The Rev Samuel Marsden in the Bay of Islands in 1814...
The Rev Samuel Marsden in the Bay of Islands in 1814...
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North
The first Christmas in New Zealand will be remembered with a Ecumenical Service of Thanksgiving in the Bay of Islands at 11am tomorrow - 200 years to the day since the Rev Samuel Marsden led the first Christian service on New Zealand soil.
The service will take place at MarsdenCross, which marks the site of Rev Marsden's service at Hohi/Oihi in Rangihoua Bay. The site, near the tip of the isolated Purerua Peninsula, can be accessed by boat or by a 35km drive from Kerikeri followed by a 20-minute walk.
Although Anglican led, the service will include leaders from the country's major churches. It will be broadcast live on TV One.
...and the Rev Samuel Marsden (great-great-great-grandson of the original) in the Bay of Islands in 2014.
Although its unlikely anyone but the missionaries and Chief Ruatara understood Rev Marsden's sermon, by preaching to a Maori and Pakeha congregation he inaugurated Christian mission in New Zealand.
Church leaders from across Australasia will be present as will the great-great-great-grandson of Rev Samuel Marsden - who is also a reverend called Samuel Marsden. Australian by birth, the modern Rev Samuel Marsden lives these days in Cornwall.
* New Zealand's first Christian service was almost certainly led by Paul-Antoine Leonard de Villefeix in 1769, a Catholic priest on the ship St Jean Baptiste captained by French explorer Jean-Francois-Marie de Surville. However, Rev Marsden led the first Christmas service, the first mission service, and probably the first Christian service on New Zealand soil.
Shade casts a light on Moerewa
A Moerewa woman has won a national award which will fund her work with the town's youth to the tune of $100,000.
Shade Pihema, of He Iwi Kotahi Tatou Trust, won one of six Vodafone Foundation World of Difference awards announced earlier this month. It will cover a year's salary and expenses and boost the trust's coffers.
The 27-year-old plans to use the award to expand the trust's existing youth programmes, run a series of arts-based programmes using music, art, drama, photography and film, and bring in mentors.
Shade Pihema
Her aim is to strengthen relationships between young people and the community, help them make positive, informed choices, and develop life skills.
"I'd like our young people to be valued, value others and themselves, and be vibrant, confident and connected to their community. Working with young people is absolutely my passion. They are the future of the country and I believe we need to start treating them that way," she said.
Pontoon for Paihia
Focus Paihia is about to launch its latest project (literally) for making the town a more enjoyable place to live and visit - a public swimming pontoon which will be moored just off Taiputuputu Pahi Beach (also known as King's Beach).
The group has obtained the necessary resource consent, businesses have donated materials, and the mooring will be dropped into place by Northland's harbourmaster. It is hoped the pontoon measuring about 6m x 4m will be ready for swimming, jumping, sunbathing and generally having fun by mid-January.
Christmas lights winners
The winners of the Business Paihia Christmas lights competition are Ian and Sandra Dekker whose spectacularly decorated house can be seen - though you'll have to hurry - at the corner of Puketona Rd and Nautical Drive, Haruru Falls.
Other standout efforts were by Dean Sturge and Judy Lowe (15 Taumata Close, Te Haumi) and Vern and Nola Witehira (11 Puketiro Road, Te Haumi). Paihia Pharmacy won the prize for best decorated business with Focus Paihia Op Shop the runner-up.
Visitors to Kerikeri's Kemp House and Stone Store can now explore a garden of national significance at their own pace on a self-guided garden tour.
Kerikeri Mission Station manager Liz Bigwood said the tour included some of New Zealand's oldest fruit trees, planted in the 1820s, and artefacts such as historic mill stones the Kemp family used in their garden.
"The garden tour is a fascinating blend of botanic delights with stories of people that have been associated with gardening here over the decades - including the first missionary at Kerikeri, Rev John Butler, and Tutu, who lived in a little cottage behind Kemp House and gardened for three generations of the Kemp family," she said.
People who want to take the tour can buy a souvenir guide book for $10. Among the surprises it reveals is the unlikely, but true, reason the garden's hydrangeas are so dazzlingly pink.
The opening of Rangihoua Heritage Park last Sunday saw staunchly opposed factions in the Ngapuhi settlement debate under one marquee for several hours. As you'd expect, that sparked plenty of banter and good-natured jibes. Seeing the two sides sitting together during the welcome, Treaty Settlements Minister Chris Finlayson joked: "I have never seen Ngapuhi so unified; we should do this more often". Later, as they were walking in opposite directions on the new heritage trail, Mr Finlayson happened to bump into hapu leader Pita Tipene, who leads opposition to the Government's settlement plan. Mr Tipene, quick as a flash, quipped: "Don't let me block your path".
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