From the mayor

The Marae DIY crew rolled into Martinborough on the 16^th of May set to transform Hau Ariki Marae as they had done on other Marae’s around New Zealand 99 times before. They were expecting the usual help from the community, food would be provided throughout their stay, people would arrive to help plant, dig, paint, hammer, the kuia would be whisked away to be pampered and by Sunday afternoon they would head out of Martinborough happy and excited that they had finished 100 Marae makeovers. 

What they didn’t appreciate until they arrived was how amazing the whole community response to this event would be. The crew had not appreciated that Hau Ariki is a real community Marae, it was built by the community for the community, is on community land, everyone in the community is welcome and the community rallies around it when things need to be done.

The Hau Ariki Marae Committee deserve huge recognition for taking this project on, pulling in the Martinborough community to help and getting through four days of hard, often back breaking work to transform the Marae into a stunning community facility. It was also wonderful to see the recognition of the three kuia, Missy Harper, Kurawari Panere and Esther Read. 

I want to thank the hundreds of people who helped in so many ways to ensure that the makeover was completed ahead of time and despite the awful change in the weather. Food kept arriving; people wandered in grabbed a spade, paint brush or a hammer and gave a few hours and more to help not only the Hau Ariki Marae but the Martinborough community as a whole. The transformation looks stunning. … Continue Reading

Waihinga Centre

The steel truss will brace the north side of the Town Hall.

A Very Generous Gift

The Martinborough Lions have always been very active supporters of our community. Now they’re making their biggest ever public grant.   Over the next 3 years they will be donating a total of $50,000 towards the development of the adventure playground next to the new Waihinga Centre.  

Club President Lee Quayle said members saw the redeveloped playground as an exciting addition to village life.  “It will be fantastic not only for the local kids but also for visiting families.  It will tie in really well with the Library, Plunket and the Toy Library, which will be right next door.”

This generous gift is defined as a ‘Legacy Project’, in this instance commemorating the Lions International Centennial.  Legacy projects are initiated to create a substantial, lasting gift and also raise the visibility of Lions and their work.   “The new playground is a perfect fit for our criteria.”    … Continue Reading

Wharekaka News

Ian and Maggie mixing the ANZAC cookie ingredients while Lionell and Glady’s keep an eye to ensure the recipe is followed correctly. Photo by Jim.

Our beautiful oak trees have begun to turn into the most stunning orange and golden colours, we have also noticed the cooler mornings…. a sure sign of the change in the seasons.

Life for our residents continues to be fun filled.

Wharekaka residents recently enjoyed a visit from Graham Clark and Murray Parker with their vintage cars.  One resident  noted that the tyres had come from her father’s car – a model T Ford.  Many thanks go to Graham and Murray for taking residents for a spin around town.  The men enjoyed getting up close under the bonnet and checking out the engine.

Our pool table has been reinstated in the day room.  It is being put to good use by residents – with one resident up at 6am to practice!!

We have begun weekly art classes.  Special thanks to Gail for having dahlias brought in from her garden, for us to draw.  We have some budding Michelangelo’s amongst our residents.

Anyone from the community is welcome to come in and join this group…. or our regular singing group.

This month Wharekaka will host the monthly Rest Home quiz.  This is a fiercely fought battle between the South Wairarapa Facilities.

Residents enjoyed ANZAC celebtrtations held at the home.  These included banking ANZAC cookies, a church service and a visit to the square to view all the white crosses.

Many thanks to everyone who recently purchased tickets in our Easter raffle.  Congratulations to Joy Cooper who won the basket of Easter goodies and thanks to Joy for donating the basket to staff….it was very much appreciated.

Wharekaka Auxiliary News:

In February the Auxiliary was offered the opportunity to run the tea rooms at the first Martinborough fair of the year. This is usually managed by the Lions Club and it was a generous gesture on their part to make this available to us for our fund-raising efforts. Luckily the 5a.m start didn’t deter our wonderful Auxiliary ladies and there was a great team, ably lead by Sheryl Howie, turning out scones, sandwiches and slices. With a steady stream of hungry fair goers eager to be fed throughout the day, we raised nearly $3000.  

From this activity we have been able to contribute a new fridge for the residents to use, petrol vouchers for visiting speakers and we are about to take possession of the wonderful all Terrain Wheelchair that we trailed last year.  So, many thanks again to the Martinborough Lions Club. These special events are over and above our monthly drives and activities that we share with residents.

We are also in the process of buying an iPad, which will be used by Maggie, our Activities Coordinator, to take photos to be uploaded to the new Wharekaka Facebook page.

So, as you can see it has been a hectic time but one that we hope has brought some pleasure to our residents and allowed us to raise necessary funds to make their daily lives a little easier or more pleasant.Thanks again to my fellow members for all their hard work and dedication, some have been involved for over 40 years! your wonderful contribution to Wharekaka does not go unnoticed.

Carolyn Thompson.

Regional Council notes

Mother nature delivered us another warning recently by way of a storm that hammered Auckland in particular.  It created havoc across the top of the North Island with 200km winds that tore of roofs and toppled trees leaving hundreds of homes without power; some for many days.

It gave the rest of the island a fair rocking too but, with nowhere near the ferocity, we came off largely unscathed.

In the following days we received news reports that many Aucklanders were still without power.  Sitting in a region, as we do, that is very accustomed to gale force winds, it was easy to guffaw at the television and tell them to get over it.  A bit of further investigation however revealed that actually the majority had their power restored very quickly and it was the more remote rural areas that were posing the problems.  It’s this bit of news that we should actually sit up and take notice of as it could easily happen to us. … Continue Reading