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No palaver, please… Targa heads our way By Sigrid Christiansen
By Andy Campbell
This year’s Targa rally may have a base in Ōtorohanga township as part of the rally organiser’s plan to regionalise the event. Ultimate Rally Group managing director Peter Martin told last week’s Ōtorohanga District Council meeting they wanted a town base at some stage of the two-day event. “We were really wanting to try and engage a bit more with the township, and the wider community around this event,” he said during the meeting’s public forum. “This is one of the regions that is very pleased to see us and we would like to continue to build the relationship with you where we could continue to come back more regularly on a basis that could be planned a bit better in terms of your future dates and in terms of your engagement with the wider business community to actually bring activity into town.” Traditionally 67 per cent of Targa rallyers are from Auckland, 13 per cent from offshore and 20 per cent from the rest of New Zealand. The last economic impact survey carried out in the Tasman District in October 2022, showed the two day weekend regional event generated $3.6 million. “So its big money in terms of spend, the large majority of that goes into accommodation and food providers,” Martin said. “That does not include the direct spend the competitors spend on their rally activity. This is in addition.” The council has approved a list of Targa Rally road closures for public consultation. The event will be advertised with an objection period of 28 days. Once the objection period closes a further report will be presented to Council for final approval, possibly July. Martin said there had been discussions outside the meeting. The Ōtorohanga Rugby Club had been secured as a venue if a Turongo Street pit area was not possible. Continued on page 2
It’s been a year in the making, but Rangituatahi Te Kanawa of Te Kūiti has been formally invested as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. The ceremony was held this month in Auckland with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro. “In 2023 I had a lot of overseas travel and other commitments, so it was better to do the ceremony this year,” she told The News. The timing hadn’t felt especially important. “It’s just not me to want to have a lot of palaver about myself.” The honour was for services to Māori art and heritage
preservation, and it was announced in the King’s Birthday and Coronation Honours. Te Kanawa said it had been nice to meet the other recipients, and she enjoyed mingling with them and their families. She wore a cloak woven by her mother, Diggeress Te Kanawa, among those gifted to her siblings at the turn of the century, when
Rangituatahi Te Kanawa, right, pictured earlier this month with Dame Cindy Kiro.
the younger Te Kanawa was in her forties. As a third generation weaver, Te Kanawa is a recognised exponent of raranga and whatu, the Māori arts of weaving. Her passion and focus is the treatment and consolidation of degraded black fibres in Māori textiles. She does preventative conservation work on kākahu (cloaks) and whāriki (mats) in museum collections. She delivers workshops showing kaitiaki - the best practice for the long-term preservation of taonga in their care. The next two will be in Te Aroha and Rotorua, she said.
Photo: Focal Point Photos.
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