From the editor

This edition of BayBuzz is chocka with stories about people. None of them ‘ordinary’.

Some of them – Nigel Bickle and James Palmer – run our councils (HDC and HBRC respectively), which are big businesses by Hawke’s Bay standards in terms of employment and budgets. Read our profiles of these two (in our book) exceptional CEOs.

Some of them deliver babies and take care of their mums-to-be. Read our feature on midwives. Who could be more important?

Some of them run HB businesses making major commitments to mitigating the effects of climate change. Others lead fast-moving companies. Meet some of our business change agents.

Some of them produce boutique, award-winning wines. Another has searched for Hawke’s Bay’s best pies … and herein announces his top picks!

Some of them are Aotearoa’s master weavers, gathering specially as part of the Arts Festival and giving special meaning to it.

Another devotes her life to protecting our native plant diversity, from collecting the seeds to growing native plants in commercial quantities.

Another, hidden away in Onekawa, mixes for clients across NZ the highly customized chemo doses that too many warriors must rely on to fight their cancer.

Another aims to ensure that EIT meets its full obligations to our region’s Māori community in a spirit of partnership.

A young woman writes her personal story of coping with mental illness in hopes of inspiring others.

If we were to gather all these folks onto a ‘Team Hawke’s Bay’, there’s nothing we couldn’t excel at!

There’s plenty of stimulating brainfood too … the columns of Paul Paynter, David Trubridge and Jessica Soutar Barron are sure to either challenge, annoy or amuse you.

Plus, deep dives into the offerings of this year’s HB Arts Festival as previewed by our culture mavens Michal McKay, Rosheen FitzGerald and Louise Ward.

And what … nothing on our local elections? Too many candidates and too fluid a process to treat well in this printed magazine, which ‘went to bed’ in late August.

However, be sure to follow our online coverage at www.baybuzz.co.nz. That’s where I’ll be offering my observations as we move into the voting window. If you don’t already receive our weekly Saturday e-newsletter, The BUZZ, in your email, sign-up on our website.

Finally, just a note on the ‘business’ of BayBuzz. We’re working hard to expand the range and depth of information and analysis we’re providing both in the magazine (16 more pages in this edition) and online.

Giving a big boost to our editorial capability (and, I’ll admit, pride), BayBuzz just received a grant from the Public Interest Journalism Fund, which will enable us to put significantly more effort into our reporting and analysis, and deliver some of our content via online video and podcasting. Some new, experienced names you’ll see on our editorial team – Bonnie Flaws, Patrick O’Sullivan and Tess Redgrave. So, stay tuned. BayBuzz is on the move.

Tom Belford

Tom has been a two-term HB Regional Councillor. His past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organisation, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major non-profits and corporates.