Sonya Rakei, a new mum for an Essence feature to coincide with Mother's Day. Photo / Andrew Warner
Sonya Rakei, a new mum for an Essence feature to coincide with Mother's Day. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Bay of Plenty Times is looking back at the stories of 2021. Here's what made headlines in May.
May 3
The Bay of Plenty Times posed the question, should Greerton change its name, after a prominent Greerton figure called for the Tauranga suburb's name to be changed.
Greerton is named after Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Greer, a commander of the British forces during the Tauranga Campaign in early 1864.
The campaign was a six-month-long armed conflict as part of the wars fought between the Māori and British over land.
Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services executive director Tommy Wilson questioned why a person he believed caused harm to the community was being celebrated.
After two months of rental rejections, a Tauranga man offered potential landlords $30,000 up front - and had six bites within an hour.
The former Wellingtonian, who did not want to be named, moved for work and put an ad on Trade Me for a house that he missed out on - it was taken down within an hour of being listed.
Being a mum is arguably one of the hardest jobs on the planet. It involves sacrifice and unconditional love. For Mother's Day, we spoke to Bay of Plenty mums about what makes it also the most rewarding.
There was the new mum, celebrating her first Mother's Day, the single mum making ends meet, mum of pre-teens and the mum of grown girls.
After appearing to be down for the count, iconic Bay of Plenty brand Maketu Pies was off the canvas and making a comeback.
Eighteen months after the business was placed in receivership, its new owners were hiring more fulltime staff, exploring new initiatives, new pie flavours and the production facility is "busier than ever".
Steering committee spokeswoman for Tauranga Ratepayers Alliance Kim Williams at the launch event on Wednesday night. Photo / Zoe Hunter
May 14
A new $40 million Pāpāmoa retirement village project will add another 119 serviced apartments, care and dementia beds to the Bay's "highly demanding" market.
The Tauranga City Council approved a building consent for Summerset by the Dunes' new main building at 22 Manawa Rd.
The project was to include 56 serviced apartments, 43 care beds and 20 dementia beds.
It was expected to create more than 250 construction jobs and up to 50 new permanent positions once complete in 2023.
The development would add to a pool of more than 3000 units spread across 27 retirement villages in Tauranga and be part of 1700 extra villas, apartments and serviced apartments planned for the city.
Summerset by the Dunes' main building in Pāpāmoa will be similar to the newly opened main building at Summerset Rototuna in Hamilton pictured here. Photo / Supplied
May 28
A woman greeting an audience in te reo Māori was met with loud shouting and jeers at the launch of a new ratepayers' group in Tauranga.
"Speak English" and "we don't want to hear that" were among the calls from a large portion of the crowd that overpowered Kim Williams' voice as she addressed about 300 people at the launch of the Tauranga Ratepayers' Alliance at Club Mount Maunganui.
Kim Williams, the spokeswoman for the group's steering committee, said she addressed the audience in English first and was only saying "six little words in greeting and thanks" in te reo Māori when the outbursts happened.
"All I wanted to do when I got off that stage was walk straight out the door. It took every inch of me to go back to my seat and sit there through the rest of it, and to try not [to] react," she told the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday.
