The GB Weekly - 12 March 2021

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Friday 12 March 2021

Fruitful Aorere Flower Show

Saturday’s Aorere Flower Show saw a steady stream of visitors, keen to admire the fruits of rural labours. Photo: Jo Richards. JO RICHARDS

At 3.40pm last Saturday, 20 minutes before the Aorere Autumn Flower Show was due to close, visitors were still streaming into Pakawau Hall. Taking a short break from brewing pots of tea, Kate Heal asked show organiser Lois Benjamin whether it was time to close the kitchen. “Give it another five minutes,” said Lois, clocking a number of new arrivals. While in no danger of exceeding the Covid Alert Level 2 gathering limit at any one time, the afternoon saw a steady flow of visitors, keen to admire the fruits of rural labours. Some of these fruits were actual fruits – lemons, apples and pears – or veggies, while others were the product of many hours of skilled handiwork. A number of visitors had come from beyond the Bay; Bruce and Andrea McIver from Motueka were on a day trip visiting friends and were impressed with the variety of exhibits. “It’s so lovely to see all the handicrafts and other things,” said Andrea. The crafts displayed on tables and walls around the historic hall ranged from framed

drawings and potted plants to bottled sauces, and from photos and fudge to exquisite knitwear. There was even a complete afternoon tea for one artistically arranged on wooden tray and which, from the red “first prize” card sitting next to the cup and saucer, had clearly caught the judge’s eye. But it’s a flower show after all and, as usual, the blooms created the centrepiece. While providing a riot of vivid colours, this autumn’s entries were considered by the veteran floral expert to be a little off top form. “The cut flowers are down in number and quality,” said Lois. “Flowers are later because we had a dry season, so they’ve been a bit slow.” There was nothing at all wrong with Sue Hitchcock’s large dahlia, though. The Kotinga resident’s single fimbriated bloom was a spectacular sight and understandably crowned overall champion. Sally Douglas from Puramahoi had entered several classes, including dahlias, lemons and zucchini. She was pleased with her award haul, especially a second place in the decorative arrangement section, saying “I’m delighted to have won a few prizes.”

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The Bay’s fickle weather, while affecting the flower-growers, didn’t seem to have spoiled the quality of the local fruit and veggie harvest. “They are great,” said Lois looking at a long table loaded with luscious produce. The high foot traffic generated a good return for the show. “We made around $1000,” said Lois on Monday. “$500 will go to the [Collingwood Area] school library and we’ll have something for the hall.”

Sue Hitchcock’s fimbriated dahlia was crowned Champion Bloom. Photo: Jo Richards.

Community Board JO RICHARDS

The venue for Tuesday’s meeting of the Golden Bay Community Board (GBCB) was switched at the last minute from Collingwood’s fire station to the Sunday School Hall. Despite the more hallowed ground, members of the public were not in the least inhibited in expressing some forthright views in a forum that, at times, simmered but never actually boiled over. The topics that generated the most heat were well-known long-running sagas – the grandstand, freedom camping, and criticisms of Tasman District Council (TDC). Public forum Before public forum warmed up, Liz Thomas made a cool, thoughtful appeal to the board for a more pedestrianfriendly approach to planning in and around Collingwood. After highlighting problems in specific locations, Liz proposed establishing a coastal path to provide a safe walkway between the beach and the old wharf, which would skirt along the campground and around the estuary. She closed with a question. “Can the community board look at developing a plan to make walking and cycling safer in Collingwood?” By coincidence, Collingwood resident Nigel Birse also wanted to improve the lot of Collingwood’s pedestrians. “We want walkways,” said Nigel, who expressed his frustration that a plea he made to the board two-and-a-half years ago had come to nought. Later in the meeting TDC environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King offered to assemble a group of council staff to discus the issue with GBCB. Dick Lamb managed to squeeze four issues into his five-minute slot, turning the temperature dial up a notch or two in the process. First off the rank, and top of his list, was a proposal to improve the council’s Newsline “propaganda sheet” via the ballot box. “The editorship should be part of the three-year election process, so we can vote on who should be editor and given a budget.” The idea didn’t get much traction from the board, although GBCB member Averill Grant made a critical observation about the fortnightly bulletin. “Not many locals read it. The content isn’t very interesting.” Dick’s second issue concerned the apparently skewed resource consent process. “What’s been done of the hillside of Takaka Hill was done without Resource Consent… and it has caused serious sediment run-off… Continued on page 2

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Inside:

One-act plays

THE GB WEEKLY, FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2021

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027 608 5606 - billy.kerrisk@raywhite.com Licenced (REAA 2008) 027 301 4209 - sam.goffriller@raywhite.com

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ISSN (PRINT) 2538-0923 ISSN (ONLINE) 2538-0931

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The GB Weekly - 12 March 2021 by Golden Bay Weekly - Issuu