for shooting stars.

These shooting stars are known as the Leonids meteor shower because they appear to come from the area in the sky near the constellation Leo the Lion.

These small pieces of rocky dust that burn up in our atmosphere are small and won’t hit the ground. Think the size of a piece of dust up to the size of a single piece of gravel. … Continue Reading

South Wairarapa Tramping Club – Ngahau trip

Looking across the Wairarapa valley at morning tea time

Fourteen keen trampers converged at a farmhouse along a road east of Pirinoa. We were all looking forward to a farm and bush walk in completely new territory.

First we were led by Ann on what was a short but exciting steep down-and-up 4 wheel drive farm track – the Big Dipper. We left two vehicles at the end of our tramping route, and drove the rest on to the beginning, a couple of kilometres away.

The ranges on the far side of  the Wairarapa valley were cloaked in white misty clouds, which we hoped would remain in the west, the cloud level being much higher for us in the east. We set off over farmland, climbing up to a grassy slope where we had morning tea, overlooking Lakes Onoke and Wairarapa.We then climbed about 300m up a ridge of the southern extension of the Aorangi Range, to an altitude of about 500m. Cloud obscured the usually  visible  South Island, but there were good views of Palliser Bay, the lakes, and up along the Tararua range. Crossing cloud and rain showers provided great contrasts of lights on the mountains. … Continue Reading

South Wairarapa Rotary News

Emma Rose

Di Banks, Leader of Learning Support and Vocational Pathways at Kuranui College spoke to Rotary about students that face various obstacles to learning and one of most common is dyslexia. This means that they have considerable difficulty reading and writing although they are often very creative and intelligent in other ways. Dyslexic children used to be thought to be slow, difficult or “allergic to school” but now dyslexia is much better understood. Some dyslexics have become famous and high achievers including Richard Branson, Orlando Bloom and Thomas Edison.

Rotary granted $1200 for the purchase of three C-pens, a device which converts text into speech and also includes a dictionary. This gives dyslexic students independence from readers. … Continue Reading