South Wairarapa Rebus Club   

The Guest Speaker at our January meeting was Anton Persico, Sales Manager for The Orchards Lifestyle Retirement Village, who spoke on behalf of developer/operators Craig Percy and the Tumu Group. The village will be sited on Murphy’s Orchard property in Greytown and will preserve some of the 700 mature trees, mostly fruit trees consisting of  plums, apples, nectarine, peaches and apricots. Expressions of interest have already been received from 200 potential residents, couples and singles.

The homes will be built embracing the boutique vision of the developer. For example, the stud height in the villas is typically a generous 2.7 m (9 ft). Resource consents have been obtained and construction of the show villa is expected to start in March 2020 and the first residents are expected to move in by the end of 2020. 

Once complete the development is expected to house 180 independent villas plus 120 care beds in the form of serviced apartments, rest home and hospital beds. When complete the overall development will house 350 residents and create over 100 jobs and provide all the services needed for a happy retired life..  The village is close, walking distance for some, to Greytown shops, the Library, theatre, sports grounds, not forgetting the SW Rebus Club meeting place, the South Wairarapa Working Men’s Club. The site plans and the range of unit design concepts for the development are available for viewing  from The Orchards’ office which is situated in Bayleys Real Estate, Greytown. There is also good information available on the Orchards web site.

Contractually, a Resident will be purchasing a Licence to Occupy and will pay a weekly service fee of between $145-$165 to cover external maintenance, gardening, rubbish removal, rates, building insurance etc.  When a licence is terminated, the villa or unit facilities will be fully refurbished for potential new residents. The costs of this renovation will be met by The Orchards from their retention of up to 30% of the original sum paid by the licensee. 

Before morning tea two past presidents of the Club, Rosemary Ward and Margaret Griffiths, entertained us with an account, with photographs, of their 2019 Christmas visit to the Chatham Islands.. 

This 120 km diameter archipelago consists of about ten islands some 800 km east of the South Island, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Historically, Polynesian tribes, known as Moriori, settled the islands about 1500AD.  

Some of these islands, formerly cleared for farming, are now preserved as nature reserves to conserve some of the unique flora and fauna. The islands have a falling residential population of about 500 as family teenagers typically attend Christchurch boarding schools and then settle on the NZ mainland. 

The South Wairarapa Rebus Club meets in the South Wairarapa Working Men’s Club on the fourth Friday morning of each month. Anyone in the retired age group who may be interested in our Rebus Club is welcome to come along to a meeting as a visitor.  Please contact David Woodhams 306 8319.

Media contact: Dave Woodhams, 306 8319, dwoodhams@orcon.net.nz