WHAT'S ON

Wednesdays

• Retired Persons’ Assn meet 2nd Wed at Tartines for morning tea and socialising 11am. Occasional outings arranged. Ph 5627365 or 562 8387.

• Library preschool story time 2–2.25pm.

• Pt Howard Playcentre Wed 9.15 -11.45am. Caroline 021 072 1070.

• Scottish Country Dance. Merryn 562 0236.

• Bridge Club 7-10pm. Shona 562 7073.

• DB Playcentre Mon, Wed, Fri 9-12. Andrea Jensen 02102797311.

• “Steady as You Go” Age Concern sponsored Falls Prevention and Exercise Programme. Held 12 noon each Wednesday at Eastbourne Community Hall. Classes are held for 1 hour and costs only $2. Improve your strength and balance to reduce falls and injuries. Falls are preventable. Please join us! Pump Dance Hip hop & contemporary classes Wed afternoons in St Ronan’s hall 0274373508 info@pumpdance.com

Thursdays

• Menzshed 9 till 12 , Williams Park, Mike 562 8688. Women welcome.

• St Ronan’s Mainly Music, 9.30am10.30am, contact Cathy 027 213 9342.

• SPACE at Days Bay Playcentre. Michelle 971 8598.

East Harbour Women’s Club

New Members Welcome Card Groups (weekly)

- Bolivia 12.45pm

Contact Glendyr ph: 562 7181 - Bridge 1.00pm

Contact Heather ph: 562 7995 Guest Speaker (3rd week of month)

7.00pm - Drinks and nibbles provided Contact Diane ph: 562 7555

•Lions meet 2nd Thursday of the month at the Eastbourne Sports and Services Club, Tuatoru St 6.30 pm. New members and visitors are welcome. Graham 562 8819.

• Eastbourne Karate Dojo junior and senior classes (children 8 year & older, plus parents) on Monday and senior classes on Thursday. Contact lindsaysensei@live.com, cell 021 844 873.

Fridays

• Pop in and Play playgroup at St Ronan's Church Hall, 9am-11.30am during school terms. All preschoolers (0-4 years) welcome. Cath 027 213 9342.

• Pt Howard Playcentre Fri 9.15 -11.45am. Caroline 021 072 1070.

• AA Plunket Rooms 7.30pm. Mark 566 6444/ Pauline 562 7833

• DB Playcentre Mon, Wed, Fri 9-12. Andrea Jensen 02102797311.

• Discovery Time for 4years+ at San

Antonio School, 78 Oroua Street, 9.3010.30am. Office 562 7398.

Saturdays

• Justice of the Peace at the Eastbourne Community Library, first Saturday of each month 12pm-1pm.

• Lions’ rubbish bin last Saturday of each month.

• Croquet from 10.00am Muritai Croquet Club. Lyn 562 8722 or Val 562 8181.

• Eastbourne Dune Restoration Group Meets at the dunes area in front of the Eastbourne Recreation Ground, on the first Saturday of the month at 9am. Contact Keena for more details on 562 0992.

Sundays

• Church services - see page 28.

• AA Plunket Rooms 10am. Pauline 562 7833.

Church Services In Eastbourne

St Alban’s Anglican:

Sunday Worship 10am at Wellesley College. Thursday Worship 10am - check venue with Parish office, 11 Ngaio St, Eastbourne tel: 562 6269

Children and Families Ministry: see www.stalbanschurch.nz

St Ronan’s Presbyterian: Muritai Rd, Eastbourne tel: Parish Clerk 562 8753

Sunday Morning Worship: 9.30am. Power Hour: 9.30am

San Antonio Roman Catholic: Oroua St, Eastbourne tel: Fr Marlon Maylon Parish Priest 971 7885

Saturday Vigil Mass: 5.30pm

Sunday (Sacred Heart, Petone): 9.30am & 5.30pm

The beach front slug of gravel that appeared in front of South Eastbourne over the last 25 years has proven to be an ideal nesting site for the NZ Banded Dotterel. Before humans arrived, their main predator was the blackbacked gull and their main defence was camouflage and warning others when the gulls were present. Their plumage makes them hard to spot on gravel seashores. They lay their eggs directly on the beach in a small scrape and the eggs’ colouring makes them hard for the gulls to find. Dotterels also require wide open spaces so they can spot seagulls and, if the gulls are threatening their eggs or chicks, these plucky little birds will chase the much larger seagulls away.

With the introduction of mustelids, rodents and human developments, the dotterel population has declined dramatically. They have the same endangered status as the Giant Spotted Kiwi and the Whio/Blue Duck, but little restorative work has been done with them when compared to the Kiwi and Whio. MIRO is one of 3 groups nationally that are currently studying these birds and has a high impact permit to catch, band and monitor the birds here and at the Parangarahu Lakes.

Aren’t we lucky to have them in our front yard! This year there were 15 adult birds, 13 nests with 3 successful hatchings for a total of 9 chicks. This is the third year with 15 adults, so a steady, but not increasing, population so far. We believe at least 3 chicks made it to fledgling. It was a tough start with 8 nesting failures due to cat predation, but the season improved after fencing their nesting areas versus fencing individual nest sites. Our theory is that the cat was following curious people’s scent to the nest sites, so we fenced their nesting areas instead of individual nests and had much better success, with 3 of the next 5 nests successfully hatching. MIRO received a number of reports about birds beside the Sports & Services Club where we found one of our banded females (Flag PAM) and an unbanded male nesting. This pair had tried to nest and failed 3 times this season in our original fenced area on the southern foreshore, so they moved north. We fenced this nest site, but also included signs asking people to please keep 15 metres away. We are pleased to report that this nest successfully hatched 2 chicks.

Garden Stuff with Sandy Lang

Mar/Apr: Early/mid autumn. Days shorten & cool. Soon time for the final summer-crop harvest. Then, tidy up, fertilise (sheep pellets) and plant winter crops asap. Get them in before the cold. Traditional winter crops do bestsilverbeet, cabbage, kale, broad beans… These greens are exceptionally good for us…!

Autotrophic: Plants are autotrophic (lit. ‘self’ ‘feeding’ = they make their own food). They make all the myriad complex chemicals they need for life, from just a few, simple ingredients – CO2, H2O and sunlight (energy), plus a handful of soil minerals.

Metabolites: What are these complex life chemicals? The basic ones are the primary metabolites (PMs) – sugars (starch=energy, cellulose=structure), lipids (oils=energy) and proteins (enzymes=little factories). Plants also make a huge number (200,000+) of ‘smart’ chemicals. These are the secondary metabolites (SMs). The SMs are small in amount and secondary in importance but help plants survive and thrive in a hostile world. Among other key functions, the SMs help protect plants against stress - biotic stresses (insect and microbial pests and diseases…) and abiotic stresses (UV-light, drought, frost, heat…).

Heterotrophic: We humans are heterotrophic (lit. ‘other’ ‘feeding’). We can’t make PMs or SMs but instead get these second-hand by eating plants (or third-hand by eating animals that eat plants). The PMs are good because they make our bodies strong and give us energy to live. And the SMs are good because these ‘smart’ chemicals do the work in our bodies, they were designed to do in the plant. So, the SMs help us fight off many health conditions including bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases, cancers and heart problems… They also make life worth living - giving us tea, coffee and chocolate…

Diet: Our diet is different from our ancestors’. •Too rich in the high-energy PMs and too poor in the ‘smart’ SMs. Hence, we are overweight and unhealthy. •Many SMs are lost when we process foods (so, process less). •Most SMs are in the bits we reject and hardly at all in the bits we eat (so, eat fruit skins and seeds). •Cultivated fruits are larger than wild-type fruits. Small fruits have relatively more skin and less flesh (simple 3D geometry) and, hence, contain more SMs and less PMs per kg (so, eat small fruits). •Winter greens are low in PMs and high in SMs (so, eat your greens). QED…!

Sandy Lang slang@xtra.co.nz