Taria Wills of Bay of Islands College performs during last year's Tai Tokerau Secondary Schools Kapa Haka Festival hosted by Bream Bay College. PHOTO / Michael Cunningham
Schools kapa haka festival kicks off in Kerikeri today
If you're even remotely interested in kapa haka you should get to Kerikeri High School today or tomorrow to experience one of Northland's biggest cultural events.
Twenty-seven kapa haka groups, from Warkworth's Mahurangi College in the south to Te Rangi Aniwaniwa at Awanui in the north, have been practising intensely for months to perfect their half-hour routines — but this is no competition with winners and losers.
Instead the festival is a chance for Northland rangatahi (youth) to express their pride and passion in being Maori through the medium of kapa haka, and to share their performances with their peers and elders.
The festival starts with a powhiri at 10am today with the hosts first to take to the stage in the high school gymnasium at 12.30pm.
Today's last group will start at 6pm; the action starts again after a karakia at 9.50am tomorrow and ends at 5.30pm with the handover of the mauri (life force) to next year's hosts.
The annual festival is one of Northland's biggest cultural events. Several thousand people — including performers, elders, tutors, supporters and the public — will have visited by the time the event winds up tomorrow night.
For those who can't make it in person the entire festival will be live-streamed at tehiku.nz by Te Hiku Media.
Te Tai Tokerau Secondary Schools Festival was originally conceived in 1976 by parents and staff of Opononi Area School, who wanted to bring students together from around the Hokianga in a non-competitive celebration of culture and art. Within three years it had become a Northland-wide event.
This year's festival is the 43rd and the first time since 1984 it has been hosted by Kerikeri High School.
Kaeo festival success
The success of last Saturday's Nga Purapura children's festival in Kaeo means the event is likely to return next year – though that will depend on the many volunteers involved having the time to do it all again.
The event featured mud monster making, live music, story telling, drama workshops, African drumming, hula hoops, dress-ups, bag making, flax weaving, healthy kai and much more. Groups and volunteers came from as far away as Kaitaia and Whangarei to host activities in the grassy area around Kaeo's playground and church.
Hannah Hunter, one of the organisers, said the festival started with a bunch of playcentre mums saying how awesome it would be if Kaeo had its own festival just for kids.
The organising group had only a tiny budget but grants from the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board, Creative Communities, Kaeoannes, Waipapa Lions and others, as well as support from local businesses, meant parents didn't have to pay for any of the activities.
"It was important to us that everything was free, to make sure it was accessible to everyone," she said.
At least 500 people, probably many more, turned out.
"We'd love to do it again next year but it is a big ask, everyone has put in so much time. I'm just proud of how much talent and creative spirit there is here."
Top UK quartet to play in Kerikeri
An acclaimed UK-based quartet is playing its first concert in New Zealand as guests of the Aroha Music Society in Kerikeri this weekend.
Formed in 2015, the Behn Quartet won the 2017 Orlando International Chamber Music Competition, is the current holder of the Cavatina Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music, and has a residency at the Wiltshire Music Centre in England.
It is made up of musicians from England, Wales, the Netherlands and New Zealand, with violinist Kate Oswin hailing from Christchurch.
Their programme will feature Dvorak's American quartet, Ravel's String Quartet in F Major plus Three Transcriptions by New Zealand composer Jack Body.
The concert starts at 7.30pm on Saturday at the Turner Centre. Tickets are $30/$25 for society members; entry for students aged 18 and under is free.
The quartet takes its name from Aphra Behn, a 17th-century playwright and political activist who broke cultural barriers as one of the first English women to earn a living by writing.
Ladies' night out
Kerikeri's Hospice Shop is holding a Ladies' Night next week with spot prizes, wine, nibbles, quick-fire stock sales, raffles and a gift on arrival for every ticket holder.
Clothing and other items are being collected and set aside for sale on Ladies' Night from 5.30pm on April 19. Tickets are $15 from the shop on Hobson Ave or from eventbrite.co.nz.
Bald Angels off to national awards
Kerikeri-based children's charity Bald Angels will compete for the title of New Zealand's best volunteer group in Trustpower's Community Awards this weekend.
The Bald Angels took out the top prize in last year's Far North awards, earning them the right to join 24 other regional winners at the national finals in Queenstown.
The group will be represented by founders Therese Wickbom of Kerikeri and Inky Vink of Takou Bay, along with Mayor John Carter and Deputy Tania McInnes.
All finalists will give an eight-minute presentation sharing their story, their achievements, and why they deserve to win. They are also required to submit a 1000-word summary.
Trustpower spokeswoman Abbie Siely said the Bald Angels Charitable Trust contributed to the wellbeing of more than 200 families and 1000 Far North children every year through fundraising events that brought the community together in a spirit of generosity and goodwill.
The trust worked in the background to support coalface agencies such as Corrections, Police, Plunket, Women's Refuge, St John and more.
"Bald Angels acts as a conduit between members of the public who have a desire to help others, and the organisations that encounter hardship and trauma on a daily basis," Ms Siely said.
"The premise is simple enough – collect goods from those who are able to give and redistribute them to those in need via organisational touchpoints – but the impact they have is huge.
"The group applies this methodology in different ways that reach into many areas of the community. From Christmas toy and food drives, to planting community gardens, to working with young artists. These angels are everywhere," she said.
This year's guest judges include Volunteering New Zealand chief executive Scott Miller, TVNZ Good Sorts creator Hadyn Jones and previous supreme winner Janice Lee of Koha Kai.
The presentations will take place on Saturday at the Queenstown Memorial Centre with the winners announced that evening at the Kawarau Bungy Centre.
The Far North has a good track record in the national awards with past wins by the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Trust and Focus Paihia. Bay Bush Action, a volunteer group working to restore Opua Forest, was last year's runner-up.
■ Entries are still being accepted for the 2018 Trustpower Far North Community Awards. Anyone can nominate a group and all voluntary groups and not-for-profit organisations are eligible. Enter online at trustpower.co.nz/communityawards by May 31.
3D art on show
A group exhibition of small-scale three-dimensional works is opening at Village Arts gallery in Kohukohu at 11am this Saturday. The show, called 3D, will run until the end of May. The gallery is open from 10am-3pm daily.
Hip-hop dance show
DDF Dance Studio is putting on a show in the Turner Centre Plaza, Kerikeri, this Friday showcasing the results of eight-week hip-hop dance courses in Kerikeri and Hikurangi. Doors open at 6pm; the show runs from 6.30-8.30pm. Tickets are $10 per person or $35 per family; cash door sales only.
Firefighters raising cash
Volunteer firefighters around the Mid North are once again gearing up for the Sky Tower Stair Challenge in which they compete to run up the Auckland landmark in the shortest time while also raising money for Leukaemia and Blood NZ.
On Saturday the Kerikeri brigade held a car wash and sausage sizzle, transforming more than 50 vehicles from grubby to gleaming at $6 a pop (with a free sausage thrown in).
Station officer Ben Scott said 10 firefighters from the Kerikeri brigade were taking part this year in a slightly quieter campaign than usual due to the volunteers' other commitments.
However, they were still striving to raise what they could for a good cause, and anyone who wanted to contribute could check out the Kerikeri Fire Brigade Sky Tower Team page on Facebook and follow the link to make a donation.
Other Mid North brigades taking part this year include Kaikohe and Paihia.
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