Southern dogs under control, behaving and returned

Of the 3,410 registered dogs living in the district, only 152 were listed in the South Wairarapa District Council’s Dog Control Activities complaints register for the year to July 2024 _ 13 more than the prior year but down 57 on 2021-22. The highest number of complaint offences _ 83 …

Toast to the new Taste Wairarapa

By Joelle Thomson, Wine Writer Taste Wairarapa stepped in where Toast Martinborough left off on the third weekend of November this year. The well-known Toast Martinborough food, wine and music event has run for 30 years and will return in January 2025 in a reincarnated form with Foley Wines as …

How Well Do We Know People In Our Community? – December 2024

By Lyle Griffiths Born in Whanganui, Mariana McDermott first lived with her mother in the home of her grandmother. After her mother remarried, the family moved to Martinborough, to Hikawera, where her stepfather, Tiki Mahupuku McGregor, built his own home. It was close to the old meeting house, which had …

Kitcheners ram-raid brings out community support

A front-end loader assault on a bank ATM which collapsed part of a verandah, ripped open a cafe frontage and wrecked building support beams netted the culprit nothing – but brought a swell of community support for the damaged Kitcheners Cafe business. Within nine hours of the ATM ram-raid on …

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Maori Ward retention takes 10 minutes – October 2024

October 7, 2024 October 2024 Comments Off on Maori Ward retention takes 10 minutes – October 2024

The historic 2023 decision to establish a Maori Ward in South Wairarapa was retained by  unanimous vote at a council meeting last month _ with  a three-year term assured to begin from the 2025 local body elections.

At the same election, the council will be forced to spend $20,000 on a central government-required referendum on whether the Maori representation ward should continue.  

September’s Extraordinary meeting took just 10 minutes to retain the newly-minted ward. The meeting then ended amid gentle clapping and some tears.  

Several councillors expressed anger and disappointment at the need to spend ratepayers’ money on a binding poll over the future of the Maori Ward beyond 2028.

“It is unfortunate this comes at a cost imposed on ratepayers by this central government” _ not this council _ Mayor Martin Connelly said ahead of the vote.

“I would like to take this opportunity to level the harshest possible criticism I can to our central government for putting us in this position,” said councillor Rebecca Gray.

Deputy Mayor Melissa Sadler-Futter was disappointed council had been forced to relitigate the Maori Ward decision. … Continue Reading

Predator control to help save species

October 7, 2024 October 2024 Comments Off on Predator control to help save species

Fledgling birds are in their unprotected nests and predators – particularly rats, mice and possums – are skipping up the trees in search of food.

To help reduce this annual slaughter of the innocents, Greytown Rotary Predator Free hosted a workshop of locals and  enlisted its Menz Shed to produce and distribute 25 new predator traps for use round the town.

“With bird breeding season in full swing, this initiative is vital for protecting vulnerable native birds and ensuring the survival of fledglings,” organiser Julie Small said. Workshop “Participants gained hands-on training in trap maintenance and learned about the importance of controlling predator populations.”

“These traps are specially designed boxes to only allow rats and mice in.” … Continue Reading

Pumped up and ready to go!

October 7, 2024 October 2024 Comments Off on Pumped up and ready to go!

By Charlotte Harding

This month we welcome the Trailpro team and officially celebrate a dream coming to reality as the Pump Track build starts! Martinborough Youth Trust members are thrilled to see this project come to fruition: “it’s been a long road but we finally got here!”

With summer just around the corner, timing couldn’t be better, and come the end of November when the community pool opens Considine Park will be the place to be with the pump track adding another activity to its family/youth focused offering. 

The community-led project that was sparked from a casual conversation several years ago shows what is possible. 

“It’s been a long road but council have been incredibly supportive of us getting to this point and working in collaboration. It’s been slow at times but as they say good things take time and we always had ‘a do it once, do it properly’ approach to the project.” 

As well as some grant funding the project has been incredibly blessed with several very generous private donations which have had a huge impact on the build being achieved this year. We have also been working closely with several local businesses who approached the group with support when build time came around. 

We also want to give huge thanks to the community who have been cheering us on for a long time! Pledges via Givealittle, sausage sizzles, and fireworks night event donations together with the classic change bucket at Kitchener’s have all had an impact in raising $310,000 for the project.

Ultimately the proof will be in the riding, and we cannot wait to see the kids (and adults) using the track. Built to suit toddlers on balance bikes _ with a dedicated loop just for them _ to a more challenging track that will enable kids to build skills and use it in new ways as their skills grow, Martinborough Pump Track will bring a whole new level of outdoor fun to our community.

(Charlotte Harding has been the face of the project, working with Youth Trust trio Terry Blacktop, Sue Sullivan and Pat Church).

Caption: Pump Track adjacent to the pool in Considine Park.

October 7, 2024 October 2024 Comments Off on

Return of the Kugels – October 2024

The Kugels Klezmer Ensemble played in Greytown two years ago, and by popular demand will be back in Greytown on 13 October. 

Former NZSO players Ross Harris (accordion), Robin Perks (violin), Debbie Rawson (clarinet, sax and “xaphon”), and Nick Tipping (double bass), plus versatile and charismatic singer Anna Gawn, will provide 90 minutes of wild, passionate and haunting Klezmer music, ranging from ancient traditional tunes to compositions from Ross Harris. … Continue Reading

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Sports

Martinborough golf by a hank – of wool

  We start at the end of the month, when the annual Baabraa Trophy between Martinborough and Eketahuna was fought out on a glorious Sunday in Martinborough. A field of 70 played a stableford round and the average stableford points for the two clubs were calculated. Eketahuna scored an average …

Lady golfers show Rosebowl winning ways

September has been an up and down month weatherwise for golfers, some beautiful early spring days followed by cold and rain. Thankfully for the important days the weather has mostly come to the party. Early in the month the Cotter Rosebowl was successfully defended at Carterton by Martinborough’s team of …

Stunning first 4 – 1 win for Marty Women’s FC

By All-knowing Football Reporter It was always going to happen. After a few draws, some losses the newly-formed MWFC won their first game. An impressive and resounding victory. It started with ‘The Fox in the Box,’ the striker who plays in the traditional Number 9 role of marauding the penalty …

Regular Features

From the Mayor

By Martin Connelly Water services have been a political football for some time. We associate …

EVENTS

Wellington Heritage Festival WHEN: October 26 – November 17  WHERE: * Wellington Region – 140 …

How Well Do We Know People in Our Community?

By Lyle Griffiths Pforzheim in Southern Germany was where Thomas Röckinger lived with his family, …

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Could ZERO growth be the answer?   So, Martinborough’s sewage woes continue, and have seriously …

THE STAR BOOK REVIEW

    By Brenda Channer – Martinborough Bookshop “Costanza” by Rachel Blackmore This is a …

THE STAR  BOOK  REVIEW  

By Brenda Channer –  Martinborough Bookshop “All the Colours of the Dark” by Chris Whittaker. …

EVENTS – October 2024

Discover Te Muna  WHEN:     Saturday, Sunday, October 19 – 20  TIME:      …

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