Successful Martinborough House and Garden Tour 

Fortune was certainly smiling on 23^rd November when the Wharekaka Auxiliary hosted the Martinborough House and Garden tour. 11 stunning properties basked in beautiful sunlight as over 650 excited ticket holders made their way around our lovely town.

The feedback we have received since the event has been wonderful, with everyone praising both the standard and diversity of the houses and gardens and the organisation and smooth running of the day. 

As always, there are people who must be thanked profusely. Firstly the 11 home owners who generously agreed to open their houses and gardens to such scrutiny; they are truly the ones who bore the brunt of the day. Many months of hard work went into making the properties look so stunning. They were: Pauline and Alistair Mcleod, Sue and John Hughes, Dinny Pearce and Jim Brassell, Di and Tom Bunny, Felicity and Arthur Warren, Cath and Marco de Groot, J.C and Roger Gaskell, Charlie and Angela Cresswell, Gay Chadburn and Dave Stewart, Helen and John Meehan, Rosie and Paul Collins. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Also our 4 main sponsors: Deborah Coddington – Martinborough Bookshop, Sue Stephens – Susan Stephens & Co Realty, Di Lusk – Peonies of Martinborough, Connor & Pip Kershaw – Mitre 10. You have all been so generous so a huge thank you to you all.

To all the Cafes, Vineyards and Stallholders who also provided sponsorship, many thanks and we hope you did a roaring trade.

Last but not least, love and thanks to the wonderful community of Martinborough. Not only did so many of you put up your hands to be volunteers on the day, but a large proportion of tickets were sold to locals who once again showed their support for Wharekaka by getting behind the event. It truly is an exceptional town.

So thanks to all your love and support we have raised the utterly amazing amount of around $40,000. This will be an enormous help in the continued running of our valuable community asset.

Carolyn Thompson, Chair Wharekaka Auxiliary

Meals on Wheels

It is more than 40 years since Heather Wall set up the Meals on Wheels service from Wharekaka and last week saw Heather retiring after so many years of volunteer service. Thank you so much for all you have done, Heather. Meals on Wheels has grown from small beginnings in Martinborough expanding now to Featherston and Greytown. Our kitchen makes 533 meals per month – 233 to Martinborough, 177 to Greytown and 123 to Featherston all delivered by 42 volunteers. Another true community effort.

Rotary

The Rotary Club of South Wairarapa has supported Wharekaka for many years. One of the highlights of the year is the Christmas carol singing for our residents that Rotary perform before their own Christmas dinner. Excellent piano playing accompanies the robust singing that heralds the start of the Christmas season for residents, staff, Rotary, and the Auxiliary who do the catering. Rotary kindly present Wharekaka with a cheque for some needed piece of equipment which this year will help towards residents’ care.

The Wharekaka Board would like to thank publicly the Auxiliary and the Martinborough community for their massive support for Wharekaka without which our much loved elderly care community would not survive. A Happy Christmas to all.

Photo caption;  Rotarians lead the Christmas Carols