Seth Evans is just Year 7 at Springbank School but he already has a thriving business making garden art from old horseshoes. Photo / Debbie Beadle
Seth Evans is just Year 7 at Springbank School but he already has a thriving business making garden art from old horseshoes. Photo / Debbie Beadle
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North
Market day at Springbank School This Sunday the kids of Springbank School near Kerikeri will test their business skills on the public with a market day featuring their own innovative products and a wide range of tasty treats.
This year's clever inventions include recycled plastic sandwich wrap, wooden device holders, kawakawa balm, kawakawa spray cleaner, coasters made from recycled scrabble tiles, driftwood candle holders, bath teabags and bath oils.
A few students have already enjoyed commercial success with their products. Seth Evans, who is in Year 7, persuaded his father to teach him to weld so he could turn discarded horseshoes into garden sculptures.
When Seth launched his garden art creations at the Young Enterprise Scheme trade fair at the Old Packhouse Market a few weeks ago, he sold out and went home with $3000 in earnings – a result any grown-up stall holder would be pleased with.
Also at Sunday's market day will be fellow Year 7 student Issy Welling, whose SeedBox business has already featured on TV.
The 40-plus stalls will include a wide variety of food, from pretzels to curries, while entertainment will be provided by school band Jinx, DDF Dance Crew and local musicians. Bouncy castles, rides and plate-smashing should keep the kids occupied.
Another special feature of the market day is that all student stalls have to give 25 per cent of their profits to charity. That means a raft of good causes, such as the Northland Rescue Helicopter, Sea Cleaners, St John, SPCA and Hospice, will benefit from the event, and the kids will get used to the idea of that one day they'll have to pay tax on their earnings – unlike some multinationals which could learn a thing or two from the kids about being good corporate citizens.
Charities are welcome to free stall space to fundraise or provide information about their organisation. So far the Cadets, Kerikeri Retirement Village and Hospice Mid-Northland have taken up the offer.
The Market Day will run from 11am-2pm at the school grounds on Waimate North Rd.
Boot Scootin' With Jo Have you always wanted to learn line dancing? Thanks to Jo Boocock and her regular Boot Scootin' With Jo classes at Waipapa Hall, on Waipapa Loop Rd, now you can.
Boocock started the classes a year ago when she moved to the Bay of Islands from Rangiora. Now she teaches seven classes a week, with beginners sessions from 10am-11am on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, and improver-plus classes from 11am to noon on the same days. She also runs a mixed class on Thursdays from 5.30pm-6.30pm, and once every two months holds a Saturday social night.
Classes cost $5 but dancers pay only once if they want to stay for both classes.
"We have a fantastic group of people and have a lot of fun in every class. I teach to a range of music although to date it has been mainly country music. The dances we do are a mix of slow and steady to fast and energetic," she said.
While men and women take part she'd like to see more men coming along to even up the numbers. Would-be line dancers can just turn up at the hall at 10am on Monday, Thursday or Friday.
Daffodil Day raises whopping $16,000 Daffodil Day in Kerikeri raised a whopping $16,000 this year, even more than the 2017 tally of $15,000.
The kids at Kerikeri Community Childcare Trust try to interest Roy the llama in some chopped carrot during Daffodil Day. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Bucket collectors worked the streets, bank staff sold burgers, the Kerikeri High School Jazz Band performed and Julie Insley's llamas called in at businesses and childcare centres.
More than 30 shops took part in a window-dressing competition or displayed artwork by primary school pupils. The winner of the best-dressed window title was The Emporium with new business Kerikeri Optometrists second.
Young musicians invited to join top concert band Young Mid North musicians have a chance to learn from a top concert band this weekend – and perform live later the same day.
The University of Auckland Concert Band will perform at the Turner Centre at 3pm this Sunday, promising "a top tier repertoire, including works on a scale rarely heard in New Zealand".
Earlier in the day, from 9.30am-2.30pm, young wind and percussion players will be invited to take part in a series of workshops and master classes from expert tutors and performers. The students will then take part in the afternoon concert.
Individuals and school groups can take part; email uoaconcertband@gmail.com to register. Tickets to the 3pm show cost $15 or $10 for under-18s.
Flower show winners More than 500 blooms, plants and arrangements were entered in this year's Kerikeri Garden Club Spring Flower Show – and that's not even counting the myriad children's entries in categories such as vegetable animal and pine cone pet.
Club president Pat Fraser won the overall best bloom title with this Vulcan magnolia. Photo / Peter de Graaf
This year's overall show champion and winner of the Josephine Cook Rosebowl Trophy was long-time club member Pat Waters-Knox for an arrangement of Tillandsia air plants and bromeliads. The winner of the overall best bloom title was club president Pat Fraser for a Vulcan magnolia.
The show was held in the Turner Centre Plaza this Friday and Saturday. Friday afternoon in particular was extraordinarily busy. As well as flowers this year's show featured displays by Kerikeri Men's Shed and sculptor Jaki George, trading tables, a coffee corner, and a garden photography competition.
Hospice vollies needed You may have read elsewhere in today's Advocate about Hospice Mid-Northland's new 675sq m sorting shed and furniture shop, which is due to open on September 28 at the organisation's Kerikeri Rd headquarters.
Hospice hopes increased sales and more efficient stock movement will allow it to raise an extra $100,000 a year through its op shops in Kerikeri, Kaikohe and Kawakawa.
With all that extra space to work with, Hospice Mid-Northland is now looking for new volunteers – and the good news is they won't be falling over each other or tripping over piles of donated goods in an old, over-crowded processing centre.
Volunteers work two shifts a day (8.30am-1pm or 1pm-4.30pm) in a variety of roles, including accepting donations; sorting and pricing books, clothing, linen, jewellery and crafts; electrical testing; cleaning bric-a-brac; repairing furniture; general store person jobs; and pulling things apart, removing buttons and making rags as part of the recycling team.
Hospice promises a fun and friendly environment, and a chance to make new friends while supporting a good cause. If this sounds like you call (09) 407 7799.
US couple issues fundraising challenge A big-hearted US couple has donated $5000 to St John Kerikeri for a new op shop van – and challenged locals to come up with the rest of the cash.
The anonymous couple wanted to say thank you to the town which had made then feel welcome for several years before they returned to the US.
Hearing that the St John op shop was in need of a new van, they wrote out a cheque for $5000 and donated some high-quality sailing and fishing gear, then challenged Kerikeri residents to match or better their donation.
The current van has served the op shop volunteer drivers well but is too small and has too many kilometres on the clock. A larger van would mean fewer trips back to base, saving the volunteers a lot of time. Call into the op shop, at the corner of Cobham Rd and Hobson Ave, if you want to help.
Art and collectables auction Tickets are now on sale for Hospice Mid-Northland's annual Art and Collectables Auction on Friday, October 12, at the Turner Centre.
The event will include a buffet dinner, a silent auction with digital bidding, comedian and hypnotist Guy Cater as guest speaker/entertainer, artworks by local artists and Ngāwhā Prison inmates, and more than 140 collectable items donated during the past year.
The formal-attire event will run from 5.30pm-10.30pm. Call the Hospice office on (09) 407 7799 for tickets.
■ 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
