A playground that has the potential to qualify for the Helping Hands project.
An initiative from Mitre 10 in Kerikeri sees the store asking those from the Bay of Islands, Kaikohe and Whangaroa communities to nominate deserving local projects that have a positive impact.
They are looking to help a local school, club or not-for-profit organisation that benefits the community.
Projects could range from regenerating a neglected environmental area or planting a community garden to doing up a run-down play area or building a refuge centre’s deck.
Mitre 10 Kerikeri will provide volunteers and donate $10,000 towards materials, tools and goods needed to complete the selected project by the end of May.
Three finalists will be chosen by a committee of Mitre 10 Kerikeri team members. The winning project will then be chosen by the community by way of voting in store.
Mitre 10 Kerikeri general manager Darren Wolley said in launching the first Helping Hands project, it’s important to continue supporting the local grassroots groups that are really making a positive difference in the community.
“The Helping Hands project enables us to support and collaborate with our community partners in a practical and impactful way and we are really looking forward to receiving nominations.”
Nominations are open at www.mitre10.co.nz/kerikeri until February 23.
Irish singer returning to New Zealand
A singer-songwriter from Ireland called a “rising star” is embarking on a tour of New Zealand in February.
Susan O’Neill is singing at the relatively low-key Theatre Bar at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri on February 15.
She will perform extensively in Australia before coming to New Zealand and then heads back across the Tasman for some West Australian dates.
O’Neill’s sound has been described as “exquisite” by the UK’s Sunday Times and as “superb” by Clash magazine.
She has gathered international recognition through her chart-topping album Now in a Minute which went straight to number one on the Irish independent album charts.
She has performed to sell-out shows in her native Ireland and has shared the stage with various artists in North America, Europe and the UK.
O’Neill was also nominated for the Vanda and Young Songwriting award for her song These are the Days, which featured on her 2021 collaboration album with Mick Flannery whom she appeared with at Womad in 2019.
It became the biggest independent selling Irish album in 2021.
Although it’s a return visit to New Zealand, it is her debut solo tour here.
For tickets visit www.turnercentre.co.nz.
Tin Type to Bay of Islands
Pompallier Mission and Te Waimate Mission, two historic tohu whenua in the Bay of Islands cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, will be hosting a number of heritage photographic sessions over the next few weeks.
Tintype Central is a portrait studio specialising in the wet-plate collodion process that pioneered photography in the 1850s.
The studio held portrait sessions at Pompallier Mission in Kororāreka-Russell in early February and will hold another session at Te Waimate Mission in Waimate North a week later on February 8-9.
The specialist photographer conducting the sessions is Adrian Cook, who will bring his mobile darkroom to craft the timeless portraits. It’s a genuine 1950s Bond-wood caravan.
Each image will be hand-developed, producing an original direct-positive image on a sheet of glass or aluminium plate.
The photographic plates are individually coated and sensitised in the darkroom before being exposed and developed while wet.
Once fixed, washed and dried they are then coated in a gum sandarac varnish that preserves and protects them for generations. It’s a process that generates unique images with a timeless beauty.
Plates will be posted to clients once varnished and cured, a week or so after their session.
To book a session at Te Waimate, visit www.visitheritage.co.nz/whats-on/northland-events.
Archbishop to speak at Christ Church
Archbishop Emeritus Sir David Moxon, KNZM, KstJ, MMCM, will be delivering an address at Christ Church, Russell, on February 9.
The invitation to speak came through the Reverend – and detective – Ellen Bernstein from Awanui. She is a former enabler to the church in Russell and a former priest in charge. She worked with Moxon in the Waikato Diocese.
In the 2014 New Year Honours, Moxon was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the Anglican Church.
Until June 2017, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See and director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.
He was previously the Bishop of Waikato in the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki, the archbishop of the New Zealand dioceses and one of the three primates of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
He is the priory dean for Aotearoa New Zealand of the Order of Saint John. The role involves overseeing the work of chaplains throughout the country and chairing the chaplain’s leadership team.
Moxon was born in 1951 in Palmerston North and attended Freyberg High School and then served with Volunteer Service Abroad in Fiji in 1970.
He later gained Master’s degrees from Massey and Oxford universities in social science and theology respectively.
After ordination to the Anglican priesthood, he served in Havelock North, Tauranga, Kirikiriroa/Hamilton and in New Zealand and Polynesia between 1978 and 1993.
Moxon is married to Māori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon. She is the managing director of Te Kōhao Health and chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority.
In October 2024, Tureiti (Ngāti Pāhaurewa, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Kāi Tahu) became an honorary doctor of the University of Waikato.
The service at Christ Church celebrates Waitangi Day and the connection is that Sir David Moxon has played a major role in Te Tiriti dialogue.