Nelson Weekly - 7 December 2022

‘Embarrassing’: Waka Kotahi defends weed problem

KATE RUSSELL

More ‘out-of-control’ weed growth on some of Nelson’s most prominent roundabouts has seen Waka Kotahi come under fire once again for their handling of the issue - but it’s not an easy fix, the traffic agency says.

Waka Kotahi manages maintenance along State Highway 6 in and out of the city, while Nelson City Council is responsible for their respective city streets. The weed growth on the Annes brook Dr roundabout and surrounding traffic islands was first brought to light at the begin ning of this year, and then again in April when the former mayor and deputy mayor slammed Waka Kotahi on the lack of maintenance. But regulation changes made last year for the safety of workers have affected their ability to control weeds in high-speed and high-ex posure traffic environments - including these 70kmh zones.

Nelson drivers vented their frustration on Facebook last week, with one person labelling the weeds “embarrassing” while another has compared them to “a scene from ‘I am Leg end’” - the post-apocalyptic thriller starring Will Smith. “Looks terrible and not safe for drivers of small cars, you cannot see the other side,” says one commenter. “I struggled to see over the overgrown weeds and I’m a fairly tall person,” agreed another. “I thought I saw a stag living in there the other day,” joked one driver.

Lauren Rameka-iti lauren@nelsonweekly.co.nz Reuben Dudley reuben@nelsonweekly.co.nz

“Everywhere, food and fuel. Especially now mortgage rates are going up as I’m paying for my mortgage on my own.”

Where are you feeling the squeeze?

“Everywhere, all of it. And personally, I don’t think squeezing the masses like this is appropriate. Everyone is trying to live a happy life, and this is impacting in a negative way.”

“Everything is getting really expensive. Fuel’s getting ex pensive, food has gone up.”

“I’m financially okay, but it’s being able to save which is the problem.”

‘Embarrassing’: Waka Kotahi defends weed problem

FROM PAGE 1

However, Mark Owen, Waka Ko tahi regional manager for Wel lington/Top of the South Island, says they “cannot take shortcuts on safety”.

“While we appreciate the con cerns road users and residents raise, our contractors’ safety is vitally important, and we have to follow the health and safety rules for this sort of work.”

He says the higher a road’s speed limit, the greater the safety mea sures required.

“Works in a 70kmh zone require more safety measures than those in a 50kmh one.”

Some of the weeds on SH6, clos er to the Mitre 10 roundabout, were dealt with when resealing work took place from 4 - 7 No vember, Mark says. “Where pos sible, we try to time weed and

vegetation control with planned roadworks.”

The matter was also raised at the inaugural meeting of the joint Nelson Tasman regional trans port committee on Friday.

Emma Speight, Waka Kotahi’s director of regional relation ships, says weed maintenance

is not an urgent priority for the agency and that it was being performed after longer intervals due to it now being less cost-ef fective.

“The aesthetic state of those roundabouts is not a safety risk for the travelling public, and so we can’t prioritise that over other

projects that may have a greater safety risk for the public.”

However, Nelson mayor Nick Smith says the issue isn’t just an aesthetic one but damages Nel son’s reputation as a tourist cen tre.

“We’ve had our guts kicked out of us for two years, we’re trying to get back into business. The first thing [you see when] you drive out of Nelson Airport as a new visitor arriving into the region are weeds that are taller than me now. I don’t accept that it’s a non-safety risk when I can’t see across to the traffic in the other lane coming in the other direction.”

Emma confirmed that prelimi nary investigations have begun into hard (concrete) and soft (landscaping) options to address the problem and reduce ongoing upkeep costs.

Hannah Coote

Daniel Russell-White

Graham Winton

Ashleigh Sketcher

Weeds on the Annesbrook Dr roundabout and the neighbouring traffic island have once again sparked public outrage. Photo: Kate Russell.

Nelson Budget Service to double in size

This Christmas her message is clear.

The Nelson Budget Service is doubling the size of its team in preparation for a dramatic in crease in mortgage rates.

Manager Tessa Bell says the service is once again getting really busy around Christ mas. The Ministry of Social Development-funded service provides budgeting advice to everyone, with most clients self-referred.

Tessa says they are finding people are having to use buy now, pay later to pay for ne cessities.

“Rather than spend less or save more, talk more to the people around you. What a lot of people do not understand is the amount of mental energy that is spent figuring out how to resolve financial issues. We do a lot of advocacy and edu cation,” she says.

But with the Official Cash Rate, OCR, currently set at 4.25 per cent and set to rise again in 2023, Tessa says the service has concerns about the increases in mortgage rates on locals.

“You can’t tell people to spend less if everything costs more. If you have got spare cash, it can be okay to reduce the amount of dining out you do, but even the cost of takeaways is rising. Fish and chips used to be a cheap way to feed the family. But an increase of 5 per cent can take away the fun of life.” Her takeaway tip for the Christmas period is to encour age people to complain.

“If your bank won’t play ball, make noise, raise your voice, but we all need to do it to gether to get the industry to change.”

TRACY ALLAN

Nelson Budget Service manager Tessa Bell says they are getting busy. Photo: Max Frethey.

Facebook disagreement ends in fine

TRACY NEAL Open Justice Reporter

Dylan Stephens walked from court, smiling, as his friend pat ted him on the back.

He’d just received a lighter pen alty than he might have, after a Facebook discussion about vacci nation turned aggressive and Ste phens sent the woman he was de bating with a short video showing people getting shot.

His exit from court on Monday painted a different picture to that of the sullen figure in the dock, listening to the judge consider his penalty.

Stephens had initially appeared in October on charges of dis tributing objectionable material,

said to be of a violent nature, and threatening to kill/do grievous harm by verbal threat.

At the time, the court asked for more information before decid ing on a penalty.

The 35-year-old was sentenced on Monday on the reduced charge of distributing an objec tionable publication to a person, as a fine-only matter after the court was satisfied it was appro priate in the circumstances of the extra evidence provided.

The charge in relation to the threat was withdrawn.

In August last year, a woman who worked in the healthcare sector was taking part in an online con versation through Facebook.

She and Stephens were unknown

to each other, but the woman ex pressed concern about the nature of some of the anti-vaccination posts on social media.

The woman then posted what was described as evidence-based information, and Stephens then responded to the woman via the private messaging channel on Facebook.

Stephens told the woman to “re turn to her own country”, despite not knowing her background and sent her a link to anti-vaccination sites.

Stephens was said to have then abused her by swearing at her and then blocked her on Facebook. The woman considered it was the end of the matter, but Stephens then unblocked the woman and

sent her a short, one-minute vid eo that contained explicit mate rial described as “very graphic” images of people being shot. The woman reported it to the police, who were said to be con cerned not only that Stephens had access to the video but also that he had distributed it.

Judge Jo Rielly said it was “ex tremely concerning”, and that no matter what his views were on vaccination, sending someone such a video was “simply unac ceptable”.

She said the victim impact state ment revealed a mature and ro bust person but receiving the video had made a “significant im pact” on her.

“No one should have to view this

material,” Judge Rielly said.

Judge Rielly said that on the ba sis of the evidence submitted in relation to his behaviour, she was satisfied the reduced charge was warranted and indicated a fine of $500.

Judge Rielly then stood the mat ter down to consider information on Stephens’ previous offending handed up late by the police, and he was fined $750 after incurring an uplift based on the new infor mation.

O PE N

Amazing Chafe pushes firefighters for mental health

A marathon run by firefighters from across the region has raised almost $2500 for men’s mental health and cancer prevention. The Amazing Chafe run from Rabbit Island to Tāhunanui, is the brainchild of career firefight er Will Bloodworth who has lost friends and family to both suicide and cancer.

He says the day was a success, with both career and volunteer firefighters and their families from Nelson and Stoke stations taking part, the youngest run ner, just 7-years-old, completing 5kms with his dad.

“I had this idyllic image in my head that I would cross the finish line and all the families, kids etc. would all be enjoying each other’s company, playing, and getting on,” he says. “In reality, it was a cold, drizzly start to the day.”

But with no wind it made for perfect running conditions and helped him stay hydrated, he says.

“I also had these ‘cramp stop

pills’ which I was to take as I ran around the course. For ease I put them in a clear zip lock bag so I could get to them and they wouldn’t rattle around. It did look rather dodge though, every now

and then I would pull out this bag and drop some pills.”

Will says he plotted the course, but did so slightly incorrectly, so those who ran the marathon length actually ran 43km not the

42.2 required.

“I waited a few days, let the pain from the run subside before I in formed them,” he laughs.

Will thanks everyone who do nated to his Movember page and

hopes next year to raise even more.

“I tried to thank everyone per sonally, but there were also anon ymous donations. So if you’re reading this, thank you.”

Open Justice — Te Pātiti, a Public Interest Journalism initiative funded through NZ on Air

Around 30 firefighters and their families took part on the Amazing Chafe last month. Photo: Supplied.

Waka Kotahi ‘sorry’ for chaotic SH6 closure

MAX FRETHEY Local Democracy Reporter

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith grilled Waka Kotahi’s Emma Speight on the chaotic closure of State Highway 6/Whakatu Drive for resealing last month during the first meeting of the joint regional transport com mittee in what, at times, felt like a trial by fire for the trans port agency’s representative.

Emma, Waka Kotahi’s director for regional relationships for Wellington and the Top of the South, said the closure of the main link between Nelson and Richmond on 5-6 November was a frustrating and difficult time for drivers.

“What we discovered in the weekend was that the delays were absolutely beyond… what was acceptable for the community.”

She added that while a full closure of the highway over the weekend was the right decision when compared to 3-4 weeks of stop/go traffic management, it was clear the communication regarding the

road’s closure was insufficient and coordination with local organisations during the clo sure needed to be stepped up.

However, the admission didn’t seem to entirely satisfy Nick.

“To see the mums in tears who thought they were doing a ten-minute trip to the su permarket and didn’t get out of traffic for five hours and feeding babies on the side of the road; medical doctors who did not get to the hospital for operations… it was totally un acceptable what occurred that weekend,” the mayor said.

“I personally believe that Waka Kotahi owes the Nelson community an apology.”

“It made for extremely long days,” he said.

“It certainly needs to be done better next time.”

Emma said she was “more than happy” to apologize.

“We’re sorry that people were impacted in that way. That is certainly not what we set out to do.”

Now the ordeal was in the past, Emma hoped residents would appreciate the work

that was done.

“I do hope people are able to enjoy the fact they have now a road that is fit for use.”

State Highway 6/Whakatu Drive shouldn’t need to be resealed again for about 10 years.

Emma, was however, able to give a positive update on the State Highway 6 closure through the Whangamoa Sad dle.

“We’re seeing some really great progress,” she said. “The teams are working day and night.”

The road is still “very much” on track to fully reopen on 18 December, though she added that the agency is keeping an eye on an incoming weath er system that’s due to hit the region midway through the week.

“That’s a big risk for us… but otherwise we’re currently tracking to have it fully open then.”

Nelson Lioness Club Members Val Whyte, Jan Wood, and Val Barnes Wood joined other members from Nelson’s Lions and Lionesses Clubs in Lap the Map last month. November was World Diabetes Month and Lap the Map is part of promoting a healthy lifestyle and raising awareness of diabetes in New Zealand. Lions clubs across New Zealalnd are hosting walks, hoping the combined distance of those participating will surpass the length of New Zealand’s 15,000 km coastline. Just one of the walkers has diabetes. Eric Whyte was diagnosed with Type 1, 50 years ago. He says the initial diagnosis was a shock, but good education and doing as he’s told mean he hasn’t had a lot of problems with diabetes. He appreci ates the support of Lions and Lioness Clubs throughout the country who contribute a lot of support to Diabetes New Zealand most years.

Photo: Jenny Nicholson.

Nelson Santa Parade

Sunny skies, Santa, and even a few grinches all made an appearance at this year’s Nelson Santa Parade, which had a successful return after last year’s Covid-enforced cancellation. Thousands of people came into the city centre on Sunday afternoon to watch the parade, which set off from Hardy St and travelled down Trafalgar St. Parade organiser Alex Bradley says the day couldn’t have gone better. “We are very hap py with the turnout. The streets were packed with people getting into the Christmas spirit.” Around 50 floats were involved in this year’s parade and Alex says everyone was excited to take part. “It was very cool to bring the parade back in Nelson after not having one last year. A massive thank you to those who were involved in making it happen and to those who came to support it.”

Photos: Kate Russell.

Young teen making career from fishing

SARA HOLLYMAN

Most kids dream of turning their hobby into a career, but for Nelson teenager Flyn Jack, the dream is already becoming a reality.

Flyn, who turned 16 just last week, is building a successful career doing what he loves; fishing.

He has picked up major global sponsors who now supply him with his boat, engine and fish ing gear.

Flyn travels around the coun try, and now the world, with his sponsors, while they film him fishing with profession al film crews for their content used across the globe. He also does research and develop ment for international elec tronics company Simrad and carries out on-water testing for Huntsman products.

His current boat, which will likely be upgraded in the next 12-18 months, is a 7m fibre glass Huntsman Centurian named ‘Double Trouble’ that Flyn describes as “a beast”.

Flyn started fishing when he was just two-years-old when his family used to spend three to four months in Okiwi Bay every year.

After a short stint of not own ing a boat, during which time he took up river angling, he missed getting out on the wa ter.

“When I was 11 we bought a bigger boat and I started fish ing again. We started catching some decent fish and getting a bit of publicity.”

He shared some of his catches to Instagram and Facebook.

“Flyn was a little tacker and Huntsman Boats said ‘hey, we’d love you to wear some

of our tee shirts and get some photos’ and that’s where it all started,” says Flyn’s dad, Paul Jack.

Paul now manages the busi ness side of Flyn Jack Fishing. While the life he is building could be the envy of any rec reational fisher, Flyn is humble and puts his success down to an incredible team of people supporting him.

He says a key moment in his career was meeting Taiwanese fisherman Edward Lee, when he was hosting a fishing sem inar in Nelson.

“He really is one of the best fishermen on the planet,” Flyn says.

So, at the seminar, he intro duced himself to Edward.

“The next day I saw him down at the Glen Beach and I mes saged him and said ‘hey, do you want to go fishing’.

“That afternoon we went out in the bay, he taught me so much in such a small bit of time.”

Edward taught Flyn about technique and understanding tides and current, as well as how to fight fish.

He gave Flyn some fishing gear and, as their friendship grew, invited Flyn to go to Malaysia, fishing.

Flyn was just 12-years-old.

“That friendship has really grown and he’s pretty much my mentor now, he’s taught me a lot of what I know, his involvement helped me get my name out there and help me catch more big fish.”

He says over the last year and a half the business has really started to grow and sparked ideas for the future.

“That’s where I started to un derstand there’s a few paths I can take with this, I’m still try

ing to figure it all out.

“I would love for it to grow even further but I do also have other dreams that are very much fishing related,” he says.

“My end goal is to be a profes sional sport-fishing captain on a 90-ft sport-fishing vessel out of somewhere like Mexico or Cabo.

“That’s my dream, to be on a sport-fishing boat travelling the planet.”

He’s already working on the goal, starting to sit the tickets required to make it happen.

Working on a charter boat in the Abel Tasman helps him gets his hour count up so that when he turns 18 he’s ready to start taking the tests and get ting the licences he needs.

He says there’re a lot of catches that he has celebrated over the years but the one that stands out most was a fish he caught on a three-day fishing charter out of Tauranga in June 2021.

It was a 65kg southern bluefin tuna.

“Every year we get a run where the tuna come really close to the coast of New Zealand, one of the techniques I use is jig ging, which is using an artifi cial lure kind of shaped like a fish.

“On the second day of the trip it was glass-calm conditions. We were about 100km offshore, so a long way out and we decided to stay the night off-shore.

He says at around 9pm they began picking up a strange sign on the sonar so he decid ed to chuck a jig over to see what it was.

“I ended up hooking a bluefin tuna on my kingfish gear, so I was very much under-gunned. About an hour and a half later

I landed what we believe to be New Zealand’s first southern bluefin tuna caught on a jig.”

Flyn has recently returned from five days filming at D’Urville Island and after Christmas will have two weeks filming in the North Island.

In April he will head to Oman for two weeks on a trip targeting 100kg-class yellowfin tuna on top water gear.

“But all these work trips are fantastic, I love it, I couldn’t think of anything else better to do.”

He says he gets a lot of people asking for tips on how to land the big one, and his one piece of advice; be pa tient.

“People say ‘don’t leave fish to find

fish’. If you’ve found a school of fish and you’re fishing it, the chances are there’s going to be a big one around, you just have to be patient, don’t rush it, because eventually the time will come when that fish bites.”

“We’ll go up to D’Urville and fish from 8am to 8pm in one spot, Flyn would’ve cast 1000 casts and we’ll stay there and stay there and we always catch a big one, it’s only one but it’s massive,” Paul adds.

Both Flyn and Paul say they are proud of the partnership they have built with their sponsors – Huntsman Boats, Honda Marine, Simrad, Hella Marine Lighting and the most recent addition, Japanese brand Sea Falcon.

Flyn Jack with his personal best snapper measuring 83.5cm caught in Tasman Bay this season.

Photo: Supplied.

Airport welcomes new fire truck

JACK MALCOLM

Nelson Airport’s fire service welcomed their new $1.4 million truck on Thurs day, which was highlighted by a demon stration of its firefighting capabilities and a water salute.

The Rosenbauer Panther fire truck, named Flick, is a state-of-the-art ma chine that meets the specialist nature of airport firefighting operations.

Flick is set up to deliver foam and water within seconds of arrival at an incident, features that are not standard for other emergency firefighting vehicles.

The truck can carry up to three times as much water and two-and-a-half times as much foam as their previous truck, and it can all be controlled from the driver’s seat.

While training will be required for the crew before the new truck comes into full operation, Nelson Airport chief ex

ecutive Mark Thompson says Flick will give Nelson Airport’s Rescue Fire Ser vice state-of-the-art specialist airport firefighting capability, as well as provid ing greater protection for the firefight ers if responding to events.

“Our airport firefighters are an essential component of ensuring safe operations for every operator and traveller using

Nelson Airport, and they can respond within minutes in the event of any inci dent requiring emergency support.”

The truck will also be used as an emer gency response asset for the entire Nelson-Tasman region when required, working with FENZ on making Flick available for regional emergency re sponse without compromising the safe

ty of airport operations.

Flick’s name came from a public com petition which was judged by the Tas man Mako and representatives from the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programme.

To reduce costs, Flick was purchased as part of a bulk order by several collabo rating airports.

Port Nelson welcomes back bigger ships to the region

Port Nelson has welcomed the first large vessel since a major re development to its Main South Wharf.

On Saturday, 3 December, the container vessel MSC Langsar visited Port Nelson, the first ves sel over 260m in length to visit since the redevelopment, and berthed on Main Wharf South.

The $20 million dollar invest ment to upgrade the wharf was completed in November 2021 and involved redeveloping the main wharf’s northern section,

increasing the port’s earthquake resilience, moving main wharf container operations further away from residential neigh bours, and future-proofing the port to accommodate larger ves sels.

The trend towards the use of larg er vessels has continued to grow over recent years as container shipping lines seek to optimise the environmental and economic efficiency of sea freight.

Port Nelson has previously been able to routinely receive vessels

up to 250m in length.

A Port Nelson spokesperson says the arrival of MSC Langsar is part of a process to normalise the arrival of vessels up to 265m in length.

This increase in operating param eters comes following the invest ment some years ago in a new tug, the increase in the operating length of Main Wharf South and detailed modelling and planning for larger vessel movements. The spokesperson says, with the increased vessel capacity Port

Nelson will be well-placed to sus tain international vessel arrivals for many years to come.

Along with the visitation of larger vessels, Port Nelson will also ben efit from new and existing ship ping services coming into or back to the region, including the com mencement of a new trans-Tas man service from Move Logistics, starting next week.

Move Logistics will operate a vessel between Tasmania in Aus tralia and a number of New Zea land ports, including Nelson. The new route provides a more efficient process, streamlining coastal freight links and enabling direct delivery of fish feed from

Tasmania, reducing costs for the industry. The service, set to com mence with a charter vessel next week, has been welcomed news by customers of the aquaculture industry.

Container shipping continues to be constrained by berthing delays, labour shortages at New Zealand ports, and the pressures from the ad-hoc sliding of planned vessels continuing to force freight costs to remain high.

Port Nelson says the planned in creased capacity from the addi tional services and larger vessels calling, will improve reliability and hopefully reduce costs for the region’s importers and exporters.

Authorised by W Durning, 41 Pipitea Street, Wellington

The new firefighting truck, named Flick, shows off its capabilities in a demonstration as part of its welcome to Nelson Airport on Thursday. Photo: Jack Malcolm.

Jingjing finding balance in cultures

TRACY ALLAN

Honouring her connection with the land of Aotearoa and the spiritual elements of her Chinese culture, Jingjing Jackson believes that every living being should be valued and respected.

Jingjing works to incorporate what she is learning in te reo Māori classes into her traditional tai chi classes.

She says, because New Zealand is surrounded by water and our body is made up of 70 to 90 per cent water, “it is important to honour the water element in our body flowing towards the lowest point”.

She is looking forward to the new year to put her ongoing te reo Māori lessons and understand ing of Te Wharenui - the four di mensions of Māori well-being, to good use.

In Te Whare Tapa Whā, a mod el of understanding of Māori health, if one of the four dimen sions is missing or in some way damaged, a person may become ‘unbalanced’ and subsequently unwell.

Jingjing’s journey to New Zea land first took her to the Rudolf Steiner village in Yorkshire, Unit

ed

six months into her arrival has al lowed her to connect more with her clients.

“People feel I can hold their emo tion, stress or pain.” Jingjing says.

“There is such a long waiting list for therapy sessions, but my bodywork can offer some relief,” she says of her holistic practice that she learnt in Nelson.

Resilient and upbeat, Jingjing has been given the name happy or ‘harikoa’ from her te reo class mates.

“The classes are great. We are sharing food together and learning a holistic way of living through song, movement and telling stories.”

Next year, Jingjing will begin a project to offer bodywork to kaumātua at the Whakatū Marae while learning te reo.

Incorporating it into a series of tai chi movements is something she is keen to explore.

The former legal professional has now opened her own Healing Hut in central Nelson to help Nelson residents find their balance. Here she combines her knowl edge and experience of Chinese medicine and psychology, with her study of tai chi, yin yoga and holistic pulsing.

Kingdom. Here she lived for two years in a money-free community provid

ing support to people with special needs with day-to-day living and their yoga practice.

Moving to New Zealand eight years ago, she acknowledges the grief of losing her Kiwi husband

Jingjing Jackson incorporated te reo Māori into her traditional tai chi. Photo: Tracy Allan.

Mark French and Vicki Head

Olwyn Coe, Maria Reid, John Turner and John Gilbertson

Melissa and Amy Walker

Helen Brown and Tania Levett

Sally Grimmett, Linda Butler, Madeline Carroll, Janette Hueting and Wendy Wilson

Amanda Field, Susan MacAskill and Trish Sullivan

Debbie Paish, Kathy Ruffell and Chris Dunn

Donald McMenamin, Mary Willett and Matthew McMenamin

Libby MacAskill and Di Barker Rebecca Bird and Shena Wallace

Nayland College Dux dreams to work on space technology

Max Hosking learnt the skills for his part-time job in his own time, learning how to code using on line tutorials.

The Nayland College dux says it started with him wanting to learn how to control some microcon trollers he was given.

At first it was just experimenting, learning how to make lights flash in patterns, but it grew into a hobby that saw him help in creat ing a climbing wall with light-up holds that can be used to create your own route.

Max works for a technology com pany making software that’s used in commercial weigh stations. While he was still studying, it was once a week, but he says he’s working almost full time through summer before he starts engi neering at the University of Can terbury.

He plans to study mechatronics, which he says covers the bases of his interests in software and elec tronics.

“I don’t know about one specific (dream) company to work for … but I’ve always thought working for a space technology company like Rocket Lab or SpaceX would be cool.”

Max says he loves challenging himself in figuring out the best way to make things work, which he incorporated into his study af ter completing Year 13 calculus in Year 11.

“I don’t know if that makes me a nerd, but math has always been a big one for me.

“I like the challenge of solving a problem. When you’ve got it and there’s that ‘yes’ satisfaction.”

Having already done the hard est math class offered at the high school level, Max did 100-level university math papers in years 12 and 13.

He studied economics, phys

ics, chemistry and math 120 as courses this year, saying he chose economics to earn his university entrance for literacy because his friends said it was interesting.

Max has amassed 198 excellence credits over his NCEA tenure, saying it would be more if he had done NCEA maths instead of

university-level papers. He was offered a $5000 scholar ship and a $500 one-off scholar ship for calculus because that was the only one he applied for.

Max wanted to thank his teachers right throughout his schooling life, and his parents Paula and Neil.

JACK MALCOLM

Nayland College’s dux Max Hosking says maths, which he completed at a university level, is his favourite subject because of the satisfaction that comes with solving problems. Photo: Jack Malcolm.

Have your say: sara@topsouthmedia.co.nz facebook.com/nelsonweekly

Te reo translations

Just sat down to read a paper, Nelson Weekly, and the article ti tled ‘Rescue Helicopter Push-up campaign a success’ read: ‘Peo ple from Japan to the Australian Outback, and all over Te Tau Ihu’ and it carries on. However, I have NEVER heard the Mao ri phrase before and feel many people wouldn’t have either!!

Suggestion: How about either writing it in English or putting a definition after it. Where in New Zealand is the above-mentioned place, please??Maori only make up 16.5% of the population here so let’s make the speech or writ ten word easy for us to all under stand. We also have quite a few immigrants who, also, would be totally baffled.Thanks for bearing with me

Hazel Marriott

Nelson’s expensive rubbish

Rates used to include rubbish bags. Now everyone has their head in the trough, sadly.

Sue Sara

What happened to the big pa per bags they used to give every household? 50 bags, twice a year!

PK Bee

Yes, they are expensive and non-degradable.

Kahurangi Hippolite

Why are we still using plastic non-compostable rubbish bags?

Jacqui Deans

The only way to reduce your rub bish disposal cost is to be smart er when making purchases. The packaging needs to be recyclable, i.e a paper bag.

John Sauer

You used to get 52 bags every year as part of your rates, so what’s happened councils? Those blue bags are such low quality.

Frances Minogue

Do remember 40 years ago? The rubbish was in council heavy rubbish sacks. 10 cents a bag and the super gave you free heavy re cycled paper bags? Lessons not learnt.

Robert Liley

Remembering Roger Ledingham

He was such a lovely man, a great teacher.

Kate

Hislop

Ahhh Mr Ledingham! I remem ber him telling my mother *Kate has no sh** show in Hell of pass ing school cert history!!! And he was bloody right, however I enjoyed it and he was a great teacher, very dry but to the point! RIP Mr Led. You certainly were a character!

Kate Nichols

‘Natalie, you will have to really knuckle down and stop distract ing your peers if you want to smash history this year.....’ thanks Mr Ledingham I always valued your advice.

Natalie Ewing

Grease is the word for young actor

Exciting Chey well done looking forward to the show.

Lynette Ewers

How exciting! Can’t wait to see everyone in action. We’ll done to all crew that have spent hours putting this show

together. Shelley Illingworth

This is going to be one electrify ing show!

Alexei D’Ath

Super excited to go see this. Peter Blasdale

All aboard as new park opens for summer

This is an amazing park and play ground incorporating established plantings, where the old mod eler’s pond was and the model er’s miniature trains. Very much complementing playgrounds that already there.

Susi Taylor

A fairy nice day out

Love. Well done, Beryl. You are amazing.

Grace Clark

Beryl, you’re amazing! And the wings and tiara totally suit you.

Sonja Walker

Beautiful lady inside and out. Tracey Mutton

Fantastic! Beryl Sharp, you’re a legend!

Aww. good for you.

Beryl Sharp

Looking gorgeous. Lynda Sturkenboom

Who else would fit the job? You’re the best B.

Beryl Thomas Wallace

Good on you, Beryl. How much fun it looks!

Mabin House Body & Skin Sanc tuary

Absolute angel. Nicola Nish

Awesome Beryl, a wonderful tribute.

Deidre Rowe

What a beauty! Janelle Johnson Paul Gardiner

Oh Beryl, you’re amazing. Emma Louise

Santa Parade success

After two years of social restric tion with events, Sunday’s Santa Parade was like a welcome cele bration - a happy ‘blast from the past’.

Anton Hyman

Upcoming Talking Cafés

Thursday 8th Dec 10 11 30am

Nightingale Library, 2 Beach Road, Tāhunanui

Tuesday 13th Dec 10 11 30am

Burning Edge Café, 98 Main Road, Tapawera

Tuesday 13th Dec 1 30 3pm

Richmond Library, 280 Queen Street, Richmond

Tuesday 20th Dec 10 11 30am

McCashin s Brewery, 660 Main Road Stoke

Tuesday 10th Jan 1 30 3pm

Richmond Library, 280 Queen Street, Richmond

It’s all on the app Are you?

Alison Lonsdale

1 Billabong beach towel - $54.99, Billabong cooler bag - $49.99, Sun Bum 50+ sunscreen lotion - $33 | Amazon Surf Skate Denim

2 Forget Me Knot earring light gold - $49.99, Forget Me Knot necklace light gold - $69.99 | Moochi

3 Inflatable arm bands - $24.99, Snorkel and mask$44.99, Inflatable boogie board - $49.99, Inflatable swimming pool - $59.99 | Cotton On Kids

4 Dear Santa it wasn’t me women’s tee - $25, Steve Rhodes Smells like Christmas men’s tee - $35 | Jay Jays

5 LA X confetti silver glitter avarcas - $139, Silver glitter earrings - $35 | The Rock Box

6 Billie Eilish for Gucci black grey sunglasses - $715, David Beckham ochre blue avio sunglasses - $259.90 | Sunglass Style

7 House of chocolate white nuts cracker - $29.90, Fruney christmas tree cookie - $19.90, Checklist taupe checkered notebook - $24.90, Ashley & Co Hello Hands wash up gift set - $59.90 | Flo & Frankie

8 Black geometric backpack - $69.99, Summer scarf - $15 | Merric

9 Christmas socks, $7.99 a pair or two for $12, Pink/aqua 2pk flower hair claws - $15.99 | Dotti

10 The Lodge candle - $99, iPhone 13 cover - $79, Pointer card holder - $99, Kingston shave bag - $199 | Rodd & Gunn

11 Archer House sun visor - $20, Archer House stone flowery silky scarf - $20, Archer House pink/green flowery silky scarf - $20 | Hartleys

Morrison Square has all the inspiration you need to delight your loved ones this Christmas.

Victory green thumbs scoop award

KATE RUSSELL

Victory Primary School’s youngest green thumbs have scooped an award for their flourishing school gar den.

The school won the prize for the most established school garden at the recent Mi tre10 Mega Nelson/Tasman School Garden Awards.

Teacher Suzy Garlick, who runs the school’s garden club, says it has been going for just over a year and they meet every Thursday at lunchtime.

“It is by choice, but it is al ways really popular. We plant seeds, weed, water the garden, see what has been growing, and look at the things that we have plant ed,” she says.

“I love it, it is the high light of my week because I get this bunch of kids on a Thursday waiting to go.”

As well as the award, the school received a $250 Mi tre10 voucher to go towards

some new supplies that Suzy says are “much need ed”.

“We were wondering how we were going to get some new supplies, so having some money to spend on some good quality equip ment is great.”

Lucas Kerr, who Suzy says is the “stalwart” of the club, is also keen to get a wheelbar row they can use, too.

The nine-year-old is also a keen gardener at home.

“I’ve been able to take home some cabbages and arti chokes from the garden,” he says. “We are also growing rocket, flowers, beans, and herbs.”

Lucas says one of the high lights for the club this year was harvesting kumara for the Matariki hāngī.

Other schools to pick up prizes at the inaugural awards were Richmond School for the most sustain able garden, and Murchison Area School for the garden with the most potential.

Union pickets after ‘insulting’ pay offer by Te Whatu Ora

MAX FRETHEY Local Democracy Reporter

Union disability support work ers picketed outside the Nelson Hospital after they say they were offered an “insulting” pay of fer during negotiations with Te Whatu Ora Nelson Marlborough. The Public Service Association (PSA) union represents 230 dis ability support workers and is seeking a greater pay increase than the 3 per cent rise given by the Government due to the high cost of living and difficult condi tions they work in.

But union members are frustrat ed with Te Whatu Ora’s conduct during the ongoing bargaining process.

“I’ve done quite a few rounds of bargaining, and I’ve never met such actually disdainful resis tance,” says PSA delegate and support worker, Amanda Gor don.

The union recently rejected a oneoff $400 pro rata payment, with the promise of another $1,500 pro rata payment next year.

“It’s insulting and disgusting,” says Michael Corcoran, anoth er union delegate and support worker.

“I was appalled by the offer.”

“[Te Whatu Ora] are making what I do out to be a joke,” Aman da agreed.

“I don’t feel like we’re asking for

a lot.”

PSA organiser Kate Davis says workers want both of those pay ments now, which she said would “nearly” keep their pay up with inflation.

Disability support workers do almost everything for their charges, including helping them dress, bathe, and go to the toi let, alongside cooking, cleaning, medicating, providing emotional support, attending appointments,

and cleaning up blood, vomit, and faeces when needed, while sometimes being subjected to violence in the complex needs houses.

“Anything to do with running their life, you are doing because they literally cannot do it on their own,” Amanda says.

“And you do this all with kind ness and with good humour be cause you’re caring for a human being.”

All these pressures are also exac erbated by being “horrendously” understaffed.

“The excess of hours some of our people are working at the mo ment are dangerous to them and, to an extent, for the people they care for,” Michael says.

For Amanda and Michael, the Friday picket was held to demon strate to Te Whatu Ora that dis ability support workers were underappreciated and deserved

better remuneration.

“Te Whatu Ora, you’re making us poorer,” was the chant favoured by the picketers.

Currently the entry-level pay for someone in disability support is $22.49 an hour, Michael says, just $1.20 more than minimum wage. “Why would you do this job if you had an alternative?” He asked. “It’s a great job in many ways… but it’s grossly underpaid, under appreciated, undervalued, and underacknowledged.”

Te Whatu Ora district director Lexie O’Shea says the agency wouldn’t comment on the ongo ing negotiations with the union but applauded the disability sup port workforce.

“Our valuable staff do amazing work in our community, offering care, support and compassion to people with disabilities.”

Amanda says it’s important for disability support workers to get adequate remuneration.

“One trip, one car accident or knock on the head, and you could be in a care and support service. Do you want those people to be paid at a rate that makes them feel valued?”

Victory Primary School garden glub members, from left, Lucas Kerr (9), Marie Pemberton (10), Waiata Randall (5), Eva Cooper (11), and Jayms Kohu (8). Photo: Kate Russell.

PSA union disability support workers did a lunchtime picket outside Nelson Hospital on Friday after receiving a pay offer one delegate described as “insulting.” Photo: Max Frethey.

Coming home to play a special part in the community

After a brief stint away, the op portunity to come home was too good to pass up for Brendon and Vicky Rae, the new owners of New World Stoke. Growing up in the region, Brendon’s love for retail was ‘locked in’ while studying for his Bach elor of Commerce at the age of 18. Working part time at Fresh Choice Richmond, while at tending Polytech, it was there that he realised his passion for the industry and the dream to be a business owner was born. Doing the hard graft, Brendon worked his way through the ranks and was quickly promot ed to grocery manager before working on the supplier side of the business. “Matt and Gary Watson provided me with a fantastic grounding and un derstanding for this sector. From then, I knew this was the industry I wanted to be involved in. After ten years I jumped back to the super market side, but this time un der the Foodstuffs coopera tive at Pak'nSave Richmond. I worked for Andrew Howard as store manager for eight years and during that time Andrew became a real mentor for me. "He helped me work my way through the Foodstuffs De velopment Programme which allowed me the opportu nity to become an approved owner/operator.”

One of the country's youngest New World owner operators, Brendon says it is the spirit of the brand that aligns with their family's own values. “New World is an amazing place to work no matter where in New Zealand you are located. It's a supermarket that offers some thing that no other supermar ket can, an incredible shop

ping experience!” Offering an amazing range of products, quality fresh goods, customer service that is second to none, and a heavy community in volvement, the couple are over the moon to be delivering the ‘New World experience’ back on their home turf. Eleven months after leaving Nelson, the couple took over the Stoke store on August 15. “Nelson is our home and the goal was al ways to settle back here at some point. We had recently moved to Christchurch to purchase New World Kaiapoi, but when New World Stoke came on the market it was far too good of an opportunity to pass up, par ticularly because our family

and friends were all based back in Nelson.” “I love the retail industry, its fast -paced and there's always something new and exciting happening, but for me it's all about the people! I love the social and interactive aspect of our industry. Wheth er it's working closely with our incredible team, assisting our valuable customers, working collaboratively with our sup pliers or being out and about in our local community, that's where my passion for our in dustry derives from.” Navi gating their way through the Covid pandemic, Brendon says it was a tough time for everybody, presenting some unique challenges. “We faced

staff shortages, major supply issues, panic buying and lev els of stress and anxiety that I have never seen before. It was amazing to see how everyone rallied together to do what was required! Supermarkets were a really important part of the Covid pandemic response, and I was unbelievably proud of how our industry handled the past couple of years.”

Never compromising on quali ty, Brendon says his exception al staff members help to make

the local store unique and are the key to its success. “New World Stoke has an amazing team culture which translates through to our exceptional customer service. "Our staff are professional, friendly and always willing to go the extra mile. Whether it's a greeting at the front door, being assisted to help find a product, having a chat at our checkouts or having your groceries delivered, our customer service is what we are famous for. Our customers

can expect an awesome shop ping experience every time they shop with us. "We will continue to challenge the norm by implementing new ideas, consistently look to improve our range and our standards and provide the best customer service. Customers will see a family that is enthusiastic and passionate about our industry, and who want to be an essen tial part of their community.”

Brendon, Vicky and their two children, Bridon and Harlo, look forward to further devel oping the special role that their store plays in the community. “We will look to communicate with our customers regularly via social media channels and look for new innovative ways to assist our customers' busy lives with meal solutions and our online shopping service. I also hope to develop and grow our business to service a much larger part of our re gion. We are a supermarket first and foremost, but we want to be more than that, we want to be a part of the com munity, be involved with local

businesses, sports teams and schools. This is where I believe we can make our biggest impact.” Bringing fresh, quality products to their customers every day, whether it be delicious, handcrafted sausages from the butch ery, beautifully made salads and spin ach and feta frittatas from the deli or mouth-watering brioche buns and cream donuts from the bakery, the

quality of their products are excep tional. “We offer convenient meal so lutions, fresh department products of the highest quality, fantastic custom er promotions such as ‘Little Garden’, and our current ‘Spiegelau Premium Glass giveaway’, and to top it off we can deliver your groceries to you with our new online shopping service!” newworld.co.nz

Stoke New World Managers: From back left to front right; Selwyn, Kath, Julie, Mandy, Charlie, Wayne, Brendon - Owner, Neil, Dianne, Rashitha, Jenny and Chelsey. Absent, Mo, Jamie and Gary.

Locally owned and operated, online food delivery platform, YUMMi, works with participating restaurants and cafes across the region to get your food order delivered directly to your door.

Offering a range of hard to beat In-Store prices the platform can be used to setup your own food delivery service in your area, order food to be delivered, or use the pickup op tion to order in ad vance and collect yourself.

“To give more detail about our In-Store prices, we only charge 10% commission to our restaurants and because of this many of them do not feel the need to raise their prices. For these res taurants we tag them with In-Store prices on our app and web site. Other restau rants without the tag may have raised prices but more likely will still be cheap er than other food

delivery apps,” says owner George Evans. Get all your deliveries in minutes. Visit www.yummi.co.nz for more information.

Locally owned, Kiwi Kai Nelson is the creator of Atutahi Natives - an innova tive NZ Made product range from NZ Native leaves created and produced here in sunny Nelson.

Managing Director, Reni Wereta-Gargi ulo says, “With our whanau rongoa back ground and robust cu linary skills we solve the inquisitiveness that the consumer and international tourists have around Māori / Native ingredients.”

Proud to offer a new chutney range, the team dare you to try their Kanuka & Beet root Chutney paired with a great cheese.

Decadent with hot meats or cold an tipasto platters their Kawakawa &

Mango chutney is a winner for every festive occasion.

Horopito & Tomato has a real strong sun dried taste and is especially good on cheese boards or dolloped on top of pasta. Make it a Kiwi Christmas by purchasing unique Christmas gift packs and stock ing fillers. Starting from $35, Kiwi Kai’s gift packs contain Atutahi drinks, Chutneys, Kawhe and other Nelson artisan products.

Gift the healing power of herbs this Christ mas! Creating festive treats for all, Waiheke Herbs provide the perfect range of delicious and decadent artisan gifts - from bespoke Herb Salts and mouth-watering Aioli’s to super-food Herb Spreads, plus a beautiful range of colloidal silver skincare products.

The unique range of NZ-made, award winning, hand-crafted healthy condiments is perfect for your summer BBQ’s, picnics, sal ads, meats, breads and dips, and suitable for every palate.

The original herb spread has been a customer favourite since 2006 says founder Wendy Kendall,

“Similar to a pesto but without nuts or dairy, it truly is a 'super-food' packed with nutrition, flavour, vitality and 100% natu ral, plant-based ingredients grown in their beautiful herb gardens on Waiheke Island. Vegan Certified, it has won many awards over the years.

You can find the spreads at Fresh Choice stores in Nelson, or select from the whole range including bespoke gift box sets from the webstore; www.waihekeherbs.co.nz.

Enquiries; info@waihekeherbs.co.nz

Visit the Yummi website or download the app to find all the delicious, local busine sess you can order from.

Waiheke Herb's spreads and aioli’s, a perfect gift to give this Christmas. Visit the Atutahi website or pop into Kiwikai to see there drink range.

Summer tourism season looking healthy

JENNY NICHOLSON

Foreign accents are returning to the region, according to Uniquely Nelson general manager Simon Duffy.

He says, while it is nice to see tourists coming from overseas, the numbers are still not back at pre-Covid 19 levels.

Local tourism operators agree, saying numbers are picking up with both New Zealanders and international tourists coming to the Nelson Tasman region.

Two waves are expected to come, with the first being over the Christmas and New Year period.

Simon says things then drop off a bit before the second wave of those who worked over the hol idays and are taking their break later. There are also more inter nationals in the second wave. He says having the first cruise ship back into Nelson was a “shot in the arm” for local businesses.

Principal economist for Infomet rics, Brad Olsen, says that South Island areas with the strongest economic gains in the September quarter have been those with a greater international tourism fo

cus.

“The recovery of international tourism continues, with rising tourist arrivals, strong tourism expenditure, and more guest nights. Tourism activity has come back stronger than first expect ed,” Brad says.

Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park and Motel bookings are looking very

strong for summer, according to chief executive David Pattinson. He says that summer looks like it will be a bit longer with bookings looking strong further into the season.

Although, traditionally, inter national tourists tend to book during the February to May pe riod, David says they are seeing

some booking now, particularly from Europe and Australia. He says those looking at last-min ute accommodation in a unit may find it difficult.

“Some motels traditionally there for tourists and holiday makers are still being used as emergency housing, so they take stock out of the market.”

Along with tourists, over the past few months Tāhuna Beach Hol iday Park and Motel has accom modated school sports groups, and contractors working on the highway between Nelson and Blenheim.

Bella Vista Motel owner/operator Bruce Hunter says bookings have been off the charts, but it is from the corporate sector rather than tourism.

“International tourism is not what it was, but motels are way ahead with corporate clients,” Bruce says. “You can’t get a room Tuesday to Thursday.”

However, looking forward to Jan uary to March they have a lot of international tourists coming through, particularly from Eu rope.

Abel Tasman Kayaking opera tions manager Craig Moore says they are seeing a few more over seas tourists coming through.

“There are more internationals than locals,” Craig says.

With huts and camp sites heav ily booked in the Abel Tasman, those wanting to kayak are now having to book day trips rather than to stay in the park.

Gadgets and Gizmos take over Nelson Museum

A skeletal mariachi band clatters through a spooky tune. A dinghy crew rows vigorously through rough seas. A man eats spaghetti in the bath.

They perform the same action again and again and are just three among dozens of gadgets and giz mos that make up the new exhibi tion opening at Nelson Provincial Museum this summer.

On tour from London, Curious Contraptions explores small, sur real worlds through fantastical, often amusing mechanical sculp tures known as automata. These whimsical flying, sailing, and cycling machines are brought to life by intricate arrangements of handmade cams, cranks, and oth er simple machines.

Exposed inner workings and lowtech mechanisms invite the view er to understand how each one comes to life with just the push of a button or a crank of a handle. It also includes an ‘ensemble work shop’ for visitors to build their own contraptions.

Not just a play-based experience, this exhibition also encourages fun STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathe matics) learning opportunities for children, families and adults.

Nelson is the first South Island venue for this touring exhibition.

Museum chief executive Lucinda Jimson says Nelson Museum has a

proud history of bringing interna tional shows to the region.

“We are thrilled that we were able to secure this fun and interactive exhibition for summer.”

Curious Contraptions is devel oped and toured by Cabaret Me chanical Theatre.

Director of Cabaret mechanical Theatre, Sarah Alexander, says some of her all-time favourite au tomata are in this exhibition.

“Look out for Peter Markey’s Big Wave Machine, with it’s vibrant colours and ingenious mecha nisms.

“This piece was one of the first machines that my mother bought for her tiny crafts shop, Cabaret, in 1980.”

“This vibrant exhibition is sure to delight children of all ages with its echoes of Pixietown and San ta’s workshop,” Lucinda says. “We know this exhibition will be pop ular with families and hope that Curious Contraptions will spark an interest in our tamariki – the innovators, artists, scientists, en gineers, and fabricators of the fu ture.”

The exhibition is proudly support ed by Munro Dental.

It runs from 16 December 2022 until 19 February 2023 at the Nel son Provincial Museum, 270 Tra falgar Street, Nelson.

Entry by donation for Nelson Tas man residents.

A man eating spagetti in the bath and a skeletal mariachi band (below) will feature in the exhibition.

Photos: Supplied.

The Blue Lake region is one of the local attractions drawing visitors from overseas as local tourism operators see numbers of international tourists increasing. Photo: Jenny Nicholson.

Fa’avae is sportsperson of the year - again

JACK MALCOLM

Twenty-three years after he was first awarded Nelson Sportsper son of the Year, Nathan Fa’avae has again been recognised for his continued success in adventure racing.

He was announced as the winner of the supreme award at the TSM Nelson Sports Awards for his third time on Tuesday evening, after earlier being named as the Nelson Sportsman of the Year.

Nathan’s achievements were stacked up against all the award winners, but also surpassed the achievements of successful ath letes like Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Val Smith.

“I don’t believe my achievements are any greater than the nomi nees, it’s not easy for the judges to choose a winner, I’m just lucky they chose me this time.”

It was a surprise when he was told he was the winner of the award, saying he didn’t even know he had been nominated.

“When Sport Tasman told me, I was legitimately blown away, humbled and grateful.”

Community Trust Sportsman of the Year, his previous wins were in 1999 and 2006.

Nathan is the captain and creator of New Zealand’s top adventure racing team, AVAYA, and the organiser of the world’s largest adventure race geared purely for women alongside his wife Jodie, the Spring Challenge.

He says his passion for the sport came from a thirst for adventure and exploration but his motiva

Other winners...

Basketballer Maia Jones was awarded the Nelson City Coun cil Junior Sportswoman of the Year.

Maia was a key member of the New Zealand Basketball U17 Women’s team where she was their top scorer with an average of 9.4 points per game.

Maia, the daughter of Nelson Giants legend Phill Jones and Nelson Sparks great Kat, says she wouldn’t be where she is without the support of her family.

““I’d have to thank the people involved, especially my mother and my dad. My mum’s been my coach for forever, she’s coached all the teams I’ve been in.

“Dad has helped me with his shooting, as we all know he’s quite a good shooter himself.”

Maia was also a member of the inaugural year of the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa competi tion, playing for the Mainland Pouakai while still in school.

She also played in their 3x3 team, where she finished as one of the competition’s top scorers,

tion comes from a desire to continue being the best.

“The main thing that made me fall in love with adventure racing was the opportunity to travel around the world to some amazing places.

“What keeps motivating me is the challenge to keep performing at that level.”

In 2022, Nathan teamed up with Simone Maier, Chris Forne and Stu Lynch to continue their win ning streak with a sixth con secutive world title, this time in Paraguay, after being unable to

compete in the previous three scheduled editions of the event.

A win earlier in the year in the 710km GodZone adventure race with a time of 5d 23h 55m had shown the team were still in dominant form as they finished ten-and-a-half hours ahead of second place, but they were still a long way away from the world championships.

The team had set the standard in adventure racing by winning the world championship title five years in a row between 2014 and 2018, with teamwork and naviga tion their key strength, but an un fortunate accident to one of their team members in the lead-up saw them have to regroup.

Nathan says their achievement in overcoming the lack of competi tion, as one of the few countries to miss out on last year’s world championships due to border re strictions, was one of the reasons why the win was so special.

“It felt like we had a number of obstacles to overcome to win the title.”

He wanted to thank his family for their loyal support, as well as the award sponsors for the event, the category sponsors, and the judg es.

playing against some of the best female basketballers in the coun try.

Niamh

Fisher-BlackSportswoman of the Year

Despite thinking it was coming up short, Niamh Fisher-Black’s U23 world title saw her awarded the Nel son Bowater Group Sportswoman of the Year award.

Niamh, who comes from a family of accomplished cyclists with younger brother Finn also riding profession ally, came 12th place at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Australia and was the fastest U23 finisher, but hoped for more as a part of the lead pack for the majority of the race.

Made even sweeter was the fact that Niamh had backed her self to compete at the event, having paid for her own way be cause Cycling New Zealand could not afford to.

Niamh says her results have been very special in the last 12 months, having also come first in the junior rider category of the Giro d’Italia world tour race, finishing in fifth place in the general standings.

“I also took a top five in the world tour race called the Giro Donne earlier this year, so that also marked my progression and my development this year. A world title and a rainbow jersey is very special to have in cycling”

Riding with a professional team, SDWorx, her goal is to con tinue on the track she’s been following.

“I love what I do, riding my bike, and I’m very determined and competitive when it comes to racing.”

Above: Nathan Fa’avae, left, and his team AVAYA won their sixth world championship title this year. Photo: Supplied. Right: Nathan receives the Nelson Sportsperson of the Year trophy from Ryan Edwards. Photo: Klint Vicedor.

Maia Jones - Junior Sportswoman of the Year

Zefa Fa’avaeJunior Sportsman of the Year

Zefa Fa’avae has been awarded the Tasman District Council Ju nior Sports Man of the Year for his success in orienteering.

Following in his father’s foot steps, with Nathan having won the supreme award this year, Zefa has carved his own space with a string of impressive results.

Earlier this year he was a member of the New Zealand team at the Australian Orienteering Cham pionship Festival, where he went on to post a string of impressive results.

Day one of racing saw him finish second in the Victorian Middle Distance Championships, be

fore he topped the podium the next day in the M20E grade of the Australian Middle Distance Championships.

After a second place in the sprint race for Senior Boys, he was back on the top perch by winning the Australian Schools Long Dis tance Championships in the se nior boys division.

A third place in the Australian Long Distance Championships was then followed by a second place as part of the M20E NZ re lay team.

Zefa also travelled to Portugal for the Junior World Orienteering champs, where he finished 14th in the long distance and 17th in the middle distance.

Alongside his impressive perfor mance, Zefa has continually im pressed at minor events through out the year as a leader of the strong young contingent of local orienteerers.

He says his training predomi nantly consists of running from home or in the hills, with a little bit of practice on map reading. “It’s really good knowing that you have people supporting you and it helps you keep pushing on.”

Nelson Giants - Sports Team of the Year

The 2022 New Zealand Community Trust Sports Team of the Year are the NBS Nelson Giants.

Selling out Trafalgar Stadium week in and week out, the local basketball team fell just short of a national title with a loss in the semi-finals after coming into the playoffs as the team to beat.

They had led the regular season leaderboard on the back of strong performances from the whole team, who band ed together to create a strong bond that was expressed on court. With local Tom Ingham sidelined for the season with a knee injury it was the imports who impressed, with Trey Mourning, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, having a 35 point and 14 rebound introduc tion to the NBL

He was joined by fellow Americans feisty defensive point guard Jarrod West and big man Sam Thompson to put on a show of highlights for local fans.

The team’s New Zealand players also came to the fore, with local hero Sam Dempsters, the 2022 NBL Most Improved Player, getting experience in a Tall Black jersey after 15 years in the league and young Alex McNaught having since been picked up as an injury replacement by the Breakers.

Nelson Rowing women’s senior coxed eight - Junior Sports Team of the Year

The Junior Sports Team of the Year are Nelson Rowing Club’s women’s senior coxed eight team.

The young group won gold at the 2022 New Zealand rowing championships earlier this year and have all gone on to be awarded scholarships to America.

Brooke Pitchford, Emily Bowden, Meg Flanagan, Kyla Otway, Lucy Munro, Macy Kappely, Nicole Campbell, Orla Fitzgerald and cox Hamish McCulloch dominat ed the A final to win by five seconds over Waikato. Speaking on the awards show, Lucy says they had grown close as a team throughout their training to gether and to see everyone get a scholarship was an exciting prospect for the future. “We just got in the 8 a couple of times and it just went flying, we all clicked.”

“Leading up to nationals you’ve got to be peaking, so i guess it was a lot of hard training, early mornings and long k’s on the water,” says Orla.

“When you get a really cool result at nationals like we did, it definitely is worth it and makes all those tough mornings just feel a lot better.”

Mike

Fitchett Coach of the Year

Nelson Giants head coach Mike Fitch ett was awarded the Sport New Zealand Coach of the Year.

Under his steward ship, he has created a team culture at the Giants that they were able to bring to the court that saw him also awarded the New Zealand NBL Coach of the Year Award. He has also been a Tall Blacks assistant coach under Pero Cameron since 2017.

The Giants fell just short in the playoffs, after having regularly been at the top of the regular season leader boards, but Mike’s attention to detail saw them hold their heads high despite not reaching their ultimate goal.

As a 13-season veteran of the NBL with the Giants as a player from 1999-2012, Mike has the experience as a player that his squad respects and responds to in kind.

He says he always wanted to be a coach, having grown up around the game with his dad, Steve, a long term contributor to Nelson basketball since the 1980s. “Coaching the Giants after playing for the Giants for so long is just a massive honour.”

Joeline Jones - Masters Sportsperson of the Year

Track and field ath lete Joeline Jones is Sports Tasman Masters Sportsper son of the Year for the second year running.

She says it all start ed with the South Islands, where an elderly lady came up to her and said, after watching Joe line compete last year, that she was the person who would break her records. “She thought if anyone was going to beat her records it was going to be me.

“This lady was now in her 70s and I was only five years old when she set these records 35 years ago.”

This year Joeline travelled to the Gold Coast for Pan Pacific Masters Games, where she earned four gold medals from the four W40 events she entered.

Racing in the 60 metre, 100m, 200m and 400m, Joe line asserted her dominance over the field in winning by over a second in several of her races.

She won her 60m sprint by 1.05s with a time of 8.31 and cruised over the finish line more than five seconds in front of her opposition in the 200m with a time of 27.17. Joeline has big aspirations for 2023, exploring options of how she might travel to compete at the World Indoor Games in Poland and improve on her records.

Sports Awards full coverage, winner interviews and videos

Five decades of coaching comes to an end

JACK MALCOLM

A gymnastics coach, who for the better part of two decades has travelled from the West Coast to continue coaching sessions, has stepped into the gym for the last time.

Nelson Gymnastics Women’s Artistic Gymnasts (WAG) head coach Karyn Brown says she doesn’t know what the sport will look like in Nelson with the ab sence of Howard Hill.

The veteran of the sport made his last trip to Nelson to host a coaching session over the week end with the WAG group, finish ing up over 50 years of involve ment with the club.

He says it was a bittersweet mo ment but knows he’s leaving be

hind a strong legacy of coaches he’s helped to mentor who will be able to fill his absence.

Karyn remembers him as her coach and later as the one pulling her out of the parents’ seating se lection to give coaching a go.

Now, as she imagines what the fu ture holds without Howard’s in fluence, she says it’s not going to be the same without him around.

“They’re big shoes to fill.

“I’m just really lucky because I’ve got good support from our coaches.

“I don’t know what it looks like.

If I can step up and be that per son for my coaches that Howard’s been for me.”

Howard says his introduction to the sport came out of pride, having been hospital-passed

the gymnastics programme as a teacher at Nelson Central School in 1969.

“I made such a mess of it; my ego was shattered.”

Not wanting that to be the end of it, he went to Stuart and Joan Hughes at the YMCA and learnt the basics of the sport under them before being given his own squad of kids to train.

“Little did I know that group had two girls who would go to the 1989 World Cup, (Kirsty Strong and Michelle Davies).

“We learnt together. I was one day ahead of them the whole time.”

Howard has been all over the world coaching with the New Zealand team, but says his high light was watching those he coached succeed, like Kirsty

winning the New Zealand Elite championship for two years run ning.

Howard was also instrumental in the construction of Nelson Gym nastics’ purpose-built facility at Nelson Intermediate, as the dep uty principal of the school.

“I went to the principal and asked if we could use that little bit of land out the back.

“It made a huge difference. When we were doing workouts at the YMCA you’d have to put the gear in and out every time.”

The facility has become a jewel in the crown for local gymnasts, with Karyn saying there’s not a day that goes by where it isn’t buzzing with activity.

Howard retired from work and coaching in 2004, moving to the

West Coast where he could focus on his hobbies like trout fish ing and cycling, which he hopes to get back to in retirement this time around.

“The area said you’re not gunna get out that easily.

“I still come up here four times a year and help develop the talent ed young gymnasts.”

Howard travelled the country holding workshops, with Karyn saying she doesn’t know a coach who wouldn’t say he’s played an influence on their lives.

“Howard has been in my life for a long time,” she says.

“He’s had a huge influence over so many people.

“I have no idea what the gym looks like without Howard in it,” she says.

Nelson swimmers shine games

Nelson South Swim Club representatives set alight the Virtus Oceania Asia Games in Brisbane earlier this month, notching up eight podium finishes.

Finn Russ and Helen Mack ay delivered outstanding performances, represent ing New Zealand in the II3 (Finn) and II1 (Helen) clas sifications under the guid ance of local swim coach Glen Findlay.

Finn raced to three silver and two bronze medals from his five events while also gaining personal best times in every race, and Helen scooped up one silver medal, two bronze medals, and a New Zealand long course record.

The pair were part of a 13-strong Kiwi team blazing a trail for other Para swim mers, both in the region and nationally.

New Zealand’s team manag er, multi-Paralympic medal list Cameron Leslie, says the swimmers and coach did an amazing job at representing

the region at an internation al level.

“Finn and Helen had great results, producing personal best times and improving their ranking during the competition.

“They’re such supportive swimmers to their team mates and competitors.”

“Glen brought a wealth of experience to the coaching group and we saw that con vert to an organised group of swimmers he was looking after.”

Finn, who was sponsored by The Tides Hotel, Savage & Savage Chartered Accoun tants, NZ Lifebrokers and Gibbons, with support from Pics Peanut Butter and F45 Nelson for the event, now has his sights set on the Vir tus Global Games, which is set to take place in France, June 2023.

You can follow his journey and progress through his Facebook page, ‘Finn Russ Athlete’.

Coach Glen Findlay, Finn Russ and Helen Mackay with their haul of medals. Photo: Sara Hollyman.

Chance to test premier depth

JACK MALCOLM

It was a mixed day of results in premier-grade cricket action as the Nelson Pine Griffins represen tative squad takes on Canterbury Country in the Hawke Cup.

Nelson ended the first day trail ing by 31 runs and three wickets but fought to a draw after being bowled out batting first for 163, with Canterbury making 349/8 af ter 97 overs.

The representative game saw pre mier grade teams have to draw on their reserve pool to front a play ing 11, with Stoke-Nayland be ing a victim of their own success as the table-topping team were bowled out for 91 in their game with Wakatu New World Nelson City.

While Wakatu easily chased down the total, reaching the total in the 24th over, Nelson College gave Waimea Toi Toi a good test after posting 153, and Athletic Col lege Old Boys found some form in posting a full innings total of 287/7 to beat Wanderers/Motueka Wolves.

On what looked to be a wicket that favoured the batsmen, the table-topping Stoke-Nayland struggled to find any momentum against a relentless Wakatu bowl ing attack.

Captain Dylan Eginton says it had been the biggest struggle through out the week in his 15 years at the club to front teams in both the pre mier and second division grades. With half the team on representa tive duties and Covid-19 impact ing their player numbers, they had to pull five players in from their feeder teams.

“It was just a battle getting two sides on the paddock, given half the team is also out with Covid.

“Just not the best batting perfor mance. We started quite nice, but it’s hard when you put 90 runs on the board.”

Wakatu captain Bud Jackson says they knew they were missing a bulk of their top players, but they weren’t going to take Stoke-Nay land lightly with a number of classy players in the squad.

“They can easily make your day hell.

“We’ll take it, but it’s a different story when they’ve got a full com plement.”

He says they had done well to put their heads down and not let their opposition back in when they started to work their way into the middle order.

“The top order has been scoring the bulk of our runs, and we need ed to recalibrate and make sure we didn’t give them a sniff by losing a

couple of quick wickets.

“But, it’s a pretty nice pitch to bat on when the shoulders start to free up a bit.”

In Nelson College’s game against WTTU, Sam John (44) and Lucky Singh (48) were able to put runs on the board but could not find a batting partner to create a strong total to defend.

Their 153 runs did give them a chance and WTTU’s batting per formance wasn’t convincing as they chased down the total with three wickets to spare in the 37th over.

Despite a strong 59 runs from Will Alridge, their slow and methodi cal approach to the run chase saw them struggle to make starts.

Nelson College’s Ben Neale also had a strong performance with the ball that stunted their run-scoring potential.

He opened his spell with four maidens in a row, also taking a wicket, as he went on to post stats of two wickets for 18 runs from his 10 overs.

Ultimately though, the WTTU stocks held strong and they were able to see out the game with a boundary to finish.

Balerion marches on to top 3

Local marching team Balerion topped off a terrific weekend at the South Island Marching Championships at Trafalgar Park, finishing third in the dis play march.

Both Marching Nelson’s club president Nicki Rillstone and secretary Leigh McCrorie say it was a huge success with more than its fair share of surprises and successes for teams from all over the island.

“Nelson has put it on,” says Shaun Dowers, who was the music controller and announc er at the event.

Shaun, who sits on the commit

tee for the Canterbury March ing Association, travelled up from Christchurch for the weekend.

Marching Nelson hosted teams from Southland, Otago, and Canterbury who competed in the under-12, under-16, Mas ters and Senior categories.

It was a strong performance by the Eclipse Club from Can terbury who won the Masters display and also took out the overall team prize in the Mas ters Grade.

“The beautiful weather added to what culminated in a mem orable weekend for teams, offi

cials and volunteers, who came from all districts to assist the Nelson Association in running an amazing competition,” says Nicki.

“What I love about marching is the team spirit, and the culture and camaraderie of the sport is so brilliant,” Shaun says. “Just like any sport, it wouldn’t exist without volunteers. Coaches, managers, judges, as well as the kids themselves, perfecting all of these moves.”

Both Nicki and Leigh thanked all those involved in bringing the event to Nelson, including supporters and volunteers.

Balerion team took third place in their category at the South Island champs. Photo: Tracy Allan.

Thomas Zohrab had a strong performance for the Griffins, top scoring with 38 in the first innings and taking three wickets from his 26 overs with the ball.

Photo: Chris Symes/Shuttersport.

Nelson College learn tough lesson at Condor 7s

JACK MALCOLM

Nelson College have re turned from the Condor Sevens in Auckland with one win from their five games.

The team had high hopes of success, but could not find wins against De La Salle College, St Bede’s Col lege, Whanganui Collegiate School and Francis Douglas Memorial College.

Their one win, a 28-14 per formance over Pukekohe High School, came on the second day of competition in their penultimate game and was more of a consola tion prize.

After opening their tourna ment with three losses on Saturday at King’s College, they were on the back foot from the outset.

A 33-26 loss to De La Salle, a 27-14 loss to St Bede’s and a 19-10 loss to Whanganui Collegiate had dashed their hopes of making the playoffs, which was their goal coming into the tournament.

The team earned entry for the tournament by beating Marlborough Boys College in a regional qualifier, which gave them sponsored travel to the tournament, but they struggled with a lack of local competition.

Other than the club 7s tour nament at the end of Octo ber, they were forced to play

amongst themselves in the lead up to the Condors.

Captain Timoci Sauiria says they had wanted to achieve because for many of the players it was their last year they could play.

It was still a young and in experienced team, with only one player in the squad having experience at that level in previous years, Ne lesoni Malaulau, because of Covid-19 restrictions.

“I think we always wanted to make a Condors team, we just needed the right peo ple.”

The team also had a num ber of younger players, who Timoci said fitted in well to complement the squad.

“All our players are kind of the same. We’ve got a lot of leaders in the group.”

The group had been train ing since the season finished and had been under the guidance of Greg Foe, who has been brought in to the Nelson College rugby team to replace James Marshall.

Alongside coaching the 7s team, Greg will be the strength and conditioning for the first XV and their de fensive coach.

It’s his first year in Nelson, having played for Buller in the Heartland Champion ship, but he brings a wealth of experience into the squad. Greg has previously coached

a premier team in Welling ton and the St Patricks first XV.

He says the main thing he’s been working on with the 7s squad had been the game understanding and knowl edge.

“There’s a lot more space. It’s about identifying space and playing at speed. Every thing’s at speed.”

He says his first message to the team was that 7s is fun, if you’re fit.

Greg’s expectations for the team had been to make the semi-finals but it had been tough with their lack of ex posure to playing.

“To play against the best at the school-level is what we lacked leading up.”

“We can train as much as you want, but at the end of the day, you grow by playing better teams.”

He says, while the team had the skill set and talent, the tournament had been an eye-opener to how the pow erhouse schools in the 7s scene approach the game.

“That was part of the plan, to expose the younger guys who will be back next year. . .

The difference in the quality of the brand the top schools were playing was noticeable.

“Regardless of the result, the learning and exposure the boys got out of it was huge,” Greg added.

Gymnast William Fu-Allen returned to his alma mater last week to deliver a lesson to the Nelson Gymnastics MAG (Men’s Artistic Gymnastics) development squad last weekend. William made his debut appearance at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games where he competed in the floor, rings, pommel horse and teams competitions. He is pictured in the back row alongside Lewis Karetai on his left, Nelson MAG development squad coach Shane Collins and Jullie Walker. Photo: Jack Malcolm.

Greg Foe was brought in to the Nelson College rugby programme as a defensive and strength and conditioning coach, but his experience in 7s saw him also take on coaching duties for the team ahead of their Condor Sevens tournament last weekend in Auckland.

Photo: Jack Malcolm.

Members of the local Samoan community came together last weekend for the third instalment of Fa’alapotopotoga Tagata Samoa Nelson Tasman’s (FTSNT) Kilikiti tournament. The sport of Kilikiti originated in Samoa, taking the game of cricket from the missionaries and making it their own, with a major difference being the bat which is modelled after a traditional three-sided Samoan war club. The local initiative aims to promote physical health for Samoan people with a Samoan-led initiative that is also open to the wider community. Photos: Evan Barnes/Shuttersport.

Community Notices

MONDAY

PHILOSOPHY CLUB meets 2nd & 4th Mon of the month. 10am, Melrose House. Continuing with "How do you know if you're really real?" Ph: Zoe 027 974 1758.

JUST COOKING, Free course for elderly. Mon 12 Dec, 101.30pm. Headingly Centre, Richmond. Learn to plan and cook simple healthy meals for 1 or 2 people. Shopping tips, label reading and time saving strategies. Ideal for those lacking practical cooking skills or needing a boost of confidence to cook for themselves. Held over four weeks. Includes morning tea and lunch.

INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM Beginner Instruc tion available Mon evenings at our Nelson Centre. Learn how to meditate the Zen way. Ph: Gwitha, 021 1218 133 for information. Mountains and Rivers Affiliate Nelson.

COMMUNITY GARDEN WORKING BEES Mon 1 - 2pm. Victory Community Centre. Join the team in the Victory Community Garden for these regular working bees. Learn from other experienced gardeners. A dedicated team of volunteers are making the garden into a beautiful and productive space. Ph: Nadia 03 546 8389 or kai@victory community.org.nz. Cost: Free!

TUESDAY

WELLBY TALKING CAFÉ Tues 13 Dec. 10- 11.30am. The Burning Edge Café, Tapawera. Wellby Talking Cafés are about social connection and finding out about groups, ac tivities, and services. www.wellby.org.nz. Ph: 03 546 7681.

NELSON PHILATELIC SOCIETY MEETING Tues 13 Dec, 6.30pm. Meeting Starts 7.00pm. Stoke Baptist Church. Christmas - Fun evening Mitchener Cup- “Pre-WWII Bi Planes”. Ph: Robin 027 544 2518

NELSON CREATIVE FIBRE GROUP Welcome you to friendly fibre craft meetings. Meetings are on the 2nd and 4th Tues monthly 9.30am in the Jaycees room Founders

Park. $2 for members, $4 for non-members. Ph: Lesley 576 5654.

COFFEE & CROSS Want to talk to someone about God, church, Jesus? No catch - join me for coffee at YAZA, 11-12 Tues. I'll listen. Rev. Gordon, wearing a Cross & Collar.

STOKE CENTRAL COMBINED PROBUS Wishes everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.Next meeting will be Tues 4th Feb, 10am. Stoke Methodist Church Hall, 94 Neale Avenue, Stoke.

STOKE INDOOR BOWLS CLUB meet Tues 7pm, Warnes Stadium, Songer St. New members welcome. Please wear flat-soled shoes. Ph Lynn 547 7112.

OVER FIFTIES SOCIAL GROUP Tues 1.30-3.30pm, 238 Vanguard St. Rummikub, 500, scrabble, crafts and chat. Afternoon tea provided. Ph: Jan on 546 9057 or 027 4577 955, or Grace on 027 310 9975.

WEDNESDAY

WAIMEA HARRIERS Sharland Cycles 5k fun run and walk. Weekly until Wed 21 Dec. Start time 6pm. Club Waimea, Richmond. Everyone and all abilities welcome. See web site. Queries Ph: 022 3729 432.

BETTER BREATHERS CLASS is now on! Wed 1-2pm. Reformed Church, 15 Burrough Pl, Enner Glynn. $5 per class. Ph: Sue at the Nelson Asthma Society 03 544 1562 or E:asthma.nelson@xtra.co.nz

INDOOR BOWLS - Come and join us for social indoor bowls and a cuppa every Wed and Fri afternoon 1.154pm. Beginners welcome. Trafalgar Street Hall. Ph: 547 6066 or 027 497 9330.

CENTRAL GARDEN CLUB - Meet second Wed of month 1.30pm at the Methodist Church Hall, Neale Ave, Stoke. Guest Speakers and Afternoon tea. New members most welcome. Ph: Bob or Lynn, 541 8468.

SING YOURSELF WELL – Wed, 10-11am. Age Concern

DEADLINE: 10AM FRIDAY

50 WORDS OR LESS BY EMAIL ONLY

SEND TO: myevent@nelsonweekly.co.nz

Nelson Tasman Nelson Office. 18 Bridge Street, Nelson. A fun and relaxed singing group where the focus is on well being. You don’t need to be a great singer to join. $3 per session. Ph: Marnie 544 7624 ext 5.

THURSDAY

WELLBY TALKING CAFÉ Thurs 8 Dec, 10- 11.30. Nightin gale Library, Tāhunanui. Wellby Talking Cafés are about social connection and finding out about groups, activities and services. www.wellby.org.nz. Ph: 03 546 7681.

MUMS & BUBS Walking Group Thurs 9.30-10.30am, Vic tory Community Centre. A weather dependent walk for Mums and Bubs around our local community. Dads, Opas, Nanas & their Bubs are welcome too! Led by volunteer Emma, these short hikoi will start at the Community Cen tre and probably end up at one of our local parks or back at the Centre for a brew! Cost: Free!

LEGO @ VICTORY Thurs, 3.30- 4.30pm. Victory Communi ty Centre. A free activity but koha is welcome. Appropriate for all ages. Come & get creative, playing with Lego thanks to Top of the South Bricks. Last Thursday of the month in the hall. Cost: Koha.

FRIDAY

CAKE DECORATORS are having a Christmas stall. 9 Dec, Stoke New World. Come and see what the ladies have made for Christmas. Ph: Desiree 027 630 2359.

ART & CRAFT GROUP every Fri. A social art and craft get together for people of all levels and ability. A warm friendly, and welcoming group and a great space for you to create whatever art or craft project you may be working on or wanting to start. Please bring your own materials. E: helenos@xtra.co.nz. $2 per person.

DROP IN AND OP SHOP Fri 9am-1pm. St Stephens Com munity Church, 61 Tāhunanui Dr. Come join us for delicious food, browse through our preloved clothing collection and

stay for a chat.

SATURDAY / SUNDAY

CHRISTMAS CAR BOOT MARKET RICHMOND Sat 10, Dec. 9-12pm. Church of Christ, Darcy Street. Sellers stalls after 7:30 am - $5.00 each. Anyone looking for Plants, dvd, clothing, large book sale, children toys, BBQ food plus more treasures. Ph: Richard 0276180547

QUALITY CRAFTS NELSON Sat 10 Dec, 10-2pm. Church Lounge at Richmond Baptist Church 123 Salibury Rd. For a selection of quality local handmade crafts with something for everyone! Christmas is coming! Ph: Kay 027 547 6777 for further details.

THE BOOK OF BENSEMANN family history will be launched at the Tasman District Library meeting room, Queen Street, on Sun 11 Dec, 1.30 p.m. The author will present a Powerpoint illustrated talk, then book sales and signing. All welcome.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 'Write for Rights' Sat 10 Dec, 2-5pm. Join us at NMIT (Room S106, 75 Nile St) to write letters of support for victims of human rights abuses world-wide. Ph 548 6241.

GENERAL GROUPS

NELSON CATHEDRAL CHRISTMAS TREE Until-15 Jan. Daily 8.30 – 7pm. Weekday lunchtime concerts 1pm. Night Fridays 9, 16, 23 and 31 Dec.

THE SUTER ART SOCIETY Summer Exhibition. “Pay and Collect” until - 22 Jan. A selection of small paintings ideal for giving or posting to friends.

NELSON TASMAN HOSPICE Trees of Remembrance around the region. Until 24 Dec, Nelson & Richmond Farmers, Nelson & Stoke New World, Richmond Mall. 2–9 December, Motueka House of Travel & Mapua Wharf. Remember loved ones and raise much needed funds. All

money raised locally stays locally.

COULD YOU VOLUNTEER on a Thurs or Mon morning 8.30-10am to assist elderly people on and off our van? And take them to our day activity programme in Annesbrook Drive. Please Ph: Maaike 03 2655224 email maaikef@ psusi.org.nz

ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN wanting to make a difference in the life of a child? We are looking for caring Christian peo ple who are willing to open their home to care for a child/ young person. To find out more, Ph: Mika at Open Home Foundation 027 461 0497 mika.ito@ohf.org.nz.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Is alcohol causing prob lems for you in your life? Want to stop drinking but can't? Maybe we can help. Support meetings every day. Call 0800aaworks 0800 229 6757.

SURVIVORS AND THRIVERS If you have or have had cancer, supporting someone with cancer come and meet others in this friendly atmosphere. Register info@cancer nelson.org.nz or P: 539 1137 for details.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUP. Cancer Society Nel son 102 Hardy Street, if you have or have had breast cancer come along to this friendly atmosphere. Register 539 1137 or info@cancernelson.org.nz.

BIRDLIFE CENTRE OF NEW ZEALAND needs volunteer pest trappers in the Centre of NZ Reserve in Nelson city. No experience needed; full training given. If you are inter ested, reasonably fit and can spare two hours a fortnight Ph: Gretchen 021 266 3867.

FEELING SAD, STRESSED, DEPRESSED, OR STUCK? Identify and explore new ways to move forward with a Life Linc Counsellor. Up to 10 face to face counselling ses sions available now for individuals and couples. 548 2400 lifelinc.co.nz

LUNG CANCER CONNECT for those who are going through or who have gone through lung cancer Register 539 1137.

Community notices are free to community groups, schools, churches, gold coin donation events and fundraising only. For classified ads and public notices please call 548 5900 Due to the popularity of this column, while every effort will be made, inclusion cannot be guaranteed for free ads.

ALLIANCE – SEASONAL TEAM MEMBERS

Are you looking to earn some good money while you learn new skills? Right now, our Nelson plant is gearing up for a big 2022- 2023 season with a number of opportunities available. If you’ve got experience doing the mahi - awesome, give us a shout, but if you’ll be coming in fresh and just keen to learn and earn - that’s good too, we can train you up! We’re recruiting Butchers, Boners, Halal Slaughterers, and Labourers.

Ngā painga - what’s in it for you?

• Butchers: potential to earn an average of $1,365 based on a 40-hour working week, exclusive of overtime

• Boners: potential to earn an average of $1,374 based on a 40-hour working week, exclusive of overtime

• Halal Slaughterers: potential to earn an average of $1,353 based on a 40- hour working week, exclusive of overtime

• Labourers: earn a minimum of $26.50 per hour across a day, inclusive of allowances

• Minimum of 30 hours a week, usually 45 hours a week

• Up to 7 months of full-time seasonal employment

• Upskill yourself with an opportunity to gain NZQA qualifications

• Receive ongoing training and support

• Access to free onsite health services including a nurse, physiotherapist, counsellor

• Access to our free employee assistance programme

Ō pūkenga - about you

• You are eligible to work in New Zealand

• You will pass a pre-employment drug test and

• You are willing and able to follow and respect workplace

• You enjoy working within a team environment

• You are physically fit, committed, and reliable Apply online at www.alliancejobs.co.nz, by emailing nelson.botas@alliance.co.nz,

visit us at the Nelson Plant, 910 Main Rd Stoke, 7011.

PERSONAL

All I want for Xmas by lonely widow, is to meet a loving woman for company only, to go on outings etc. Please call John on 022 164 1356.

MEMORIAL SILKE

Alan

5/12/12

Ten years since you passed, still miss ya old mate, and remembering all the good times we had here and in Aussie.

Ross Thompson

MEMORIAL POTTS

Pauline Barnett

1944-1997

25 years have gone by, 3 grandchildren you would have adored, not met.

We dearly miss your beautiful smile and `can do’, attitude. Cherished Memories forever David, Julie, Allan and Steven and families

PUBLIC NOTICE

WOODWARD

Graham

Fell asleep 2nd of De cember 2022. Loved husband of the late Jen ny, father of Glenn and the late Dene. Gayle’s sweetheart, a real gentle man. He will be missed by many. Till we meet again, when we will stroll across heaven with you. Love Gayle Messages to Gayle Dun lop, 5A Aldinga Ave, Stoke. A private crema tion has taken place.

www.sdfunerals.nz

DEATH

HELLYER

John Andrew (John Boy)

22.8.1970 - 17.11.2022 Son of the late Mur ray and Diana Hellyer, Brother to Lynda and Jennifer. John the truck ie, prankster, trail bike rider and firewood gath erer. John has signed off his final logbook. Ten four buddy. “You’ve got yourself a convoy”. To the dedicated team at Hospice, Access support staff, specialists and eve ryone in between. Please accept this as a person al Thank You, as you walked alongside John on his journey with mo tor neurone disease. A celebration of John’s life has been held. Always Lynda and Jen.

Notice to all Advertisers: By placing your advertisement you agree with the terms and condi tions of the Nelson Weekly Ltd. Payment is due by the 20th of the following month. All debt re covery costs will be on-charged to the customer. Interest will be charged on overdue debts greater than 90 days. Cheques are no longer accepted. Should you require any further infor mation please view our Terms of Trade at https://topsouthme dia.co.nz/terms-of-trade/ or call 548 5900 option accounts.