Letter to the Editor

By the time your readers see this edition of your paper, the Jazz in Martinborough (JIM) 2013 Festival will be done and dusted. At the time of writing this, I must say that it’s all looking very good. Well, maybe not the weather!  

With snow forecast on the Rimutaka Hill for the start of the Festival, possibly to be followed by cold wet southerlies, there could be some problems. But with stunning live jazz and with Martinborough’s renowned hospitality, the 3rd festival is certain to have been another great occasion. It looks set to become an established annual event, continuing to raise funds to help improve the Town Hall. … Continue Reading

FROM THE MAYOR

It’s hard to believe that three years have passed and it once again election time.  It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have served the South Wairarapa District as Mayor during this time. 

Over the course of this triennium we have faced some tough decisions around the affordability of environmentally acceptable waste water plants, upgrades to aging infrastructure and of course the fate of the Martinborough Town Hall. … Continue Reading

Fire Brigade 

Probably one of the quietest winters ever for the brigade.  There were only 8 emergency callouts in the two months since the last report. None were serious fire incidents, although one was a chimney fire that was reported to have spread to the ceiling. Fortunately it was just discolouration from the heat but was cause of great concern for the residents and the responding brigades.  It is our standard practice to automatically have additional resources alerted and on the way for reported structure fires, just in case. 

The brigade assisted medical crews on 3 occasions, one which required us to locate a landing site for a helicopter.  Two calls were for possible vegetation fires that proved to be false alarms. One call out was to give assistance to a home owner to remove a tree inadvertently felled on the house while thinning the shelter belt. … Continue Reading

Did you know

THE PRICE OF electricity has risen by 40% in the last six years.

WHEN YOU ARE dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of algebra.

THE HIGHEST PAID female athletes are all tennis players: M Sharapova (in million U.S. dollars) $29, S Williams $20.5, L Na $18.2.

NIKITA KRUSHCHEV was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party on Sept 12th 1953. Exactly eighteen years later he died in obscurity. … Continue Reading