Thanks Horowhenua – it has been great living/working among you!

Levin from across Punahau/Lake Horowhenua.

After 131 years it is over when it comes to those of us who have been providing local news to our communities.

Thanks for your support over the years, both in terms of providing news and paying for advertising.

Some clients have been with us for decades! While the newspaper will soon be gone, the news never stops.

Janine Baalbergen has edited the Horowhenua Chronicle since 2017.

I started my career in community news in the 1980s and while I moved on to other things both inside and outside of journalism, the Horowhenua Chronicle brought me back to what I love doing seven years ago: collecting news for a smaller community to keep the residents informed.

Being a Jafa, who tried to escape the big smoke for years without success, I was delighted with Horowhenua.

We have all we need: mountains, forests, flat farmland, rivers, the beaches, an amazing climate and I got a warm welcome from the locals.

It has been great to be part of your community and to date I still cannot get over the fact that my work commute is three minutes or less. In Auckland you spend hours in the car driving to work every day, especially on Friday afternoons.

While we sign off with this edition, please remember life goes on and in the next few months some great events will still be happening, from the Big Dig at Waitarere Beach, organised by the Levin and Districts Brass Band, the New Year’s Market by WECA in Foxton Beach (both on January 2), to the AP&I Show (January 18 and 19) to the Medieval Market in February.

Thanks especially to my colleagues Ilona, Alyssa and Grace, from Stratford and Paraparaumu, who stepped to do double duties, besides their own roles, to make sure there was a Chronicle every week these past six months when I was recuperating after some serious surgery.

And thanks to the team and all who were part of us these past seven years for their efforts and passion for community news.

Thanks Horowhenua, you rock!

As a famous science fiction satirist once wrote: So long and thanks for all the fish!

Janine Baalbergen, editor November 2017-December 2024