COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARDS: BEST NEWSPAPER RUNNER-UP
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Safe-streets project quietly abandoned... p3
AN INDEPENDENT AN INDEPENDENT VOICEVOICE AN INDEPENDENT VOICE
Issue 126 April 12, 2024 Issue 1– Issue 151 – March 115 – 15 2019 March 2019 Issue March 2019
Gnome a no-show after costume stolen... p5
Young actors star in offbeat comedy... p22-23
Winter festival in doubt after council backing lost Takapuna’s Winter Lights festival has lost its Auckland Council support, leaving its future looking dim. A decision will be made next month on whether the event can proceed, likely on a smaller scale, for a fifth year in July. “We were very disappointed,” said Takapu-
na Beach Business Association (TBBA) chief executive Terence Harpur, after council’s promotional arm Tataki Auckland Unlimited (TAU) suddenly pulled the plug. “They don’t support any other event in the northern area,” he said. TAU provided $40,000 for last year’s
festival. Harpur hopes enough alternative sponsorship will be secured to carry on with an event that had grown from drawing 12,000 people in 2021 to 45,000 last year – generating an estimated $1 million of spending in the town centre. To page 2
Picnic powers pool project
On the bounce... Takapuna residents Owen Tan and daughter Bella on an inflatable attraction at Hauraki School’s Electric Picnic fundraiser for a new pool last Saturday. The five-year-old is a pupil at the school, which is closing in on the $500,000 it needs for the project. Demolition of the existing pool starts next week.
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