Christ Church in Russell will require parishioners to be vaccinated before attending services. Photo/Sandy Myhre
The oldest working church in New Zealand, Christ Church in Russell, has been operating under level 2 restrictions for the past several months.
It means the doors have been closed to visitors and Sunday services have been cancelled.
Now under red in the "traffic light system", the church doors have opened to visitors and cleaning is taking place every day. Services, however, are still operating under a restricted code.
The Christ Church Council decided to navigate around those restrictions by holding an outdoor service two weeks ago with social distancing and mask-wearing adhered to. Subsequently a directive from the Anglican Bishops, Tikanga Pākehā, stated that for worship, events and gatherings all who would attend would need to be fully vaccinated.
"[This approach] reflects the best and most current health advice available to us and we seek to do all that we can to minimise the risk of anyone becoming infected with Covid-19," said the bishops.
The directive further said the diocese had a pastoral responsibility for the care of all people, both vaccinated and non-vaccinated, and left it up to individual churches to decide the best approach for pastoral care in their community. Christ Church will still hold outdoor services or, depending on the weather, will hold them indoors in the church hall with distancing and mask-wearing mandatory.
The Enabler for Christ Church, Reverend Ellen Bernstein, said the church is looking forward to holding regular services again, even though it's "a tough one" to be using the vaccine pass mandate.
"We have been directed to do so but no person I know in the Anglican Church wants to turn people away at the door. We are trusting folks to understand the situation we are all in," she said.
Dam good despite a knock
Recent flooding in Ohaeawai resulted in an errant log running into the wall of a small dam, causing damage to one of its walls and undermining a swimming hole. It wasn't just any old dam.
The dam is on the Pekapeka stream close to Ohaeawai and is listed with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga as a Category 2 historic place. It was built in 1902 to provide water for use by a local dairy factory and later to generate electricity.
It has long since been decommissioned as a source of power generation but the dam has become a favourite swimming hole and the damage put a spotlight on what was previously little known.
"The log has knocked a hole about 200mm in diameter through the middle section of the dam which resulted in the dam losing a significant amount of water so it's still intact though not as full as it used to be," says Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland manager Bill Edwards.
The small-scale power generation enterprise was a rarity in Northland, where electricity was unavailable to residents until the late 1930s. On December 15, 1939 power was switched on from the national grid thus illuminating houses in Kaikohe, Kawakawa and Russell who were wired for electricity.
"In 1916 the Public Works Department officials first looked at the possibility of using Lake Omapere for power generation. Not long after World War I, however, the government lowered the lake level and the plan was shelved," said Bill Edwards.
Initiatives by private individuals like the Baldwin family, who built the dam and overshot water wheel at Ohaeawai, are important reminders of Northland's past.
"Northland's infrastructure wasn't always as developed as it is today and Northlanders like the Baldwins overcame the effects of isolation through innovation and invention."
Oneroa Beach sand dune protection
Kororāreka Marae has teamed up with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and the Far North District Council to help protect the sand dunes on Oneroa/Long Beach in time for summer.
The chair of Kororāreka Marae, Deb Rewiri, said the beach is prone to erosion from natural storm events and foot traffic.
"Over the past 18 months two koiwi pre-Christian burials have eroded out of part of the beach with the possibility that further koiwi could be exposed," she said.
The plan was to undertake an archaeological investigation on part of the beach earlier this year with a view to retrieving koiwi and reinterring them in a cemetery, or urupā.
However, Covid intervened and work had to be deferred until the first half of next year.
As a stop-gap measure what's in place as temporary support is a waratah fence, signage, geotech cloth and sandbags to protect the current edge of the site from further erosion until investigations can take place.
"From a cultural perspective it is not appropriate to have people eating and enjoying recreational activities directly over a possible burial site," said Deb Rewiri.
"We are asking that people be aware of the fenced off and sandbagged area this summer and to treat it with respect."
Waitangi Week to be cancelled
The Waitangi National Trust has made the decision there will be no "in person" events during Waitangi Week 2022.
They said in a press release that under the Covid-19 Protection Framework it would be practically impossible to safely proceed with the usual events of Waitangi commemorations.
"Cancelling the event is the only responsible decision under the circumstances," said trust chairman Pita Tipene. "It's not a decision taken lightly."
He said the trust will now look at creative ways in which to commemorate the promise of Waitangi and all going well, Waitangi Week will be back better than ever in 2023.
The trust is working with radio, television and online broadcasters to deliver a virtual Waitangi Day experience on February 6, 2022.
Bay Singers' Christmas
The BOI Singers will be holding their usual Traditional Christmas Carols at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri on December 14 at 6pm. Entry is free, but because of the 100-person limit and social distancing requirements, it is recommended tickets be obtained from the Turner Centre before the event. There will be a koha box for donations to Women's Refuge.
My Vaccine passes required at some council facilities
My Vaccine passes will be required at Far North District Council service centres, libraries and i-SITE Visitor Information Centres from January 10 and at Te Ahu in Kaitāia from now as the Government's new Covid-19 Protection Framework comes into effect.
Northland's traffic light setting under the new framework will initially be red due to low vaccination numbers. That means most public facilities can open, provided there are capacity limits based on 1-metre distancing between people. However, some businesses (eg. cafés) can only provide contactless services unless vaccine passes are used. Council management has decided to require vaccine passes at 11 sites where contactless service is unavoidable.
These are:
· Kaitāia Service Centre, Kaitāia Library, Museum @ Te Ahu and Far North i-SITE Visitor Information Centre at Te Ahu (from December 3)
· Kāeo Service Centre and library (from January 10)
· Kerikeri Service Centre from (January 10)
· Procter Library, Kerikeri, from (January 10)
· Bay of Islands i-SITE Visitor Information Centre, Paihia, from (January 10)
· Paihia Library from (January 10)
· Kawakawa Service Centre and library at Te Hononga (January 10)
· Kaikohe Service Centre from (January 10)
· Kaikohe Library from (January 10)
· Rāwene Service Centre from (January 10)
· Hokianga i-SITE Visitor Information, Ōpononi (January 10)
In addition to this, CBEC, which operates public swimming pools on behalf of the council at Kaitāia, Kerikeri and Kawakawa, has decided to require My Vaccine passes now. Kaikohe Pool has not opened for seasonal use yet.
Chief executive Shaun Clarke said the council is requiring people who use its services at Te Ahu to show a My Vaccine pass because these will be mandatory at the café and cinema while Northland is at traffic light setting red.
"It would be impractical and unsafe to require vaccine passes at the café and not also require these at the library or service centre which is next to the café. Other councils that operate open-plan, multi-use public facilities are also requiring My Vaccine passes, so this practice will become the norm across New Zealand."
The council is delaying the requirement for My Vaccine passes at 10 other sites until January 10 to give customers time to organise passes or to find out about alternative ways of accessing council services.
"We have an obligation to keep our staff and customers safe from Covid-19, but also want to ensure that people can still access our services. In most cases, there are online alternatives. However, we recognise that these don't suit everyone. We invite customers to contact us if they are concerned about not being able to access our services from January 10."
Information about other council services at traffic light setting red is on the council's website at www.fndc.govt.nz.
Police said a neighbour found the person following the fire in Kaitāia.