ANIMAL FUN: Ruby Hosking, 11, takes her furry friend Monty for a paddleboard ride during a public give it a go session in New Plymouth’s Breakwater Bay. Photo: Supplied
Kevin Hosking of Shorebreak Paddleboards is inviting the public to come and have a go.
“Come on down, enjoy the fun and get fit for summer,” he said.
Fortnightly races will be held starting Wednesday October 9 at Ngamotu Beach in New Plymouth.
For newbies there will be a fun short course race of 1km and a longer course of 3km for the more adventurous.
Mr Hosking will have some boards available for hire at a cost of $10 per race or bring your own.
Contact him at Shorebreak Paddleboards 0800 2782 6387.
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on Wednesday October 9, 2013.
Love and respect: Rex and Fay Walker’s love for each other has spanned 60 years as they celebrated their wedding anniversary last week. Photo: Sharyn Smart
For Rex and Fay Walker it was love at first sight.
Still deeply in love the New Plymouth couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at a party with family and friends last week.
“I think we admired one another right from the start,” Mr Walker said looking at his wife for confirmation.
“Right from the beginning,” Mrs Walker (nee Sattler) said.
“It was pretty quick. The connection was there straight away,” Mr Walker said.
The couple speak as they treat life – with deep respect for each other and genuine love.
They first met at a dance held in the Inglewood Trade Hall during the square dance era.
Mrs Walker was a fantastic dancer and very much in demand while Mr Walker was not.
“Rex had never danced in his life before but proved a quick learner. He was special I thought,” Mrs Walker said.
Married in the Inglewood Presbyterian Church on October 3 the couple ran the family farm at Lepperton where they raised their four children.
They retired to New Plymouth nine years ago and now enjoy spending time with their eight grandchildren.
Mrs Walker says it’s important to “cherish” each other and that’s a word that involves a lot of thinking – to ensure a successful marriage.
“We had our own interests and were interested in each others,” she said.
Mr Walker said communication is the key to a successful marriage.
“I think that a big thing in life is to be able to communicate with people. If you can talk to people about the good and the bad – whatever you are discussing – if you can communicate you are away laughing,” he said.
Over the years it hasn’t all been plain sailing with the couple saying there has been a lot of give and take.
“Take the good with bad when you have to and work your way through it,” Mr Walker said.
“It’s important to let each other be themselves,” Mrs Walker said.
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on Wednesday October 9, 2013.
CLOSE BONDS: Radio broadcasters Jay-Jay Feeney and Dom Harvey have shared their struggle to concieve a chld in the book Misconception.
FACTS ABOUT FERTILITY
One in five couples will experience difficulty to conceive
The cause of fertility issues are about 40% due to female, 40% the male, 10% both and 10% unexplained
Most women in their 20s-30s do not realise how early and how quickly their fertility can decline.
The average age for a first child for women in NZ currently is 30 and getting older.
At 30 a woman has a 22% chance each month of conceiving with unprotected intercourse.
By 40 years old this chance is reduced to just 6%.
Lifestyle factors such as smoking, overweight, recreational drugs and alcohol all effect fertility
Radio announcer Jay-Jay Feeney likens her and husband Dom Harvey’s experience with fertility treatment to a rollercoaster ride with massive highs followed by dark lows.
“If you are doing any sort of fertility treatment it totally takes over your life – it consumes it,” she said.
Feeney, who is an ambassador for Fertility New Zealand, will be talking about her book Misconception at Benny’s Books in New Plymouth tonight.
“We needed to share our story because we couldn’t find anything. It’s actually been awesome because we have had so much positive feedback about it,” the Edge breakfast host said. “People have been so thankful that there has been a story for them to connect with and that just happens to be ours.”
The couple have been through five rounds of IVF treatment in a so-far unsuccessful eight-year battle to conceive.
The fertility ordeal had strengthened the couple’s relationship at a time when many fell apart, Feeney said.
And while Harvey wished they did not have this story to share and had a baby instead, he recognised their story had touched so many people’s lives.
“Dom feels that his full purpose in life is to procreate and be a dad, and so he feels ripped off that it might not happen for him,” Feeney said.
“But even though it is a shitty situation it’s not the worst thing that can happen in life. I’m fairly realistic about that.”
The broadcaster had a simple message to couples going through fertility treatment. “Don’t compare yourself to other people and if the worst comes to the worst and you can’t have a baby, it is not the end of the world.”
Feeney, who was educated in New Plymouth and started her radio career here, will be talking about her book Misconception at Benny’s Books in New Plymouth at 6.30pm today.
This article was published in the Taranaki Daily News with a different photo on Saturday, September 21, 2013
JUMPING HIGH: Children taking part in the Creeklands Christian Camp at Inglewood from left, Mary-Jane Knight, Crystal Hunter, Angel Hunter and Helen Knight enjoy the camp’s activities. Photo : Supplied
The children’s holiday programme at Creeklands Christian Camp in Inglewood is a family tradition for the Aish family.
The camp is organised through the Liberty Baptist Church Inc. Charitable Trust and run by Deb (nee Aish) and Mike Rawson with Bronwyn and Edward Aish.
Deb and Edward’s mother Carolyn Ann Aish volunteers along with Deb and Mike’s children, while Bronwyn and Edward’s children take part in the camp.
Mrs Aish said they were fortunate to have support from the Liberty Baptist Church members enabling the camps to run.
“The church members enjoy being able to give back to our community,” she said.
The camps have been running for over 35 years with parents and caregivers thankful for good reliable day-care at a reasonable cost of $90 for the week.
“We want to provide a safe, happy, positive place for youth to experience life skills and values,” Mrs Rawson said.
She said Logan Kerrisk had been coming since he was 5-years-old.
A keen BMX rider, 9-year-old Logan said: “It’s fun because they have their own BMX track.”
Mornings are spent teaching good values, team building and good decision making through singing, action songs and story time.
Troy Ryan, 12, said he enjoyed coming to camp because “the people are really nice and I have lots of fun.”
The children eat a cooked lunch followed by free time to enjoy the BMX track, riding bikes and scooters along with a range of other outdoor activities.
In the afternoon there is a craft session making things like snow globes and masks, followed by games.
Another regular Helen Knight, 13, said “Camp was fun because the crafts are pretty cool.”
Mrs Aish said in summer they have a huge water slide.
Camps are held the first week of the school holidays with the next camp from January 13 – 17 2014.
Contact Camp Co-Ordinator Deb Rawson at rawsons@clear.net.nz or visit their website www.lbc.org.nz
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on October 9, 2013.
DOUBLE CELEBRATION: Sophie, 14, left, and Max, 7, front, proudly share the Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park’s awards which cap off a busy and successful year for co-owner Teresa Bowe. Photo : Sharyn Smart
As the school holidays start families are visiting New Plymouth with Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park proving to be one of the popular places to stay.
Co-owner Teresa Bowe said they were currently full and had not slowed down this winter as much as normal with figures showing it was a busier winter than in previous years.
“Our summer forward bookings are a lot heavier than normal. So we are well up on last year. At the moment we are about 20 per cent up which is great,” she said.
Mrs Bowe said Taranaki residents were talking about all the great things happening here and by being positive and enthusiastic about the area were all helping our Taranaki businesses.
“Everybody in Taranaki does tourism. They talk to their family and friends. There’s heaps happening, you guys should come and visit.”
The motel units are popular and Mrs Bowe said more people were choosing to use them enjoying everything that Breakwater Bay had to offer and then using the foreshore walkway to get to town.
She said “I just think it’s such a neat city to live in because its got the coast, its got the mountain, its got the walkway.”
At Belt Road Seaside Holiday Park owners Teresa and Kevin Bowe believe in manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga – caring for, protecting and managing our beautiful slice of New Zealand – and have earned their Qualmark Bronze Enviro Assured Award in 2012.
At the recent Westpac Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards they won the medium business excellence award and the Air New Zealand visitor industry excellence award adding to their growing list of awards.
Mrs Bowe said that one of their core values is “they care for our people and our place”.
“New Plymouth is a cool town to show off and I just think it’s a town with lots of energy,” she said.
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on October 9, 2013.
ALZHEIMERS AWARENESS: Taranaki office administrator Andrea Jupp supports Brian Richards as he shares his experiences of a family member with dementia. Photo : Sharyn Smart
New Zealand TV personality Colin Mathura-Jeffree has become the first champion for dementia.
This was announced in conjunction with the launch of the World Alzheimer Report 2013 at a function in Wellington last month.
The report predicts the number of dependent older people around the world will rise from 101 million in 2010 to 277 million in 2050, nearly half of whom will be living with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.
Mr Mathura-Jeffree’s grandmother Eileen died in 1998 after battling dementia and he wants to share his experience.
“Treat the person with dementia with the same love and courage you would want to be treated with in the same situation,” he said.
Alzheimers Taranaki office administrator Andrea Jupp said the over-65 population was living longer, and with more awareness of the symptoms the number of people being diagnosed with dementia was rapidly increasing.
“People are being diagnosed earlier and more accurately. They’re coming forward earlier when the first signs of memory loss are becoming apparent,” she said.
New Plymouth volunteer Brian Richards has been married 57 years with his wife Coral living in a New Plymouth rest home for the past seven years.
Richards said people struggled with how to treat Coral because when she was having a good day you would not realise that she had dementia.
“You would say why is she here (in the rest home), you wouldn’t see it. She can be absolute perfection,” he said.
The standard question that people ask him is “Does she know you?” and he says “yes she does know me”.
Some days she says “you’re Brian” and he says “yes”. Then other days she says “where is Brian?” and he says “he couldn’t come today and he asked me to come”.
Every day she wants to come home and Mr Richards makes up therapeutic lies to keep his wife calm, causing him a lot of guilt that hurts.
He has found a support group for male carers invaluable.
Mr Richards wants to stress that he is sad but not lonely. He misses sharing his life with his wife because her memory retention is now only 15 seconds, and she is incapable of holding a conversation.
ALZHEIMER FACTS Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. There are 50,000 people in New Zealand living with dementia. It is predicted that by 2050 the number of people with dementia will rise to 150,000. For more information on the World Alzheimer Report go to alzheimers.org.nz For information and support contact Andrea at Alzheimers Taranaki on 769 6916 or 0800 004 001 and alzheimers.taranaki@xtra.co.nz
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on October 9, 2013.
Law change : Eshea Colgan, 4, shows how a child should fit in a booster seat correctly. Photo : Sharyn Smart
Taranaki Plunket is concerned that many parents and caregivers are confused about car seat law changes.
From November 1 all children aged up to 7 must use an approved child restraint when travelling in motor vehicles.
Under the present law approved restraints are needed only until the age of 5.
Under the new law children aged between 7 and 8 will also need to use a restraint if one is available in the vehicle.
Car seat service manager Gabrielle Patten said: “The information is there and they need to read it and make sure they understand. If they don’t, they need to contact us.”
The Plunket car seat service hires out car seats and has some for sale. Technicians are available to answer questions and are trained to fit car seats into cars.
Plunket recommends a child stays in a booster seat if the seatbelt sits above the shoulder.
“A lot of children will need to stay in their booster a lot longer than the legal age,” Mrs Patten said.
Associate Transport Minister Michael Woodhouse said children can be particularly vulnerable in crashes. As seat belts are designed for larger bodies it’s important that children are restrained appropriately.
“The changes will improve the safety of children and are designed to reduce injuries and save young lives,” he said.
“Increasing the age from 5 to 7 aligns New Zealand with the rules in Australia and Japan.”
Police road safety supervisor Sergeant George White said that as part of random traffic stops police were already talking to drivers with young children on board to educate them about the law change.
“If a child is not in an approved restraint the driver will be fined $150 per child, the same cost if the driver is not wearing a seatbelt,” he said.
The Baby Factory said their stock of booster seats had gone up extensively to cater for the law change.
Mrs Patten said drivers were responsible to ensure enough car seats were available when transporting other people’s children. “If you are transporting a child less than seven years of age they must be in a restraint. Mums picking up extra children from school must have children in an approved seat,” she said.
Mrs Patten has 30 years of experience fitting car seats and said the Plunket service was in high demand.
“We have noticed a huge increase in advice and information sought along with a steady increase in booster seat sales,” she said.
Plunket’s resources are becoming depleted. They rely heavily on grants to buy seats and run their core service.
“If anybody is looking for a funding opportunity to assist in keeping the children of Taranaki safe, please let us know,” Mrs Patten said.
The Plunket car seat service has technicians available from 9.30am to noon on Tuesday and Friday mornings to check car seats.
“Most car seats have a maximum life of 10 years so this is a good time to check the expiry date,” Mrs Patten said.
The Taranaki Plunket car seat service can be contacted at 769 9076.
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on October 9, 2013.
Spotswood College is taking a leadership role in the development of the Taranaki Youth Guarantee Network. Principal Mark Bowden gives an introduction to the programme and Kim Leathem explains the Gateway programme.
Youth Guarantee is an innovative educational and training initiative to ensure young people in our region have access to foundational skills that enable them to move into further education, training and employment within Taranaki.
A number of schools are working closely with Jonathon Young (MP) and key local employers in engineering to create Taranaki as a centre of excellence for engineering particularly the dairying, oil and gas industries.
Spotswood College has been reviewing their curriculum to ensure all students have learning pathways that link “learning with earning”.
The vision is to work with other schools to build really effective partnerships between schools, employers, tertiary providers, iwi and the wider community so that we have a collaborative and community approach to employment opportunities for young people.
Recently, the chair of the Mayor’s task force for jobs, Dale Williams of Otorohonga District Council, quoted demographic research that showed that within 9 years half of Taranaki’s population is going to be 60+. This means that we must work hard to ensure all young people are well trained to take over from retiring workers.
Spotswood College is fortunate to celebrate New Zealand’s diverse culture by welcoming international touring parties to their school as well as their own students visiting other countries.
This year is particularly busy as students and staff have been involved in various international visits with more planned for later in the year.
Principal Mark Bowden and staff involved give a brief report of some of these visits.
Spotswood College is a very diverse school and we celebrate our diversity. We believe in our vision of developing young people with good character and teaching them the skills and knowledge to contribute to the 21st century global village.
We believe that the opportunity young people have to mix and mingle with people of other cultures, languages and other world views is hugely important in developing positive and contributing 21st century citizens.
I guess I would say that one of the reasons that kiwis do so well overseas is because they are able to cope with diversity. They are able to relate to people who are different from themselves.
We can deal with people as people which is a huge strength in having a vibrant International student department within our school. The opportunity for our students to travel abroad contributes significantly to that set of skills required to be successful in the 21st century global village.
Eco Adventure : Film-makers Emma Heke and her son Connor,7, showcase eco-conscious New Zealanders in the feature-length documentary “Our Green Roadie”. Photo : Supplied.
A chance viewing of the film Our Green Roadie inspired Louise Henderson to organise a community screening fundraiser in New Plymouth last week.
“I saw it as an awesome opportunity to showcase Emma Heke’s positive environmental documentary as well as a chance to raise some money for Topec to build a vege garden and composting station,” said the TSB Topec instructor who first saw the film while visiting Timaru.
About 30 people attended the evening at Topec’s Eco lodge with ticket proceeds going to Red Heke Productions to help fund more eco-friendly adventures, while pizza sales went to Topec’s garden project.
A Nelson filmmaker Ms Heke and her son Connor, 7, shot the film as they spent six months travelling from Riverton to Northland showcasing people’s kiwi can do attitude.
The idea came about when Ms Heke started out on a quest to live “better not faster” and was dismayed at the lack of information available to help her.
“I decided that if we needed inspiration ourselves, there was a good chance that there were people out there also needing it, so the idea grew from there,” said Ms Heke.
She spent eight weeks in the winter of 2011 researching her new life style as she planned their itinerary.
Ms Heke rented out her house and lived on a self-funded budget of $200 per week which included diesel, accommodation, food and internet access.
She bought a “people mover” loaded up their possessions and hit the road in September 2011.
Along the way they met and heard stories from many people that have eco-conscious and economically viable businesses and lifestyles, and recorded their adventures for the film Our Green Roadie.
Ms Heke and Connor were supplied with Ecostore products to give as gifts to people they filmed or stayed with on their journey.
Environmentally aware : Moturoa School pupils, left to right Bailey Cresswell,9, Jesse Potroz, 9, Tyler Paul, 8, and Jericho Henry, 10, work hard in the school’s propogation unit during Conservation Week. Photo : Sharyn Smart
Award-winning young New Plymouth conservationists are sharing their passion for the environment with the public.
As part of Conservation Week pupils from Moturoa School gave the public guided tours of their Trees for Survival Programme. The school won the New Zealand Plant Conservation Award in 2010 for its rare species work.
Established in 1996 the programme is driven by Environment Educator Bill Clarkson’s passion for the environment and teaching children how to take care of it for generations to come.
The guides gave a tour of the school grounds passing on their knowledge about the endangered Taranaki native plants they are helping to preserve like the koheriki (Scandia rosifolia) and a local form of Corokia cotoneaster, the Paritutu korokio.
Tour guide Brayden Thompson, 11, says the kauri is his favourite tree because of the way it heals itself.
“The kauri tree will ooze out this white sap which heals it like a plaster. It just oozes out and sticks there.”
The pinatoro has also caught the interest of the Moturoa student.
“It’s great because it’s the primary host plant for the local moth Notoreas “Taranaki,” Brayden said.
Tui are seen and heard in the large established puriri within the school grounds and Brayden said it was fun to watch them with the beaks deep in the flowers.
“Tui love to come and suck out the sugary nectar. Sometimes they get some pollen on their feathers by their beak and when they move to the next flower it can pollinate it,” he said.
Mr Clarkson spends every Tuesday morning with small groups of children teaching them about the plants and how to grow them. They learn how to take a cutting right through to helping DOC and the New Plymouth District Council plant out endangered local native plants around Taranaki.
For more information on the Trees for Survival Programme contact Moturoa School on 7510392.
This article was published in the North Taranaki Midweek on September 18, 2013.
