LIFESTYLER
February 12 2013
Kaipara
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‘A celebration, not sadness’
by Paul Campbell
A funeral service for Matakohe’s Mavis Smith, who died at home last Sunday, aged 102, will take place at the Matakohe War Memorial Hall at 1pm, on Friday February 15.
Fledgling returns to the wild
Our family dog Patu found the fledgling morepork on the bush floor …
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Makeover for St Mary’s Church
Church repaint coincides with arrival of new priest, Father Alfredo Garcia …
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Farewells in the death of Miss Smith, two months after her 102nd birthday was celebrated at her lifetime home, Totara House in Matakohe, should be a “cause for celebration, not sadness,” says her close friend and confidant over the last decade, Pete Panhuis. “Mavis lived for more than a century, and she left us with a final smile. That’s how she will be remembered.” Mr Panhuis is a team leader at the Kauri Museum, an institution conceived at a Smith family and community meeting 50 years ago, in Totara House. In the last half-century of her remarkable life, Miss Smith was to see a humble gathering of artefacts in a virtual barn grow into an internationally recognised museum attracting up to 90,000 visitors a year. “Mavis really was our matriarch,” said museum CEO Bet Nelley. ”The sombre faces on museum staff on Monday morning as the news spread soon gave way to smiles and even laughter as anecdotes flowed about a woman with a cheeky sense of humour, who became a vital part of the museum itself.”
Maurice Weatherall of Baylys Beach, as he landed his 20 pound snapper …
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Meetings on February 20 with the Northland Regional and Whangarei District councils will canvas views on the proposal by the Far North District Council that it becomes a unitary authority. This would involve scrapping the NRC and taking on its role, by implication, radically changing local government dynamics.
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Miss Smith remained active well past her 101st birthday, and was a regular sight at the museum’s open days, a walking encyclopaedia of Matakohe history. continued on page 5…
Local government talks begin The Local Government Commission will open talks in Northland next week on a proposal for radical change in the way the region, including Kaipara, could be governed in the future.
Now that’s Kaipara fishing
Mavis celebrated her 102nd birthday at home in Matakohe last November
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Far North Mayor, Wayne Browne, says his council wants to govern its area and have a direct link to central government. Northland Regional Councillor, Ian Walker, who is also president of Farmers of New Zealand, says he believes ”we need to review the whole provision of local government services to set appropriate priorities. We also need to wake up to the fact that change will happen.” He said two authorities could cover urban and rural interests. “In Kaipara for instance, the rural area could come under one authority, and Mangawhai, with more urban interests, could become part of an urban authority covering Whangarei.” continued on page 5…
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