From the Mayor

Katherine Jacobs, May & Peter Croft.

By Mayor Martin

Early in November I went to meet Craig Nelson, Mark Guscott and other members of the Martinborough School community. They showed me around the school, they discussed their plans, and they shared some history of the school. Against this adult conversation was the animated noise that comes from school children who are having a particularly good time defeating a teachers’ team in a sporting event.  Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to educate me about the way that modern education now works. 

Two weeks later I went to meet May and Peter Croft at the Food Bank in Strasbourge Street. I learnt the history of the Food Bank, the extent of the support it provides across the district, and the way in which the need for that service continues to grow.

May and Peter talked about how the Food Bank is the “ambulance at the top of the cliff.”  I was impressed by the range of ways they have thought up so that people who need help get it, while retaining the ability to make choices for their own families. This is an outstanding example of neighbours helping neighbours. And the help is widespread throughout Martinborough, including from people who drop off food, and the P&K SUPERMARKET that provides food nearing its ‘best before’ date. If you can think of ways to offer support, I am sure that May and Peter will be pleased to meet you. … Continue Reading

From the Library

By Anna Jong

Printing service

Printing your documents at our libraries has just become a lot easier! You can now send your printing directly from your device. No more trying to remember your email password or waiting for the next available computer.

All you need to do is email your file/s to monitor@print.apnk.nz whereupon you’ll receive a reply giving you a unique Job ID as well as a map of libraries handy to your location. You can then present this Job ID at your nearest library to collect your printing.

If you’re sending a print job from home, it’s a good idea to call the library you plan to collect your printing from to confirm the correct print job has been received. For example, when printing an email attachment, double-check that the attachment has been received, and not just the email itself. And don’t worry, your document/s are deleted automatically as soon as they’re printed. … Continue Reading

From the CEO

By Harry Wilson

Season’s greetings, everyone. We enter this Christmas season with a new Council in place, and an annual report for the 2021/22 year that is to be tabled at Council soon. 

Annual reports give a detailed rundown on how the Council’s financials are tracking, and how it delivered against its plans from the Long Term Plan. It’s well worth a read. We’re hopeful it can be adopted at the next Council meeting on December 14, subject to Audit New Zealand sign off.

Our thoughts this Christmas are with the residents at Hinekura and all the other residents this year who were affected by damage to our roads. We estimate about $2 million worth of damage has been done and we hope to claim about 72 per cent of it from Waka Kotahi. 

This year has certainly had its challenges. However, there have also been a lot of reasons for cheer. 

For a start, it’s been great to see Toast and Martinborough Fair return to the town this November, a happy reminder that while Covid-19’s tentacles are still out there, the community’s desire to get back to near-normality is very strong. 

While Martinborough’s Christmas parade isn’t going ahead this year, there will be Carols in the Square on December 10 and I hope, like me, you will all relish afresh the opportunity to come together.  … Continue Reading

FIRE BRIGADE REPORT

By Chief Fire Officer Jake Hawkins

Season’s Greetings from the Brigade, that arrived quickly, where did the year go? 

The Brigade would like to thank all its members, and their families, for their efforts and attendances at incidents during the year, and we hope to get Christmas Dinner uninterrupted. Give us a wave if you see us out and about. 

The Brigade expects to completed over 250 calls for assistance by the end of the year, and around 70% of these are for our Medical First Response unit. This is a lifesaving service for our Community, and as CFO I would like to thank our dedicated First Responders for their commitment in making this part of our volunteer service such a success. Remember our siren doesn’t sound for medical calls unless we need extra crew on the appliance, or we get a second medical call.

We were happy to be available to assist around the recent Martinborough Fair and thanks to all those who changed plans to be available.

Congratulations to our newest Firefighter Tamara Hudepohl on completing her recruits course at the Rotorua based National Training Centre, well done and thanks for all the extra training you did ! We also congratulate Brett Townsend on completing his Senior Firefighter Course and promotion to Senior Firefighter.

If you have any queries about assistance or response please don’t hesitate to contact me – CFO Jake Hawkins – 0272-559-440

Remember wear a seat belt every time you drive anywhere, be careful with BBQs, Pizza ovens, Hangi and Campfires, be safe around the water and wear a lifejacket.

In any Emergency cal 111 Remember we never close and are here 24/7 for you.