News in brief
Re-roofing project to cost $130,000
The Takaka Drama Society is making good progress towards its target of $130,000 to re-roof the Little Theatre.
The latest fund-raising effort is a raffle, featuring a quilt kindly donated by Ann Lewis. Tickets will be on sale outside the library tomorrow, Saturday, outside fresh Choice next Tuesday and outside Take Note on Easter Saturday. The raffle will be drawn on Easter Monday.
“We’ve raised nearly $10,000 so far,” said Gillian Cunningham the Drama Society’s treasurer. “The council has promised us $40,000 and as soon as we have costed plans we’ll be able to start applying for grants. Everything we can raise ourselves will be a great help, it’s a big project. The orchestra held a concert and raised some money and the comic revue that toured the country halls raised some too. We’ve got the Tasman Brass Ensemble coming to perform and we expect that will be a sell-out.”
Neil Wilson
Rural women Top of the South
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) Region 3 Top of the South Conference was hosted in Golden Bay last week welcoming delegates to a dinner on Monday evening and a full programme of discussion on Tuesday.
Topics ranged from valuing and promotion of wool carpets which it appears business does not currently do; RWNZ-owned Access Home Health; purchase, refurbishment and opening of the new central Wellington RWNZ office complex; school bus safety; broadband for rural areas; and representation of the rural voice at local government. The Get Plastered campaign, the brainchild of Billy Kerrisk of Bainham branch, Golden Bay has been successful nationwide at raising awareness of breast cancer.
Delegates heard how the Enterprising Rural Women annual award is raising the profile of the organisation, and the importance of the lobby voice in the halls of power in Wellington.
Local women Sue Brown and Michelle Riley presented an interactive workshop outlining and encouraging collaborative leadership based on their work in Playcentre and the Aorere Catchment Group. Melva Robb of Marlborough won the speech competition “This Land is Our Land” and will represent the Top of the South (TOTS) at the Auckland National Conference in May.
Women from across the TOTS, representing 23 branches, enjoyed catching up with old friends and sharing a delectable array of food. The conference finished with dinner to celebrate the 70th birthday of RW Golden Bay Province. Bar of Honour recipients Joy Warren, Carol Wells and Jo-Anne Vaughan were surprised and delighted to be recognised for long-standing service to RWNZ Golden Bay.
Rural Women has several branches across the Nelson region and includes many women who live rurally but are not necessarily farming. They welcome new members. Further information can be found at www.ruralwomen.org <http://www.ruralwomen.org>
The recently released cookbook A Good Spread is on its last run and we have almost sold out nationwide.
Second Milk & Honey event boosted by Nelson mountain bikers
The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club ran its second Milk & Honey ride last week.
“We ran it last year just amongst ourselves but this year we opened it up to the Nelson Mountain Bike club as a way of getting a few more riders to take part,” club president Rob Dawson explained.
“It was very much a trial situation and it was very well received by a total of 42 riders. The concept is a relatively new one, with a combination ride that includes road biking and mountain biking. It can be ridden by an individual swapping bikes at the transition or by a two-person team.”
The ride takes the road-bike riders up the valley to the top of the Takaka Hill. From this side it is New Zealand’s biggest paved climb in that it gains the most altitude in the shortest distance. The riders then transition to mountain bikes and head down the Canaan road and eventually back down the Rameka Track to Takaka, completing a 68km loop.
“Tom Filmer [of Nelson??] won the ride in an astonishing time of 2 hours 43m, reaching the Canaan Rd turn-off from Takaka in 1 hour 11 minutes,” said Rob.
The club had thought long and hard about the right time and place for this event, said Rob.
“We’ve established what we think is a perfect slot with the sunny but cool autumn weather, the light winds and the less busy roads.”
“I’ve always thought that two greatest attractions the Bay has, in terms of biking, are the biggest paved road climb, and the well-regarded Rameka Track. Join them together, and you have something that you would have trouble replicating anywhere else in New Zealand.”
Neil Wilson
Reece Potter’s prospects good for NZ mountain biking team
Takaka’s Reece Potter has made the long list for the UCI 2011 World Mountain Bike Championships, to be held in Champery in Switzerland between 31 August and 4 September this year.
Mountain Bike New Zealand stated on the Cycling New Zealand website: “The long list contains athletes who have already qualified their selection through performances at key events this summer, as well as athletes who may be on the cusp of selection but who need to further demonstrate that they can meet the performance benchmark required.”
The final NZ Mountain Bike Team selection takes place on 12 July, but Reece’s performances are such that he is a definite selection for the under-19 men’s downhill individual team. He is one of eight cyclists from the Top of the South on the list.
Neil Wilson
Stylish sheep supports a great cause
Golden Bay artist Aralyn Doiron has offered Dorothy, her popular painting featuring a fashionista sheep, for a raffle to benefit the TIDES Charitable Trust.
The artist is a trustee and facilitator of the contemporary rites of passage programme that marks and celebrates the important transition from girlhood to womanhood.
“In these changing times, it seems to me that positive and down-to-earth youth work is more valuable than ever,” says Aralyn. “I feel privileged to be part of an organisation that inspires young women, supports their families and offers a vastly different experience than what I had at that age. This work is far reaching and I see the difference it can make to life as a whole.”
Being a charitable trust, TIDES relies on funding from various areas such as Government bodies and private sponsors. Due to recent funding cuts and an increase of applications nationwide, TIDES has needed to look elsewhere for support.
“It is crucial that organisations like TIDES keep going - I think it is now up to the community to find creative ways to sustain the future of our young people,” says Aralyn.
Dorothy is currently on display at the Dangerous Kitchen. The winner will be drawn at the Lovefest Closing party in early May (date TBA), and while Dorothy is the advertised prize, Aralyn says that the lucky winner may choose from any available painting that evening. Tickets are $10 or 3/$25 and are available at the Dangerous Kitchen or <contact@tides.net.nz or www.tides.net.nz>
Submitted by TIDES
Takaka Memorial Library – new books
Non-Fiction
Conscious Meditation: creating health and well-being in a conscious universe by Gill Edwards.
DIY Fashion by Selena Francis-Bryden. More creative sewing techniques for the adventurous.
Junky Styling: wardrobe surgery by Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager. Truly stylish creations from suit jackets, trousers and shirts!
Aptitude, Personality and Motivation Tests: analyse your talents and personality, and plan your career by Jim Barrett.
Bird Cloud: a memoir by Annie Proulx. The story of designing and constructing the house Proulx built in the Wyoming prairie. It also tells of the natural history and archeology of the region inhabited for millennia by Ute, Arapaho and Shoshone Indians.
Fiction
Daughters-in-law by Joanna Trollope. Family/relationships.
The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell. A Kurt Wallander mystery.
Give Me Your Heart: tales of mystery and suspense by Joyce Carol Oates.
One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde. A Thursday Next novel. Quirky!
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore. Life in post-war Leningrad. The epic struggle of ordinary people to survive in a time of violence and terror.
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. For those who enjoy Indian authors, the latest Ghosh reviews “Stunning…amusing, sad, wise.”
The Stray Sod Country by Patrick McCabe. “This book is at once an homage to what we think we may have lost and a chilling reminder that the past has never really passed.” Set in Ireland of course.
