(04) 587 1660
By Frank Neill
Ruby Lasini and Connor Keall are Wainuiomata High School’s 2024 Sportspeople of the Year. Connor and Ruby were presented their awards at the school’s Sports Awards evening on 24 October.
Continued on page 2.
Wainuiomata High School’s Sportswoman of the Year Ruby Lasini and Sportsman of the Year Connor Keall with the school’s Tumuaki/Principal Lea Vellenoweth. Photo: Supplied.
Phone (04) 587 1660
REPORTER
Frank Neill
wainui@wsn.co.nz 027 490 3916
SALES Les Whiteside
les@wsn.co.nz 021 360 008
NATIONAL
SALES
Sam Barnes
sam@wsn.co.nz 021 109 4406
Continued from page 1
Connor was named Sportsman of the Year for the second year in sucession and he was also named the International Player of the Year.
He represented New Zealand this year as a member of the Southern Cross Baseball Academy “Pac-Men” under 16 team that played in the Babe Ruth Baseball World Series in Branson, Missouri, in August.
He will be playing for his country again in December as a member of the New Zealand Under 18 Baseball team that will compete in a tournament that will determine qualifiers for the 2025 World Cup.
Connor won two Hutt Valley Baseball awards this season, when he was named the Under 16 Most Valued Player and Player of the Season.
He also represented Wellington as a member of the Under 16 little league team.
Connor “has been performing at a high level across multiple sports for a number of years now,” his citation says.
“His athleticism and skill have seen him travel country wide and over to [the] USA. He has represented the school in Badminton, Basketball, Lawn Bowls, Rugby, Softball [and] Squash at a high level.”
This year Connor was a member of the Softball Hutt Valley Dodgers Under 17 team, where he was named the top fielder, and the Hutt Valley Softball Under 17 representative team.
Ruby was named Sportswoman of the Year for breaking the North Island Athletes With Disabilities (AWD) Shot Put record with a throw of 6.05 metres.
She also won the AWD Long Jump and placed second in both the AWD 100 metres and AWD 200 metres.
“This student has represented Wainuiomata High School locally and regionally in their field of sport,” Ruby’s citation says.
“They have also represented the Wellington
region in a range of disciplines. They have won medals and broken records.
“But the true success of this student’s sport involvment is that they have found a place where they are accepted and have broken boundaries.
“Their wh nau are so proud of their achievements, especially because life can be challenging for this student.
“This student can struggle with their emotions and stress. They can get very heightened and escalated in stressful situations. But they have used all their strategies in practice to achieve great sporting feats.
“This achievement is more than sport.
“This achievement shows that there is a place, in society, for everyone to succeed.
“This student highlights individual potential when you and your wh nau believe in your ability.
“This student’s wh nau remind us all why sport is important. It is not just about the winning and breaking records. It is that this student has achieved, and this success is as important as a mainstream’s child achievement.
“This student will go places. She could represent New Zealand in her chosen sport/s,” Ruby’s citation says.
Reihana Te Rauna was presented the Kauika Award for Leadership.
“Reihana leads from the front,” his citation says.
“He represented our school in many sports and made the New Zealand Secondary Schools KĪ o Rahi team.”
Angela Jones was presented the Community Service Award for her service to the First XV
Rugby team.
Angela “tirelessly works hard for her boys,” her citation says.
Ilal Vagana and Kaelyn Campbell won the award for Contribution to Sport.
Ilal and Kaelyn won the award for their service coaching and umpiring junior volleball.
Joe Toloa was presented the Athletes with Disability Award.
He won the award for breaking down barriers to achieve in the AWD and mainstream sports of Basketball, Athletics, Ripper Rugby and Badminton.
M tauranga Te Rauna, the head of the school’s Te Kura Matua o Wainuiomata, was named the 2024 Coach of the Year.
M tauranga “ignites our school values,” his citation says.
He “has worked tirelessly over the last few years to archive national recognition for KĪ o Rahi.
“He coached our school junior and senior teams which are in the top four in the country, the Wellington teams and he co-coached the New Zealand M ori secondary schools’ team.”
M tauranga also coached the Turbo Touch school team that completed in the Secondary Schools Nationals in Auckland.
As well as presenting the above premier awards, the school also presented all their teams with team awards at the Sports Awards evening. The school also thanked the volunteers from within the school and the community.
“These people unselfishly give up their time to do what they are passionate about,” the school says.
“Ultimately our students are the benefactors. Special thanks to them.”
By Frank Neill
Ivan and Poko Morrison celebrated their Golden Wedding at the Grasslands Venue in the Silverstream Retreat Centre on Saturday 26 October.
The celebration took place exactly 50 years to the day after they were married in Auckland.
Both Ivan and Poko have been involved in voluntary community service in Wainuiomata.
They both were volunteers with the Wainuiomata Community Patrol, and Ivan was the Patrol Co-ordinator for around a year.
They were both members of the Wainuiomata Lions Club, where Ivan served as treasurer for a number of years.
Poko was also a member of the Country Women’s Institute.
Ivan is a long serving volunteer firefighter. He was presented a Gold Star for 25 years’ service at a ceremony at the Wainuiomata
Fire Station on 26 November 2022.
He has been a member of the Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade for the past five years.
However his association fighting fires in the Wainuiomata area goes back much further, to when he was a fire fighter with the New Zealand Forest Service and was manager of the Remutaka Forest Park.
Much of his service has been rural fire fighting, firstly with the New Zealand Forest Service and then with the Department of Conservation (DoC) when it took over the role from the Forest Service
In fact when he retired he was the Deputy Principal Rural Fire Officer for DoC’s Wellington Conservancy.
Ivan was a member of the Remutaka Forest Park Society, and played a significant role in a refocus and overhaul of the society in 1993, including renaming it The Remutaka Forest Park Charitable Trust.
Poko has served in a number of hospitals, including Auckland Hospital.
She was a supervisor at Hutt Hospital before
moving to Silverstream Hospital where she served as the Hospital Services Manager until the hospital closed on 9 June 1989.
Poko them moved to Wellington Hospital, where she was an assistant manager.
Ivan and Poko met at Murupara when Poko had returned from Tahiti and was living with her sister Myra and Ivan was supervising deer culling operations for the New Zealand Forest Service in the Te Urewera National Park.
Their first home after they married was in the Kaingaroa Forestry Village.
In 1978 the family moved to the Catchpool Valley where Ivan became the first and last Officer in Charge of the Remutaka Forest Park.
In 1984 the family moved to Enfield Street, where Ivan and Poko still live today.
Ivan and Poko had three children – Melanie, who was born in 1976 and passed away in 2009; Rachael, who was born in 1980 and Bradley, who was born in 1983 on Poko’s birthday.
Metlink train services will have boosted capacity and larger buses will be running for the upcoming Wellington Phoenix vs Auckland FC derby on Saturday 2 November. Scheduled train services will be running with extra capacity to accommodate fans, with additional services added to the Hutt Valley, Johnsonville and Kāpiti lines. Core bus routes will have increased capacity.
Regular peak and off-peak fares will apply.
Metlink recommends using Snapper cards to tag on and off, to receive the off-peak discount. It also recommends that people plan ahead and travel early on game day using the latest travel information on the Metlink app, website or by calling 0800 801 700.
Gumboot Friday returns for 2024, taking place on Friday 1 November. This is a special day where communities across Aotearoa come together to raise awareness for youth mental health.
To date, Gumboot Friday has delivered more than 100,000 free counselling sessions to Kiwi young people.
Dear Editor, I read ‘Horrified Hine Road Resident’s’ letter and it resounded loudly with me. The new ‘compound housing’ around Wainuiomata is extremely worrying. The lack of parking, and the street congestion is
shortsighted by the developers, but it
council approves these developers’ plans. You can tell none of the approval team lives near these compounds.
Wainuiomata is turning into a place to throw the high density housing without truly understanding the impact of it on the community and the pressures it has generated – transportation, congestion ...
When will our council get realistic and see the impact these huge blocks of ugly and cheaply constructed builds are having on an already over pressured small community?
Living in the shadow of these must be distressing.
Michelle
By Frank Neill
Wainuiomata Rugby player
Ruben Love made his All Blacks debut on 26 October.
Not only did Ruben play his first game for the top New Zealand team, he also scored two tries.
Both tries came late in the match, and it lifted the All Blacks to a 64-19 victory over Japan in the match, played at Yokohama’s Nissan Stadium.
The All Blacks led 43-12 at half time.
Ruben continued a family tradition when he went onto the playing area as a substitute.
His father, Matene Love, played for the M ori All Blacks in 1983.
Ruben is a very versatile Rugby player, with top level experience as both a full back and first five eight. He has previously played for the All Blacks XV (New Zealand’s second national rugby union team), the M ori All Blacks and the New Zealand Under 20 team.
Another Wainuiomata Rugby player, Peter Umaga-Jensen, featured when Wellington won the National Provincial Championship on 26 October.
Wellington defeated Bay of Plenty 23-20 in the final, played at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
It took until the second spell of extra time before the final outcome was decided, when Callum Harkin kicked a penalty.
Ruben Love, who played his debut All Black match on 26 October.
Wellington Rugby Football Union.
Wellington lead the match 15-7 at half time, but Bay of Plenty came back in the second spell to tie up the scores at 20-20 after the regulation 80 minutes.
By Frank Neill
Council’s decision to disestablish community boards was expressed by half the speakers during the public comment section of the 23 October meeting of the Wainuiomata Community Board. There were four people who contributed during the public comment section, with one contribution being read on her behalf, and two of the four commented on the decision to do away with community boards.
“I am really disappointed,” Pauline Innes said. She had not attended the meeting in the Hutt where the council had talked about the submissions on representation “and I regret that,” she said. “There is still the opportunity to get stuck in to try and get a lot more people [to ask the council] to show what you have done and what you are going to do,” Pauline said.
The way Wainuiomata has grown, the decision to axe community board “is a huge loss for us,” Helen Thomas said. Starting when she was 16 years old, she had worked with a lot of community boards over the years.
“You [the current board] are the best community board I have ever seen in action.”
Mayor Campbell Barry “has been the most approachable Mayor I have worked with,” Helen said.
“With my Grey Power hat on I want to say to the community board, we really appreciate the job that you do.
“Thank you so much for being the voice for us. “All the wards really should have a [community] board,”
Helen said. In his presentation to the board Mayor Barry thanked both the board and members of the public for the submissions they made on the representation review. The decision to disestablish community board had been “one of the most, if not the most, difficult decision” the current council had made. “The one thing that the councillors could not get over was the challenge that some parts of the city have community boards and other parts don’t. “That was the big challenge.” The council’s decision on representation was open to appeal and 16 appeals had been submitted.
The hearing of the appeals was scheduled to take place on 26 November, Mayor Barry said.
“In the meantime we are looking to turn our mind to the next triennium, when community boards don’t exist,
and what [will be] available to make sure we get really good grass roots engagement. “That will be important. “I don’t know what that looks like at the moment. “We need to go through a process of community engagement around what we take that is good and what we take that is not so good and put that aside to come up with a model that works for the future,” the Mayor said.
In his presentation Mayor Barry said that the risk of a level 4 water restriction this summer was “far lower” than last year. “Across the wider city leaks are below 1,000, which is great, so we have really been able to break the back of the backlog that existed.
“Our crackdown on leaks has been really successful.” The council would not, however, “really get on top of” the water reticulation problem until a number of pipe renewals had taken place, and that had been happening, including in various parts of Wainuiomata. Traffic calming measure such as installing speed humps, was working, judging from feedback. There had been a “significant drop” in complaints about speed on both Wellington Road and Wise Street, Mayor Barry said. Similarly that had also occurred in other areas where there were speed
ACROSS
1. Enlisted personal (4,3,4)
7. Hard to endure (7)
11. Sea-shore (5)
12. Stain (7)
13. Criminal organization(Ital) (5)
14. Restore to life (9)
15. Watchful (9)
16. Important person(sl) (6)
18. Mislead (7)
21. Inactive (4)
23. Tint (3)
25. Cosmetic; ... liner (3)
27. Vow (4)
28. Dais (7)
30. Pass(of time) (6)
32. Isle Of (Brit) (3)
33. Japanese sash (3)
34. Kidnap (6)
35. Personal belongings(sl) (7)
36. Monetary unit of Italy (4)
37. AUST/NZ intergovernment pact (intls) (3)
39. Fabled bird (3)
41. Musical instrument (4)
43. Witchcraft (7)
45. Magician (6)
48. Lacking (9)
Designer (9)
By Frank Neill
With Guy Fawkes day approaching Wainuiomata’s Chief Fire Officer Peter Thompson is alerting people to the fact that fireworks can be dangerous and pose a high fire risk.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is giving people the following messages about fireworks safety.
windy or dry conditions.
the manufacturer’s instructions before using any fireworks.
a wide-open area, away from anything that could catch fire, like dry grass, leaves or crops, or flammable gases or liquids.
hose or fire extinguisher handy. It is also important to make sure fireworks are out before handling them, CFO Thompson says. The Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade attended three motor vehcile accidents in the last week, two of them during Labour weekend.
“This is a good reminder for people to slow down going past crash sites, not only to protect us [the firefighters] but also to protect the scene itself.”
Two of the accidents were a result of people not driving to the conditions on the Wainuiomata hill road, and were also a good reminder for people to drive to the conditions.
By Frank Neill
Just when things were looking promising for Wainuiomata Cricket’s first XI down came the rain and their match against Naenae Old Boys was abandoned on 26 October. Wainuiomata were ticking along nicely and reached 54 for the loss of just three wickets after seven overs and three balls of their allotted 20 overs.
The two not out batsmen, Captain Callum Mackaness and Ryan Jackson were in fine form. Callum had reached 17 not out and had faced just 12 deliveries when the rain came.
Ryan was on 16 not out and had
calming measures. Progress on preparing the former Warehouse building which will become a new Mitre 10 in Wainuiomata was progressing “including painting the building orange,” Mayor Barry said.
“We are really looking forward to welcoming them here in Wainuiomata. “The services and supplies they will offer to the community and also the jobs is fantastic.” The new Mitre 10 will also inlcude a new cafe
presentation the Mayor also provided an update on the Plant for the Future programme. “We have made some
only faced nine balls. Wainuiomata had won the toss and chose to bat, which looked like a great decision until the rain put a stop to proceedings.
The 26 October round was the final one of pool play and Cricket Wellington’s Rob Law Max T20 competition will now progress to the semi-finals and final. Wainuiomata will not be among the teams that progress, however.
The team will begin their Hazlett Trophy campaign next Saturday, 2 November.
They will be playing Naenae Old Boys at the Ewen Chatfield Oval on Naenae Park, starting at 10:30am.
good progress on that.” The project was planting more than 114,000 trees, shrubs and plants over three years. “We have planted 64,635 plants so far. “It is great to see how many people are so excited about that initiative.”
At the meeting the community board approved one grant of money from Hutt City Council’s Community Climate Action Fund. The Wainui
the local kai network by providing education, seedlings and sustainable good practices through partnerships kiri Marae.
51. Real name,Archibald Leach; actor Cary (5)
52. Pacify (7)
53. Fool (5)
54. Irregularity (7)
55. Gothic church, Abbey (11)
DOWN
1. Happen again (5)
2. Myopic (4-7)
3. Small planet (8)
4. Smeared (6)
5. Dormant (5)
6. Typical example (7) 7. Sticky (8) 8. Reserved (6) 9. Curt (7) 10. Slope (5) 16. Floatable (7) 17. Revolves (7)
19. Glorify (5)
20. Facial
Once again, the gold and collectables buyers from Wellington company John Bertrand Collectables are visiting the Wainuiomata, Hutt Valley and Wellington area next week. Mr Jared Thornton from the company says, “If you are downsizing or wanting to dispose of things because they no longer serve any purpose to you or your family bring them in”. “Next week will be a great opportunity to have any items you want to sell assessed by our buyers” said Mr Thornton. Particularly wanted are Gold and Silver (in any of its forms) and Collectables such as Coins, Banknotes, War Medals, Old Wind-up Watches and other interesting Small Collectables.
“We are keen buyers, especially of the items in the list below” said Mr Thornton.
“Nothing is too small for our consideration. We are just as happy buying 1 item as we are buying 1,000 items” he said. The buyers will be in the Wainuiomata, Hutt Valley and Wellington area next week (see details below). As Jared Thornton points out “If you are in doubt about any items you may wish to sell, bring them along for an instant appraisal.”
During these uncertain times we have seen a sharp increase in the price of precious metals. The gold price in New Zealand is at near record levels so gather up all your unwanted items and take them along to the buyers. Jared Thornton says “We can buy old gold items in all forms, including Jewellery (Rings, Chains, Brooches etc), Coins (Sovereigns and the like), Alluvial (River Gold), virtually anything, even Gold Teeth! We also need all Sterling Silver including Cups, Tea Services, Cutlery and Old Coins” he said.
The buyers from John Bertrand (Collectables) Ltd, visiting the Wainuiomata, Hutt Valley and Wellington area next week, are happy to look at any interesting items, for example vintage pocket and wristwatches such as Rolex, Men’s Omega, Breitling and gold watches etc. Also wanted, pre 1950’s picture postcards, Maori and Pacific artefacts, old fountain pens and other small antique or historical items.
“If you have something unusual which you would like to sell, please bring it into one of our venues, we would like the chance to at least have a look at it” said Jared Thornton, buyer for the Company. “We will consider anything which may be of interest to a collector” he said.
Early New Zealand Banknotes dated before 1932 are currently fetching big money! This is according to Mr Jared Thornton, author of the 2024 John Bertrand New Zealand Coin & Banknote Catalogue Mr Jared Thornton is in the Wainuiomata, Hutt Valley and Wellington area next week on a buying trip for John Bertrand (Collectables) Ltd and would be very keen to see any of these issues. “We will pay at least $300 for any undamaged Ten Shilling
or One Pound banknote from a New Zealand trading bank dated 1932 or before. Denominations of five pounds and higher would be worth from $700. “Any banknote dated prior to 1900 would be worth at least $1000” said Mr Thornton. Also purchased are any Reserve Bank of New Zealand pre-decimal issues, especially 50 Pound notes. All overseas banknotes are also wanted, especially early Pacific Island issues.
Currently, throughout NZ and the world there is a big demand by collectors for war medals. These cover all wars right through from the New Zealand Land Wars and the Boer War, to the First and Second World Wars and the later Korea and Vietnam conflicts. New Zealand Servicemen and Women first served overseas in the Boer War in South Africa around 1900 and the war medals awarded for this service are needed by the buyers, as are any other Medals from early New Zealand and the New Zealand Wars. General service medals from both the First and Second World Wars will also be purchased, but as can be imagined these were awarded in fairly large numbers. “If a group of medals has any special award for bravery such as the Military Medal, Military or Flying Cross or other medals for Distinguished Conduct or Meritorious Service, these can add great value to a group” stated Mr Jared Thornton, buyer for John Bertrand (Collectables) Ltd. “Many families have old medals, some dating back to early Imperial days, that they are not sure what to do with. These are better off in the hands of collectors who will look after them. We will be happy to look at any war medals whatsoever, just bring them in to venues” he said.
Old Coins Can Toss Up a Rarity
Do you have a bunch of old coins sitting around in your drawers and cupboards? You just never know what rarities may be lurking there. The advice from Jared Thornton from John Bertrand (Collectables) Limited is to “bring them in and let us have a look”. “No need to sort anything out just bring them in ‘as is’ and please don’t clean them! We can go through coin accumulations and collections fairly quickly” he said. The buyers are particularly keen to buy pre 1946 New Zealand Silver Coins for at least 25 times their face value (more for quantity). “In any event we will buy All Coins,” said Mr Thornton.
