A young cowgirl at the last Wild Out West rodeo before the Covid lockdowns. Photo / The King Family
The annual Wild Out West sports day at Umawera kicks off on January 27. It’s a singular event, designed mainly for kids but with plenty of adult content.
Last year’s event was rained out and, before that, Covid lockdowns meant it wasn’t business as usual. That’s why this year’s event is proving significant.
Organiser Chris McGarry, who doesn’t have a mobile phone and isn’t on the internet because he says he lives beneath a hill and can’t get a signal, relies on a landline and manages the show with “half a dozen helpers – all locals”.
Before the Covid lockdown, the event would attract about 200 people but organisers are unsure how many may come this year.
“There are still people wary of going to a big event so we don’t really know how many to expect. Maybe a hundred or so will turn up,” McGarry said.
There’s something for everyone. There is a rodeo in which many of the riders are professionals, which is a testament to McGarry’s standing in the community. There are 20-25 horses taking part, since “everyone has a horse up here”.
There is a barrel race, the “rawhide drag”, steer undressing, a sack race and a tug-of-war. There is the purely Kiwi event of sheep catching and a quintessentially Hokianga touch with the opportunity to nab a wild pig.
“We would get 30 or 40 kids involved and they were all going for it until the pig turned around and then they would run away,” McGarry said.
The entry fee is $5. The event is signposted from Umawera School on State Highway 1.
The Bay of Islands Rotary Club is calling for applications to be a delegate to the Rotary Youth Leadership Award programme.
The programme is to be held in Auckland, and runs from the end of April until early May. Applicants must be aged between 20 and 28 on April 1 this year.
The person the club initially had in mind is now unable to make it and BOI Rotary is actively looking for candidates who fit the criteria. The attendance fee for each delegate is $1100 (GST inclusive) and the club will meet up to 50 per cent of the cost for the selected applicant.
The varied live-in week at RYLA provides an environment in which to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills. Friendships are often made during the week that progress into lifetime networks.
Kymbali Dender, who attended last year, applied through her workplace at the R Tucker Thompson Sailing Trust, based in Ōpua. She wanted to develop skills she could pass on to the rangatahi (youth) she works with.
“The week was amazing,” she said. “It was like being back at school camp but with adult professionals from a range of different industries. We learnt so much off each other and from the workshops we took part in each day.”
If you have a candidate in mind, please contact Nadia Lehmann from the BOI Rotary Club on 021 205 6822 or nadialehmann.rotary@hotmail.com
At the beginning of January, BOI Rotary sponsored a beach dig in Paihia. First prize went to Tyson, Peita, Irie and Jay Pohema for their shark shape, second were Louis, Max and Chloe with a mother and baby dolphin and third were Nathan Goodhall, Eli and Elizabeth for their crocodile. The most creative award went to Sophie and Sarah for their fairy.
The club is sponsoring another beach dig at Paihia on January 20. Entry is free, there’s a sausage sizzle and prizes to be won.
Russell resident Lynne Norman has written a book. There’s nothing too unusual in that, as Russell/Kororāreka has quite a few authors.
It’s a factual book and yet not strictly factual. Part of it is fantasy, at least on the part of one of the participants.
The entire book is a collection of conversations between Lynn and her mother, Avis, who had vascular dementia, the most common type of dementia. It’s a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and to respond to one’s environment.
The book clearly sets this out. Lynne said she started writing about Avis’ journey with dementia because of the funny things she said but later it helped her deal with the many emotions she felt.
“There were a lot of lows and highs, laughter and sadness along the way and I couldn’t have done it without my mate’s love, support and endless patience.”
Avis and her husband had 52 loving years together before he passed away at 72. Avis carried on, making the lawn mower and weed eater her new best friends until about 10 years later, when she suffered a stroke and was soon diagnosed with vascular dementia.
She came to live with Lynne and her partner Doug soon afterwards. The conversations they had were frequently one-sided in rational meaning, often very funny, sometimes sad and regularly poignant.
23 May, 8am…”Is he your permanent man for the time being? It’s my left eye today that’s blind.
Is it, Mum?
One main thing I must remember is not to leave the taps running. Lynne, in the morning, will you tell me when the sun is on my chair, then I’ll get up. Lynne, what name can I call my pusher thing? My pony?
How about you call it your walker…”
The book is called Up The Drive Backwards and is published by Sue Fitzmaurice of Rebel Magic Books, Russell. It sells for $30 and is available at the Russell bookstore and post shop.
Rockstead Construction, a building contractor with a keen focus on building for the future and sustainable building services, is the latest recipient of the Top Energy Business Development Fund.
Rockstead owner Doug Sturrock has developed Geobind, an innovative mineral-based bio aggregate binder for hempcrete, a natural building material with green credentials already widely used in the building industry.
It’s a world first and means the construction industry just got a little closer to reducing its carbon emissions by 2050.
With building projects on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sturrock was able to invest more time into researching products that would make homes and businesses healthier and more energy-efficient.
Market research began in earnest and, in 2022, Rockstead Construction secured a research and development loan from Callaghan Innovation for product testing. It surpassed expectations and work began on the supply chain and manufacturing process for Geobind.
By May 2023, 25 tonnes of product had already been scooped up with a further 300 tonnes on order. Rockstead is now focused on licensing the manufacturing of Geobind internationally and developing and manufacturing a Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) design utilising Geobind hempcrete.
The $30,000 business development grant from Top Energy will accelerate Rockstead’s commercialisation efforts and remove some hurdles to the growth of the business.
“Winning the Business Development Fund grant validates our vision of an environmentally friendly alternative for the construction industry and provides crucial funding to implement other strategies for to manufacture and acquire accreditations and approvals needed,” Sturrock said.
The Business Development Fund was launched in 2014 and promotes entrepreneurial initiatives in the Far North region. Grants of up to $30,000 are awarded biannually.
Bocky Boo Gelato opened in Whangārei in 2019 and quickly became a local favourite.