Springbank School is once again holdings its annual Fireworks Extravaganza on Saturday night. PHOTO / FILE
Springbank School is once again holdings its annual Fireworks Extravaganza on Saturday night. PHOTO / FILE
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North
The only professional Guy Fawkes show north of Whangarei is due to go off with a bang this Saturday, November 1. Gates open at Springbank School, on Waimate North Road, at 6.30pm with the fireworks show due to start about 9pm. Entertainment will include water walkers, rides and local bands Late Night Meat Sandwich and Scarlet Fever. Ake Ake RestaUrant, the Waffle Room and the Real Kiwi Food Truck will offer food. Last year just under 2000 people turned out for the school's Fireworks Extravaganza, which is supported by police, the Fire Service, St John and the Far North District Council. The show is put on by a parent at the school who happens to be a professional pyrotechnician. Entry is $5 with children under 5 free.
Garden trail
Heritage is the focus of this year's Kerikeri Garden Safari with 17 private gardens open to the public this weekend. The gardens cover a wide range, from small and intimate to large and sprawling, between Waipapa in the north to Pakaraka in the south. Historic properties on the trail include Grove Cottage and the Waimate Mission House garden in Waimate North, and Ngaheia House in Pakaraka. Ngaheia House was built in 1867 for Joseph Williams, son of the missionary Henry Williams, who established the garden and planted many fine trees. His bunya bunya is now the biggest in New Zealand and listed as a tree of national significance. Waimate Mission, built in 1831, is the second-oldest building in New Zealand with magnolias dating back to 1842. Refreshments will be available in some gardens while others contain sculpture and art. Tickets are $25 from www.gardensafari.co.nz or from Kerikeri New World, Shoestyles, Kwan's Garden Creations, Unichem Kerikeri Pharmacy and Redwoods Garden Centre. The safari is Kerikeri Rotary's biggest fundraiser. The proceeds support local and international community and youth development projects.
A mild panic ensued at an un-named Far North police station last week when a suspected teenage drug dealer fled on foot after being spotted by police. The officers' concern was not that the suspect might get away - he was caught without too much trouble - but that they were dressed in tutus and pink angel wings when they were called on to urgently lend assistance. The novelty costumes were for an Advocate photo shoot publicising the officers' efforts to raise money for a children's charity. Unfortunately for the photographer, the officers managed to remove their wings and tutus (not easy when you're in a hurry) before giving chase through town, denying him one of the great photo opportunities of his career.
Helping Vanuatu
Without even knowing it Kerikeri residents have improved the lot of school children in Vanuatu. Kerikeri Rotary Club has contributed $3000 from money raised from community events to a $75,000 pan-Pacific Rotary initiative to provide 1200 pupils in rural Vanuatu with better learning environments. Among equipment provided by the project were desks built in Vanuatu and paid for by Rotary clubs north of Auckland and as far away as Tasmania and Canada.
Vanuatu schoolchildren sit around desks built in Vanuatu and paid for by Rotary clubs in northern New Zealand and across the Pacific. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
Club president Bruce Mathieson said the club supported mainly local youth and community development projects, but a small proportion of money raised each year went to projects in the Pacific or elsewhere around the world. Nor was it all one-way traffic, with details to be announced soon of a $130,000 Rotary International literacy project benefiting schools across the Far North. The initiative is being co-ordinated by the Kerikeri club and be implemented at the start of the 2015. "In the world of Rotary it's definitely a case of what goes around, comes around," he said.
Kerikeri High School's annual art exhibition is opening in the school auditorium, on Hone Heke Rd, at 7.30pm on Friday, October 31. The students' work will also be on view on Saturday from 10am-3pm. Most art is for sale. Visitors can cast a vote for the people's choice award.
Flute fest
Three centuries of flute music played by four of New Zealand's leading professional flute players will feature in a concert on November 8. Tjasa Dykes, Adrianna Lis, Christine Kim and Luca Manghi (with guest Clare Penny) will perform works by Mozart, WF Bach, Petrassi, Tomasi and others at the Flute Farm, 77 Wiroa Rd. Entry is a suggested $30; free for flute day students and $5 for other students. Drink and nibbles included. Email theflutefarm@gmail.com to reserve a seat.
Parkinsons appeal
Parkinsons Northland is holding street appeals in Kerikeri, Paihia and Kaitaia on Friday, November 7, to coincide with Parkinsons Awareness Week in the first week of November. Lions clubs are helping out in Kerikeri and Kaitaia while Bay of Islands Rotary is organising the Paihia collection. The society's emblem, a red tulip, will be displayed at all sites. Early Christmas functions hosted by local support groups include get-togethers at Herbs and Spices Cafe in Redan Rd, Kaitaia, on November 19 and the Kerikeri RSA on November 20. Both start at 11am.
$12k for Gaza
An art exhibition raising money for children affected by the conflict in Gaza has raised more than $12,000. The show, We Care, was held earlier this month at Kaan Zamaan gallery in Kerikeri but donated works are still being sold. Coming up at the Hobson Ave gallery from November 5-20, for those who missed the Turner Centre show, are the large prints from GP Chris Reid's book and exhibition called Patient: Portraits from a doctor's surgery.
Do you have news or an upcoming event you'd like to see in this column? Send it to us, including your full contact details, to baynews@northernadvocate.co.nz.
