Great services get recognised

EXCELLENT: Youth winners Alexander Howden (left), Tom Feringa, Henry Sinclair, Chelsea Bull, Joel Hintz, Matt Wilson and Isaac Coulston with Masterton mayor Lyn Patterson.

Masterton people who have given outstanding service to the community were honoured at the Masterton District Council's Civic and Youth Awards night on Tuesday.

Mayor Lyn Patterson said she had been delighted by the quality of the nominations, which came from all sectors of the community.

"These awards highlight the amazing amount of fantastic volunteer work happening in our community every single day of the year.

"It's wonderful to have the opportunity to be able to recognise this group of residents, including some inspirational young people, who have contributed in their own way to making Masterton a great place to live," Mrs Patterson said.

Winner of the awards and their categories were:

Sports and Leisure

Stephen Brown Voluntary Project Manager for construction of the Pelorus Trust Athletics Track at the Sports Bowl. He also oversaw construction of the gear shed and sourced materials and labour at little or no cost, to a tight budget and time frames. These projects took hundreds of hours.

Des Orange received an award for services to table tennis. he has been secretary/treasurer of the Red Star Veterans' Table Tennis Club and arranges social games outside the district. He is described as the backbone of the club.

He taught the basics of table tennis at schools throughout Wairarapa and has organised fundraising to send young people to New Zealand national tournaments.

Social and Community

John Keen has been a committee member of Castlepoint Residents and Ratepayers Association for 15 years and was a key player in the celebrations at Castlepoint alongside Golden Shears. His successes include preservation of the full distance beam status of the Castlepoint Lighthouse, installation of cell phone coverage at Castlepoint, relay and transmission of local radio into Castlepoint that doubles as a Civil Defence alert system.

Social and Community, Education, Arts & Culture

Pam Robinson is a teacher at Hadlow School and runs three choirs, the orchestra, teaches music and theory, and helps out with small groups such as bands. She runs the Wairarapa Youth Concert Band, takes an annual choir and/or orchestra camp at the beach and runs a public ukulele group. Despite being a wheelchair user who is often in pain through a hip injury, she is always cheerful and encouraging and an inspirational role model.

Rangatahi 4 Youth

Chelsea Bull has raised funds for Breast Cancer and participated in Relay for Life twice. She co-presents a weekly youth slot on Arrow FM and chairs the Youth Council. She is deputy head girl at Chanel College and on the student council.

Kia Kaha

Sebastian Christiansen has achieved 100 per cent attendance at Alt Ed for 2013, had a 92 per cent NCEA 1 pass rate, is a leader with other students, assists the school with IT problems and built his own computer from scratch.

Beat Street

Isaac Coulston won the technical excellence award at Hokonui Fashion awards in Gore. He designed and made his suit, shirt and tie for the school ball and created his own label, "Coolskins", for men's streetwear. He was selected to attend NZ Fashion Tech to complete a two-year diploma in pattern making and fashion design and even designed Cruize Karaitiana's clothes for New Zealand's Got Talent.

Excellence

Joel Hintz was the NZ powerlifting champion in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He was selected to compete in Oceania and Commonwealth Powerlifting comp in Auckland in December. He was first in sub junior 120kg class at national champs and holds NZ records in squat, bench press, deadlift and total. He is vice captain of St Pat's 1st XV, received the best forward award and is in the Wellington Under 18A rep side and in Wellington High Performance Squad.

Alexander Howden was fourth in NZ Secondary Schools Athletics championships in Dunedin. He helps and supports younger athletes, which drew high praise from his nominators.

Youth 4 Community

Matt Wilson Designed an outdoor area for the aged-in-care unit on Niue. He sought and received assistance in design from Victoria University Architecture School and secured $20,000 in funding. He needs a further $20,000 to complete the project. It will be built in NZ and shipped in a container, where it will be rebuilt and the container itself converted to a laundry, kitchen and toilet. The project is expected to be completed in July.

Dream Team

Tom Feringa and Henry Sinclair produced a 4.45-minute video, Matapihi, filmed by senior students. They learnt to film, adapt performances to studio conditions, interacted with subjects, business and contract negotiations etc. They have also made a video promoting Makoura College. Henry acts as school photographer for various events and they both help other students with use of the various photography programmes. They are described as mature, responsible student leaders.