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Lyndhurst farmer takes out supreme award By Sam Morton
Photo Kirsty Graham 151112-kg-050
Lyndhurst sheep farmer Johnny Miles is still basking in the glory with his winning ram, after taking out the Supreme Award at the country’s biggest A&P Show yesterday. Mr Miles, who has been attending the event since 1977, was LEFT: Winning smile: Johnny Miles, of Lyndhurst, is all smiles after collecting a swag of champion ribbons yesterday at New Zealand’s biggest agricultural and pastoral show.
awarded the Supreme Award after his Suffolk ram stood out from more than 40 other competitors in the running for the highly sought after champion’s ribbon. The veteran Suffolk breeder told the Guardian shortly after the ribbon ceremony he was delighted with the win and was pleased with this year’s efforts. “Where we farm in Lyndhurst, it’s a wee bit colder than other areas – so to achieve what we have achieved here at the show – I knew this ram had to be something special.
“I’ve been exhibiting at the Canterbury show for a long time now and I really look forward to this time of year – and to take out the top ribbon doesn’t happen often.” In fact, Mr Miles has won the event three times previously – but each time it has been a hard fought encounter. “The competition is incredibly tough and it’s really nice to be honoured and recognised at this level. “I guess it’s as the old saying goes, the show always produces
prizes and surprises – and that’s the way it is ... this year’s award was certainly one of those,” he said. Meanwhile, other Mid Canterbury sheep farmers excelled in their fields – taking out first and second place across a number of categories. Norman Carr, of Mayfield, impressed in the Old Ram (over 18) category taking out first place, while George Lowe’s Poll Dorset rams featured at the top. Ashburton’s Paul Gardner also won a first placing in the Texel
category, as well as taking out the Reserve Champion title in the open ram category. Other Mid Canterbury sheep breeders flew the flag high for the province also, returning home with final placings and near misses – making for a successful year for the locals. Mr Miles said he was thrilled by the efforts of Mid Canterbury sheep farmers – pointing out the district always punched well above its weight at A&P shows around the South Island. “It’s great to see – a lot of people
don’t realise how well the sheep industry is doing and it has often been perceived negatively by outsiders. “We all work really hard in what we do and it takes hours, days, months and years of preparation to compete in a field at a show like this – let alone win,” he said. Mr Miles will now turn his attention to the pairs and trifecta categories where he will be looking to continue his winning ways. “After that and when it’s all over, I might just celebrate,” he said. More show, P3
Tinwald to get traffic lights By Sue Newman Plans for traffic lights in Tinwald could be ready to roll by September if the Ashburton District Council has its way. The New Zealand Transport Agency had previously told the council that lights in Tinwald were a low priority because traffic issues did not justify the expense. Last month the council called the transport agency to the table and left it in no doubt that it wanted lights installed and was prepared to help fund the project. At yesterday’s meeting of the council’s operations committee the green light was given for the council to push ahead with discussions on traffic lights with the objective of meeting a timeframe of having work firmed up by September. While the transport agency has tagged the Agnes Street-Lagmhor Road intersection with the state highway as its preferred location for lights, councillor Robin Kilworth said the council’s jury was still out on where those lights should go. She also asked whether the $1.7 million quoted was the final figure or whether there were
cheaper options. “We believe that location is just one of the transport agency’s options and that we’ll have at least two options to consider. I’ve included the $1.7m figure as a place maker for council to start thinking about,” said operations manager Rob Rouse. “We’ve been looking for a cost effective solution at a location that would make sure we get the best possible solution.” The council was committed to making progress on the lights project and it was heartening to see the transport agency was now open to discussions, he said. While the lights were a high priority for the community, councillor Stuart Wilson said the council had to be careful when it made a funding commitment because those lights were also the transport agency’s responsibility because they were on a state highway and were benefitting through traffic as well as local traffic. The council is also pushing the agency to look at installing traffic lights at the Walnut Avenue-West Street intersection. Mr Rouse said these would be treated as two separate projects but the council was keen to see the two run in parallel.
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 151112-TM-005
Celebrating a gold medal in New Zealand’s national sausage competition, Allenton Meats owner Paddy Kennedy and staff Jamie Trudgeon and Jarred Howden.
Paddy’s bangers bring home medals By Sue Newman Snags, snarlers, bangers or just plain sausages, when it comes to knowing what goes in to making the country’s best, Ashburton’s Paddy Kennedy reckons he must have the recipe about right. Most years since the Great New Zealand Sausage competition was launched Mr Kennedy’s been sending his best products along for judging and most years he’s come home with a clutch of medals. This year was no exception,
in fact it’s been one of his best. He scooped the pool with a gold medal in the gourmet section with a venison, red wine and cracked pepper banger and followed that up with a silver for his beef sausages. And it doesn’t matter how many times you score a gold, it’s still a thrill, he said. In fact this year, he’s taken more pleasure out of the silver for his beef bangers than the gold for the venison version. Like all butchers, beef sausages are bread and butter business, but over the past six months Mr Kennedy’s been
tinkering with his recipe and he’s used his customers as his testing panel. “I’ve got this old guy who’ll always tell me what’s right and what’s not. He called on Monday, said he’d bought some beef sausages on Friday. He said they were the best beef sausages he’d tasted in his life.” That was enough for Mr Kennedy. The tinkering stopped and the finished product won silver. His gold medal winning gourmet venison sausage is a stock standard in his chiller but it too underwent a little tweak-
ing before the competition – a change of red wine and a little more pepper. And the judges loved it. The sausage competition has been running in various forms since 1994 and is now well established as an annual highlight for butchers and smallgoods manufacturers. In 2007 the competition was rebranded to the Great New Zealand Sausage Competition and in 2011 the competition had a makeover once more to become the Devro New Zealand Sausage Competition. Butchers have a choice of 12
Methven museum, library to be demolished By Susan Sandys Caretakers of Methven’s historic library and museum have been given the green light for demolishing the two buildings. Commissioner Patricia Harte has ruled that the Ashburton District Council can issue resource consent for demolition to the Methven Public Library and the Methven Historical Society committees, after a hearing last month. The two buildings have been the subject of an emotive battle between the two committees and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. They LEFT: Methven Library’s future has been sealed - it’s to be demolished.
are both listed as category two buildings with the trust, and the trust has been fighting with the respective committees for their survival. The library and museum committees see the earthquake-damaged buildings as a liability in a postquake environment, with tougher strengthening regulations and strict insurance criteria. They applied for demolition after the buildings were shut down in the earthquakes and the library was damaged further by a drunk driver smashing into it in December last year. The trust opposed the applications and put its case before Commissioner Harte in a hearing at the Methven Heritage Centre on October 29.
NZHPT area manager Owen Graham would not comment yesterday, saying the trust had not yet seen the decision. Methven library committee chairperson Eleanor Marr said she was “absolutely thrilled” at the decision, and that common sense had prevailed. “We are just greatly relieved, and now we can actually go forward,” she said. The library committee would be meeting with the historical society committee to see where to from here. The committees are planning to build a new joint building on the library site. The library will have to apply to the NZHPT for an archaelogical authority prior to demolition as the
building was constructed prior to 1900. Mrs Marr said creating a replica of the library’s façade had been an option in a rebuild project, it was unknown at this stage if that would be the plan that was pursued. In her decision, Commissioner Harte said the effects of retention outweighed costs to the community. “The Methven Historical Society and public library are voluntary groups with no regular source of income, which means that they would not be able to afford the cost of strengthening or sustain rising insurance costs that came with it,” she said. For Commissioner Harte’s full decisions see www.guardianonline.co.nz
categories. Entries are picked up by mystery shoppers and sent to Auckland for anonymous judging by a panel. Each sausage is judged by at least two judges and an average score is taken from these. Medals are then awarded for the marks received. From here, the sausages which received the top mark in each category are rejudged against each other to find the Supreme Award winner and the People’s Choice Award winner. This year’s supreme winner was a Wellington Smoked Kielbasa.
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