BN Proof, October

A few things I noticed:

1. P.1  'TGR is leasing the railway...'.  Should this be 'leasing the railcar'?  Also, 'mid-October' with hyphen.
2. P.4  '... that this facility,...' spelling.
3. P.5, para1  'mid-September' with hyphen
4. P.6  '...children's...' add apostrophe.  Also, ... 'spud in a container' competition... add quotes.
5. P.19  The Community Energy Advice item seems not to be the sub-edited version.  '...typical home's...' add apostrophe;   '...more effective.' add full stop after 'effective';   'Heat is sneaky stuff;' add semi-colon after 'stuff';   'Block off unused fireplaces...' spelling;   'fill a plastic bag' delete 's' of 'bags';   'If you can,' add comma after 'can' and delete comma after 'insulation';   'If you can, surround...' spelling;   '...in the walls. If your house...' start new sentence after 'walls'.

All the best.  Laurence

Living Legends

By Lucy Hardy

 

A massive thanks to everyone who has helped with the planting and maintenance of over 7000 native plants at the Living Legends site in the Orokonui Estuary, Waitati over the past 18 months. 

 

Now that we have so many plants in the ground, I am looking for groups who are willing to adopt a patch of plants to help with their ongoing maintenance. This will typically entail keeping an eye on the plants, hand weeding around them, turning over and replacing weed mats, and letting me know if there are any problems. I will be able to supply replacement weed mats and stakes if needed. If you are interested, drop me an email at lhardy@doc.govt.nz

 

There was another working bee on Sunday 30 September, to do some infill planting into the area which was planted up in 2011.

 

PURAKAUNUI SCHOOL

By Bridget Davidson

We loved the North Coast Cluster Crosscountry and Orienteering event at Waikouaiti. Congratulations to Ransome Rogers who gained first place in the Year 4 boys' race. Seniors enjoyed a sports day at the Edgar Centre recently, also with our fellow North Coast  schools. We rotated around activities such as futsal, netball, gymnastics, ultimate frisbee, cricket and our favourite, wrestling! Thanks to all the great tutors and volunteers who took us.

Our Quiz Night was again a huge success and thanks to Steve Walker and all the organisers, and to everyone for the fabulous raffle donations. Look out for it again next year.

Our Term 3 end-of-term community assembly was held on Thursday 27 September. These assemblies are a great way to get together with the wider community and showcase the exciting learning we have been doing over the term. We are thrilled with the children's academic progress in all areas and like to share this with our community. We always follow with a pot luck supper in the library.

Our annual School Fair is to be held on 18 November from 11am-2pm. Mark this date in your diary now and feel free to donate goods at the school office. We always have fine food, coffee, plants, preserves, good used clothing, bouncy castle, children's treasure hunt and other activities, raffles, books and all sorts of other pre-Christmas goodies.

Mrs Allen and Mr Cook have been busy doing professional learning in the music and e-learning areas and are also attending an orientation visit to Mount Cook to look at running a possible camp there  next year. This year's camp will be a local one in December, making the most of the rock climbing, kayaking, tramping and camping activities on our doorstep at Long Beach, the Purakaunui Estuary and the Mopanui, Mihiwaka and Ecosanctuary areas. Our camps are an all-inclusive experience where we take all of our children away for two nights, along with a large proportion of our parent community.

Our Tiny Pipis pre-school group meets at 10am in the school library on Thursdays and this continues to be very popular. Contact the school for more information.

 

Notice: Daffodil Day

By Liz Sumpter

A big thank you to all who helped towards raising $625 for the Cancer Society. The people who baked, manned the stall and bought daffodils, baking and raffles.

The mystery basket was won by D. Green and Jean Strachan won the boronia kindly donated by Blueskin Nurseries.

Books Galore at Karitane Booksale

By Pat Sivertsen

There will be something for everyone at the annual Karitane Community Book sale. Held in Karitane Hall on Labour weekend Saturday (20 October), the sale promises everything from recent fiction  to Mills and Boone.
The sale runs from 10am to 2pm and regulars know to get there early.
Once again, Karitane School is the book sale's partner with all funds going to the school.
We are still collecting books and these can be left at the Karitane shop (thanks Sue) or phone 465 8054 for collection.  

 

WAITATI SCHOOL: Kapa haka group

by Mandy Mayhem

These photos are of the Waitati School children at the recent Polyfest at the Edgar Centre. Waitati was the only school with genuine traditional piu piu skirts, crafted by the wonderful and talented 'Nanny' Janice Turei of Waitati.

Arohanui, Janice, and thank you so much.

WAIKOUAITI COAST COMMUNITY BOARD

by Gerard Collings, WCCB chair

It is pleasing to see that the Blueskin Library extension is now a reality with work scheduled to commence in October, to be completed in April next year.  All those who have been involved in bringing this project to fruition can be particularly proud of their efforts.  I would also like to extend a thank you to our Dunedin City Council (DCC) councillors for honouring their commitment to this project in somewhat difficult fiscal times.

The Waikouaiti Coast Community Board (WCCB) will be considering its options for public toilets in Waitati at our 26 September meeting.

As a result of necessary redesigning, physical works on Careys Creek bridge have been delayed.  It is now expected that the works will be finished closer to Christmas rather than early November as previously advised.

The WCCB has recently made a submission on the DCC's draft Social Wellbeing Strategy and the Otago Regional Council's Regional Passenger Transport Plan 2012. Copies of the board's submissions are attached to our September meeting agenda which is able to be viewed as indicated below.

Copies of DCC documents out for consultation are available from the council office and through its website http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council-online/currently-consulting-on

 

The next meeting of the WCCB is at 5.30pm, 7 November 2012, at the Warrington Surf Life Saving Club.  Members of the public are welcome to speak at the board's public forum, however those wishing to do so need to advise Wendy Collard, our Governance Support Officer (phone 474 3374), before 12 noon on the day prior to the meeting.  Remember, you can view the board's meeting agendas, reports and minutes at either the Waikouaiti or Blueskin libraries or through the DCC's website at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/council-minutes .  Members of the board are only too happy to hear (by phone or email) from members of the community about any issues within our area.

Board Contacts	Home	Work	Mobile	email
The Board				wccb.public@dcc.govt.nz
Gerard Collings (Chairperson),	4657604	4707494	0274848800	gerard.collings@xtra.co.nz
Alasdair Morrison (Deputy),	4822505	4822505	0274354384	info@calmarine.co.nz
Andy Barratt,	021890048		021890048	asbarratt@farmside.co.nz
Andrew Noone	4657157		0274301727	anoone@dcc.govt.nz
Geraldine Tait,	4822517		0212175492	gstait@clear.net.nz
Les Pullar,	4658138		0274358020	lesgwen.pullar@xtra.co.nz
Mark Brown,	4822833

WAITATI OPEN ORCHARDS

by Hilary Rowley

Here in the south we can grow all sorts of fruit trees and shrubs, but that does not mean we can actually harvest fruit from them. Frost and cold winds are your enemy here, and apart from sensible placement of your fruiting plants, and barrier methods there is not much to be done. The frosts we are having lately will damage fruit and buds on a poorly placed tree. Imagine frost forming like water pooling behind a dam, or in a hollow.  On a slope it will pool behind a wall or a hedge, or at the bottom of the hill. The flat land in Waitati gets much harder frosts than on the hills.  Movement stops frost from occurring so on a slope the air is flowing down hill and as long as there is nothing to dam it there will be less frost.  A fast-flowing river will stir up the air and create areas of less frost. In Central Otago some orchards use big propellers on frosty nights to stir up the air. Because the sea is such a big body of a certain temperature, places close to the sea get less frost.

Apples and pears, and plums are the toughest and can be planted in the less favourable places in your orchard, like at the bottom of the hill, or behind the house, while more delicate trees like peaches, nectarines, cherries and apricots should be further up the hill. It's a frosty night as I write, and we have covered our Moorpark apricot with frost cloth. I just lift it gently over the tree using long bamboo sticks, and can take it off again in the morning.  This would not be possible if we had let the tree get too tall, but it's short and wide, so it works.  The lemon trees get a sheet thrown over them on frosty nights and removed in the morning. Damage is also done by the sun hitting frozen growth on a fruit tree and thawing it too quickly. My really old Victorian gardening book states that this can be prevented 'by thoroughly watering the blossom or young fruits with cold water, applied with a garden engine, in the morning before the sun shines on them'. Now there is something to do before you go to work on a frosty spring morning.  Another method much loved in 19th century European gardens was to grow trees against a  sunny brick or stone wall, so the heat absorbed during the day would be released at night. I think a method of solar-powered frost fighting would be sensible, as it's usually a frosty night following a sunny day,so your solar-powered propellers, or solar-powered heating system would be at full strength.  I don't think these have been invented yet, but would be fun to experiment with.

  

Or, of course, you could not intervene at all, and in some years have no fruit on your delicate varieties and, if you are lucky, in some years have lots.

WARRINGTON PLAYCENTRE

by Lisa Hall

Kia ora, everyone.

 

Spring is here!  If you can't tell that by the unpredictable weather, surely you can by the smiles on everyone's face at the lengthening days, and the odd pasty leg that braves the sunshine.

 

We have had a fantastic month last month, passing our re-licensing inspection with flying colours.  A serious amount of work goes into preparing for these inspections, not only in ensuring our environment meets all the standard requirements but also chasing pieces of official-looking paper and making sure they are in the right places and are updated.  A huge amount of this fell on the shoulders of our esteemed President, Sam.  Her experience with playcentres over the years truly was a godsend for us, and we cannot thank her enough for all the hours she spent helping our centre prepare for this visit.  We were really blessed to have Marie Coll and Alan Somerville from OPA guiding us in their calm manner, and with such great positivity throughout the process.  Thank you also to the parents who all pulled together to help us achieve such a great outcome.  What an awesome wee community we have.

 

It's been thrilling to meet some new friends recently, too.  We welcome Georgina and Toby, Georgina and Rowan, Jo and Belle and Roxanne and Lennox to Warrington Playcentre.  Roxanne is also a past alumni of  our Playcentre.  It's great to meet you all and great to have so many younger cherubs joining our ranks – it makes for a great dynamic.

 

As this goes to print the Blueskin Flower Show will have been graced by some pretty fab sand saucers and creations from our kids.  It has been lovely creating things from our own blossoming garden, and that of Mary-Jane.  We have some very talented florists emerging.

 

Happy birthday shouts go to the 'Phabulous' Phoebe, Fantastic Flynn and Just amazing Jamie.  We all hope you celebrated with plenty of fun, giggles and cake.

 

If you are looking for fun, friends and lots of lovely learning come and join us on Wednesday and Friday mornings, 9:15 to 12:15.  We'd love to see you.

 

Ph 027 227 7329

'The Corner Dairy, number 1' shifts to Blueskin Bay Gallery

by Paul Cardno, the artist

Charles kicks off a new season at the Blueskin Gallery with 'The Corner Dairy, number1'. This was unloaded and installed from the back of a truck two weeks ago on a sunny Blueskin day. Activity is prolific in 'The Corner Dairy, number1' with numbered balls chasing each other forever more. This is not your normal dairy by any stretch of the imagination, but extremely appropriate for it to be placed in the Blueskin Gallery.

Jack helps Paul move 'The Corner Dairy, number 1' into Blueskin Bay Gallery, thanks Jack.

 

If you are wanting to buy lollies, newspaper or food then it's best to go across the road to the store. But if you are looking to see some kinetic art, then 'The Corner Diary, number 1' might be something that interests you and it certainly is something that has interested me.

This sculpture is a maze of wire tracks (82 meters in total) with 16 balls continuously rolling, looping, spinning, doing backflips, turns and twists. It's two metres high with the tracks painted blue and I have an Archimedes spiral in the centre (orange), that is motor-driven and takes the balls up to the top again, beginning their routine to the bottom again. I've spent some four years building this machine, the last two getting the balls to stay on the tracks long enough for me to release it to the public. I've had it in my workshop on Thornicroft Rd for months doing its thing, day in and day out, testing, refining and tuning. During this period I've called it an expensive alarm clock, as the timer on it would mean that it would wake Karen (my partner) and me up in the morning -- the workshop is right under our bedroom!

 

During the two years of tuning and refining I've added in some smarts to make it all run smoothly. Under the hood there are five micro-controllers, a cell phone, quite a few infra-red sensors and some small motors. Together these sense if the balls are running properly, and if not some of the motors are turned on to try and correct this. If this doesn't work then the sculpture is switched off and I get sent a txt message. This happens about once every couple of months (the cellphone is actually inside a round blue box about half way up the sculpture, put there because at my workshop in Thornicroft road this was the only place that I could get reception and still have the cable reach the bottom).

 

It's hard to describe, so I'm hoping that the photos will give an indication of what it's all about, and here are some of the things that I love about it: a) It's semi-chaotic, balls will just fall off for no reason (I did try to make them stay on then I realised that it was way cool to have chaos). b) It has a catapult, which fires all the balls that have fallen off, back onto the main track (powered by 240 volts it was one of the scariest things to make). c) There is a wire knot within the sculpture. I'm told that it's a trefoil knot. d) There is a ferris wheel. And e) there is lots of colour movement and noise.

 

Paul putting on some final element before it's switched on.

 

I've had this sculpture in Wall St Mall for the last several months and I'm really happy to bring it back to our local gallery for the next several weeks. If you are keen to check it out, the Blueskin Gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10:30am to 4:00pm. I've really enjoyed making it, and I hope that you can get some time to see and enjoy it also.