Save Our River Trust exhibition: Let our river flow again

Perseverance and frustration are part of the ongoing Foxton River Loop saga.

"Hopefully one day this will be rectified," said Mayor Bernie Wanden at the opening of the Save Our River Trust exhibition last week in Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom's foyer.

"You as volunteers can see the benefits of a revived river loop. Keep putting it in front of us and you will one day get there," Mayor Bernie said.

Foxton Primary School performed waiata and a haka at the opening of the SORT exhibition.

He said the message to Wellington is clear: they caused the problem in the first place. Dubbing SORT chairman Robin Hapi the unofficial mayor of Foxton, he said he believed Robin and his team will be leading the change.

The exhibition was opened by cutting a strand of harakeke by Dahlson Halidone and Nyemah Ching-Chambers under the watchful eye of Trevor Chambers and Mayor Bernie.

Foxton Primary School's kapa haka group performed a 350-year-old haka about perseverance and looking after yourself.

The exhibition explains the problem caused by the Whirokino Cut in 1948, the effect it had on the town as well as the decades of struggle to get it acknowledged and fixed.

Councillors, council staff, and community board members attended the official opening of the exhibition, which is hoping to give new energy to the cause.