The Red Cross Craft Shed, Butler Rd, Kerikeri, where crafts are created every Friday.
Every Friday a coffee and craft group meets in Butler Rd, in Kerikeri, behind the Countdown supermarket. It is a facility built with funds donated by a previous member of the Red Cross.
They enjoy tea and coffee, they knit and make crafts and generally beaver away making items for sale in the little shop on the site and for other fund raising events. It even has its own Facebook page, The Craft Shed.
There are two long-standing Red Cross members there, still working for and on behalf of the organisation. Between them, Margaret Church and Yvonne Rippon have dedicated 60 years to the Red Cross cause.
Their friendship and collaboration began when their mothers shared a room at a rest home back in the 1980s. Margaret was inspired by Yvonne’s local involvement in Kaikohe Red Cross.
They remember the days when there were many more members, performing many more local services. They delivered meals on wheel, there were fundraising events, people knitting for craft stalls, helping with refreshments at the Waimate North Show, and being involved in a fashion show.
Suzie Barlow, the communications co-ordinator for the Kerikeri Red Cross, said the two women recall the big flood in Hokianga 20 years ago.
“They collected clothes and food to help people who had been evacuated or had lost their homes. They set up emergency stalls. It was a regular service that Red Cross provided when there were far less resources available to help people in emergency situations locally.”
She said the women have stuck with the organisation as it has changed, moving to the Kerikeri branch when the Kaikohe branch closed.
“They have performed many roles within Red Cross and consistently and reliably turn up for meetings, fundraising events, and doing teas for the blood bank or doing whatever is required,” she said.
The New Zealand Red Cross started in 1915, soon after the outbreak of World War I. It has moved with the times and has adapted to local needs and is still often the first presence when there is a major event.
A rare opportunity to hear three operatic voices performing together in Kerikeri occurs on April 22 at the Turner Centre.
Shaan Kloet, Luke Bird and Kawiti Waetford are all Whangārei-born and raised entertainers. They have decided to get together to present opera, musical theatre, comedy and show-stopping numbers in what they are calling “An Invitation”.
Shaan Kloet graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts from the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art. In 2020 she revisited the role of Mary Poppins in the Civic Theatre in Auckland. At the time it was the largest musical in the world, given the Covid-19 pandemic.
She performed at Christmas in the Park, has played Elphaba in Wicked, the Musical, and toured the country with the sold-out Cats musical.
Kawiti Waetford graduated with a Masters degree in Advanced Vocal Studies from the Wales International Academy of Voice under acclaimed Welsh tenor Dennis O’Neill. He has studied with American educator Sherman Lowe in Venice.
He is now based in Kerikeri and has an extensive background in New Zealand Māori performing arts. He helps strengthen the connection between people and whenua through the education programme Te Aho Tū Roa, the Toimata Foundation.
He most recently voiced the character of Kristoff in Disney’s Frozen Reo Māori and was a finalist in the APRA Silver Scroll Awards 2022.
Luke Bird has a Bachelor of Performing Arts and an extensive list of musical theatre, opera and television credits to his name. He has performed the national anthems of both New Zealand and Australia for the Tri-Nations Tournament, at the NRL Nines and the Constellation Cup netball tournament for New Zealand’s Silver Ferns.
He is currently the television host of Lucky Dip and is the entertainment reporter for TVNZ’s Marae. He is known for his diversity and his chirpy humour, with a flare for opera that has seen him perform in a variety of roles. He is also an in-demand wedding celebrant.
Together the three of them have been described as “the dream cast”. For tickets, visit https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2023/apr/an-invitation.
An assessment of the Kerikeri Mission Station and the Stone Store before Cyclone Gabrielle hit the Far North identified several pressure points, including the impact of wind driving the rain against both sides of the buildings.
There were valuable artefacts in both buildings that needed protection. Staff moved collection items away from vulnerable areas of the store and packed them in waterproof wrapping. They had towels at the ready to mop up any after-effects of the storm on both buildings.
Kemp House in particular is prone to flooding. It survived a major flood event in 1981 and a near-miss in 2007.
In addition to moving and wrapping collection items, Northland office staff placed sandbags around vulnerable areas of Kemp House and the Stone Store.
In the end, the water that did seep into both buildings at the height of the weather event was dealt with quickly and the river stayed within its banks. The threat to the historic buildings had passed.
”It proved that in these situations it pays to identify the pressure points early,” said Liz Bigwood, Kerikeri Mission station property lead.
”We learned a lot through our interventions and we’re all very thankful that we got off reasonably lightly.”
She pointed out they need to be aware of the impact of changing rainfall and flood patterns, such as the wind strength and direction as well as storm surge effects on the tides.
Two leading theatrical figures will feature in a one-woman play coming to Kerikeri’s Turner Centre at the end of March.
Hanna features, well, Hanna. The only thing she’s good at is raising her daughter. But a DNA test shows that Ellie is not her child and now her real parents want to meet.
Hanna’s dilemmas are, should she let strangers into her daughter’s life and how do you explain the mix-up in an over-stretched maternity ward to a 3-year-old?
She weaves in questions of identity, economic privilege and the lottery of birth and asks what does “family” actually mean today?
Playing Hanna is Cassandra Woodhouse, whose multi-faceted CV reads like a mini autobiography. According to the press material she is a “mother, an actress, and integrated nutrition health coach who is passionate about living a full, authentic, healthy, positive and conscious life”.
She struggled with depression, anxiety, panic attacks, weight gain and low self-esteem. The birth of her real-life daughter “ignited a desire to travel, to learn and to question the norm not only in her own health but the health of her new baby”.
The play, by Sam Potter, is directed by Jennifer Ward-Leyland, who needs little introduction. She has worked extensively in theatre, film, television, musicals and radio for 40 years. She was a founding board member of the Watershed Theatre and a co-founder of drama school The Actors’ Programme. Since 2007 she has been President of Equity New Zealand, she is a patron of Q Theatre, Theatre New Zealand and Te Manu Tioriroi Trust, and she serves as a trust board member of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund.
She has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) and in 2019 was named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM).
Hanna, the play, comes under the auspices of Arts on Tour NZ Trust. It is touring the country extensively throughout March, ending penultimately in Kerikeri on March 29 at the Turner Centre and finally at Forum North in Whangārei on March 31.