Northland news in brief: Whangārei Hospital celebrates 10 years of Yellow Shirt volunteer programme

Cancer Society Auckland Northland’s Yellow Shirt volunteers.

November marks 10 years of the Cancer Society Auckland Northland’s Yellow Shirt volunteer programme at Whangārei Hospital’s Jim Carney Oncology Centre. The volunteers guide patients through their diagnoses and treatments, with the non-clinical support easing the experience for patients and lessening the load on hospital staff. They are led by Kathleen Selby, who has volunteered since the group’s inception, giving back to the Cancer Society for its help during her own cancer treatment.

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Education union NZEI Te Riu Roa has organised a day of action countrywide today to stand against a possible rollback of requirements. They claimed the changes would impact children’s safety, increase privatisation and worsen both learning and working conditions. There will be a protest at the Whangārei intersection by the Hundertwasser Art Museum at 4.30pm.

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Coastguard is urging Kiwis to wear their lifejackets on the water after the country experienced one of its worst years for drownings in boating incidents. Only one of the 17 people who drowned was wearing a lifejacket.

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Police have confirmed a person found dead after a grass fire in Kaitāia on Monday died from an unrelated medical event.

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A suspicious vehicle fire spread to scrub in Taheke on Sunday. Firefighters spent half an hour putting out the blaze, which had spread over an area of about 25m x 10m.

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Police investigated two separate reports of gunshots in Whangārei on Tuesday. The first at 4pm in Ōtangarei; the other just before midnight in Kensington. In both instances, officers found no evidence of a firearm being discharged. Police believed the sound heard in Kensington was most likely from roadworks.

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Wairau Māori Art Gallery‘s latest exhibition is Toka Tū which features nine senior Māori artists. Opening night is December 6 at 6pm.

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Seven wāhine graduating from NorthTec’s Māori Arts department will have their work featured at the Geoff Wilson Gallery until November 28. The exhibit features the completed works of students finishing their final year of the course. Much of the exhibition features themes of Papatūānuku [earth mother] as the class were all wāhine which offered the opportunity to zero in on the female experience. The seven graduating wāhine produced various works in Raranga (weaving) and Rauangi (Visual Arts).

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Whangārei police responded to a sudden death in Graham Rd, Kensington, at about 7.15am today , and have since referred the matter to the coroner’s office.