Kia ora Central Hawke’s Bay, Ko te utu o te aroha ko te mamae (the price of love is sorrow).
It’s with a heavy heart I write this end-of-year letter for our community newspaper.
CHB Mail has been a staple in our community for more than 40 years, showing up in our letterboxes every Thursday, telling our stories, the good, the bad, and the sad.
The CHB Mail was the fourth chapter of community newspapers in our community starting with the Waipawa Mail in 1878, the Waipukurau Press in 1906, the Central Hawke’s Bay Press in 1936, and then becoming the CHB Mail in 1980.
And now we are to close this chapter and bid CHB Mail farewell – a sad day to add to the history books of our community. CHB Mail, you have helped shape the community we are today. You’ve kept us across the issues, the events, the need-to-knows.
You reported on the wrath of Cyclone Gabrielle, Covid-19 and its life-changing results, the debates on water storage and amalgamation, the diversion of SH2 away from the main street in Waipukurau, the demolition of the eastern Waipawa shops, countless local government elections, Duck Days and that old chestnut, Streets for People.
The CHB Mail was there, in the February 2023 cyclone.
Relevant, contentious, thought-provoking and always, most importantly, local. You have carried important information for us, road closures and bridge restrictions, alcohol licences, rubbish collections, Civic Awards, scholarships and the list goes on.
And how we must remember the colourful “Letters to the Editor” sections ... and our favourite “Thumbs Up Thumbs Down”.
We have generations of hard-working journalists and advertising and admin teams to thank for their contribution to our community. The bylines will live on. But an extra thank you to the kaimahi of today at CHB Mail.
We know that your hard work and loyalty has lived right until the closure of the final page. We also know that this is a sacrifice that your families have also made. You have done us proud. Connection is how we work as a community and as a council.
While it is a blow to lose an important connector in CHB Mail, it does not break our bonds. Nor does it remove our options. We have fought for you. We fought your closure and saved you a few years ago. We fought again and lost the battle this time. But don’t be disheartened, we are working hard behind the scenes and we’re hoping to bring you an alternative – a new chapter.
CHB is an important community, and we deserve fourth-estate representation. Bigger is not always better – not in Tamatea-Central Hawke’s Bay where our aspirations are confidently big, and our community is reassuringly tight-knit and supportive.
And to the wider community, thank you for everything you have done this year. You show up in so many ways – for the tough conversations of council rates, to the volunteering of the SH2 cleanup, or the challenges of cyclone recovery. You’ve earned a summer holiday! Enjoy your Christmas dinners, time with family, holidays, beach swims and trail walks. Have fun, drive safe, be kind – stay connected to each other.
