Life + Style 13 April 2017

21 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 1

Mediterranean meals Page 2

THE WEEKEND

Featuring

Food | Art & creativity | People | Sport...

2

life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015 13August, April, 2017

Crafting tempting dishes Eating tasty doesn’t have to cost the earth Bringing a Mediterranean style of cooking to your kitchen is easier than you think, and it’s a small change that your taste buds will thank you for.

Vetro is committed to providing quality ingredients at every day prices

pastries and quick-to-prepare pastas and Greek filo pastries, there really are wonderful culinary solutions at Vetro.

The family-run store is known for its friendly helpful staff who are happy to explain how to use certain products and give great ideas for everything from a simple family meal to a more sophisticated dinner party.

Ask staff for a ‘what to do with…’ list for any of those products you may not be sure about. If you’re looking for a gift, Vetro has two great solutions – either a voucher or a beautiful wooden custom made box which you can fill yourself, have them help you with, or just grab one of the ones ready to go.

Their easy-to-get-to location on the industrial side of Third Ave has plenty of parking out front and along the side of the building to help make loading your groceries even easier.

So if you want your cooking to have a difference you can taste, try buying your groceries at Vetro in Tauranga.

Cayla-Fay Saunders

Photos: Bruce Barnard

Using quality ingredients makes simple meals come to life. Open a can of true Italian tomatoes or a pack of Italian bronze nozzle air-dried pasta and you’ll understand. And making the switch to high quality ingredients is easy, convenient, and won’t hurt your wallet.

Now in Tauranga, Vetro Mediterranean Foods is a premium food store that stocks the hard-to-find items as well as your day-to-day grocery needs, which means you don’t have to search high and low and you’ll find everything without spending an exuberant amount of money.

Though Vetro may look like a luxury supermarket, that’s not the case at all. In fact, real, high quality Italian pastas cost about the same as their industrialised supermarket counterparts.

Whether it’s real Italian pastas, tomato passatas and sauces made and bottled in Italy, or delightful New Zealand salmon – Vetro in Tauranga has it, and they have it at a great price.

“The idea that you can buy a can of Italian tomatoes, which are salt and sugar free and taste fantastic because of their growing conditions and climate, for only 99 cents, is something we feel is really important,” says Vetro’s Liz Gore.

“It makes top quality everyday products accessible for everyone and once you try them you see how they are just that much nicer.”

At Vetro they are committed to providing quality ingredients at every day prices. Oils, vinegars, gherkins, olives, French, Italian, Greek and Spanish meats and cheeses, not to mention a superb range of tomato and pasta products are all available.

In addition, Vetro is becoming increasingly known for its extensive range of quality dried fruit, nuts, seeds, grains, beans and lentils at really good prices.

As Liz says, “Although we are not a ‘health food shop’ we stock a lot of healthy food, hard-to-get flours, bulk nuts, seeds and dried fruits not to mention all the olives, anchovies and olive oils. We even have some gluten-free flours and pastas”.

With freezers stocked with beautiful gelato, icecream, duck, poussin, NZ berries, stunning French

QUALITY EVERYDAY INGREDIENTS AT EVERYDAY LOW PRICES

13 April, 2017

A man of many talents

Robbie Lavën will be performing with three bands at this year’s National Jazz Festival

From Amsterdam to Tauranga There’s a calm serenity in the way Robbie Lavën speaks, it’s like Pachelbel’s Canon verbalised.

Photos: Bruce Barnard

He’s a thinker. Before every answer there’s a slight pause, a half-beat, before offering up an insight with metronomic rhythm – you could set your watch to his words. Yet when the topic of ‘music’ comes up there’s a cadence in the 72-year-old’s voice, the beat of his delivery quickens slightly and you know you’ve struck a chord.

“Everyone is born with a particular passion, a vocation almost, music is mine, I can’t resist. When I was two or three, if my parents took me somewhere and I heard music I’d run away and find it.

“Since then I’ve discovered more and more about people with that inborn passion.

“It could be a genetic thing, it could be just your own make up, they can’t resist it, and they have very little choice over the matter.”

Robbie’s father adored jazz, he’d play vinyl records every weekend, exposing his son to artists like Louis Armstrong, Django Reindheart, Duke Ellington, “almost from the day I was born”.

Born in Amsterdam in 1945, Robbie discovered his aptitude for music while walking and whistling to himself at age 10.

He would master his first instrument a year later – the snare drum – an instrument he discovered via a local youth club’s marching band at age 11. Soon after, his parents purchased him a guitar.

The Lavën family then immigrated to New Zealand through a government sponsored scheme in 1959, arriving in the country at the same time as the electric guitar revolution reached our shores.

While studying at Auckland University during the

1960s, the folk revival hit NZ and Robbie was further opened to a strange and beautiful new world of instruments. “I remember hearing Ravi Shankar and was completely blown away by his improvisations. A local music shop had a sitar which I purchased, took it home and mucked around with it.”

There was no stopping the learning after that. Instruments he’s mastered to date includes lap steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle, sax, flute, harmonica, percussion-like washboard, and a range of ethnic folk instruments.

You could probably give Robbie a kitchen sink and no doubt he’d make it sing.

Robbie was a spectator at the very first National Jazz Festival at Memorial Park in 1962, but has also performed at the annual event a handful of times.

“I played last year with Bay Dixie, and in 2007 with the Wellington City Shake-’Em-On-Downers – a band which my son plays in and that was a lot of fun.

I’ve also had two or three performances with Bonjour Swing, a gypsy jazz group which my wife Marion Arts and son Oscar formed.”

But you won’t be able to escape Robbie during the 2017 National Jazz Festival which is taking place across the city centre this Easter weekend, April 13-17.

That’s because he’s performing with three bands this year – Bay Dixie on the Dixie Land on Grey Street stage this Saturday, then back-to-back shows with the Bay City Ramblers and Kokomo on the Eve’s Realty Stage on The Strand on the Sunday.

“Bay Dixie performs mostly 1920-1930s Dixieland jazz and almost has iconic status as some players have been around since beginning of Jazz Festival. Kokomo performs a lot of blues and roots, and Bay City Ramblers repertoire’s mainly swing and blues focussed material, using stringed instruments. “I am going to be a busy man, but it’s going to be great.” David Tauranga

life+style The Weekend Sun 3

4

13August, April, 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015

“That has been hugely rewarding, as has knowing you are making a positive difference in the lives of

A successful 14 years Trish says goodbye

hospice patients and their families”

An email comes through the newsroom desk with Trish Rae’s signature on it. It’s usually attached with a polite but direct instruction for publishing.

The email goes unanswered, and the newsroom receives another email – a gentle reminder to the first one.

Her persistence pays off. The email is answered and Trish pitches her news story.

It’s got motive – a charity fundraiser for Waipuna Hospice. And the newsroom agrees to publishing.

Job done. That’s how Trish works. It’s what makes her great at her job, what gets her stories in the newspapers. It’s also what’s helped her to raise more than $20 million in the last 14 years as Waipuna Hospice’s fundraising manager.

Trish has played a significant role in developing the hospice brand in Western Bay of Plenty, increasing awareness of the service provided and the revenue required to sustain it.

Her determination has seen the hospice meet its operating shortfall each year which has grown from $450,000 in 2003 to $2.5million this year – a little more than $48,000 per week.

It’s a legacy she’ll now leave behind. Trish is handing in her notice.

“It is time for me to explore new challenges, and I feel the time is right for Waipuna to bring onboard someone with fresh new ideas. Change is good,” says Trish.

“It would have been easy to stay on for another few years, however I’m looking forward to stepping

outside my comfort zone and tackling new projects.”

A new project called Justgo.nz – a newly-launched website to inspire and encourage Kiwis to see more of New Zealand.

“While Kiwis are renowned as extensive travellers abroad, many have seen little of their own country, believing they will have time ‘later on’ for adventures and ‘bucket list’ items,” says Trish.

“However, injury or a life ending diagnosis prevents many from realising their dreams. I’m a strong advocate of incorporating into your life those activities that you bring you joy, as circumstances, finance and time permit.”

Trish has walked, tramped, biked, camped and kayaked through most regions in NZ. She’ll share some of the country’s greatest attractions through articles and stunning photographs posted to the website.

Trish hopes to align herself as a brand ambassador for well-respected NZ travel, tourism and lifestyle companies helping to encourage more Kiwis to be more active and improve their health and wellbeing.

“I know from personal experience how great it feels to head outdoors, and I endorse many of the messages conveyed by others about the tonic it provides people of all ages, stages and abilities.”

Not stepping away entirely from the fundraising scene, Trish will remain available for one-off projects and fundraising advice.

Fundraising is Trish’s specialty. Persuading volunteers to get their gear off for a Calendar Girls style calendar, meeting the founder of Dilmah tea and a walk across the Tauranga Harbour Bridge before its public opening. They’re just some of the memories Trish has made in 14 years.

13 April, 2017 2015 21 August,

life+style The Weekend Sun 5

Job done. That’s how Trish works.

The calendar raised $65,000 and rates as one of Trish’s most fun projects.

“I had to persuade our garden volunteers to get their gear off to support Waipuna,” laughs Trish.

“Once they realised it was going to be a very classy, tasteful calendar there was no going back.

“Assisted by a very creative floral designer we came up with stunning, quirky sets, and thanks to an expert photographer we produced a gorgeous calendar that flew off the shelves.”

Meeting Dilmah tea founder Merrill Fernando in NZ on an anniversary tour was a highlight for Trish.

Dilmah supplies hospices nationwide with their annual quota of tea and have been doing so for 20 years. A public walk across the harbour bridge prior to opening raised another $25,000 by gold coin donation.

Then, one of the biggest offers of the year – taking a phone call that resulted in a $750,000 grant.

“It was an exceptionally memorable day. I walked around in sheer disbelief all day.”

Fundraising events based around Rugby World Cup matches were loads of fun, says Trish.

‘Vive la France’ – an evening with French food, wine and entertainment, an ‘Out of Africa’ safari evening and an ‘Ascot Race Carnival’ with all the bells and whistles.

Securing opera singing trio, Sol3 Mio, for four fundraising concerts was also a memorable achievement.

“The boys raised the rooftops and won everyone’s hearts, including mine.”

Christchurch teenager Jake Bailey, who was diagnosed with cancer, gave an end-of-year speech at a hospice fundraising breakfast “that went viral,” says

40

Trish. “That was especially moving and poignant.”

Many stories, many memories and many coffers.

But Trish isn’t leaving on a low.

She’s got a few more jobs to do – the mid-winter madness event Shorts4Waipuna.

She wants you to put shorts on in the middle of winter on June 21, the shortest day of the year.

The Shades concert at Holy Trinity on July 7 will be her final send off.

“Featuring outrageously talented singers with a cheeky sense of humour, this will be a fitting end to my tenure at Waipuna Hospice.”

Trish says her fundraising endeavours have been aided by a community that holds the hospice in high regard. “That has been hugely rewarding, as has knowing you are making a positive difference in the lives of hospice patients and their families.

“I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to the loyal businesses, organisations, trusts, families, individuals and volunteers who have supported Waipuna Hospice with such enthusiasm and generosity.”

The organisation is working through a transition process during the next few months and expects to announce new arrangements in May. Zoe Hunter

40

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:: Mon - Fri: 9am - 5pm :: Sat - Sun: 10am - 4pm

6

April, 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 2113August, 2015

A roller derby rebel Designer by day, Hell by night

You walk past her and she stands out. Pink hair, bandana for a headband, funky reading glasses and a pretty face. An interesting, creative character.

Caitlin Burns is a graphic designer by day, and by night, she’d “lay people out” if she had to. Caitlin by day is ‘Hell’ by night.

Hell is her roller derby name – the name she uses when playing the madcap contact sport involving two teams of five roller-skating in the same direction around a track.

Caitlin’s a ‘jammer’ – the designated point scorer.

“A lot of my training time involves launching myself full tilt into a group of blockers [defensive skaters] and trying to make it out the other side,” says the roller derby rebel and Sun Media graphic designer. It’s a physical and strategic sport. “You

Photos: Tracy Hardy

Energy Services 9x4

probably do need to be a bit stubborn and a little bit tough,” says Caitlin.

“It can be exhausting but it’s fun coming up with creative new plays to try and outsmart the opposition.”

But there’s no ‘fighting’ allowed in roller derby.

“You can only hit someone in specific parts of their body, no shoving, no punching etc – and if you do something that’s against the rules, you’ll get a penalty or chucked out of the game entirely.”

It’s more about getting past the ‘blocker’ and less about looking to “lay someone out”. “But if I have to I will!” That’s Hell talking.

Her nice side says if she can avoid hitting someone, or getting hit, “that’s ideal”. “I hate any kind of aggressiveness in normal life – I’d probably just cry if someone wanted to physically fight me.”

But Caitlin’s used to a physical, powerful game.

Her sporting background is minimal, but she did

13 21 April, 2017 2015 August,

life+style The Weekend Sun 7

“You probably do need

a little bit tough,”

style x

Photo: Kristy Barker

whack a softball a few good home-run’s worth across the field during high-school. She does powerlifting, but doesn’t do running. “I force myself to run.” It’s a good thing she’s got skates.

She’s also used to injuries, like a broken hand and a few stitches to the forehead after coming second-best to a skate ramp during practice.

Other than that it’s just been “a few bumps and bruises and aches and pains”.

“Luckily, I have a great physio who has learnt not to tell me to stop skating…because it’s not going to happen,” says Caitlin.

So what prompts a young woman to get into such a physical, hard-knocking sport? It’s the ‘alternative’ culture of roller derby that initially attracted a 22-year-old Caitlin in February 2012. “The fishnets and facepaint.”

A workmate suggested she put on some skates and give it a go. Her first time on skates proved more like a “baby giraffe” – all feet and no flair. “But way less cute and way more swearing,” says Caitlin. “I was terrified! I’d never skated before in my life and you could definitely tell.”

Then came the first game. “It was a total blur. I don’t recall much at all, other than landing awkwardly on my knee,” says Caitlin. “But my team won, so I remember that much.”

Now, she’s trained with the Team New Zealand Training Squad and has played some of NZ’s best teams with Whakatane Roller Derby.

“But I haven’t managed to make the cut for the world cup…yet!” From a ‘baby giraffe’ to a pro-

Photo: Victor Paul

to be a bit stubborn and

skater, Caitlin’s become more confident on skates and in herself.

“Through skating I have learnt to be more confident around people and to love my body for what it can do rather than what it looks like – as well as making some awesome friends and going to some amazing places.” She encourages other women to

give the sport a go. You too can change from timid to tough by enrolling in a roller derby team.

“Mount Militia Derby Crew has a new skater intake coming soon,” hints Caitlin.

“The hardest part is just turning up and doing it! The first few weeks can be tough when you’re finding your feet, but after that

it’s onwards and upwards.

“Roller derby people are great people, and there will always be someone there to pick you up and offer encouragement when you’ve fallen on your ass.”

Even ‘Hell’ would lend her your hand.

‘Hell’ really being short for Hellvetica. “It’s Zoe Hunter just a ‘bad’ pun on a font.”

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21 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 1

Mediterranean meals Page 2

THE WEEKEND

Featuring

Food | Art & creativity | People | Sport...

2

life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015 13August, April, 2017

Crafting tempting dishes Eating tasty doesn’t have to cost the earth Bringing a Mediterranean style of cooking to your kitchen is easier than you think, and it’s a small change that your taste buds will thank you for.

Vetro is committed to providing quality ingredients at every day prices

pastries and quick-to-prepare pastas and Greek filo pastries, there really are wonderful culinary solutions at Vetro.

The family-run store is known for its friendly helpful staff who are happy to explain how to use certain products and give great ideas for everything from a simple family meal to a more sophisticated dinner party.

Ask staff for a ‘what to do with…’ list for any of those products you may not be sure about. If you’re looking for a gift, Vetro has two great solutions – either a voucher or a beautiful wooden custom made box which you can fill yourself, have them help you with, or just grab one of the ones ready to go.

Their easy-to-get-to location on the industrial side of Third Ave has plenty of parking out front and along the side of the building to help make loading your groceries even easier.

So if you want your cooking to have a difference you can taste, try buying your groceries at Vetro in Tauranga.

Cayla-Fay Saunders

Photos: Bruce Barnard

Using quality ingredients makes simple meals come to life. Open a can of true Italian tomatoes or a pack of Italian bronze nozzle air-dried pasta and you’ll understand. And making the switch to high quality ingredients is easy, convenient, and won’t hurt your wallet.

Now in Tauranga, Vetro Mediterranean Foods is a premium food store that stocks the hard-to-find items as well as your day-to-day grocery needs, which means you don’t have to search high and low and you’ll find everything without spending an exuberant amount of money.

Though Vetro may look like a luxury supermarket, that’s not the case at all. In fact, real, high quality Italian pastas cost about the same as their industrialised supermarket counterparts.

Whether it’s real Italian pastas, tomato passatas and sauces made and bottled in Italy, or delightful New Zealand salmon – Vetro in Tauranga has it, and they have it at a great price.

“The idea that you can buy a can of Italian tomatoes, which are salt and sugar free and taste fantastic because of their growing conditions and climate, for only 99 cents, is something we feel is really important,” says Vetro’s Liz Gore.

“It makes top quality everyday products accessible for everyone and once you try them you see how they are just that much nicer.”

At Vetro they are committed to providing quality ingredients at every day prices. Oils, vinegars, gherkins, olives, French, Italian, Greek and Spanish meats and cheeses, not to mention a superb range of tomato and pasta products are all available.

In addition, Vetro is becoming increasingly known for its extensive range of quality dried fruit, nuts, seeds, grains, beans and lentils at really good prices.

As Liz says, “Although we are not a ‘health food shop’ we stock a lot of healthy food, hard-to-get flours, bulk nuts, seeds and dried fruits not to mention all the olives, anchovies and olive oils. We even have some gluten-free flours and pastas”.

With freezers stocked with beautiful gelato, icecream, duck, poussin, NZ berries, stunning French

QUALITY EVERYDAY INGREDIENTS AT EVERYDAY LOW PRICES

13 April, 2017

A man of many talents

Robbie Lavën will be performing with three bands at this year’s National Jazz Festival

From Amsterdam to Tauranga There’s a calm serenity in the way Robbie Lavën speaks, it’s like Pachelbel’s Canon verbalised.

Photos: Bruce Barnard

He’s a thinker. Before every answer there’s a slight pause, a half-beat, before offering up an insight with metronomic rhythm – you could set your watch to his words. Yet when the topic of ‘music’ comes up there’s a cadence in the 72-year-old’s voice, the beat of his delivery quickens slightly and you know you’ve struck a chord.

“Everyone is born with a particular passion, a vocation almost, music is mine, I can’t resist. When I was two or three, if my parents took me somewhere and I heard music I’d run away and find it.

“Since then I’ve discovered more and more about people with that inborn passion.

“It could be a genetic thing, it could be just your own make up, they can’t resist it, and they have very little choice over the matter.”

Robbie’s father adored jazz, he’d play vinyl records every weekend, exposing his son to artists like Louis Armstrong, Django Reindheart, Duke Ellington, “almost from the day I was born”.

Born in Amsterdam in 1945, Robbie discovered his aptitude for music while walking and whistling to himself at age 10.

He would master his first instrument a year later – the snare drum – an instrument he discovered via a local youth club’s marching band at age 11. Soon after, his parents purchased him a guitar.

The Lavën family then immigrated to New Zealand through a government sponsored scheme in 1959, arriving in the country at the same time as the electric guitar revolution reached our shores.

While studying at Auckland University during the

1960s, the folk revival hit NZ and Robbie was further opened to a strange and beautiful new world of instruments. “I remember hearing Ravi Shankar and was completely blown away by his improvisations. A local music shop had a sitar which I purchased, took it home and mucked around with it.”

There was no stopping the learning after that. Instruments he’s mastered to date includes lap steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle, sax, flute, harmonica, percussion-like washboard, and a range of ethnic folk instruments.

You could probably give Robbie a kitchen sink and no doubt he’d make it sing.

Robbie was a spectator at the very first National Jazz Festival at Memorial Park in 1962, but has also performed at the annual event a handful of times.

“I played last year with Bay Dixie, and in 2007 with the Wellington City Shake-’Em-On-Downers – a band which my son plays in and that was a lot of fun.

I’ve also had two or three performances with Bonjour Swing, a gypsy jazz group which my wife Marion Arts and son Oscar formed.”

But you won’t be able to escape Robbie during the 2017 National Jazz Festival which is taking place across the city centre this Easter weekend, April 13-17.

That’s because he’s performing with three bands this year – Bay Dixie on the Dixie Land on Grey Street stage this Saturday, then back-to-back shows with the Bay City Ramblers and Kokomo on the Eve’s Realty Stage on The Strand on the Sunday.

“Bay Dixie performs mostly 1920-1930s Dixieland jazz and almost has iconic status as some players have been around since beginning of Jazz Festival. Kokomo performs a lot of blues and roots, and Bay City Ramblers repertoire’s mainly swing and blues focussed material, using stringed instruments. “I am going to be a busy man, but it’s going to be great.” David Tauranga

life+style The Weekend Sun 3

4

13August, April, 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 21 2015

“That has been hugely rewarding, as has knowing you are making a positive difference in the lives of

A successful 14 years Trish says goodbye

hospice patients and their families”

An email comes through the newsroom desk with Trish Rae’s signature on it. It’s usually attached with a polite but direct instruction for publishing.

The email goes unanswered, and the newsroom receives another email – a gentle reminder to the first one.

Her persistence pays off. The email is answered and Trish pitches her news story.

It’s got motive – a charity fundraiser for Waipuna Hospice. And the newsroom agrees to publishing.

Job done. That’s how Trish works. It’s what makes her great at her job, what gets her stories in the newspapers. It’s also what’s helped her to raise more than $20 million in the last 14 years as Waipuna Hospice’s fundraising manager.

Trish has played a significant role in developing the hospice brand in Western Bay of Plenty, increasing awareness of the service provided and the revenue required to sustain it.

Her determination has seen the hospice meet its operating shortfall each year which has grown from $450,000 in 2003 to $2.5million this year – a little more than $48,000 per week.

It’s a legacy she’ll now leave behind. Trish is handing in her notice.

“It is time for me to explore new challenges, and I feel the time is right for Waipuna to bring onboard someone with fresh new ideas. Change is good,” says Trish.

“It would have been easy to stay on for another few years, however I’m looking forward to stepping

outside my comfort zone and tackling new projects.”

A new project called Justgo.nz – a newly-launched website to inspire and encourage Kiwis to see more of New Zealand.

“While Kiwis are renowned as extensive travellers abroad, many have seen little of their own country, believing they will have time ‘later on’ for adventures and ‘bucket list’ items,” says Trish.

“However, injury or a life ending diagnosis prevents many from realising their dreams. I’m a strong advocate of incorporating into your life those activities that you bring you joy, as circumstances, finance and time permit.”

Trish has walked, tramped, biked, camped and kayaked through most regions in NZ. She’ll share some of the country’s greatest attractions through articles and stunning photographs posted to the website.

Trish hopes to align herself as a brand ambassador for well-respected NZ travel, tourism and lifestyle companies helping to encourage more Kiwis to be more active and improve their health and wellbeing.

“I know from personal experience how great it feels to head outdoors, and I endorse many of the messages conveyed by others about the tonic it provides people of all ages, stages and abilities.”

Not stepping away entirely from the fundraising scene, Trish will remain available for one-off projects and fundraising advice.

Fundraising is Trish’s specialty. Persuading volunteers to get their gear off for a Calendar Girls style calendar, meeting the founder of Dilmah tea and a walk across the Tauranga Harbour Bridge before its public opening. They’re just some of the memories Trish has made in 14 years.

13 April, 2017 2015 21 August,

life+style The Weekend Sun 5

Job done. That’s how Trish works.

The calendar raised $65,000 and rates as one of Trish’s most fun projects.

“I had to persuade our garden volunteers to get their gear off to support Waipuna,” laughs Trish.

“Once they realised it was going to be a very classy, tasteful calendar there was no going back.

“Assisted by a very creative floral designer we came up with stunning, quirky sets, and thanks to an expert photographer we produced a gorgeous calendar that flew off the shelves.”

Meeting Dilmah tea founder Merrill Fernando in NZ on an anniversary tour was a highlight for Trish.

Dilmah supplies hospices nationwide with their annual quota of tea and have been doing so for 20 years. A public walk across the harbour bridge prior to opening raised another $25,000 by gold coin donation.

Then, one of the biggest offers of the year – taking a phone call that resulted in a $750,000 grant.

“It was an exceptionally memorable day. I walked around in sheer disbelief all day.”

Fundraising events based around Rugby World Cup matches were loads of fun, says Trish.

‘Vive la France’ – an evening with French food, wine and entertainment, an ‘Out of Africa’ safari evening and an ‘Ascot Race Carnival’ with all the bells and whistles.

Securing opera singing trio, Sol3 Mio, for four fundraising concerts was also a memorable achievement.

“The boys raised the rooftops and won everyone’s hearts, including mine.”

Christchurch teenager Jake Bailey, who was diagnosed with cancer, gave an end-of-year speech at a hospice fundraising breakfast “that went viral,” says

40

Trish. “That was especially moving and poignant.”

Many stories, many memories and many coffers.

But Trish isn’t leaving on a low.

She’s got a few more jobs to do – the mid-winter madness event Shorts4Waipuna.

She wants you to put shorts on in the middle of winter on June 21, the shortest day of the year.

The Shades concert at Holy Trinity on July 7 will be her final send off.

“Featuring outrageously talented singers with a cheeky sense of humour, this will be a fitting end to my tenure at Waipuna Hospice.”

Trish says her fundraising endeavours have been aided by a community that holds the hospice in high regard. “That has been hugely rewarding, as has knowing you are making a positive difference in the lives of hospice patients and their families.

“I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to the loyal businesses, organisations, trusts, families, individuals and volunteers who have supported Waipuna Hospice with such enthusiasm and generosity.”

The organisation is working through a transition process during the next few months and expects to announce new arrangements in May. Zoe Hunter

40

EASTER STOREWIDE SALE

%

20 - 40% OFF*

OFF

8 APRIL TO 23 APRIL

Ruji Side Tables FROM: $177

%

OFF

Flores and Batavia Dining Chairs FROM: $299

30

20

%

%

OFF

40

OFF

40

%

%

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April, 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 2113August, 2015

A roller derby rebel Designer by day, Hell by night

You walk past her and she stands out. Pink hair, bandana for a headband, funky reading glasses and a pretty face. An interesting, creative character.

Caitlin Burns is a graphic designer by day, and by night, she’d “lay people out” if she had to. Caitlin by day is ‘Hell’ by night.

Hell is her roller derby name – the name she uses when playing the madcap contact sport involving two teams of five roller-skating in the same direction around a track.

Caitlin’s a ‘jammer’ – the designated point scorer.

“A lot of my training time involves launching myself full tilt into a group of blockers [defensive skaters] and trying to make it out the other side,” says the roller derby rebel and Sun Media graphic designer. It’s a physical and strategic sport. “You

probably do need to be a bit stubborn and a little bit tough,” says Caitlin.

“It can be exhausting but it’s fun coming up with creative new plays to try and outsmart the opposition.”

But there’s no ‘fighting’ allowed in roller derby.

“You can only hit someone in specific parts of their body, no shoving, no punching etc – and if you do something that’s against the rules, you’ll get a penalty or chucked out of the game entirely.”

It’s more about getting past the ‘blocker’ and less about looking to “lay someone out”. “But if I have to I will!” That’s Hell talking.

Her nice side says if she can avoid hitting someone, or getting hit, “that’s ideal”. “I hate any kind of aggressiveness in normal life – I’d probably just cry if someone wanted to physically fight me.”

But Caitlin’s used to a physical, powerful game.

Her sporting background is minimal, but she did

Photos: Tracy Hardy

Ventilation New Zealand’s Quietest Heat Pumps

13 21 April, 2017 2015 August,

life+style The Weekend Sun 7

“You probably do need

a little bit tough,”

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Photo: Kristy Barker

whack a softball a few good home-run’s worth across the field during high-school. She does powerlifting, but doesn’t do running. “I force myself to run.” It’s a good thing she’s got skates.

She’s also used to injuries, like a broken hand and a few stitches to the forehead after coming second-best to a skate ramp during practice.

Other than that it’s just been “a few bumps and bruises and aches and pains”.

“Luckily, I have a great physio who has learnt not to tell me to stop skating…because it’s not going to happen,” says Caitlin.

So what prompts a young woman to get into such a physical, hard-knocking sport? It’s the ‘alternative’ culture of roller derby that initially attracted a 22-year-old Caitlin in February 2012. “The fishnets and facepaint.”

A workmate suggested she put on some skates and give it a go. Her first time on skates proved more like a “baby giraffe” – all feet and no flair. “But way less cute and way more swearing,” says Caitlin. “I was terrified! I’d never skated before in my life and you could definitely tell.”

Then came the first game. “It was a total blur. I don’t recall much at all, other than landing awkwardly on my knee,” says Caitlin. “But my team won, so I remember that much.”

Now, she’s trained with the Team New Zealand Training Squad and has played some of NZ’s best teams with Whakatane Roller Derby.

“But I haven’t managed to make the cut for the world cup…yet!” From a ‘baby giraffe’ to a pro-

Photo: Victor Paul

to be a bit stubborn and

skater, Caitlin’s become more confident on skates and in herself.

“Through skating I have learnt to be more confident around people and to love my body for what it can do rather than what it looks like – as well as making some awesome friends and going to some amazing places.” She encourages other women to

give the sport a go. You too can change from timid to tough by enrolling in a roller derby team.

“Mount Militia Derby Crew has a new skater intake coming soon,” hints Caitlin.

“The hardest part is just turning up and doing it! The first few weeks can be tough when you’re finding your feet, but after that

it’s onwards and upwards.

“Roller derby people are great people, and there will always be someone there to pick you up and offer encouragement when you’ve fallen on your ass.”

Even ‘Hell’ would lend her your hand.

‘Hell’ really being short for Hellvetica. “It’s Zoe Hunter just a ‘bad’ pun on a font.”

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