Organisers of the Ironmahue 2016 set to take place in Whangaroa county later this month are expecting a record turnout for this year's event.

Bruce Craig Gregory was born at Kaingaroa, east of Kaitaia, in 1937.

You're sitting happily in your Lay-Z-Boy watching your favourite show on telly. You hear a loud yelp! and out of the corner of your eye you catch your child pulling the dog's tail and/or grabbing a handful of the cat's fur.

An idea to keep the birds off her bountiful vegetable crop has won Kaikohe's Collette Redman a place in the Yates Spring Vegie Growing Challenge.

A Kaitaia man who allegedly beat his wife on Saturday night, while the couple's babies aged one and two years, watched in fear has not been charged.

As if on cue, Kawakawa's steam engine Gabriel puffed past, providing a fitting backdrop to the opening ceremony of the town's fast-charger for electric vehicles (EVs) on Sunday.

While the local surf scene was conspicuous by its absence at the recent nationals in Dunedin, two Far North surfers were in action at the first event of the Billabong Grom Series at Mount Maunganui last weekend.

Awanui is representing Northland at the national club rugby sevens finals in Wellington this Saturday and Sunday.

Kaitaia's Chief Fire Officer will be sparing no effort in his hunt for the people who kept his volunteer brigade busy on Monday afternoon.

Prime Minister John Key's state of the nation speech last week was more a state of Auckland speech, with only a few meagre offerings for the provinces, according to Northland MP Winston Peters.

Nothing had been confirmed in writing yesterday, but Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngati Kahu CEO Anahera Herbert-Graves believed recalcitrant WWII veteran Selwyn Clarke was about to have his veteran's pension restored.

Patsy Panther enjoys her garden in Pukepoto Road, Kaitaia, taking particular delight in the cactus flowers that brighten it from time to time. It's a pleasure that must be tempered with patience, however.

Much to-ing and fro-ing seemed to come to an end late yesterday morning, with Prime Minister John Key announcing that he would be at Te Tii Marae tomorrow, where he would have the traditional speaking rights.

Te Tii Marae elders say there is a risk of deliberate attempts by protesters to block John Key going on to the marae on Friday.

Another year of gymnastics classes are all ready to go at the Kaitaia Gymnastic Club beginning with a pre-enrolment afternoon on Monday, February 8, at 3.30pm followed by the first classes beginning on Tuesday, February 9 for Term 1.

His lawyer sought a term of home detention, but the prosecution took a different view when 21-year-old TJ Fletcher appeared before the Kaitaia District Court last week.

Government wants settlement and to pay out for past wrongs to Ngapuhi. Money can never compensate for their losses, but it's the best that can be done.

THERE is no questioning Selwyn Clarke's belief that he did not commit an offence when he took part in the occupation of Kaitaia airport last year. Like the others who were arrested and charged with trespass, he believes he had every legal right to be the

Fishing boats and pleasure craft are not an unusual sight off Ahipara, but last week's visitor was well and truly out of the ordinary.

A 61-year-old Auckland woman who was bitten when a dog attacked her Welsh terrier on January was "saddened but not surprised" to hear that the Far North District Council would not be taking action against the owner.

That's the call from a Kaitaia businessmen who's keen to see the sport grow in the Far North. If anyone is qualified to promote the game, likened to an informal but still intensely competitive version of indoor hockey, it's Daniel Fasnacht.

Golden wedding anniversaries are not especially uncommon, but sapphire anniversaries (65 years) are rarer. And one Kaitaia family might well have set some kind of record with two such milestones.

I refer to your recent article regarding the fate of Mr Selwyn Clarke following his involvement in the protests around Kaitaia airport.

Heritage Northland has embarked upon a process of recognising 'local heritage heroes,' and could hardly have chosen a better candidate for recognition than Olwyn Ramsey.

A Czech artist has given up fame and a steady stream of commissions in his homeland for a new life in the Far North.

Ngati Kahu has vowed to continue supporting war veteran Selwyn Clarke for as long as it takes after his war pension was stopped because he failed to respond to an arrest warrant issued in the Kaitaia District Court in October.