Waihinga Centre

SWDC’s Amenities manager Bryce Neems, left, with some of the friendly Waihinga Centre staff.

This special feature is brought to you jointly by the Waihinga Charitable Trust and South Wairarapa District Council 

Work begins on the Park and Playground

In an exciting step forward, the safety fences have gone up and Infinite Landscapes have started work, the play equipment is still accessible while phase 1 of this project is underway. This phase includes the re-installation of the flying fox, the installation of the BBQ and picnic table donated by Powerco, a new drinking fountain (funded by Martinborough Community Board), the new Tower and Slide (funded by Lions and Trust House), paths, seats, rubbish bins, gardens and fencing.

Work on the new Water Play Area will also be started, as the three play gates have been funded. We are still raising funds for the Hand Pump (key to this area) and hope to complete this later in the year. Once the bulk of phase 1 is complete, the next phase including restoring and moving existing play equipment and the remaining landscaping will start. 

Playground Fundraising 

Two Little Ducks 22…..love the calls that relate to the water play! 

Bingo was a fun night. Once again, we had great support from the community. 

With that and bath crayons it was another month edging closer to the goal of our water play in the new park. … Continue Reading

Fire Brigade report

Chief Fire Officer Bill Butzbach passing the reins onto new Chief, Jake Hawkins.

The Brigade held its 112th Annual General Meeting last week with Chief Fire Officer  Bill Butzbach presenting his final report prior to stepping down as CFO and passing the reins onto our new Chief, Jake Hawkins, Bill acknowledged the huge commitment Jake has made to attend numerous courses over the past 18 months to enable him to take over. A formal presentation was made of the Rank of CFO to Jake by Bill.

The CFO Report included the following call statistics for the Brigade in the financial year (1 July- 30 June) and made up of 32 Fire related calls, 24 Medical and Rescue calls, 14 calls that included Hazardous , public assistance, false alarms and assisting other brigades, we note out medical calls are down, hopefully this is a reflection of a healthy community. Remember we are here to help for more than fires.

Another highly anticipated Award at our AGM is the Charlie Johns Shield for most attendances, with this years reciepient being Firefighter Emily Abbot, well done Emily.

Many in the community would have heard our siren go off several times for a structure fire last week, this call came in just as our volunteers were returning from their day jobs and the siren was repeated to get maximum numbers for what became a 2nd alarm fire. We were assisted by both Featherston and Masterton brigades along with support from the Regional Breathing Apparatus unit from the Hutt Valley. 

The quick actions of the brigade whilst unfortunately not being able to save the commercial building prevented the fire from spreading to adjoining houses.  We would like to thank those bystanders from the community who offered their assistance to the first arriving fire crews, and  if this motivated or inspired you then come on down and see us to talk about how you can contribute to this town’s vital community  service.

Country Dog City Dog

Under The Martinborough Stars

Photo courtesy ChristyToms Photography.

By Becky Bateman

“…That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind…”

I don’t know about you, but these words still give me the chills. 50 years ago, on July the 20^th 1969, Man first stepped onto another world. Incredible!

400,000 people were behind the successful Moon landings; although we often only remember the achievement of the astronauts that actually left the Earth. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins took 4 days to travel the 385,000km to the Moon in Apollo 11 and the landing craft Eagle that descended to the Moon and took the men into the history books.

I always love looking at the Moon, and I encourage you also to look up at our nearest celestial neighbour. It’s a relatively odd moon compared to our other planetary neighbours as our Moon is thought to be made out of the same stuff as the Earth. The theory is a giant rock roughly the size of Mars called Theia collided with the molten Earth billions of years ago, ripping off a huge chunk which then, eventually, coalesced into the Moon. 

Without the Moon, we wouldn’t have tides, solar eclipses or even a 24 hour day. The Moon has slowed our days down from a speedy 6-12 hour rotation; there would have more than a thousand days in one year! … Continue Reading