Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021
INSIDE: Wairarapa Business Awards P4-5
P3
A title is worth a thousand pictures Richmond Funeral Home
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‘A time to remember’
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Everyone is welcome to visit on the day Phone: (06) 3797616 www.richmondfuneralhome.co.nz
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From motorcycles to mentoring
Assisting Wairarapa youth from the passenger’s seat Mary Argue
mary.argue@age.co.nz
Strapped into the driver’s seat, his dad sitting stoically beside him, a 13-year-old Aaron Slight began learning to drive. It was Masterton in the ’60s, a different time. Fast-forward a few decades,
a professional motorcycle career, and the roles have reversed. These days, Slight now finds himself in the passenger seat, helping young people navigate life’s literal and metaphorical roads by volunteering for the
Community Mentor Driver Programme [CMDP]. The CMDP is a driver mentorship programme geared towards students who need a helping hand getting their licences. Once a week, the vocal road safety advocate
heads down to Masterton’s Makoura College, buckles himself into the passenger seat, and is taken for a spin in a bright-blue Mitsubishi. While Slight has brakes in his foot-well, the Makoura students are behind the wheel, their
hands strictly at 10 and two. Founder and Wairarapa Road Safety Manager Bruce Pauling said the CMDP was all about breaking down barriers to access. “There are kids at the school who might not have access to a car or to someone who can teach them to
drive,” he said. The programme is for them. Currently, 17 students at the college are being mentored in one of CMDPs four training cars. A recent graduate of the programme is 17-year-old Taofiga Manesa. After recovering from a nasty broken leg, Manesa sat and passed his restricted a few weeks ago. Continued on page 3
Taofiga Manesa, 17, [left] holding his new restricted driver’s licence. Driving mentor Aaron Slight sits beside him. PHOTO/MARY ARGUE
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