Te Taumutu Rūnanga Congratulations
Congratulations to Sharon Russell (Nutira whānau), daughter Gina Keating and son-in-law Shane Keating on winning the 2016 NZ Country Music Entertainer of the Year at the Rotorua Civic Theatre. Taumutu can certainly vouch for Sharon’s beautiful singing prowess, as we’ve been blessed to have Sharon entertain kaumātua at the marae for our Kaumātua Matariki lunch celebrations for the past two years – we look forward to her entertaining whānau again in the future.
Sharon Russell, Shane Keating, Gina Keating with their trophy at NZ Country Music Entertainer of the Year.
Mōkihi wānanga
What wonderful weather we were gifted with for our mōkihi wānanga on 30 September. This was our first tamariki day at Taumutu without our kaumātua Rose Brown present, but we felt she was there with us ensuring we had the best of conditions for our mahi. We were ably lead by Joe Wakefield with a support crew of Jodi Cameron and Maatakiwi Wakefield. He mihi nui ki a koutou.
There were 35 tamariki who worked diligently on producing small replica mōkihi – this required a lot of patience and perseverance. However, the results were awesome, ka mau te wehi! A small crew produced a large mōkihi which we aim to take on the water at our next tamariki day, so don’t forget to join us Taumutu whānau.
Joe Wakefield completing the final touches to the mōkihi.
Joe Wakefield demonstrating his paddling technique in the completed mōkihi.
Settlement Day mahi
We would also like to acknowledge staff from the office of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu who were at Taumutu undertaking clean up jobs as part of the Settlement Day commemorations, some were able to be persuaded to come and assist tamariki with producing their mōkihi – all efforts were greatly appreciated.
Thomas Horton weeding at the urupā.
Te Rūnanga staff ready for mahi.
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