Northland news in brief: More heavy rain/wind on the way; and Pink Ribbon morning tea

Jenny Baker, Daniel Schlecht and Olivia Baker at a Pink Ribbon street collection in Paihia. They’ll be hosting a Pink Ribbon Breakfast this Saturday.

Pink Ribbon morning tea

A Paihia woman is joining a national effort to support thousands of breast cancer patients by hosting a Pink Ribbon Morning tea this month.

Jenny Baker will be serving up morning tea at Paihia on Saturday, hoping to raise $250 from the event for Breast Cancer Foundation NZ.

“I have experienced people within my community diagnosed with breast cancer and I’ve seen how tough it can be to cope with this disease. I have involved my daughter Olivia with my fundraising since she was a young baby, taking her along to street collections or hosting morning teas. I wanted to show some love for an organisation that does such important work to help everyone touched by breast cancer,” Baker said.

The money raised will be used to educate the public about breast health; support patients and their families during treatment and beyond; and fund research projects and medical grants to help improve survivorship.

To support Baker go to http://pinkribbonbreakfast.co.nz/page/jennybaker and for more information on Pink Ribbon go to https://pinkribbonbreakfast.co.nz/

More heavy rain, wind for Northland

MetService has issued another Heavy Rain and Strong Wind Watch for Northland.

An active front is expected to move over the upper North Island on Thursday and Friday, bringing heavy rain and northeasterly gales, and watches for heavy rain and strong winds have been instituted for Northland.

People are advised to keep up to date with the latest forecasts, as further Watches or Warnings may be added closer to the time.

The Heavy Rain Watch is for 12 hours from 3pm Thursday to 3am Friday, with periods of heavy rain that may approach warning criteria.

The Strong Wind Watch is for 8 hours from 5pm Thursday to 1am Friday. Northeast winds may approach severe gale levels in exposed places.

Sistema to celebrate 10th birthday

More than 150 young people from Sistema Whangārei – Toi Akorangi will perform a concert of epic proportions to celebrate 10 years of entertaining audiences. Exhibition Hall at Forum North will fill with their joyful music on May 21 at 2pm. The group began in 2013 when a small team of artists freely donated their time to teach 16 excited tamariki at Sistema Whangārei – Toi Akorangi’s first holiday programme.

Comedy at Octagon

Whangārei’s Octagon Theatre is about to premiere the heartwarming comedy, The Illiterate Book Club by Northland author Geoff Bartlett.

It’s the story of a group of friends who love books but who never have the time to read. But they start a book club anyway and come up with other ways to soak up their favourite stories.

And apart from “book reviews”, there’s food, drink and updates on life and everything else that’s keeping them from sitting down with a good book.

It runs from June 2 to 17 at the Octagon Theatre in Regent. For more information go to www.octagontheatre.nz.