Far North news in brief: Title shot for Vaka; Riding for Disabled back and water restrictions

Ōkaihau-born Trish Vaka (right), pictured taking on Roseanna Cox at the Wahine Toa II boxing night in Whangārei in December, will fight for the vacant New Zealand national heavyweight title next month Photo / Michael Cunningham

Vaka v Smith bout

Northland’s Trish Vaka will take on Hamilton’s Tinta Smith for the vacant New Zealand national (PBNCZ version) heavyweight title on March 16 at Te Rapa Racecourse in Hamilton. Ōkaihau-born Vaka returned to boxing after a four-year hiatus but, outside of boxing, plays in the Northland Kauri team competing in the Farah Palmer Cup championship division in the National Provincial Championships.

Riding for the Disabled back

Kaitāia Riding for the Disabled recommences sessions on February 13 and 14 after the summer break. New volunteers are always welcome – if you enjoy working with children or horses, this is an opportunity to get involved and see the positive outcomes riding has on the children. Sessions are from 9am to midday. All enquiries should be made to Chris Timmins on 09 408 4196 (evenings)

Retirement village research

Kerikeri Retirement Village is one of 13 organisations to receive $15,000 of funding in the latest round of the Age-Friendly Fund. Grants are used toward projects that promote the inclusion of older people and help communities prepare to cater for their ageing populations. The Kerikeri village plans to use the money to research the social participation and inclusion of older people in the area.

Kaitāia power work

Kaitāia residents will have their power temporarily interrupted during planned maintenance work next month. Top Energy NZ urged people to limit power usage on February 10 and 11 between 6am and 6pm while the work is carried out. Generators will be in place to help avoid power cuts, but overloading the system may cause outages.

Water restrictions

A ban on the use of outdoor sprinklers or irrigation systems is in place for Ōmanaia-Rāwene households to help preserve the supply’s only water source. Drier weather in recent weeks, coupled with increased numbers of summer visitor, has resulted in strong water demand in Rāwene and Ōmanaia. Both communities rely on water from Petaka Stream, which has limited water flows and is very vulnerable to dry weather. Northland Regional Council’s resource consent limits the amount of water the council can take each day, and the communities rely on storage reservoirs being refilled overnight when demand is low.