Some of the participants in the recent Web Genius Kāpiti Run for Youth.
Record amount for youth
The recent Web Genius Kāpiti Run for Youth raised a record $30,836.60.
Richard Calkin, the founder of Web Genius, is over the moon with what has been achieved this year.
“Raising more than $30,000 has been a dream that Covid tried to sidetrack, yet we persevered and got through with an incredible result for 2024,” he said.
“We admire the work of our fundraising partners, and we know this money will go a long way helping them to deliver quality programmes here in Kāpiti.”
Similarly, Steve Jandrell, the Web Genius CEO, acknowledges how the event continues to inspire his team and galvanise participants.
“I am hugely proud of my team and the hard work they put in behind the scenes to deliver each year with Helene Judge, our campaign manager.
“Their efforts help our business to be accountable and invested in a genuine and sustainable way in our community.”
Lions bookfair’s final chapter
Sadly, the Lions Winter Bookfair on Saturday will be the last.
Project manager Peter Cresswell said the Combined Lions of Kapiti had been running bookfairs for the past 27 years and had raised almost $800,000 for needy local organisations.
He and his Lions teams are sad that such a worthwhile project has had to come to its final chapter.
“We lost the use of the old Raumati South swimming pool building late last year, which had been invaluable in enabling the bookfairs to function.
“We were able to collect, sort and pack up to 100,000 books each year and sort, pack and price 30,000 books for our winter bookfairs and 60,000 for sales each October.
“So the last bookfair will be this coming Saturday in the Waikanae Memorial Hall with the doors opening at 8am.
“Books will be just $2 each and the dearer-priced books will also be available in the back room.
“We will have a vast number of books for sale, fact, fiction, biographies, gardening, cooking, children’s and animal books, jigsaw puzzles and musical material.”
All profits will go to support the Life Flight Trust and the rebuild of the Paekākāriki Surf Lifesaving Club.
Treaty subject of talk
John Robinson will cover “how the Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been breached and who was responsible” at the Kāpiti Historical Society’s meeting at the Kāpiti Uniting Parish in Raumati Beach on Tuesday, May 14, from 7.30pm. All welcome with a koha.
Dr Robinson’s academic background was in mathematics, physics and demography, and he has analysed Maori social statistics for Massey University, Te Puni Kokiri and Victoria University before writing or co-authoring more than 10 books on New Zealand history.
April’s weather report
April weather was fairly average for that month, local weather commentator Murray Eggers said.
“And there were signs that the effects of El Nino were waning, with recent months’ lower temperatures and rainfall returning to normal.
“Our daily average maximum temperature of 19.4C was exactly that of the long-time average, but a degree cooler than April 2023.
“This temperature was the second highest in central New Zealand, after Masterton with 19.7C, but Kāpiti had the highest overall mean temperature of 15.2C.
“April was our first truly autumn month with only eight days reaching 20C.”
Eggers said April recorded the equivalent of 17.5 sunny days, about average, but had frequent cloudy mornings and/or late afternoons.
“Rainfall averaged around 60mm, normal for the month, but it mostly fell in one event and followed many below-average months, resulting in continuing semi-drought conditions.
“This compares with over 200mm in April 2023.
“Past records for May indicate we can look forward to temperatures of around 16C, 16 sunny days and 84mm of rain.”
Roof lifts off
A large section of the All Secure Self Storage Kāpiti’s metal roof in Epiha St, Paraparaumu, was ripped off by a mini-tornado or similar on Wednesday night.
There are 44 works (24 by Frances Hodgkins) in the collection.