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Wednesday 16 February 2011
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Bumpy road ahead for Gibbs Valley residents
Motocross star in the making P 26
TDC delays roading upgrades Teresa Hattan Property owners along Gibbs Valley Rd are devastated the Tasman District Council has gone back on its word. For at least 10 years, Gibbs Valley Rd has been in the long term plan to be sealed and residents say left as it is, the road is a “death trap”. The TDC have recently had to source money to replenish the emergency fund used on repair works in Golden Bay, meaning the Gibbs Valley upgrade has been delayed. Tasman mayor Richard Kempthorne says the road was due to be planned for design next year and sealed the following year. “But that was one of the pieces of infrastructure work the council said, ‘we’re under pressure for rates, lets push that out’.” Richard understands the residents of Gibbs Valley will be disappointed and he realises the residents don’t want the work to
disappear out on the horizon. Council has recently developed a matrix to measure and evaluate various projects such as the Gibbs Valley Rd upgrade, which has been re-evaluated. “We have to make sure that the most important ones are the ones that get done first,” says Richard. Julie Gordon and her family live at the junction of Bridge Valley and Gibbs Valley Rd. Other property owners concerned about the backtracking are Colin Gibbs and his wife Marilyn. Colin says both Gibbs Valley and Bridge Valley Rd were to be done in unison some time ago. “We’d come to the top of the list, and they did Bridge Valley Rd about four years ago. “We were surprised to hear that they were talking about putting us down to 33rd [on the list],” says Colin. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
SING IT LOUD: Tom Ingham of Hillary, lays down the challenge to the other houses. Photo: Phillip Rollo.
House sports day brings out true colours You would be forgiven for mistaking Waimea College with a battle-field last week. It was house sports time again and all four houses – Cooper, Hillary, Sheppard and Rutherford – didn’t disappoint, firing chants towards each other to lay down the challenge before taking part in a number of fun activities. Marching in from every corner of the playing fields with cars, caravans, wheelbarrows, unicycles, drums, super heroes, aliens - they had all bases covered. The green of Rutherford took out best chanting performance. They planted an agriculture theme which turned in to a farming friendly party. Rutherford were a cut above the rest according to Waimea College Principal Larry Ching, who says the performance ticked all the boxes. Hillary wowed the school with a circus carnival. Support-
ed by a bright yellow caravan, Hillary’s chanting was top notch as they juggled haka’s in to their performance. Cooper’s very own Flash Gordon sped through the houses as they took an acoustic guitar sing-along to the next level. Matt Ayers screeched through his mega phone ordering his fellow students to join the Sheppard uprising. Some cunningly placed house members ran from Cooper, Hillary and Rutherford quickly showing the blue of their real house. Larry says the standard has continued to grow every year. “There used to be a lot of variation, now it’s very consistent,” he says. “It’s a great bonding day and has a great influence on the whole culture of the school.” For the record, Sheppard took out the final results after egg throws, tug of war, doggie paddle races and more.
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