News in brief
Trinity Guildhall distinction
Emma Bailey and Frances Clark both received passes with distinction. Frances scored 92% in grade 1 and Emma scored 95% in grade 2. They were the highest achievers in their respective exams in the Nelson area.Emma won the cup that is presented for the highest mark in grades 1 and 2 combined in the Top of the South region. She also won the cup last year for her grade 1 result.
The talented pianists say that they enjoy learning piano and they praise their teacher, Melinda Machin.
“Mrs Machin is like your friend. She makes it fun,” said Emma.
Neil Wilson
Road to Rockville reopened after another flood
It was deja vu for Rockville residents on Wednesday 2 March when the Aorere flooded again after heavy overnight rain.
Local farmer Paul Iorns said the 9.4metre high recorded at Salisbury Bridge was business as usual for the Aorere.
“It didn’t come anywhere the 12metre-plus we got in December, but it was still too close to the main event for anyone in the valley to remain comfortable.”
There was no serious damage to property this time around, just a tangle of fences and debris. Another heavy rain warning for Friday 4 March only resulted in 38mm of rainfall as recorded in the Aorere Valley—not enough, luckily, to raise the river further after the rain two days beforehand.
Gerard Hindmarsh
Mangarakau Swamp buildings spruced up
A small, dedicated band of Mangarakau Swamp supporters spent a hot week late in February painting and maintaining the swamp’s two buildings—the field centre and museum/information centre.
Robyn Jones, Murray Gavin, David Morgan and Ian Price and builder Keith Nicholls worked on areas needing attention, including replacing rotten sections of weatherboard and painting the exteriors of both buildings - Karaka Green for the roofs and Mist Green for the walls.
Robyn said it was especially gratifying to bring the museum/information centre back up to scratch.
“It was the old Mangarakau hall. This building in particular has seen a lot of history—you can just imagine some of the hooleys that have been held it in. We’re proud it’s now part of Mangarakau Swamp and that we can keep it looking good like it deserves.”
At just over 400 hectares, Mangarakau Swamp is the largest inland wetland in the top of the south. It was purchased for the public from its private landowners in 2001 by the NZ Native Forests Restoration Trust, and was the first wetland and South Island reserve created by the trust. The establishment of forest plantings and safe habitats for aquatic animals and birds is restoring the swamp to its original natural state.
Gerard Hindmarsh
Waitapu Gardens boxing on after damage
On 30 January high winds did extensive damage to David and Bev Boaz’s Waitapu Gardens.
“It demolished three crop covers where the peppers and eggplants are and part of our tomato crop. It’s too expensive to insure plastic covers so we’ve just got to take the cost,” says Bev. “We’ve also got to have a still day to repair them. It just takes time and we have to keep doing our normal jobs as well. We’re a bit short of sauce tomatoes this year but we’ll be fine again next season.”
Neil Wilson
Takaka’s three Tasman champions
The Takaka Athletics Club continues to achieve excellent results in regional events and club records are being regularly bettered. At the recent Tasman championships, 16 athletes represented the club with great distinction. Rosie Taylor-Richmond (12-year-old girls), Geena Gross (13-year-old girls) and Marco Symmons (14-year-old boys) are all Tasman champions. Other championship placings: Danyon Fleming (2nd 14-year-old boys), Jessica Childs (3rd 6-year-old girls), Tyler Palmer (3rd 10-year-old boys) and Louis Krasse (3rd 13-year-old boys)
In winning her championship, Rosie Taylor-Richmond set a Tasman and Takaka long jump record, with a distance of 4.65m, beating Toni Hodgkinson’s 4.59m 1984 Takaka record. She also broke the Tasman record for track walk and Takaka Club records for the high jump, 100m and 200m.
Geena Gross broke the Tasman record for hurdles with a time of 14.5s and the Takaka record for the long jump (4.38m), beating Amber Bensemann’s 1997 record.
Lauren Gardiner set a new Tasman record for the hurdles, and Tyler Palmer and Tom Bassett-Eason set Takaka shot put records.
Neil Wilson
Rain does not deter entrants in Tinbum Triathlon
The ninth annual Tinbum triathlon and Junior Tinbum attracted record fields to the Pohara Top ten Holiday Park last Sunday. The senior event had 171 entrants and the junior event had 72. Junior competitor Dani McLellan from Collingwood won a new bike donated by Escape Bikes.
“The rain didn’t dampen the kids’ enthusiasm. We had great support from parents helping out around the course as marshalls and encouraging the children. The kids were so excited waiting to start the race they were just about busting out of their skins,” said Junior Tinbum spokesman Mark Cullen.
“It was great to see the big numbers of competitors, especially in the school-age grades,” said Tinbum organiser, Mark Allinson. “We’re looking forward to doing something special next year to celebrate the event’s tenth anniversary.”
Neil Wilson
