From the mayor

Merry Christmas!

We now have a new electorate MP, Keiran McAnulty and I look forward to seeing what he can do for the South Wairarapa over the next three years.

The new Banking Hub is now open at the Waihinga Centre in partnership with Destination Wairarapa. I would be delighted to receive feedback on how this new service works for you. This is an excellent initiative given we have lost all our banking branches in the South Wairarapa over the past few years.

I attended the Rose Show and the Kirk Fair in the past few weeks and it is great to see the Waihinga Centre being used often by the community. I remember attending a wedding in the venue in the 1990s and it retains the same historic feel – without the peeling paint.

Members of Council staff and some councillors visited Kohunui Marae at Burnside recently, and had a very enlightening hui with members and committee of the Marae. They have set up a native plant nursery there, and I encourage you to visit if the opportunity arises. … Continue Reading

Cooking corner

Catering for a vegetarian this Christmas? Here’s the Vegan Society’s Nut Roast recipe

Ingredients 

• 1 medium sized onion or 1 small leek, chopped
• 30ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp Marmite or Vegemite in 150ml hot water 
• 225g chopped mixed nuts
• 2 tbsp ground almonds
• 100g wholemeal breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp sage
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C
2. Saute the onion or leek in the oil until soft, not browned.

Combine all of the ingredients together; the mixture may be slightly slack. Turn into an oiled ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Councillor comment

Here we are the last Star for the year and what a year it has been. Despite the disruptions councillors, officers and staff have had a full on year. We have completed our first round of Long Term and Spatial plan meetings. Although the turnout at some of the meetings was not big on numbers, the content from those that attended was invaluable. 

We were also invited to our local Maraes to hear the views and ideas on how our Maori community see the future. All these meetings from every sector surprisingly had similar visions and desires for the future. 

In the New Year we will have the draft documents on the spatial and long term plan to go out for consultation, please get involved as this will be your last chance to help us to set the scene for the future.  … Continue Reading

Did you know

I’M DREAMING of a white Christmas. But if the white runs out I’ll drink the red.

AMERICANS HAVE purchased over seventeen million guns this year. By August it had exceeded the previous year’s total. The previous highest yearly total was 2016 when 16.6 million guns were sold following Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of a stronger gun control platform.

‘THREE O’CLOCK is always either too late or too early for anything you want to do’ Jean-Paul Sartre

A STUDY BY the University of Canberra has found that pathogens carried by cats cost the Australian economy six million dollars a year.

‘WHEN YOU stop being a minister  , you get in the back of the car  and it doesn’t go anywhere’ Malcolm Rifkind

AMERICAN POLITICAL analysis site reports that during President Trump’s 1,316 days in presidency up until the current reporting time he had  made 22,247 fake or misleading claims. An average of 16.9 a day.  … Continue Reading