Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, 14 to 21 Hepetema 2024

Māori Language Week begins on 14 September every year. 

It marks the day that a petition was signed by approximately 30,000 people in Aotearoa and presented to Parliament in 1972. This was officially recognised as Māori Language Day in 1975 and has since grown into Māori Language Week.

“We support te reo during Māori Language Week and all year. Our libraries reflect this with dedicated Māori collections in every branch as well as the integration of Māori culture,” said Louise Dowdell, Wairarapa Library Services manager.

“We will have displays and helpful resources available for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori,” she added.

“We plan to create meaningful opportunities to learn Māori language through the week. The theme this year is Ake ake ake – a forever language,” said Narida Hooper, Pou Māori Advisor for South Wairarapa District Council.

Wine & Food Society

Martinborough Wine and Food Society’s August meeting was held in a gin palace.

The group had a good meeting, lots of members had been away and so it was good to swap stories

from different parts of New Zealand and the world.

The chosen venue of Tohi Gin Room and eatery was simply excellent as well as great

value.  … Continue Reading

THE STAR BOOK REVIEW

By Brenda Channer – Martinborough Bookshop

Story-telling is possibly the most powerful and long-lived method of communicating on Earth.

It is how we know where we are, who we are and how to make sense of our journey. 

So when we hear a story that touches us deeply we remember it, return to it and savour it – and we recommend it to others!  … Continue Reading

To be – or not to be? A critical community garden question

Like with many things currently, we are asking the question _ can the Community Garden continue as it is?

Over the past nine years the Community Garden has managed to provide produce to the Community Larder on a fairly regular basis. This has been due largely to the dedication of a small team of regular, committed gardeners with a team of summer waterers; some great occasional gardeners and partners of regular gardeners, who have who have been happy and willing to do some of the hard yakka. All who are much appreciated and welcomed. 

However, we are now in the situation where we have reached a crossroad with regard to people’s ability to commit: we have always hoped that we would somehow hand over to new gardeners, allowing the original gardeners a break to perhaps become those occasional gardeners rather than taking full responsibility for the entire growth cycle of crops, i.e: managing compost, seed raising, plant ordering, funding applications, harvesting and delivering, weeding, grass cutting etc. 

But, this has not eventuated _ so whereto from here ? … Continue Reading