Library News

Hi there book lovers, once again I am writing my missive to Mike Beckett but this time from within the beautifully air conditioned interior of the Waihinga Centre.  Remembering the alternatively boiling and freezing old library complete with extra fans and heaters, I do feel very privileged.  

Lots of news this month.  We had 53 children finish the reading programme, earning prizes on the way and keeping their reading level up in the long holiday away from school.  As libraries are all about literacy we find that quite an important time to keep kids interested in reading.  Otherwise when they go back to school in February their reading level can have dropped substantially.  

If they then lose interest in reading you are really struggling to get them back on track.  We haven’t had the high levels of children coming into the library because our public computers are still not up and running yet.  We are waiting for the cabling to be installed and at the moment I can’t give you a date when that will be done but we are hoping it won’t be too far away.

 If you do need to print something off then just email it to us or bring it in on a USB stick.  Scanning is no problem.   Sorting and organising the books is still on-going as it was a bit of a struggle to move and get set up within the timeframe we had but it will all sort itself out in due course – if you can’t find what you want, just let us know.   … Continue Reading

Cooking corner

Tomato, chicken and olive traybake with basil oil

Prep 15 min Cook 40 min Serves 4-6

Ingredients

8-10 chicken thighs, on the bone and skin on 

Salt and black pepper

6 large tomatoes (such as beef or oxheart)

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled … Continue Reading

Know your town

The Anglican Church

On the  J D Bair 1870 plan of Waihinga four section were set aside for churches section 18 Catholic, 28 Scottish, 37 English and 40 Wesleyan. However only the Presbyterians  took up the offer. The Anglican opted for a section in the new town of Martinborough, as did the Catholics, the Wesleyans did not come in numbers but did build a church in Featherston.

At first the Anglicans gathered for worship at Mr Bright’s Weld Street forge  shed. When the new school was opened in 1875 they used this for their monthly, then fortnightly, Service. It is recorded that in 1881 the Minister asked permission to ring the school bell a quarter of an hour before the 3.30pm Service to remind his parishioner to hurry along.

To begin with Martinborough was a part of the Greytown parish and it was through this that in 1882 the Bishop made a grant of thirty pounds ( 2018 = $5,312 ) towards  building a church in Martinborough. A building committee comprising the Rev H White, J Badland and  T F Evans was formed and tenders called. The tenders were opened at Mr Evans’ shop with the W Benton’s tender of  one hundred and eighty five pounds ( 2018 = $32,415) being accepted. The church was completed in 1883 ad officially consecrated in 1885, although still as an outpost of Greytown. … Continue Reading

Library News

Hello from an empty shell of a library. So sad to see the empty shelves and no heels on the walls! This is short as I am typing it on my teeny weeny phone screen. Using one finger to type is quite alien to me as I am used to touchtyping at a fast pace.
By the time you get this paper we will be ensconced in our new premises. Our volunteers have been life savers. Without you all we would not have pulled off the move in such a tight timeframe. It will take us a little while to get ourselves on track but meanwhile I want to thank everyone for being so patient while we were closed over the two weeks. 

We are heading on full steam with the Summer Reading programme, so register your children now. Alison is in charge and has some exciting things planned for everyone. My finger is now fed up with tapping away so this is all my news for 2018. Happy Christmas everyone. Shirley