Pae tū Mōkai Matariki

Tanja Schubert-McArthur

Matariki is a time to reflect on the year that was, remember the ones who have passed, huddle together, feast, celebrate, make plans and wishes for the year ahead. The Matariki planning committee has been busy and promises that the 2023 programme has something for everybody! Best of all - it’s FREE!

Friday 14 July:

The official public holiday so come on down to Clifford Square for the Toro Atu - Dawn Karakia at 6am. The Papawai mana whenua, in partnership with Five Trails Trust and SWDC will be erecting a pou in Clifford Square in celebration of influential Wairarapa rangatira - Nukupewapewa. All are welcome and there will be a BBQ brekkie after.

Join the community garden working bee at 10am behind St Andrew’s Church on Fitzherbert Street. Our newest community group warmly invites you to bring your spades and garden gloves to help prepare beds to grow kūmara and enjoy a morning tea. Learn about kūmara planting from Diane Buckley. Diane has been part of a long standing kūmara growing project here in the Wairarapa and has built up a wealth of knowledge over the years. Then put on your apron and bring your potato peeler to the ANZAC Hall to help prepare the hangi from 12pm.

Tamariki of all ages can do the Star Hunt between 10am and 3pm! It’s a star treasure hunt through town - find the clues and then hang your star in the big oak tree by the museum, making a wish to Hiwa-i-te-Rangi.

Fareham House hosts a session of pūrākau and waiata - storytelling with local actor Ricky Day and singing accompanied by ukulele for the whole whānau to enjoy. After a cup of tea and a snack, join the lantern walk at 5pm from Fareham House to Clifford Square - you can bring your own lantern or make one during one of the workshops in the school holidays (see Fareham Creative programme for details and to register). Wrap up warm and bring the family for Mini Fell train night-rides around Clifford Square through phosphorous glow-in-the-dark art works!

Storytelling and waiata for the whole whānau at Fareham House in 2022, before the lantern walk haven’t got enough, join the Kiriata-ā-Noho. Instead of a drive-in movie, bring a bean bag and a blanket and watch a 45 minute compilation of historic footage from 1901 all the way to the present, a snapshot of our nation in film, from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.

Sunday 16 July:

Head to Featherston Cemetery at 10am. As part of Matariki, we remember our loved ones who have passed this year. Moe mai rā.

What better way to finish a celebration than with music! Come to Featherston Vinyl Club at Waimārie from 3pm for a boogie to finish our Matariki celebrations!

Saturday 15 July:

If you have a school child in year 1-3, register for the amazing 1 hour session Matariki: Bringing our stars to life. Running at 10am and 11am this programme introduces tamariki with their caregiver to how Matariki connects us to people, to whānau and to the rhythms and seasons of the natural world. At 12pm you want to be at St Teresa’s School to see the lifting of the hangi and then enjoy a taster at the community hangi at the ANZAC Hall. There will be enough to feed the community young and old! Bring a plate, knife and fork to help our taiao and enjoy the yummy kai! Warren Maxwell will bring his guitar, and the tamariki and rangatahi will become the teachers for some kapa haka action songs. Waiata Mai! Be prepared to get up and sing and dance together from 2pm. If you still

Monday 17 July:

Our year 4-8 students from the three local schools will be treated to an awesome trip to the ANZAC Hall for the Matariki: Bringing our stars to life sessions run by Auckland-based Tereora Crane and local Tanja Schubert-McArthur using a mixture of storytelling and interactive learning. A special thanks to the National Library for bringing the kaupapa of new beginnings, new connections and new understandings in Aotearoa to Pae tū Mōkai Featherston. Manawatia a Matariki - Celebrate Matariki!

Featherston Beautification Group

Julia

Reed

This month we have been busy battling weeds and the weather in the various gardens we look after.

The metal birds have rusted into a lovely colour and are more visible in the coal bucket.

We planted more camellias in Cherry Tree Park, added more stones to the edge to keep the soil and mulch from falling onto the grassed area.

We have been turning the cabbage tree leaves at the Fell engine into fire starters. The cabbage tree leaves are not a favourite for composting but do burn well when dry. So, bundling a few together and tying them back onto themselves make a good fire starter for this winter.

We would like to thank everyone who donates their time and energy into the gardening efforts of our group. The people who support us with plant purchases and those who donate plants and items for our nursery sales. All our fundraising is returned to Featherston beautification efforts.

Our community picking garden is available to our community, with a herb space included. Our Library fridge has some interesting books and gardening magazines which are free or sit and read them there. We are fundraising for a picnic table so we can sit and read, bring a takeout coffee and enjoy.

We have introduced a worm farm, for worm wee and casting once they get busy. Which plants love.

We also have been donated a little plastic greenhouse to start some of our seedlings off. Thank you to our generous donor.

South Wairarapa Rotary’s change of president - the Big Help Out

Sylvia

Smith

By the time you are reading this, South Wairarapa Rotary will have farewelled its president for the 2022/23 year and welcomed in a new president for the 2023/24 year. This an annual event and provides an opportunity for each new president to introduce new strategies and ideas.

Tamara Allerhand from Featherston is our outgoing president. Tamara has been an energetic, committed and thoughtful leader and has provided wise counsel to our members. The club wishes to thank her for her wisdom, leadership and guidance throughout her tenure.

Our incoming president Glenn Todd is from Greytown and has been a Rotarian for over two years. Glenn spent over 20 years in the IT sector but decided to become semi-retired so he could focus on volunteering and shortterm engagements. Glenn is an excellent communicator and has strong leadership skills. We look forward to working with Glenn this coming Rotary year

Our members really enjoyed the changeover ceremony which took place in the last week of June, when we formally farewelled Tamara and welcomed Glenn, at the Greytown Working Men’s Club.

The end of June is also the end of the financial year for both the Rotary Club and the Rotary Martinborough Fair Charitable Trust. It has been a busy year for the four committees who are responsible for distributing the proceeds from the annual Martinborough Fairs.

We are extremely proud of the work that these committees have done this year and as the Rotary year draws to a close, we can confirm that over $70,000 of grants and donations have been allocated within the community.

On 1 July our committees will be allocated their funds for the 2023/24 year. If you belong to a community organisation or know of one that is seeking funds for a special or one-off project, please go to our websiteswrotary.org.nz - click funding and grants and fill out the funding form. This can be completed and submitted online or downloaded and sent to South Wairarapa Rotary Club, PO Box 45, Greytown. One of our committees will then contact you.

Tauherenikau Friendship Club

Gay

Butler

Travelling in times of covid

Sue Teodoro is a seasoned traveller who did not let covid deter her from embarking on overseas travel as soon as the New Zealand borders opened up. Speaking at the recent Tauherenikau Friendship Club monthly meeting, she related her experiences travelling through Europe in those early days of living with covid.

The first thing that alerted her that travelling had changed post-covid was the scene at Wellington airport. At that stage few planes were flying in and out of New Zealand so that the usually bustling airport was virtually empty of people and mask wearing was the norm. However, when she arrived in Europe, she found that people did not seem to socially distance and that masks were few and far between. The first country she visited was Spain, to walk the Camino Santiago. Here Sue found the trail congested with crowds of walkers – so many people had decided that they too needed to get travelling again as soon as they could and would not allow covid to hold them back.

Sue did behave sensibly, for example, wearing masks in planes, and she pointed out that she had family in Europe who would be able to help her should she fall ill. All the same, she stressed that it was quite possible then to travel overseas and that we should not let covid rule our travel plans.

Do feel free to join the club if you are of retirement age. Visitors are welcome. Meetings are at 10am the first Friday of the month at the South Wairarapa Workingmen’s Club. However, the August meeting will be a week later than usual, on August 11, when Marlene Ditchfield, who has written several books and articles about historical places and events, will talk about historic Wairarapa buildings.

Featherston Dog Park group

Romain Busby

It takes a group to keep things moving and if one or two leave that group it loses a lot of strength. We have had that happen to the Dog Park group with Jack, Sharleen and Jude stepping down recently. Heather and I remain and hopefully we will be joined by some ‘newbies’ to keep the ball rolling into the future. Big thanks to Jack, Sharleen and Jude for their efforts over the past few years, it was certainly appreciated. Thanks to the person/s who dropped some stones at the gate entrance to help absorb some of the mud there. At the present time SWDC is being approached to see if there may be a more permanent solution. In the meantime, please exercise some caution when going in or out. You don’t want to roll your ankle as that can be painful! Winter has settled in with the cold, short days, rain, dampness and that doggy smell in the car! I really miss that smell and may have to reintroduce it back to my car in the future. Dogs bring joy to the heart and although costly, it’s well worth it. Value your pooch and derive great happiness from them. They ask very little from you really, but give so much.

Owls of Featherston Women Institute

Barbara

Love

All members were able to attend our last business meeting so we were able to extend a warm welcome to Lin, who hopefully will decide to join us.

A very interesting meeting having received an invite from the Wairarapa Youth Orchestra to their up and coming concert. A small group played for us last Christmas and we enjoyed it very much. They now have 50 students which is absolutely marvellous. We wish to support and encourage these students if we can.

Our Lotto which supports the community centre is thriving, should you wish to contribute please get in touch with us and go on the waiting list.

Wairarapa Women’s Institute mid-year luncheon is on 21 July, usually held in Masterton. Nice to go and meet other institute members. A competition is to be held at the 2024 National AGM and on the schedule is to make a Child’s Quiet book, one of our members is making one and brought it along to show us. The book is to use different fabrics, decoration, notions and yarns. Very clever.

At our recent potluck dinner held in a member’s home, a real treat thank you, and our guest speaker was very interesting; so if you would like to join us do contact either Corrie on 3086574 or Lyn on 0274347360.