Eastbourne Herald August 2023

Plunge into cold water to assist elderly driver

by Louise Goble

Sadly, the latest car crash off the road onto rocks on Marine Drive proved fatal, as the driver, Lowry Bay resident Renata Koch, died following last Friday’s accident.

However, the quick thinking of three people meant she was rescued from her car, which was semi-submerged in the Harbour, soon after the crash.

Jude Bailey was driving towards Eastbourne when she was nearly hit by a small, blue car coming towards her.

“I looked in my rear vision mirror as she went past and saw the car disappear and then heard a big splash,” she said.

She jumped into the sea, and managed to prop the driver up out of the water, before being joined by Jeremy West and his uncle - Eastbourne

volunteer firefighter Dave West - who were driving past.

The pair managed to lift the driver across the seats, holding her until fire trucks from Eastbourne and Seaview, along with ambulances, arrived.

Mrs Koch, aged ninety one, died in hospital later on Friday, from what police say may have been a medical episode.

ECB fails to attract enough candidates for election

by Emily Tilley

The Eastbourne Community Board for the next triennium has already been decided without an election.

As only five people put themselves forward for the board they will be automatically appointed unopposed.

They are: Robert Ashe, Murray Gibbons, Virginia Horrocks, Gilane Khalil and Hayden Ray.

This is the second consecutive triennium

that the board has been appointed unopposed.

“I’m absolutely disappointed that there won’t be an election, more than disappointed - dismayed,” board chair Derek Wilshere says. “We needed an election. That’s twice in a row now, which doesn’t send a very strong message to the council that we want a community board.”

There will be elections held for both the Petone and Wainuiomata Community Boards as they have nine and ten candidates respectively to fill six board places each.

Current chair Mr Wilshere had already

Forget the fuss...Fly fast with us!

PEAK COMMUTER SAILINGS

PEAK COMMUTER SAILINGS

Departing Days Bay Mon - Fri: 6.50am, 7.15am, 7.45am, 8.05am, 8.35am, 9.10am.

Departing Days Bay Mon - Fri: 6.50am, 7.15am, 7.45am, 8.05am, 8.35am, 9.10am.

Departing Queens Wharf Mon - Fri: 4.30pm, 5pm, 5.30pm, 5.50pm, 6.30pm, 7pm. For sailing status information please phone 494-3339

Departing Queens Wharf Mon - Fri: 4.30pm, 5pm, 5.30pm, 5.50pm, 6.30pm, 7pm

Bad weather? Not sure if the ferries are sailing? Be the first to know by subscribing to our free TXT service. Email your number to anneka@eastbywest.co.nz

indicated that he wouldn’t be standing again as he felt that after three terms it was time to stand aside.

More of a surprise is that current board member Sarah Crawford didn’t decide to stand for the board this year and is instead standing for the Harbour Ward and Hutt Valley District Health Board.

Last month Mrs Crawford said that she would “probably” stand for the community board, however she says that six years on the Continues Page 3

What’s on TIMETABLE

Depart Days Bay

WEEKDAYS:

6.50am 7.15am 7.45am 8.05am (via Seatoun) 8.35am 9.10am 10.30am (S)

12.40pm (S) 3.15 (S) 4.15pm 4.55pm 5.20pm 5.55pm 6.30pm 6.50pm 7.20pm

Depart Queen’s Wharf

6.25am 6.50am 7.15am 7.40am 8.10am 8.45am 10.00am (S) 12 noon (S) 2.15pm (S) 3.40pm (via Seatoun) 4.30pm 5.00pm 5.30pm 5.50pm (via Seatoun) 6.30pm 7.00pm

SAT, SUN & PUBLIC HOLIDAYS:

10.30am (S)

12.40pm (S)

3.00pm (S) 4.15pm (S) 5.30pm

Mondays

• Retired Persons’ Assn 4th Mon. Ph 562-7365.

• Pencarrow 16 September, St Ronan’s Church Hall 2pm.

Rotary meets. Mark 562 7637.

• “Baby Bounce & Rhyme” at the library 10.30am.

• Singalong 1st Mon, 2pm at St Ronan’s.

• DB Playcentre every day. Jo ph 550 4228.

• Pt Howard Playcentre. Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri. Tiffany: 569-2700 or 022-0795721

• East Harbour Women’s Club Mah Jong. Contact Gwen 562 8295.

• Historical Society of Eastbourne local studies room open above the library 2-4pm every Monday.

• Eastbourne Volunteer Fire Brigade training every Monday 7-9pm. Ph Ross Carroll Chief Fire Officer 562 7001 for more info.

• Poetry group, every second Tuesday meet to read and enjoy poems old and new. Phone 562 8164. Wednesdays

• Library preschool story time 2–2.25pm.

• Scottish Country Dance. Merryn 562 0236.

• Bridge Club 7-10pm. Shona 562 7073.

• Mens’ Breakfast Club. Last Wed of each month at the Pavillion, 7am. Email: j.tallon@irl.cri.nz or tallon@xtra.co.nz.

Thursdays

• Toy Library 8–9pm. Charlotte 589 9362. www.eastbournetoylibrary.co.nz

• Mainly Music 9.30–10.30am. Wendy 562 8287.

• SPACE at Days Bay Playcentre. Michelle 971 8598.

• East Harbour Women’s Club Bolivia card group 12.45 pm, contact Glendyr 562 7181; Bridge 1pm, contact Jean 562 8555.

Fridays

• Pop-in & Play St Alban’s Church Hall 9am-11.30. Kate 562 0177.

• AA Plunket Rooms 7.30pm. Mark 566 6444/ Pauline 562 7833

Ferry F ares eFFective From 1 oct one way: adult $11, child $6, NZ student $9. Family Days/Petone $60 (return). 10 trip: adult $85, NZ student $60, child $36. monthly pass: adult $265, NZ student $195. matiu somes island: adult $23, NZ student $19, child $12, family $67 (return).

Sailings may be cancelled at short notice due to weather. To check today’s sailings, tel. 494 3339 10am (S) 12 noon (S) 2.15pm (S) 3.35pm (S) 5.00pm (S) = Sailing calls at Somes Island, subject to passengers.

Next ECB Meeting

Next Triennium. To be confirmed. Previous agendas and papers are on the ECB website and Council meetings - HomeHutt City Council

Board members are:

Derek Wilshere (Chair) derek.wilshere@huttcity.govt.nz

Robert Ashe (Deputy) robert.ashe@huttcity.govt.nz

Sarah Crawford sarah.crawford@huttcity.govt.nz

Murray Gibbons murray.gibbons@huttcity.govt.nz

Ginny Horrocks virginia.horrocks@huttcity.govt.nz

Cr. Ross Jamieson ross.jamieson@huttcity.govt.nz

Cr. Michael Lulich michael.lulich@huttdity.govt.nz

Derek Wilshere 562 7920

Tuesdays

• Lions meet 2nd & 4th Tuesdays. Bill 562 8441.

• Muritai Tennis Club 9.30–noon. Merryn 562 0236.

• Eastbourne Homebirth Group 1st Tuesday of the month. Phone Kate 562-7096.

• East Harbour Women’s Club arts, crafts and social group 10am. Contact Glendyr 562 7181.

• Eastbourne Embroidery Group, St Ronan’s Church lounge 10am-12noon. Betty Press 562 8950.

• Indoor Bowls Club 1.30pm, at the croquet club, Oroua Street. Jeanne 562 8555.

• Menzshed 9 till 12 , Williams Park, Mike 562 8688.

• Toy Library 9.30-10.30am. Charlotte 589 9362. www.eastbournetoylibrary.co.nz

• Twilight croquet from 4.30pm Muritai Croquet Club, Oroua Street.

Saturdays

• Justice of the Peace at the Eastbourne Community Library, first Saturday of each month 12pm-1pm.

• Lions’ rubbish bin last Saturday of each month.

• Croquet from 10.00am Muritai Croquet Club. Lyn 562 8722 or Val 562 8181.

Sundays

• Church services - see page 28.

• AA Plunket Rooms 10am. Pauline 562 7833.

August Eastbourne Community Board

Keeping up with things

Keep checking our website for information and activities, see BoardSpeak (our email newsletter) - sign up with Derek, or read it in the library. Read The Eastbourne Herald, The Petone Herald and Hutt News.

www.eastbourne.huttcity.com

BoardSpeak

Our occasional email newsletter is the best way of keeping up with Eastbourne goings on and matters of relevance…It goes out to all organisations and institutions in Eastbourne and interested individuals.

Eastbourne and Bays Emergency Response Plan 2013

A dedicated group of Eastbourne people have been working this year with the Board and the the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office to develop this very important plan for us.

The Plan was launched at the 20th August Board Meeting. There is more information about this plan in this issue of the Herald and an information Flyer is distributed with the Herald.

PLEASE READ THIS FLYER AND KEEP IT HANDY AT HOME

– WE SUGGEST A MAGNET ON THE REFRIGERATOR

The plan itself is a high level information document and we emphasise the importance of household and neighbour preparedness and organisation in advance of events. Eastbourne is susceptible to the risks of Earthquakes, Tsunami and landslip in particular.

Local Government Election 2013 - Candidates wanted As there were five candidates for five positions when nominations closed so once again we will not have an election.

Eastbourne Community Board

ECB fails to attract enough candidates for election

From Page 1

community board is a long time and “I decided it was time for me to look at going onto the Hutt City Council”.

“I thought I would be able to use the skills learnt on the Eastbourne Community Board in a broad sense for Eastbourne and Petone and also for the council...on the council you can advocate for the community with greater clout and push,” she says.

The most long-standing and experienced member of the board will now be Murray Gibbons who has been a member for nine years.

Mr Gibbons says the lack of people putting themselves forward could be interpreted a number of ways. “Looking through rose coloured glasses you could say that it’s because people are content, the other version is that they are apathetic...it could also be the shadow of a potential supercity. No-one knows what going to happen.”

Virginia Horrocks and Robert Ashe are also returning board members, Ms Horrocks with one term under her belt and Mr Ashe with only one year as he has elected to the board last year following the resignation of Geoff Rashbrooke.

New board member Mr Ray says he decided to put himself forward as he wanted to play a more active part in the Eastbourne community. “To get a better understanding of how change is made,” he says. “I’m not hugely political, I just want to get involved.”

Aged 33, he also hopes to represent a younger demographic in the community.

Mr Ray is a full time teacher at Muritai School and has played an active part in the school community over the last three years. He is one of two enviroschool teachers at the school which has involved linking with local community groups such as Lions and the MenzShed for school garden projects.

With contacts throughout the school community, “I’m probably in a prime position to get community projects underway,” he says.

Mr Ray also hopes that being involved in both the board and Muritai School will help to form generational links in the community.

Although Mr Ray would have liked to have been elected for his worth rather than appointed,

he says he is also “sort of relieved that I’m not having to hand out pamphlets and all that kind of stuff”.

The second new board member is also in her thirties. Gilane Khalil is a working mother of a two-year-old. She is a fingerprint specialist and has spent 15 years with the police.

Gilane says she fell in love with Eastbourne when she moved here 18 months ago and now intends for her child to grow up in the bays. “I love Eastbourne and thought it would be good to be on the board to be more involved in the community,” she says.

“I think I’ll be able to help with any things that need doing. It’s a nice, small, safe community and as a resident I’d like to keep it that way.”

In contrast to the board, the Harbour Ward is the ward in the Hutt with the largest number of candidates standing.

The eight candidates vying for the two Harbour Ward councillor roles are Mason Branch, Sarah Crawford, Mike Fisher, Dorothy Fox, Tui Lewis, Karen Swann and current councillors Ross Jamieson and Michael Lulich.

Mason Branch, Mike Fisher, Dorothy Fox and Tui Lewis are also standing for the Petone Community Board. Mason Branch is the only candidate standing again for the Harbour Ward after being unsuccessful last term.

There are only two candidates for the Hutt City mayoralty, current mayor Ray Wallace and businessman and new-comer to local body politics Philip Stratford.

Also of local interest is Leole Malama who is standing for the Northern Ward. Ms Malama is an ex-Muritai School pupil, who at 21 is less than half the age of the current youngest councillor Roger Styles. Although young, she is not inexperienced. She is a trustee at Taita Central School, a youth representative on the Alcohol Advisory Committee and has spent six years service on the local Youth Council and three years on the Northern Community Committee.

Council to explore more housing around Coast Rd

by Emily Tilley

Hutt City Council has now adopted its Urban Growth Strategy which includes providing for low rise apartments in Eastbourne against the hills and investigating the rezoning of rural land as rural residential land around Pencarrow Coast Road.

After public consultation on options for increasing the amount of housing available in the Hutt Valley, the council voted this month to adopt their Urban Growth Strategy.

The strategy includes provision for low rise apartment developments in Eastbourne “against hills and other sites that will not have negative effects on views and shading for existing dwellings”.

Apartments in the village area are not included in the strategy, however it does allow for investigation into “the feasibility of low rise apartments in the Eastbourne Village”.

Feedback showed there was some support for low rise development around the village but there was also concern that such development would have an effect on local amenities, strategic development divisional manager Wendy Moore says.

“Feedback showed that the preference was that apartments would be against hills and escarpments,” Ms Moore says.

The public were also consulted on the possibility of smaller section sizes in Eastbourne, however after feedback the council decided against reducing minimum section sizes by 100sqm citywide, therefore there will be no change locally.

The possibility of rezoning rural land around Pencarrow Coast Road was not included in the draft plan but was suggested by submitters who live in the area, Ms Moore says.

Officers will investigate whether the land should be rezoned, however it is unlikely to be looked at until near the end of the three year implementation time frame of the Urban Growth Strategy and investigation “doesn’t mean that it will happen”, Ms Moore says.

Potential issues such as septic tank leakage and air pollution from woodburners would have to be looked at to see whether they could be a problem and if so how it could be mitigated.

“They could be controlled by rules in the district plan,” Ms Moore says.

Ms Moore says there was a really good response to the call for submissions on draft

Urban Growth Strategy and a lot of interesting feedback received. “Quite a bit was taken on board too... quite a number of suggestions have been included into the works programme,” she says.

“It think it’s been a really good process with a lot of good ideas from people who have submitted. As officers it’s been a great experience to have that level of interaction with people. Hopefully going forward we will continue those relationships.”

In order to formalise some of those relationships, the council agreed to set up an Urban Design Group to include interested locals such as urban designers and landscape architects who submitted on the draft strategy.

The group will probably be specifically involved in looking at developing guidelines for intensification options, Ms Moore says.

Citywide the strategy targets population growth of at least 110,000 between 2013 and 2031 by providing 6000 new homes through increased development and infill housing.

The Urban Growth Strategy now adopted also includes:

• Provision for low rise apartments around train stations except Ava, around the Hutt CBD, in suburban shopping centres and in Jackson St, Petone

• Targeted infill intensification in Waterloo and Epuni and investigation into other areas that may be suitable such as the railway corridor and CBD periphery

• Rezoning as rural/residential 265 hectares in Normandale and Moores Valley to allow development of smaller lifestyle sections

• Rezoning 40-50 hectares in the Upper Kelson area to allow residential development

• Rezoning up to 24 hectares of the Upper Fitzherbert area as residential.

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• Ladies & Men’s alterations and repair work

• Evening & Bridal Wear

Wheat packs available or made to order Phone 562-8276

Unlocked homes invite intruders inside

by Emily Tilley

Two burglaries in the Bays this month occurred overnight at unsecured houses where the residents were inside asleep.

On one occasion the householder woke in the middle of the night, noticed their door was open, shut it, then only realised they had been burgled when looking for their cellphone the next morning.

A third burglary was from an unlocked garage.

Typically the burglars are entering unlocked houses overnight and people are calling police once they discover things are missing the next day, Petone Community Constable Russ Kalavati says.

There have been a number of such burglaries this year including some occasions when the homeowners have actually disturbed the burglars while they are still in the house.

“People should lock their doors at nighttime,” Constable Kalavati says. “There would be a lot less victims if people did lock their doors. It won’t stop crime but it does reduce the opportunity.”

“Criminals don’t want to get caught but are also lazy,” he says. “Breaking in makes noise and increases their chances of getting caught.”

There hasn’t been an explosion of burglary or crime in the bays, Constable Kalavati says. “Any are too many … but three is not a great number. Eastbourne is like the safest community to live in.”

This month there were 11 reported crimes including two house burglaries, one burgled garage, one break-in at the Youth Group, three thefts from cars, one wilful damage, two general thefts and one misuse of a telephone.

“It’s nothing for other suburbs to have thirty or forty reported in a month,” Constable Kalavati says.

Anyone with any information should

always contact police, Constable Kalavati says. He says police often speak to people who haven’t come forward with information because they think the police already know. “If you think something’s not right, give us a call. We want to hear, let us decide if it’s something or not,” he says.

“You’re lucky that you’ve got a good community constable who follows up everything and anything,” Constable Kalavati says. “I know Dave doesn’t let anything go until he’s got to the bottom of it.”

If it is going to be a day or two before police can turn up, people often want to cleanup before police can attend, Constable Kalavati says. In that case police suggest people put aside any evidence so that it can be fingerprinted when police do attend. “It’s very rare and residential burglaries take priority,” he says.

The Eastbourne Herald spoke to Constable Kalavati as Eastbourne Community Constable Dave Tweedale was working in Vanuatu. He is now back on duty in Eastbourne.

Trust told to bag evidence

Eastbourne Youth Worker’s Trust members are scratching their heads as to how intruders got into The Loft upstairs at the community centre. The intruders left drug paraphernalia and empty alcohol cans behind, and threw items around leaving a big mess for youth workers to clean up.

Trust spokeswoman Corinne Morley says the break-in is extremely disappointing. She says the Trust runs on donations and has been well attended in recent weeks.

Trust members were surprised to be advised by police to photograph and bag

the evidence, as no officers were available to investigate.

Constable Kalavati says it is very rare for people to be asked to bag evidence and take photos after a break-in, however it does occasionally happen when there have been a large number of burglaries in the area and police resources are under pressure.

The Loft is only used Friday nights, and the community centre is used most days.

Anyone who heard anyone upstairs at any time other than Friday night is asked to contact the Police.

Shaky assembly for Muritai kids

Muritai School pupils line up in class lines on the field waiting for their parents to collect them after the magnitude 6.6 earthquake last Friday. The whole school was in the hall for assembly when the quake hit. The children all reacted well, “turtle-ing” immediately, principal Andrew Bird says. Once the shaking stopped teachers moved the pupils out of the hall and onto the field.

Almost all the children were in their pyjamas as the school was having a “PJ Day”. Many parents congregated in the field talking about the quake after coming to collect their children, however if there is a recurrence it would be best if parents took their children home immediately, Mr Bird says. “Imagine if another bigger one came and all those people were here,” he says.

www.wellingtonphotobooks.co.nz News from Point Howard

More break-ins on the Hill is what happened over the last month, which is disappointing, frightening and unnerving for many Point Howard residents. It’d seem some lowlife has decided that Point Howard plus the rest of the Bays are an easy place to make a living from stealing, and perhaps they are but they don’t have to be…

The crook’s modus operandi appears similar each time; break-ins happen during the night, items that are easily removed or pawned off are taken, such as cash, credit cards and possessions like laptops, and it all happens while people are asleep and in the house.

Total lowlifes.

Local Community Constable Dave Tweedale has been keeping the Point Howard Association informed and has put extra staff on in an effort to catch the perpetrator(s), but the thefts keep happening. Until caught - and they’ll get caught it’s only a matter of time - the best thing to do is be sensible and increase your security around the house.

That’d mean locking all your doors and windows whenever you leave the house and before you go to bed. Don’t leave a spare key in an obvious place; like under the front door mat, crooks are lowlifes but unfortunately often not stupid as well. And call the Police if you see anyone who’s acting suspiciously, night or day.

Upping home security is an easy way to make it harder for crooks who make a dishonest living from stealing within the Bays, it’ll maybe even encourage them to get a real (honest) job and not to bother in the first place.

Plan helps locals take matters into their own hands

by Emily Tilley

In the first days after a large natural disaster people in Eastbourne and the bays will need to look after themselves.

In preparation a new local Community Response Plan has been created.

One lesson learned from the Christchurch earthquake was that localised communities look after themselves immediately after a quake.

New thinking on emergency management is that instead of people waiting for someone to come in from the top and start organising a response, people need to take responsibility for looking after themselves and local leaders to take responsibility for helping their community.

The local Community Response Plan has been developed to “empower the Eastbourne community and stakeholders to take ownership in a major disaster”.

Over the past year the Eastbourne Community Board and the Wellington Region Emergency Management Organisation got together many times with representatives from Eastbourne groups and organisations including, schools, the medical centre, local Red Cross, churches, Lions, Rotary, the fire service and police to discuss how the community will respond after a major disaster.

They have looked at what resources the community has, such as food, fuel, water and medical support, and how those resources can be best utilised.

They also looked at the support services available and who could be responsible for what.

“The meetings were really constructive,” community board member Virginia Horrocks says.

“We realised that we’ve got a whole lot of very capable people here.”

With the different groups coming together with different perspectives and questions they realised how resources could be shared.

One example is that Muritai School, although earmarked as a civil defence centre, would probably have no power after a disaster.

“That’s when Ross piped up and said the

fire station had an emergency generator,” Ms Horrocks says.

Investigations then started into how a limited power supply from the fire station’s generator could be connected to the school.

“Because we were all in the room talking to each other people were able to make those links,” Ms Horrocks says.

Another issue tackled was how to manage food from the Four Square, which could become a major resource.

Without power the food wouldn’t last long, and expecting the owners to distribute the food is unfair, Ms Horrocks says.

Under the plan the community board

takes responsibility for food coordination and distribution with Lions and Rotary to provide practical help.

Management roles and responsibilities have been assigned to each group that has signed the community response plan so that if disaster strikes they can immediately start to play their part without waiting for direction from above.

The next step will be for the plan to be taken to Residents Associations to ensure knowledge is spread as widely as possible.

The groups who formulated and signed off the plan will meet every six months to make sure that representatives from each group continue to be up to date.

NEW STORE OPENING IN PETONE

Harbour Ward Councillor

MICHAEL LULICH

Super City

Hutt City is putting forward an application to the Local Government Commission (LGC) calling for an enhanced status quo that maintains current boundaries but merges the region’s transport and water management under a jointly owned business; or four unitary authorities that share joint regional transport and water management. The view of residents from polls and surveys was to keep the status quo i.e. a no to a Super Council. The four unitary authorities’ option was considered to be an alternative option if the LGC rejected Hutt City’s enhanced status quo recommendation. The LGC will look at the Hutt City, and other Councils applications, and will come up with their own recommendation. If the LGC recommendation is successfully challenged in a petition there will be a referendum next year to decide between their recommendation and the status quo.

Keep Hutt Beautiful Week

Keep Hutt Beautiful week is on the 15-21 September and they are looking for volunteers. If you are a business, school or community interested in helping clean up our city and beaches, register your interest by completing the registration form or calling Alan Pope on 570 6890.

Also, a two-week campaign, involving a Treasure Map Sticker Task Chart, is currently underway in the Hutt’s 19 kindergartens. The Hutt Valley’s Super Tidy Kiwi and six Anti-Litter Bug Side kicks will also be chosen, again through kindergartens, as the promotional face of September’s campaign. Special costumes are being made by local designer Shazly Rasheed.

Free community dog training course

You can teach old dog new tricks! Wouldn’t it be awesome if your dog was obedient and listened to your every command? Teach your dog in a natural way that you are the pack leader. It’s not as hard as you think. Join other dog owners to teach your dog good behaviour .

TUESDAY 10 SEPTEMBER - Classes run from 5pm6.30pm and 7pm - 8.30pm

WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER - Classes run from 5pm - 6.30pm and 7pm - 8.30pm

I can be contacted on 9773166 or 0210304561, at michael.lulich@huttcity.govt.nz or on Facebook.

Emergency kit for those on the move

If disaster strikes you are not necessarily going to be at home - which is why local David Gledhill came up with his idea of an Emergency Pack for the car or workplace.

David’s original idea came years ago when several cars were stuck on the Napier to Taihape road for two or three days. “I couldn’t help feeling it wouldn’t be comfortable,” he says.

A member of Eastern Hutt Rotary, he approached the club and began a project to put together personal emergency packs, a backpack full of essentials should an earthquake or disaster strike.

Approved by the Hutt Valley Emergency Office, the packs contain everything you would need immediately after a disaster strikes: a torch, water, tablets to purify up to 10 litres of water, muesli bars, a light sleeping bag, a rain poncho, a whistle and a notebook and pencil so that you could leave a message about where you were headed.

The deluxe pack also includes a wind-up torch/radio with a cellphone charger and a multitool. The basic pack costs $65 and the deluxe pack $90. David says with Rotarian contacts the costs have been able to be kept at a minimum and the cost of the packs works out at almost half the price someone would pay buying individual items.

There is space in the packs for extras to be added and David strongly recommends people add copies of documents such as passports, extra personal medication and a pair of good walking shoes - after all the shoes chosen to go out to dinner in are probably not the shoes you would chose to walk miles home in.

“What was going to be a one year project is now ongoing,” David says. People stuck far from home with nothing following the Christchurch earthquake re-emphasised the need for mobile supplies. Already over 700 packs had been sold and recent local earthquake consciousness has led to another 50 orders.

David became disaster conscious years ago when he was a teacher at Naenae College and took on the task of readying the previously completely unprepared school for a civil defence emergency.

He repeated the process while long-term relieving at Hutt Valley High School. The school which used to have only a few bottles of water for almost 2000 staff and students now has a reservoir of constantly refreshed water which is used for the horticulture area but is available as drinking water if needed.

“Once you start thinking about it you see a lot of things that need to be done,” David says. David has of course thought about preparedness for his own home and has got together with immediate neighbours to put together supplies. The small group of Point Howard neighbours have chipped in together to buy a microbiological water filter that removes waterborne bacteria and parasites from up to 18,000 litres of water and a chemical camping toilet.

The neighbours have also worked out what resources they already own such as barbeques that they will be able to pool between them so that they will be able to be self-sufficient if cut off from the rest of the community.

- To order email David at dgledhill@xtra.co.nz

Community boards vote for 70kph limit to stay

by Emily Tilley

Both the Petone and Eastbourne Community Boards are recommending to Hutt City Council that the speed limit on Seaview Road remains at 70kmph.

Council officers have proposed decreasing the speed limit for Seaview Road from 70 kmph to 50 kmph. Their proposal follows a request for the speed to be lowered by the Seaview Working Group on behalf of businesses on Seaview Road.

After considering a council report and hearing from submitters the Petone Community Board on Monday voted unanimously to recommend to keep the speed limit of 70kmph for Seaview Road as it is “safe and appropriate”.

On Tuesday the Eastbourne Community Board voted to support the retention of the 70kmph speed limit by five members to two. Board members Robert Ashe and Sarah Crawford voted against.

Ray Wallace told the PCB that this was one of the issues in which the council had faith in the community boards’ recommendations. “It’s important to take on board the submissions. Don’t underestimate local knowledge,” he said.

HCC had received six public submissions in favour of changing the speed limit to 50kmph, including three from the Eastern Bays. There were 39 submissions in opposition to the proposal, all from the Eastern Bays.

Three submitters from the Eastern Bays spoke against the proposal at the Petone meeting.

Dave Mills, on behalf of the Point Howard Residents’ Association, told the PCB that he drove the road two or three times a day and had never seen an accident. Drivers adjust their speeds according to the conditions, he said.

He suggested that if businesses were concerned about difficulties entering or exiting their premises they could consider improving their entrance ways rather than inconveniencing 5000 Eastbourne residences.

His sentiments were echoed by the other Eastern Bays’ opponents to the proposal, including John Weeds who said that the road was wider than a motorway, straight, with clear visibility and well lit at night.

Council senior traffic officer Bryan Sparey told the board the accident rate was low in comparison with similar roads in Hutt City and there had never been any accidents involving pedestrians or cyclists.

There were eight reported crashes on the road in the five years from 2008 to 2012 including one serious, one minor and six non-injury crashes. Most of the accidents were at the Barnes St intersection.

He said council officers had not had reason to be concerned with the speed limit and would not have considered looking at changing the speed limit if the Seaview Working Group had not asked for a change.

Seaview Working Group spokesperson Claire Allen said Macaulay Metals came forward first saying drivers were finding it stressful getting into and out of the premises. A call for change was sparked and when asked, 28 out of the 39 businesses on the road asked for the speed to be lowered.

She said some businesses reported numerous near misses when turning into or out of their premises particularly when cars tried to duck around turning vehicles. The volume of traffic had increased and that there is now a new firm with logging trucks on Seaview Road and VTNZ have changed their truck exit onto the road.

She said the problems were within peak hours.

PCB decided that a 70kmph speed limit seemed safe and appropriate and voted to recommend it be retained.

Only one submitter, local cyclist Bruce Spedding, spoke to his submission at the Eastbourne Community Board.

He said that the cycling community he is involved in were in favour of changing the speed limit to 50kmph. He said that changing the speed limit was only the first step to make the road safer for cyclists and that other work would need to be done too.

Councillor Jamieson - himself a cyclistsuggested that cyclists had the choice to either use the cycleway which council had spent a large amount of money on or Port Road which has a 50kmph speed limit.

Mr Sparey said the council had looked at the option of putting in a variable speed however it was a complicated process that was estimated to cost $88,000 and was therefore not supported by the council.

Last month council officers said the Petone Community Board would have a chance to recommend to council what they thought should happen on the Seaview Road while the Eastbourne Community Board would be presented with a report “for information only”.

However, before the Petone and Eastbourne Community Board meetings Mayor Ray Wallace said there would still be an opportunity for Eastbourne to make a recommendation directly to the CIS committee.

Mr Wallace said that council has to “take on the chin” criticism that the Eastbourne Community Board should have been included in hearing submissions and recommending on the issue.

He says the officer at the time was looking at it “in black and white” but that although geographically Seaview Rd falls within the Petone board’s area, clearly the Eastbourne community is affected.

The Petone and Eastbourne Community Boards’ recommendations will be considered by the Community Infrastructure Committee on September 2 who make a recommendation to full council to consider on September 17.

The Loft Eastbourne (youth organisation)

Historic films to be shown in Eastbourne

A collection of silent and sound movies will be shown in Eastbourne next month, as part of New Zealand History Month.

The movies, including Sunshine Sands about early Days Bay; Hometown Boomtown 1983 about the development of Wellington’s central city, will be screened at Muritai School hall.

Eastbourne Historical Society spokesman Bill Ireland says last time a film afternoon was held there was standing room only.

He expects the Hometown Boomtown to be particularly interesting in light of ongoing controversy over the demolition of historic buildings in Wellington.

The society was hoping to find a pianist willing to accompany the silent movies, and Bill Wollerman, who played last time, is unavailable.

The movie screening will take place at 2pm and again at 5pm on Saturday, September 7, at Muritai School Hall.

Tickets are $5 per single, and $10 per family, and available at the door.

Telecom explores sites for another cellphone aerial

Telecom is again looking at options for a site for a new cellphone aerial in Eastbourne.

Telecom’s site acquisitions team have been for a drive around the area and hope to identify potential locations over the next couple of weeks, Telecom communications manager Emma Blackmore says.

At the moment there is no local Telecom mobile site and Eastbourne cellphone customers are using the service of an aerial on the Miramar peninsula.

Although local Telecom mobile users currently won’t notice any problems with their service, increasing usage of mobile communications means the Miramar site is becoming overloaded and a local antenna is needed to ensure site coverage of Eastbourne doesn’t shrink, Ms Blackmore says.

“Loss of coverage means the coverage becomes patchy, calls drop and internet speed slows,” Ms Blackmore says.

“We want to address this before it becomes an issue.”

Two years ago plans to erect an aerial in Eastbourne were postponed after Chorus resources were redirected to earthquake-hit Christchurch.

In early 2011 Chorus had planned to erect a 17m cellphone tower in HW Shortt Park, however after stiff local opposition and 29 public submissions against the proposal, the Eastbourne Community Board declined a Chorus application to occupy the land.

Opponents were concerned about the visual impact of the proposed tower and potential health effects to residents in neighbouring properties and park users.

The company were then considering a number of other sites including: three sites around the telephone exchange next to Muritai School, the Eastbourne Library roof, Rona Bay Wharf and Rimu Street near the library.

“We’re aware of the history and will be looking for the least invasive site,” Ms Blackmore says.

“Until we do a full review we won’t know the

potential locations.”

“We’re very conscious that things haven’t run especially smoothly in Eastbourne previously and will be making sure that the community is consulted properly.”

Ms Blackmore says ideally the aerial will be located on an existing post and won’t go beyond three metres of the current height.

She says Telecom will undergo a community engagement process, but what that will be will be dependent on the site.

“If there are close-by properties, we will engage with those residents.”

Typically residents within a 50m radius of a proposed site are notified, however Ms Blackmore says, “common sense is involved. If there are three houses within 50m and then another bunch just outside, we would engage with those residents too.”

- Chorus is no longer involved with the cellphone tower project as it is now a separate company following the company’s de-merger with Telecom in December 2011.

RETURN ROSS JAMIESON TO COUNCIL

Respect is the name of the game in walk/ cycle track

Robert Ashe’s vision for a cycle track to Wainuiomata would be a great asset for this community.

Like many other parents I have had many hours of worry as my young lads have ridden off to Wainui bike park with their mates, battling the overtaking habits of the Bays’ traffic and then the even less forgiving speed and broken glass of the Wainui hill, so I’d love to see a better and safer way for them to enjoy the outdoors.

I can only hope that the inevitable debate focuses on how to get the best outcome for all and not the Banana ( Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything else) solutions that so often plague great ideas.

One obvious debate centres on the assertion that cyclists and walkers don’t mix.

I ride several times each week at the Wainui bike park and commonly encounter walkers, dogs and runners and I’ve never had an issue, which I put down to several reasons. Firstly, everyone plays the game and treats each other with respect.

Secondly, the tracks are well designed and those that are attractive to walkers are those that are attractive to cyclists to go UP so encounters tend to occur at a reasonable pace.

Very seldom do I encounter walkers on the specific downhill tracks.

When I compare the Wainui tracks to what has been built around Kohangapiripiri and Kohangatera we can only be grateful that few walkers venture that far around the lakes.

Robert’s idea of utilising one of the existing tracks is a good one and merely extends the shared use that the Mt Lowry ridge track has seen for years.

We could quickly identify places where track upgrades or parallel paths would improve

enjoyment and safety for all users, and anyone who doubts the ability of cycle groups to put in environmentally sound all weather tracks should take a ride to Wainui and see for yourself.

Kevin Small Eastbourne

Linking track a great asset

Great to see Robert Ashe proposing mountain bike access to the East Harbour Regional Park to cater for a very popular activity among Eastbourne children and adults.

Many of us are already daily users of the tracks as runners and walkers so are well aware of the value of the tracks. A track linking Eastbourne to Wainui would be a fantastic start and there are many of us, young and old, who would assist with building a track.

Having cycled the Korokoro Stream track last weekend, there are already good examples of dual use tracks in the Hutt, and we have a great opportunity to enhance the use of our own Park in similar fashion.

Ashley Bloomfield Lowry Bay

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PJ day

Muritai School teacher Murray McMillan donned his pyjamas to join in the fun for the school’s PJ Day last Friday. The day was organised by the school’s charity team and money raised on the day will go to Kids Can, their nominated charity this year.

Portraits

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Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Call in or ring Lindsay Mitchell on 021 132 5968 or 562 7944

parkside

This year the annual Greater Wellington Regional Council park visitor survey was conducted in East Harbour Regional Park from 9th February to 13 March. Twenty one entrances where surveyed on a Saturday, Sunday and a Wednesday by five staff over eighteen days. The results showed that most people walked to the park entrance, had visited more than twenty times before and heard about the park from previous experience. The majority of people came to go for a walk, stayed between one and four hours and prefer to get information about the park from the internet.

Forty three percent of the people who visited came alone. Most of the remaining visitors came with a partner/spouse, family or friends. Seventy percent of the people surveyed were from Lower Hutt, fifteen percent were from Wellington and the rest were spread evenly from other areas in the region. Thirty seven percent of the people who visited were aged between fifty and sixty nine years of age. The next most represented age group with thirty percent was the thirty to forty nine year olds. People who visit the park

generally earn more than $70,000 and are NZ European. The aspect of the park that people like most is the flora and fauna. What you can do in the park is the second most popular aspect.

The majority of the feedback for managers was praise for the good job that is being done. Other points that a few people raised include requests for provision of “dog do bins and bags”, more MTB access, seats and toilets. For every comment that suggested that we need to improve the track network in the park was a comment suggesting we leave the tracks as they are! My favourite comments for managers were “More butterflies at the entrance” (butterfly creek) and “Make caves when building new tracks”!

This information is used for future planning for the park and to look at what can be done better. Earlier this year we completed the track upgrade on MacKenzie track and this summer we plan to work on the Muritai Track due to the degraded state it is in.

Thanks Mark McAlpine (Park Ranger)

smoke signals Fire Safety Message for September

Call outs

30 Jul Eastbourne Bus Barns: Alarm activation

30 Jul Eastbourne Bus Barns : Alarm activation

01 Aug Totara Street: Rubbish fire

05 Aug Richmond Road: Power pole smoldering

06 Aug St Alban’s Church: Alarm activation

11 Aug Wellesley College: Alarm activation

13 Aug Tuatoru Street: Medical assistance

16 Aug Sorrento Bay: Car in the sea

16 Aug Muritai Road: Smoke logging in house.

On average there are over 2600 mobile property fires throughout New Zealand each year.

The number of car fires each year is increasing along with the increase in vehicles on the road, but unfortunately the number of fires extinguished by owners or a passing motorist with an extinguisher is decreasing.

It’s a sad fact that people are injured or die and cars are being damaged beyond repair as a result of car fires. The last thing you would want is to stand helpless as a person perishes in a car fire. Approximately 7% of all cars carry a portable fire extinguisher. Many who do carry extinguishers are not familiar with their operation.

Car fires cost the country in excess of

$60,000,000 annually.

The Fire Service encourages all drivers to carry a fire extinguisher and know how to use it.

Recommended type of portable fire extinguisher for cars is multi-purpose dry powder with a rating of 1A:5B:E. Australian/ New Zealand joint standard.

For more information on the correct type of extinguisher and how to use them properly contact your nearest Fire Station.

Working with Communities to protect what they value

- EVFB CFO Ross Carroll

CFO gets to grips with fire and ice

by Emily Tilley

In Eastbourne Ross Carroll is known as the Chief Fire Officer, but for NIWA and GNS Science he’s the man to turn to when you need something like … an Antarctic ice grater?

Like firefighting, Ross has been engineering, fitting, turning and welding since he left school. A physics engineering apprenticeship with the DSIR led to a career working for local scientific institutions.

When scientists come up with clever ideas for new experiments they need clever equipment to do those experiments. That’s where Ross comes in.

“They’ll tell me what they want, maybe give me some sketches and I work out how to make it,” he says.

Air bubbles from up to 1000 years ago are trapped in the ice in Antarctica. NIWA removes sample ice cores and brings them back to New Zealand to analyse as they research how the chemical composition of our air is changing.

A couple of years ago Ross was charged with making a grater that would be used to release the air for collection. “It still chugs away, they use it every couple of weeks,” he says.

The actual grating part is very similar to a large cylindrical cheese grater. The ice core is put inside and as it is shaken the ice is grated, turned to powder and releases the trapped air .

That air is collected in a second vacuum tight cylinder around the outside of the grater and then released through a valve into a storage container.

Ross had to come up with a shaker for the grater. “We used a second hand paint tin shaker which blew up. The ice was heavier than a paint tin,” he says. So Ross made a purpose built variable speed shaker himself.

All the shaking and grating is done in a cold room where the air is kept at minus 18 degrees C, but Ross’ initial build was at room temperature, so once it was installed there was some tweaking to be done. “With the cold everything shrinks, the grease seizes, rubber goes stiff,” he says.

Quite a few of Ross’ builds are used for air composition testing. He’s made “bratwings” which connect into the flare ports of the US military planes that fly to Antarctica collecting the cleanest air in the world as the planes fly

south.

His “grass sniffers”, which look like strange white boxes sitting in the middle of cow paddocks, are used to sample gases coming out of the ground.

At the moment he’s working a cylinder roller for NIWA which will be used to mix gases of different weights. He’s also finishing a new set of racks for the Eastbourne butchers.

Working for himself since 1996, Ross makes “all sorts” from scientific equipment to balustrades, gates and fences.

Ross has followed his father Evan Carroll’s footsteps. Evan was Eastbourne’s chief fire officer before Ross and he was also a fitter and turner. “That’s probably where I got the engineering bug from,” Ross says. For both father and son the lines overlap between their metal working world and the fire service. Evan built fire engines for Wormold that were used up and down the country.

Ross modified two Japanese fire trucks for the bush fire service in Eastbourne and Wainuiomata. “I ripped the guts out of them, put in new pump

systems, remodelled the whole back of the body … just about the only bits kept were the chassis and the front cab,” he says.

The exhaust system at Eastbourne Fire Station was a first for New Zealand when it was installed in 2003. It uses hoses that connect directly to idling fire trucks’ tail pipes to capture dangerous exhaust fumes and vent them outside. “We used to get big box things that would sit in the station and suck in the air,” Ross says. “I said, ‘I can do better than that and at only a third of the price’.”

Now Ross’ exhaust systems can be found in stations from the top of the South Island to as far north as Thames, he says.

Of all the things Ross has made his favourite is the scale model of a 1890 Shand Mason horse drawn steam fire truck that he started making with his father when he was about seven years old and a pupil at Muritai School. The model took ten years to complete and really pumps water. Don’t ask to see it now though - you can’t.

“It’s in bits,” Ross says. “I feel I can make it better now.”

“Me and My Dad” Father’s day - 1st September

See web site for special offer www.sueallmanpeople.co.nz 562 0154

Artist moves into school’s art studio

by Emily Tilley

Making himself at home at the back of the Wellesley College art room, artist Ben Timmins can be found cutting up music manuscripts into thin strips.

Last year Ben submitted a work “Inception” to Wellesley’s biennial Artbourne exhibition.

He was chosen unanimously by the Wellesley College boys for the “Students’ Choice Award” which led to him being invited to be Wellesley’s artist in residence this year. “I always seem to get people’s choice awards,” he laughs.

He was recently awarded the People’s Choice 2013 Clifton Art Prize and has previously won the People’s Choice Award at the NZ Art Show, where he has also won three consecutive Supreme Awards.

This month he’s working in the school’s art room giving the boys a chance to observe a full-time practising artist, watch the process of a work coming together and ask him questions.

“For me it’s quite good learning as well. Kids say what they mean, they’re quite honest, blunt,” Ben says.

When he showed the boys one of his paintings of an iceberg, Ben asked them what they would call it. The responses were titles such as “Serenity” and “Peaceful Archway”.

“It’s nice to get that feedback. The painting is doing it’s job in a way,” Ben says.

Ben’s paintings are serene. Inspired by nature, Ben’s paints beautiful photorealistic imagery but it is his backgrounds that add another depth and dimension to his work.

For the past seven years he has been painting on woodgrain and copper backgrounds and has now been experimenting with using cut-up pages of old Japanese writing and most recently music manuscripts.

His work is a mixture of illusion and reality, the real organic patterns of the woodgrain and the depictions of nature.

Ben has spent hours in building supply shops mystifying the staff as he searches for boards with

inspirational woodgrain.

The pages of Japanese writing, kanji, he has been using for his work, are probably Buddhist scripture he says.

“The whole process of cutting up the pages is quite meditative, contemplative,” he says.

“I don’t know what is says, but I use it for tonal value rather than words.”

Meditation is part of Ben’s life and comes through in his work. He describes some of his paintings as having an “eastern zen feel”.

He is now working on, “The Song of the Sea”, cutting hundreds of slithers of music manuscript from which he is creating a seascape suggesting the overlapping music of the water.

Ben has been painting for twenty five years and working as a full time painter for two. “My art has matured and I feel like this is the right time to do it now,” he says.

“My art teacher at school put me on the right track. He said it would take 40 years to learn how to paint and at the time I thought, ‘I can do it in two’, but you need time to experiment and also mature as a human being, understand your ideas.”

Ben will take part in an open studio evening for Wellesley parents and families on August 28 and there will be an exhibition of his works at the school from September 2 as part of the school’s Artweek.

Spring has come early to Eastbourne and Bays in more ways than one, with twice as many homes being sold in July this year than in July 2012. For the quarter MayJuly 2013, REINZ reports:

• 22 properties sold

• a total of $13,338,500

• an average sale price of $606,295

Demand for properties at the lower value end of the scale are proving especially popular among buyers, with sales as follows:

• 7 between $150,000 and $399,000

• 8 between $400,000 and $599,000

• 3 between $600,000 and $799,000

• 4 above $1,000,000

I hope your garden, like mine, is lled with the sweet sight and sounds of the beautiful birds enjoying the calm weather.

Until next month.

Kim

Living and Breathing Property

Faith in the Community

In a recent Gospel the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray and he taught them what we call the “Our Father”. But why did they ask? What is it that they experienced when they watched Jesus pray? Perhaps it was a sense of profound peace or calm, maybe a clearer sense of direction, a lifting of the spirit or change of some sort, or maybe he prayed in a new and different way. Whatever it was - they wanted it.

Prayer gives us space and time to be in the present moment; to perhaps discover what is really troubling us; maybe the opportunity to declare our gratitude for the blessings and gifts we have been given; or to ask for what we need and want for ourselves or for others.

Philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard, said that prayer does not change God but it does change the pray-ee; a thought worth pondering in a quiet moment.

On our journey through life we discover many ways, forms, traditions and rituals for prayer. We find our own favourites that console, motivate and fulfil our desire to communicate with our God. “Whether it is solitary prayer or with others prayer can and does have a profound effect on us. Prayer is an integral component of the spiritual life of (man)kind. Prayer allows people to express themselves during crisis and emotional turmoil. It can serve as an important source of personal strength and as a foundation for self-resilience during times of adversity.” Aust J Holist Nurs. 2003 Apr; 10(1):22-9.

next San Antonio Children’s Mass will be on Sunday 1st September at 9.30am. Morning tea will follow. All welcome.

St Alban’s

Last month St Alban’s Parish joined our neighbours at the Anglican Taita Pomare Project for their Kaupapa Maori Service. We will be hosting the service here in Eastbourne on the 29th September at 5pm followed by food. All welcome to share in our whanaungatanga.

• This column of church news and views is sponsored by St Alban’s Anglican, St Ronan’s Presbyterian and San Antonio Catholic Churches.

Few takers for for ultra-fast broadband in Point Howard

by Emily Tilley

Only four out of a possible 171 households in Point Howard have linked to the ultra-fast broadband (UFB) network since it was installed in the suburb earlier this year.

Their slow uptake isn’t unusual. Nationwide the total number of end users that can connect to the Government’s UFB network is now more than 300,000. The number who have actually connected is around 10,000.

Chorus media relations manager Elissa Downey says the uptake was always expected to be slow but it’s expected that once user numbers reach a critical mass there will be a tipping point, more internet service providers will start offering more attractive packages and usage will take off.

“It think a lot of people are still unaware of the what UFB is like,” Ms Downey says.

“It’s not just browsing faster, there’s more. Like you can have multiple devices without lagging.”

Some Point Howard residents said they

weren’t even aware they weren’t already linked to the network.

They presumed their broadband connection was automatically going through the fibre now. Although fibre optic cable has been laid in the streets, residents need to sign up to a new UFB contract for the service.

Once signed up their service provider organises for a connection to be laid from the fibre network in the street to their house. Connection is usually free with a 12-month plan.

For the rest of the Bays UFB is not yet an option as fibre has not yet been laid south of Point Howard.

There is no date set yet for when fibre will be laid to the rest of Eastbourne, however it will definitely not be within the next year as the area is not included in the first three years of Chorus’ UFB roll-out plan.

Telecommunications providers that currently offer UFB services in Point Howard are Orcon, Snap, Telecom, Vibe Communications, Inspirenet, Kiwilink and Actrix.

Young dancer makes her debut on the big stage

by Emily Tilley

Being a child extra in the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s production of Swan Lake was “really fun except it was really hard work … but totally worth it,” local eight-year-old Olivia Morphew says.

Most of Olivia’s school holidays were taken up by the production as Olivia was in all eight of the RNZB performances which spanned the two weeks of the holidays.

Olivia’s selection for the part came “out of the blue” with a cellphone call at a netball match, her mother Gwyn says.

Her ballet school, the Wellington Dance and Performing Arts Academy had put her name forward for the part.

“The surprising thing for us was that I didn’t have an audition,” Olivia says.

“They just said ‘do you want to be in Swan Lake?’”

The other surprise for Gwyn was how much of a part Olivia had in the production.

“She was on the stage for 30 minutes every evening. I thought she would probably just sit there but she actually had a little role,” Gwyn says.

Olivia’s part began as the curtain first opened and included weaving in between the company dancers, spotting the prince and telling everyone that he was coming and presenting the queen mother with a bouquet.

It also included half an hour of pretending to enjoy herself at the prince’s party, which meant so much smiling that Olivia’s cheeks hurt.

“It was a lot for me. Sometimes I would have to stop, so I would put my hands up and pretend I was surprised about something so that I could relax my cheeks for a little bit,” she says.

“It took a lot of my Mum’s time,” Olivia says.

“She had to help with my hair and dressing because the costumes were really big.”

Having never been involved behind the scenes in professional ballet before, Gwyn got to see how the whole production came together from the first rehearsal with all the dancers accompanied by a piano, to the first full rehearsal with the orchestra just days before the opening night.

“It all comes together very quickly at the end,” she says.

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She says it was also really interesting to watch choreographer Russell Kerr as he directed the dancers.

“He told them, ‘you should be feeling with your body and not just your face’,” she says.

At the end of the production all the dancers from the RNZB company signed a program for Olivia, a souvenir of her first time on stage with a professional company.

“I got to meet a lot of the dancers,” Olivia says.

“I thought they might be snobbish, but they weren’t they were really nice and helpful.”

Olivia says the dancers chatted to her on stage. While using facial expressions to act their part for the audience they would speak to her reminding her of what she was to do next.

Olivia has been dancing since she was four, she is now Grade 4, she was on stage for the World of Wearable Arts last year and already has several trophies from ballet competitions.

However, Olivia says she is not sure whether she would like follow dancing as a career.

“Maybe, but I have options. There are a lot of other things I could do … because being in the Royal

Lyneen helps locals learn a new language

by Emily Tilley

When a Deaf couple moved into Mahina Bay their neighbours thought it would be a good idea to learn some sign language and Lyneen Allen started up her NZ Sign Language classes in Eastbourne.

Lyneen has been Deaf since birth and her husband became Deaf after contracting meningitis as a one year-old. Like most Deaf people their first language is NZ Sign Language. “It’s part of all my life,” Lyneen says.

The couple moved to Mahina Bay just before Christmas last year and found themselves in a community where the neighbours all know each other and say “hi”. “People are so friendly here, I didn’t realise,” Lyneen says.

Lyneen can lip read and talk so well you forget she is deaf, a skill she attributes to the determination and hard work of her mother who taught her to speak when she was a child.

“Not everyone can do it. It depends on your support from the family, hearing world, and your education,” she says.

Her husband had a different upbringing, was sent to boarding school at three years-old and can speak very little. “The neighbours were trying to communicate with my husband. Then they found out that his first language is sign language,” Lyneen says.

Instead of giving up the neighbours asked Lyneen to teach them some sign language and that led to Lyneen starting up her weekly classes above Eastbourne Library.

“People so far are really enjoying it,” she says.

NZ Sign Language is one of the three official languages of New Zealand alongside English and Maori.

There are 7000 deaf people in New Zealand

Kidztalk

Point Howard Playcentre News

The wheels on the bus

and for most of them it is their first language.

“It has a very full vocabulary and it’s a beautiful language... a visual language,” Lyneen says.

“If my husband is outside we can still communicate while I’m inside, there’s no shouting or yelling.”

Learning NZ Sign Language enables Deaf people to communicate. Lyneen aims to make her classes fun and creative and teaches not only the language but also tips on how to approach and communicate with Deaf people, such as not turning away from them when speaking.

Learning any language also involves learning about the history, values and culture of the people who use that language and that is no different for NZ Sign Language.

“It’s also beneficial to people who want to change career,” Lyneen says. More NZ Sign Language interpreters are desperately needed. Currently there are only 12 in Wellington and no male interpreter.

language.

It was after leaving school that Lyneen discovered a Deaf community of people with similar experiences and “Deaf culture”.

“In the Deaf community everybody knows each other, it’s a bit like Eastbourne,” she says.

Like Maori children years ago who were punished for speaking their own language at school, Deaf children were punished for using sign language, Lyneen says.

“We would have to be careful at lunch and morning tea,” she says. “We would have to watch out that the teachers didn’t see us.”

News from our local playcentres

The kids at Point Howard have been out and about in the community…

Each year Wellesley provides a little mini-bus to take the Point Howard Playcentre children to Wellesley school for the morning. For 3 and 4 year olds, this is an exciting adventure and they love being able to see what “big school” is really like. The driver of the Wellesley bus got an ear-deafening rendition of the “wheels on the bus” and probably will know to bring earplugs next year! The kids really enjoyed their morning at school and it is great to see the amazing facilities Wellesley has to o er. The little babies of the group stayed behind, had the

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

playcentre toys to themselves and did some bread making – a yummy surprise for when the big kids got back.

Point Howard Playcentre recently joined forces with East Harbour Kindergarten for a pre-school disco fundraiser. It was a fun event enjoyed by the pre-school kids and even their older siblings. It was great to be able to team up the Eastbourne kindy to make the event even bigger and better than last year.

A place for local families and children for 61 years

Three morning sessions a week: Monday, Tuesday and Friday Ages 0-6.

3 free visits, pop up any time.

In 2006, NZ Sign Language became an official language but so far that only covers legal proceedings. There is no equity for those who sign as the NZ Sign Language Act 2006 doesn’t cover education, health or mental health. By teaching her language, Lyneen hopes to make a difference. To educate people so that they have a better understanding of the Deaf community and break down barriers so that society can help the Deaf community.-Lyneen’s NZ Sign Language classes start again next term on Monday October 16. For information email Lyneen at allen-kuklinski@hotmail.com

Phone: 022-0795721 for more information about our Playcentre.

Locals wage war on green culprits

by Emily Tilley

It was local weeders versus snakefeather (aka climbing asparagus fern) this month. After the weed was found on the MacKenzie Track, a group spent around three hours of a Saturday tackling the weed as part of EHEA’s Adopt-aTrack scheme.

The weed threatens to completely take

over our hills, especially where the bush is regenerating, helper Robert Ashe says.

“The highlight was John Horrocks removing a snakefeather plant with a root mass the size and weight of a full recycling bin.”

Anyone interested in helping to weed local tracks can contact Anna Sutherland on 568 4889 or Ray Smith on 562 8587.

or or

Children learn from each other in art project

by Emily Tilley

Paintings by students of Wellesley College, Cannons Creek School and St Michael’s in Taita formed the “One Family” exhibition at the Farsite Gallery in Petone this month.

The artworks were the product of Wellesley College’s “Refugee Art Day” when 16 pupils from Cannons Creek and St Michael’s visited Wellesley and joined around the same number of Wellesley boys to work in the school’s art room.

“The children who came were all refugees. We had children from just about every continent, from Burma to Somalia,” art teacher Eve Owen says.

“We worked on the theme of ‘one family’,” Mrs Owen says.

“The idea that we are all part of the family of humanity, we can all learn from each other and all have something to share. We explored the idea of unity in the world. When you strip away the exterior, we are all the same and people matter.”

The children shared stories about their families and talked about what they valued.

“We talked about things such as how some things go wrong in all families... that suffering and happiness are universal,” Mrs Owen says.

Her husband, Wellesley principal Warren Owen, was a St Michael’s student himself when a boy and shared his own stories of growing up in Taita with the children.

“It was amazing, the children were so open and lovely,” Mrs Owen says.

Parents and children from all the schools attended the opening of the Farsite Gallery exhibition where the paintings were hung alongside photos of the children working on the

amalgamation with Stop Out should at least be deferred.

No to merger

A well-attended meeting to discuss the future of the Eastbourne Football Club strongly supported the view that the club should continue in its current form and that moves towards

Between 30 and 40 people attended the meeting late last month at which the Eastbourne committee sought public feedback on a proposition that Eastbourne might have to amalgamate with a larger club to survive.

A shortage of volunteers to sit on the committee had placed an unreasonable burden of administrative work on a small group of people whose efforts keep the club alive. Committee members under chairman John Makowem have recently stressed that the current system, under which too much work devolves onto too few, was not sustainable and the only course was to

Proceeds from the exhibition and a muftiday at the school were combined to raise $1000 which will divided between the Cannons Creek School, St Michael’s and Refugee Trauma Recovery.

amalgamate with a larger neighbour.

But the strong view of last month’s meeting, attended by club members and representatives of the wider football community in Eastbourne, was against any move which might lessen Eastbourne’s individual identity or reduce in status a club which has existed for 45 years.

“I think the general consensus or at least the strong preference of those who attended the meeting was to retain the status quo,” Makowem said.

“If the club is to continue in its current form, we do need a fully functional committee in which all the roles are filled.”

He said a full list of roles would be posted on the club’s website - www.EFC.org.nz - by the end of this month and a meeting would take place during September at which a new committee would be installed. If all the advertised roles were filled, the wishes of supporters for the club to continue in its current form would be upheld but if sufficient volunteers could not be found, alternatives would again have to be explored.

U85s make it to the semifinals

by Steve McMorran

A bonus point captured in an extraordinary performance two weeks ago has been enough to secure Eastbourne’s place in the semifinals of division one of Wellington rugby’s 85 kilogram restricted grade for another season.

Eastbourne beat the Old Boys-University Spartans 5-0 on Saturday to finally clinch third place in the division and a semifinal clash this weekend with the division’s most formidable side, Marist-St Pats Blue.

But it was a bonus point captured in defeat two weeks earlier that made it possible for Eastbourne to continues its impressive record of recent seasons of reaching the semifinals of the highly-competitive division.

Eastbourne played the Old Boys-University Onslow Bunnies on August 3 and might have made their semifinal place certain with a win over a team they have beaten in at least their last six meetings.

Instead, Eastbourne found themselves down 34-0 after the fired-up Bunnies made an outstanding beginning and their grip on a place among the grade’s top four teams suddenly became tenuous. But although defeat was inevitable, Eastbourne rallied bravely and scored four tries in the last 15 minutes to grab a bonus point in a 39-24 defeat that kept their semifinals hopes alive.

They had a bye in the penultimate round of the competition on August 10 and won their seventh and final match of the season’s second round on Saturday to progress to the semifinals. Had they not taken a bonus point from the match against the Bunnies, Eastbourne would have had to do so on Saturday to clinch a topfour finish but their miraculous comeback two weeks previously relieved them of that pressure.

“We’re in the semifinals but we nearly blew it against the Bunnies,” team spokesman Kevin Hewson said.

“They were up 34-0 just after halftime and we were really up against it but we managed to score four tries in the last 15 minutes and to get a bonus point. If we hadn’t got that we would have needed a bonus point on Saturday and that never really looked likely.”

In finishing third at the end of the regular season, Eastbourne might have expected to play Tawa in this weekend’s semifinals. But Tawa upset Marist-St Pats Blue in their final match to seal first place in the division and to push Marist into second and into a semifinal confrontation with Eastbourne.

Marist was the form team in the division for most of the season and the team most teams would like to avoid in the semifinals. But Eastbourne will go into Saturday’s playoffs clash with some confidence after vastly improving its performance against Marist during the course of the season.

Eastbourne was beaten 72-0 by Marist in the first round of the regular season on April 20. But when the teams met again in the second round a month ago, Marist ran out winners by a much-reduced margin - 22-3 - which measured Eastbourne’s steady improvement as the season has progressed.

“I think we deserved to be third,” Hewson said.

“We’ve played pretty consistently throughout the season and though there have been a couple of hiccups, I think we are worthy of third place.

“The loss to the Bunnies was one of those hiccups but they played astonishingly well. They really wanted to beat us and they did. They starved us of the ball for a lot of the match and we didn’t really do anything until that last 15 minutes when we scored four tries.

“But I think we have to rate our chances against Marist. That 22-3 loss was by far our best performance of the season and, to be honest, I think we were a bit unlucky.

“They scored an intercept try to lead 10-3 at halftime and that really hit us hard because we had competed so well up until then.

“The boys took a lot of heart out of that performance and I think we have a chance on Saturday. It’s semifinal rugby so it’s not like other games: it can really go either way.

“We’ve got everyone on deck and they only need to lose one or two key players and they might be struggling.”

Hewson said Eastbourne’s aim this season had been to reach the semifinals and they had achieved that but they were still keen to go one step further and to reach the championship final.

“We’d have to play to the best of our ability to win and they would probably have to have an off-day to lose,” he said. “But it can happen. That’s the nature of finals football.

“It’s really a lot about attitude. If one team is in the right frame of mind and the other isn’t, then anything can happen. We know how to upset them and if we can play to their weaknesses and if we get our attitude right then anything’s possible.” • Eastbourne play MSP Blues in Evans Bay at 2.30 on Saturday, August 24.

sport Walsh selected for Wellington Firebirds Tennis, anyone?

Spring is in the air and a new tennis season is in the offing in Eastbourne.

The Muritai Tennis Club will hold junior enrolment and interclub registration days at its clubrooms this Sunday (August 25) and again on the following Saturday. Enrolments will take place from 10am to 12.30am this Sunday and from 12.30pm to 1.30pm on the following Saturday.

Muritai’s annual clean up day, a working bee for all members, will be held on September 7 from 9am to allow spring cleaning ahead of the formal start of the season.

Opening Day has been set for Sunday, September 15 with Sunday, September 22 set aside as a reserve day if rain intervenes. Activities for senior players begin from 1.30pm.

Muritai has held its annual meeting and there

by Steve McMorran

The rise to prominence in New Zealand cricket of Eastbourne’s Henry Walsh has continued with his inclusion on the list of contracted Wellington Firebirds players for the coming season.

Walsh was a star player for St. Patrick’s College Silverstream and a prolific run-scorer last season for the Taita club, amassing 738 runs in the Wellington premier interclub competition. He has played for Wellington and New Zealand age-group teams, representing New Zealand last season at the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

The latest upswing in his career occurred this month when he was named at No. 13 on the list of Firebirds contracted players. Each of New Zealand’s major associations names 14 contracted players and Walsh, by winning a place in the first round of contract announcements, is almost assured of playing a large part in Wellington’s first class, one-day and Twenty20 campaigns next season.

Walsh is a hard-hitting right-handed batsman who sees himself fitting into a No. 7 role in a Wellington batting lineup and a useful left-arm medium pace bowler, recognised as a partnership breaker.

The 19 year-old said he was surprised to have been awarded a Wellington contract at such an early stage of his career.

“It definitely was a big surprise but I’m really happy,” he said. “Wellington has a lot of top players with guys such as James Franklin, Grant Elliot and Luke Ronchi so I wasn’t sure what my chances were.”

The chances are good that Walsh will play a very full part in Wellington’s coming season. He sees his immediate future as being “in the shorter forms” - in one-day and Twenty20 cricket but he is also ready to step up into four-day, first class cricket in he is called upon.

“I’m not really sure how the season will pan out,” he said. “At this stage I see my future being in the shorter forms but you never know.”

The experience of the last few seasons suggests Wellington will have a high turnover of players because of injuries and international call ups and that may open the way for Walsh to play a full part in all forms of the game.

He feels ready to do so. His selection for last year’s under-19 World Cup admitted him to the top echelon of the sport: many of his opponents have already moved on to play international cricket at a senior level.

Although he missed the latter stages of the world tournament with an ankle injury he feels it substantially boosted his experience and selfconfidence.

“We played against guys like (Australian spinner) Ashton Agar and (Australia fast bowler) Pat Cummins so it was great from an experience point of view.”

Agar made a world record score of 98, batting at No. 11 for Australia in the first test of the current Ashes series against England and Cummins took six wickets and hit the winning runs in his debut test for Australia against South Africa last season.

sport

Taylor favoured to win World Champs gold

by Steve McMorran

Eastbourne rower Peter Taylor has to contend with both the familiar and unexpected as he prepares with his New Zealand teammates in South Korea for the World Championships which begin on August 25.

Taylor, formerly of Day’s Bay, finds himself in the familiar position of being the gold medal favourite in his event. In his long and successful partnership with Storm Uru in the men’s lightweight scull, Taylor was frequently the favourite to win both World Cup and World Championship races. He became both world champion and an Olympic bronze medalist as a member of one of New Zealand rowing’s most successful crews of recent time.

But Taylor and Uru made a decision after last year’s Olympics in London to end their partnership and to pursue their careers in other classes. Taylor is now a member of the New Zealand lightweight four, having traded sculling for the new and very different challenge of a sweep-oar boat.

His new career move has been immediately successful and the lightweight four - with Taylor in a senior and very influential role - has won World Cup gold medals in three events this season. Those successes have made the crew favourites to win the world title at Chung-Ju in South Korea at the championships which run until September 1.

Taylor has said he is surprised to find his new crew of Jamie Hunter, James Lassche and Curtis Rapley elevated to world title favoritism at such an early stage in their association.

“At the start of the year I was just hoping for an A final or at best a medal, I definitely wasn’t thinking about going into the world champs as favourites,”Taylor said recently.

“James Lassche has been trying to get this boat going for the last three years but it hadn’t fired at all. It’s been a very pleasant surprise.”

Taylor is now with his New Zealand teammates in Chung-ju, settling in and acclimatising to warm and humid conditions in a 10-day buildup to the world championships. He said the lightweight four’s final block of training on their home course at Lake Karapiro had gone well, crew members had avoided winter illnesses or injuries, and they are now settling in to the world championships environment.

“It took some time to get over the jet lag,” Taylor said in his regular blog. “It didn’t help hanging out in Singapore for 15 hours waiting for our next flight. Once we got back into the swing of things, we started to knock out some really solid sessions.

“Always trying to be better than before. On the pleasant side of things, as we build up to our final event of the season, we get to do more and more speed work. This is what we row for, getting that awesome speed.”

Taylor said Chung-ju is about a two hour bus ride from Seoul and the New Zealand team is staying at a business hotel about 20 minutes

from the rowing course. So far team members had seen little more than their rooms, the hotel lobby and the world championships venue. But he said everyone is settling in and enjoying their new surroundings.

“The temperature is right up there too, getting close to 40 degrees yesterday,” he said.

“I have been to a few hot countries before - Taiwan, China, Slovenia - and all these came in second to what I, and the rest of the team experienced yesterday.

“This is the reason why we are one of the first teams here, to allow our bodies to adjust so that they’re totally normalised well before racing comes along. All in all, though, everyone has taken on the heat well and are getting stuck into achieving some fast speeds on the water.»

Countdown to opening day

by Steve McMorran

The Muritai Yacht Club is hurrying towards the start of a new season as spring approaches.

The club will hold its traditional Boatshed Day on September 7, the day on which the boatshed at Rona Bay is emptied and cleaned in preparation for the start of the new season’s programme of activities.

Opening day, with its racing and social activities, will take place on September 14. Traditional opening day races start at 2pm.

Former commodore Vicki Trudgen has

stepped down from the committee after many years of service. At the club’s annual meeting in late July Ben Allan was elected as the new junior bosun and Noel Kortight joined the committee as a general member.

sport

New start for cricket club

As warmer weather and the smell of newmown grass heralds the arrival of spring and a new cricket season, the Eastbourne Cricket Club is looking to rejuventate its committee.

The club will hold its annual meeting on Thursday (August 29) and hopes parents of junior players will step forward to take on roles such as Have-A-Go co-ordinator, coaching coordinator, gear manager, treasurer and to assist with fundraising.

The club is primarily a junior club, averaging 120 juniors over the past five years. It has one senior team, a Youth Grade team and a Village Green over-35 team playing occasional Sunday afternoon matches, while maintaining an association with Petone which provides a pathway to Premier cricket.

Outgoing chairman Phil Sisson said the club is fortunate to have a great and committed group of parent coaches, again led this season by Junior Convenor Michael Ferrier, and it would be great to have some other parents join Michael and Pat McShane on the committee.

Sisson is stepping down from his role as chairman at the AGM and after many years on the committee, serving as junior convenor, secretary and chairman as well as a junior coach and player for both senior and village green teams. Sisson will remain on the committee for one further season to assist with the introduction of new committee members.

Another stalwart of the club, Ian Gordon, having recently stepped down as chair of Eastbourne Sports & Services Club (ESSC) is taking over as chairman of ECC. Ian coached Eastbourne junior teams for many years, was a village green player and continues, as a Level 2 qualified coach, to coach Hutt Districts Girls’

U17s excel in top division

by Steve McMorran

Eastbourne’s outstanding new under-17 football team continues to compete with distinction in its Wellington interclub competition as its inaugural season heads towards an end.

After gaining promotion to the A division midway through its first competitive season, Eastbourne has more than held its own in the competitive age-grade’s highest echelon.

Eastbourne drew 3-3 with the North Wellington Hawks in their most recent match

Youth teams as well as Eastbourne Youth Grade teams. His daughters Lucy & Charlotte play senior cricket for Hutt Districts Women’s team, and Charlotte is in the Secondary Schoolgirls Future Blaze training squad.

The senior team has been training indoors on Thursday nights over winter and welcomes new players this season as they struggled for players last season. It is hoped that some of the Youth Grade team members will come through to the team this season as they finish college and that valued senior players such as Lorcon O’Connor and Chris Dixon will be able to play more regularly to welcome the young players into the team.

The senior team will again be ably lead by Steve Gillespie.

last Sunday to remain poised in mid-table in the 10-team grade.

In other matches this month, Eastbourne beat Wellington United 4-2 and lost 4-2 to first-placed Waterside Karori.

The Eastbourne senior team has had a slight form upswing in the late stages of its season. It drew 1-1 on Saturday with Brooklyn Northern United Palace after a 0-0 draw in its previous match against fourth-placed Marist Skins and a 3-0 win over Naenae.

The Eastbourne Masters remain last-placed in Wellington division two.

pre-season training will commence in early September, with the season commencing on Saturday, November 2.

The club continues to produce representative players with the latest former Eastbourne junior to make the Wellington ranks being Henry Walsh, joining Josh Brodie in receiving a Firebirds contract this season. There are a further seven former Eastbourne junior players in Wellington cricket winter training squads through the age grades.

They are Nick Healy and Matthew Kelly in the under-19 Future Firebirds squad; Sam Brandwood in the under-17 Future Firebirds; Caleb Hewson and Gareth Severin in the Year 9 Future Firebirds Hasitha Hettiarachchi in the Year 9 Emerging Players and Charlotte Gordon in the Secondary Schoolgirls Future Blaze.

•

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Junior registration and hardball team 64

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Mosaic classes Thurs morn and eve. 562 6266.

Guthrie Cottage. A home away from home. Phone Lynne 562 8889 email lynne. plimmer@gmail.com

Swiss ball classes. Phone Lynne Plimmer 562 8889. Email llynne.plimmer@gmail.com

University professor on sabbatical, former Eastbournite, interested in house-sitting (pet/garden-minding too) in Eastbourne/ Bays between November 2013 and August 2014. Please e-mail Matthew Packer at mpacker@iw.net

Eastbourne Cricket Club

AGM

Members are advised of the Annual General Meeting to be held on Thursday 29 August in the Clubrooms, Tuatoru St, Eastbourne commencing at 7.30pm

Phil Sisson, Chairman

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Church Services In Eastbourne

Church Services in Eastbourne

St Alban’s Anglican: Ngaio St, Rev. Dr . Eleanor Sanderson, 11 Ngaio Street, Eastbourne tel: 562 6076

Thursday: 10am, Sunday: 8am, 9.30am Sunday School: 9.30am

St Ronan’s Presbyterian: Muritai Rd, Minister Intern Ed Masters, tel: 550 7353, mob: 027 637 9819

027 6379818

Sunday Morning Worship: 9.30am Power Hour: 9.30am

San Antonio’s Roman Catholic: Oroua St, Sharon Penny, tel: (06) 379-8279

Saturday Vigil Mass: 5.30pm

Sunday (Sacred Heart, Petone): 9.30am & 5.30pm

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PLUMBER

sport

EB basketballer steps up to Tall Ferns spot

Stella Beck could be forgiven if her head is still spinning after a whirlwind fortnight which has seen her first propelled into the New Zealand women’s basketball team, the Tall Ferns, then thrust into competition with Australia, the second-best team in the world.

The Eastbourne 17 year-old has long been one of New Zealand’s best players in her age group but she made the major step up this month into senior international play and showed immediately that, in her words, she can “hold her ground” at that level.

Beck was one of seven new caps in the Tall Ferns team that lost twice to Australia in the twotest Oceania series: 66-50 in Auckland on August 14 and 84-66 in the return match at Canberra on August 18.

There was no shame in such a young and inexperienced New Zealand team losing to the Australians, the world No. 2-ranked team who were led by 32 year-old Lauren Jackson who is one of the world’s most respected female players.

The Tall Ferns competed strongly in both matches before the Australia’s depth and experience told in the late stages. Beck was given extensive court time in both games and made her presence felt both on the scoreboard and in her rebounding and defensive play.

At home in Eastbourne last week and after a late-night return from Australia, Beck was able to reflect for the first time on the events of the past few weeks which saw the blossoming of her international career.

She had first been chosen for the national trials, among a large group of uncapped younger players, and had given herself little chance of breaking into the senior national team at her first attempt.

“I was in a position where I didn’t go in to the trials expecting to make it,” Beck said. “But I just held my ground and I was lucky to get into the team.

“It was a big surprise. No-one had a clue if they would make it or not. It all depended on what positions needed to be filled when the older girls came back.”

The 1.82 meter Beck covers most of the forward positions and was able to command a place in the New Zealand squad along with a group of uncapped players chosen to rejuvenate the team. Those players had been in training camps in the days leading up to the trials and had formed a strong bond which helped them in the trial match and in their debut series against Australia.

“All of us, the new ones, had been together

Stella Beck.

for quite a few days and we became very close,” Beck said. “That was a big help in the trials and in the squad because we all encouraged each other.”

Beck said donning the Tall Ferns singlet for the first time and preparing to take the court against one of the powerhouses of women’s basketball was a tense moment.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” she said. “At that level your concentration has to be constant for the whole game. But I just went out there and tried to hold my ground and do what was asked of me.”

Beck said, as expected, senior international basketball was a step up from anything she previously had experienced but became more certain of her role and ability as the week progressed.

“I think personally that from the start of the camp that preceded the trials to the end of the final match I really learned a lot and made a lot of progress with my game.