Kia ora koutou,
Aroha mai about the delay between blogs. I would like to acknowledge the passing of Paul Macdonald. I had only met him a few times but his sense of humour and his strong views on the significance of Te Pokohiwi to Rangitāne o Wairau and this region were things I will remember.
Tomorrow evening we will be welcoming those returning home for the AGM. Mihi Whakatau starts at 6.30pm at Ūkaipō followed by fish ‘n’ chips and whakawhanaungatanga. We encourage whānau who can attend to come along to the welcoming. For catering purposes please notify the office.
Our annual general meetings start at 10.30am on Saturday. This year we have organised supervised tamariki fun at Grovetown School with a bouncy castle, water activities, sausage sizzle etc. Parents must register their tamariki for this event by phoning the office by tomorrow (Friday) at 4pm.
We will be introducing Tina Porou at the AGM. Tina is leading the management plan project for Te Pokohiwi, she specialises in connecting mātauranga Māori with management plans.
Following the AGM hakari we will be holding a Waiata Workshop with Tawaroa Kawana and Jeremy MacLeod. Whānau will have an opportunity to learn some of the new waiata we are releasing. All are welcome.
Te Ipukarea will be held at Lansdowne Park on Saturday, 24 November. I have heard a lot about this and I’m looking forward to a great day. I would like to thank Janis de Thierry for organising our teams and uniforms and making sure Rangitāne o Wairau remains as the regions dominant sporting iwi.
We have hui for the Trust and RHL/RIL tomorrow. More on this next week.
The cabbages are ready to harvest at Tuamātene. Please take enough for your family and perhaps do a bit of weeding while you are there. If you don’t have transport please contact the rūnanga and we will arrange delivery.
Last week I attended the Timeball opening in Lyttelton. The Timeball came down after the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010–11. It was a surprisingly difficult rebuild project mainly due to balancing the budget with heritage requirements. The structure is a replica and the story of the Timeball’s significance to navigation is the real legacy (in my view anyway). This ties in well with the commemoration of the meeting of two great navigating people, at the Tōtaranui 250 ceremony at Meretoto. There will be more regards this in coming months.
I am looking forward to catching up with you on Saturday.
Mā te wā
Nick