Kidztalk

until her retirement at the end of 2020.

At Te Kura, she was not just a teacher. She ran the Teenage Parents’ club for many years, was involved in the writing of materials for all subjects she taught, and was an active union member. She took an interest in the wider care of her students and was also a close friend with several colleagues.

Marion absolutely loved Eastbourne. She always said that she did not need to go on holiday because she was on holiday everyday she woke up here. It was an awesome place for her boys to grow up, and where she could share her love of the outdoors with her family. Most days she would either tramp, swim, or cycle. She loved to share these passions with others, particularly through her boys’ schooling, including leading school tramps, cycle rides to the lighthouse, and being a swim instructor at Muritai pool.

Around 5 or so years ago, her love for horses came full circle when she started volunteering at the Hutt Valley Riding for the Disabled. She found so much pleasure being back with horses and working hands on with the children there. While she was an amazing mum, she flourished as an Oma. She was an incredible hands-on Oma and was involved with her grandkids daily – whether it be by video calls, pushing the pram up and down Point Howard, or having playdates at the Point Howard Play Centre and community garden.

She gave so much joy to her grandkids and they were at their happiest when she was near. We will miss the laughter that filled the house from the kids when she was around. The love she gave her grandchildren will never be forgotten.

The core set of values Marion instilled in her family and those she engaged with have been incredibly helpful in enabling her family to navigate life. Her enthusiasm for following your passion, working hard, having genuine interactions with those you meet, and treating people well is something that will live on with them.

The family is incredibly touched and overwhelmed by the support the Eastbourne community has provided the wider family over this period. It emphasises everything mum loved about this place. Thank you.

Horned poppies (Glaucium flavum) are one of many pretty plants that have come into New Zealand and found a place where they can run amok, unimpeded by any of the threats they face at home. Even sheep and rabbits avoid them.

They are a poppy, with a yellow flower, hairy grey leaves, and a seedhead that looks like a curved cow horn – hence their common name. They love beaches and dry gravel banks, putting down a tap root that can be a metre or more long. In these places they outcompete native vegetation, especially grasses and herbs.

Each plant starts as a small rosette of soft grey leaves. By the end of their first year they are usually ready to flower and produce seeds – perhaps 500 seeds that year. If they were a verbascum or foxglove, they would then die. But horned poppies instead spend winter adding more rosettes. And the next year produce more seed. After a few years they are maybe 30 cm across and producing 10,000 seeds a year.

If conditions are good, they will have been joined by a lot of their friends and relations, and eventually their patch of beach will be completely covered in poppies. At Baring Head we have had sites transform from a few poppies to 50% of the ground covered in a couple of years. The numbers can be terrifying – you can dig out 1000 poppies and it hardly makes a dent.

But the good news is that the seed doesn’t seem to last very long in the ground, they are easy to grub out, and it is easy to snap off the seedheads. At Baring Head we have almost eradicated them from large areas of the coast by stopping them producing seed and gradually grubbing them all out. If you get in before they proliferate, eradication is easy. And getting in early saves a lot of work. That said, clearing Baring Head has taken an enormous amount of work, and we probably have a few hundred thousand plants in one patch left to do. We are also gradually (with landowner permission) working our way along the next section of beach towards Pencarrow and have also helped Jo Greenman to get most of them off the beaches near Pencarrow, where they are just starting to invade.

If left unchecked, they will spread throughout our coastline reducing the suitability of the habitat for regionally threatened birds such as the banded dotterel and plants like the sea holly. Recent work by Greater Wellington has shown that coastal sites across the region are now dominated by non-native species, but this dominance is due to just a few species which, if contained, would give our native species much more of a chance.

So, if you see a horned poppy, admire it, and then pull it out. If it has a seedhead, break it off and put it in your rubbish bag, as they can continue to develop mature seeds even when broken off. By acting now, we can easily stop Eastbourne beaches from being taken over— every poppy you remove will avoid thousands more being there next year.

- Paula Warren, Friends of Baring Head

Mondays m-5.30pm. Contact Judy Bishop 562 8985

• Retired Persons’ Assn meet 4th Mon, 10am St Ronan's Church hall for morning tea followed by a speaker - $2 entry.Transport can be arranged for these meetings on request, ph 562 7365 or 562 8387.

• “Baby Bounce & Rhyme” at the library 10.00am.

• Singalong 1st Mon, 2pm at St Ronan’s.

• DB Playcentre Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, from 9:15 to 11:45, phone Jeanne 021979177.

• Pt Howard Playcentre. Mon 9.15 -11.45am. Lucy 021 335 391.

• The Historical Society’s Eastbourne History Room above the library is open 2-4 pm every Monday.

• Eastbourne Volunteer Fire Brigade training every Monday 7-9pm. Ph 562 7001 for more info.

• Toy Library 8-9pm. St Ronans Hall www. eastbournemibase.com.au Elizabeth 021 08224664.

• 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.

Keas: Monday 5.15pm – 6.15pm

Kea Leader: Ed 021 738 699

Cubs Monday 6.30pm – 7.45pm

Cub Leader: Damon 022 620 7116

Tuesdays

• Pt Howard Playcentre Tues 9.15 -11.45am. Lucy 021 335 391.

• Days Bay Playcentre Puddle Jumpers Tues 10:30 to 12 noon: Messy and Sensory play for children 2 years and under. Casual sessions, $3 donation.

• Muritai Tennis Club 9.30–noon. Merryn 562 0236.

• Eastbourne Homebirth Group 1st Tuesday of the month. Phone Kate 562-7096.

• East Harbour Women’s Club Morning Tea & Chat Group 10am. Contact Glendyr 562 7181.

• Indoor Bowls Club 1.30pm, at the croquet club, Oroua Street. Rosemary 562 7365

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

• Poetry group, every second Tuesday meet to read and enjoy poems old and new. Phone 562 8387.

• Toy Library 9.30-10.30am. St Ronans Hall.

Facebook: Eastbourne Toy Library Elizabeth 021 08224664www.eastbournemibase.com. au

• 9.30am Nia Dance Fitness Class (low impact - teens to 70+) Music Movement MagicMuritai Yacht Club - call Amanda 021 316692 www.niainwellington.com

• Pump Dance preschool and junior hip hop. 4pm onwards St Ronans Hall. 0274373508 info@pumpdance.com

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 10.00 am.

• Pt Howard Playcentre Wed 9.15 -11.45am. Lucy 021 335 391.

• Scottish Country Dance. Merryn 562 0236.

• Bridge Club 7-10pm. Shona 562 7073.

• DB Playcentre Mon, Wed, Fri 9-12. Siobhan siobhan_whelan@yahoo.ie

• “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!

• Intermediate/teen hip hop and contemporary. 5pm onwards St Ronans Hall. 0274373508 info@pumpdance.com

• EHock - Fun Stick and Ball game Girls and Boys 7- 13.Eastbourne Community Hall. Wednesdays 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. Derek Wilshere 0274303596

Thursdays

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

• St Ronan’s Mainly Music, 9.30am-10.30am, contact Cathy 027 213 9342.

• SPACE at Days Bay Playcentre. Michelle 971 8598.

• East Harbour Women’s Club

- Bolivia 12.45pm, Contact Glendyr ph: 562 7181. Guest Speaker (3rd week of month)7pm, drinks and nibbles provide, 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.

• Intermediate Contemporary Dance

Thursdays 6:30pm - 7:30pm St Ronan's Hall info@pumpdance.com,0274373508 Scouts: Thursday 6.30pm – 8.00pm Scout Leader: Susan 027 535 4962

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.

Lucy 021 335 391.

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

• DB Playcentre Mon, Wed, Fri 9-12. Siobhan siobhan_whelan@yahoo.ie

• Discovery Time for 4years+ at San Antonio School, 78 Oroua Street, 9.30-10.30am. Office 562 7398.

• Eastbourne Bowling Club. Newly formed Ladies casual bowling group meets Fridays at 2.00pm. Experience is not required. Bowls & instruction available. Casual dress code. Contact Cheri - 021 0699 274.

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 10am Muritai Croquet Club. Lyn 562 8722 or Val 562 8181.

Sundays

• AA Plunket Rooms 10am. Karen 021 440 705.

Tel: 562-7555 or Spencer Logan - 021627773

Campbell Logan - 0220938090

Email: spencer.logan@xtra.co.nz www.spencerlogan.co.nz

June: Winter. Gutters clogged with autumn leaves. Time to tidy up…

Leaf fall: Leaves don’t just fall off. First, trees detect the shortening autumn days and signal (hormones) for the leaves to ‘senesce’ - a process in which they are scavenged for useful stuff (amino acids, sugars, minerals) which they transport back into the tree. We see this as yellowing. Next, an ‘abscission’ layer of fragile cells forms where the leafstalk joins the twig. This isolates the leaf from the tree, stretching, breaking and sealing-off the vascular connections, and creating a ‘plane of weakness’ so a puff of wind breaks the leaf away.

Lifespan: Leaf lifespan varies from weeks (annuals) to months (deciduous trees) to many years (conifers). In general, short-lived leaves are flimsy things, built cheaply (minimal investment in leaf structure) so by 8 months (or less) they’re wind-torn, sun/wind-burned, insect chewed. The long-lived leaves are thicker, tougher things (high investment in leaf structure) and these better endure the rigours a tough world. So, it’s cheap, throwaway or quality, built to last. Try an experiment. Dry out a leaf from a Pohutukawa tree, from a deciduous tree, and from wandering willie – the different structural investments are obvious.

Strategies: All trees shed leaves, but some (evergreens) shed them one by one, anytime through the year, as they become surplus to requirements (shaded, damaged, stomata no longer open/close to control water loss), while others shed them all at once in autumn (deciduous). Satellite images in winter show there are some areas of the world where deciduous forests predominate, and some where evergreen forests predominate, and some with a mix. In most climates, and on most soils, there’s a mix of evergreen and deciduous, suggesting neither strategy is quite without its special advantages/disadvantages. If there were a standout, ‘best strategy’, it’s likely all trees would do the same, everywhere.

Photosynthesis: It’s generally true the flimsyleafed, deciduous trees have higher leaf areas and photosynthesise faster than evergreen trees. So, the net amount of photosynthesis by a deciduous tree in 8 months is about the same as that by an evergreen tree in 12 months.

NZ: Most (96%) of our native trees are evergreen. This might be something to do with our soils and climate (maritime - mild temperatures, windy, uniform rainfall,) but more likely with our geological past and isolation. - www.gardenstuffnz.blogspot.com