A team from Top Energy won first place in the annual three day Connexis Awards last month in Te Awamutu.
They won the overall Line Mechanics award, a considerable achievement given this year’s team were complete novices. Team Leader Simon Bayliss said initially they were all nervous.
“But we embraced that and tried to perform to our best each day and we tried to enjoy the moment of it.”
The awards are a three-way competition between teams with several events occurring each day. They had to install power poles, run wires and generally attend to all the electrical elements of what they might do in a day, the fundamentals that keep the lights on and the country connected.
There were time constraints and each section was scored out of 100 with points lost for any mistakes.
Their training for the event came from Top Energy general manager David James, who coincidentally has been a judge in the Connexis Awards for 20 years.
When the results were announced the team wasn’t sure they had won. Third and second places were announced first.
“We thought we had fallen short for a moment or two,” Bayliss said. “But when it was announced we had won we were absolutely ecstatic.”
Michael Mitchell, of Kerikeri, was the winning apprentice. He won the Ross Archer Memorial Award for best trainee.
Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said the competition underscored the importance of electricity safety and encouraged young people to explore careers in the electricity supply industry.
“We have always known that we have a pool of skilled, hardworking and talented teams working on our network and it is satisfying the rest of the country now knows about it too.”
Kerikeri is a busy place in the middle of November.
There is the half marathon on November 16 which is part of the Sport Northland Walk/Run Series. It is the flagship event of the series that attracts around 8000 people from all over the country.
The most entries are received for the run, followed by the 5km walk/run and then the half marathon hybrid which is a walk and/or run. Last year’s run was won by Joel Vickers in a time of 1h 11m 25s.
After the prizegiving, the centre of town is closed off for the annual street party where it is transformed into a boulevard of food, local craft beer and wine stalls with multiple stages and roving entertainment. There are six Northland vineyards, two craft breweries and hard iced tea exhibiting this year, together with over 20 food stalls plus all the cafes located within the Kerikeri CBD.
One of the stalls this year, and a sponsor of the event, is Black Collar Distillery. The name originates from coal mines and oil fields where the hard, physical and even frightening conditions of a day’s work meant it literally stained collars black.
It refers to manual labourers in mining or oil-drilling but has also been used to describe workers in (unexplained) illegal professions. Black Collar Distillery Kerikeri today makes rum, gin and vodka.
Bands performing on the main stage include Dogfather, a Kerikeri covers band that plays music from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s to today, and rock, reggae and RnB band Kōhia.
More than 4000 people are expected to attend. The promoter says it is possibly the biggest street party in New Zealand.
Given Napier’s Nuit Blanche (sleepless nights) street festival attracted a crowd of around 15,000 in October this year, the qualified claim is ambitious.
There is a back-up venue in the case of bad weather. A special licence has been granted for The Old Packhouse Market for the street party to relocate to if needed.
The Bay of Islands Rotary Club has been out and about shaking the buckets and lining the streets for charity.
Daffodil Day was held on August 30 and the club hosted a breakfast at The Kingsgate Motel, Paihia, where 45 people attended.
There were also raffles and collection sites on Williams Rd and outside Waitangi Woolworths. As well, there was a collection site on Williams Rd during the Jazz and Blues festival with a sausage sizzle.
There were a dozen people on two-hour shift rosters to help hand out the sausages and all up $4940.80 was raised for the Cancer Society Northland.
More recently the Rotary Club was involved in the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal over October 18 and 19.
There were collection sites outside the Paihia Pharmacy and Waitangi Woolworths. Further, there was a sausage sizzle for the Pink Ribbon collection weekend with 20 people involved in two-hour rostered shifts.
As part of the collection strategy, information cards provided by the Cancer Society were given out. On those were details of how to check for breast cancer, what symptoms to look for and places to contact if there is a need to talk. It was aimed at raising awareness for breast cancer.
The Pink Ribbon Day and sausage sizzle raised $1661.60, making a total of $6602.60 raised by the Bay of Islands Rotary Club for the Cancer Society.
Te Waimate Mission Station is hosting a series of creative workshops this Sunday.
The 190-year-old historic mission is a Tohu Whenua cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga at Waimate North. It will be buzzing with creativity, hosting three workshops to complement the weekend’s vintage TinType portrait sessions.
Artist and writer Annais Allen will host a SoulCollage session in which participants will be able to create unique collage cards with their own personal meaning and find their way home again through the creation of the precious taonga. The session runs from 10am-1pm.
Photographers have a choice of two different but complementary sessions led by Claire Gordon of Flash Gordon Photography.
The first session – Picnic in the Garden – a colourful outdoor photography session with Claire – will teach participants how to get out of auto mode and get creative with landscape photography using the gardens of Te Waimate Mission, which are currently in spring bloom.
The second session will be Light and Shade – a moody photography session inside the Mission House. Participants will focus on mood and inject ambience into their photography using the iconic Mission house as inspiration.
All workshops include a tour of the mission house and tea and coffee. To book visit the individual workshop listings at the Te Waimate Mission House Facebook page.
The latest news bites from around the region.