What's in the papers: The week ending August 27th

The Guardian

The front page of The Guardian featured a photo of four pupils from Upper Moutere School, nicknamed the Maggics, who as budding chefs have made it to the national final of the Maggi Intermediate Schools Kitchen Showdown in Christchurch. They impressed the judges at the regional finals with their dish of brie and broccoli lattice served on a kumara and carrot mash, drizzled with pesto sauce.

Another finalist, this time in the Kiwi Battler competition set up by philanthropist Gareth Morgan's charitable trust, was Jack Inglis, whose fund-raising work for many years led to the building of Motueka's new hospital. Residents were asked to vote for him this week, and if he wins the prize he will donate all of the money to further work on the hospital.

The Guardian also had a list of all candidates for the local body elections, whose nominations were confirmed at the end of last week. There was also a report from an Environmental Forum hosted by Labour list MP Damien O'Connor last week, where about 20 people put to Damien some of the environmental issues that concerned them in the Motueka and Tasman region.

Library week was celebrated at St Peter Chanel School with several events including best dressed character from a book, colouring competitions, a book quiz and treasure hunt, and a bike ride for 16 pupils to the Motueka Library. The library itself ran events throughout the week, including readings by library staff for Parklands School pupils.

There was a profile article about Valerie Rea, Motueka's young Grey Power Association president. And Julie Smith, who has been running a children's theatre group in Mapua over the past year, said she is starting another branch of her Starburst Theatre in Motueka shortly. Julie was co-founder and director of both Imagine Musical Theatre and Imagine Youth Theatre, and aims to build children's confidence and unlock their creativity and imagination.

The Motueka Country Music Club has chosen a new president, Beryl Sturgeon, and is looking forward to some new program ideas to move the club forward. First on the agenda is a concert on August 29th at the Memorial Hall featuring a large range of country singers from the Top of the South Island.

Motueka Golden Bay News

The Motueka Golden Bay News also helped to promote Jack Inglis's drive to be chosen as New Zealand's Kiwi Battler, noting that if he won the prize money it would go towards building a new $1.8 million 20-bed wing at the hospital.

Page 2 had a very interesting article about some controversy arising over the use of the space in front of Motueka Museum for fund-raising, entertainment, and political or religious speeches. A new policy outlined by the Tasman District Council is being considered by various community groups, which would ban the use of the space by political or religious organisations for preaching purposes. Under the new policy, community events and fund-raising would be okay, but groups would need to apply to the council for permission. Local body election candidates would not be able to use the area from campaigning.

The issue arose after council candidate Tara Ford was asked to move from outside the museum when she was enrolling people to vote two weeks ago. Tara is quoted as saying that the area is public space and "the land belongs to the council for community enhancement, and part of community life is discussing the different approaches that people take. We live in a supposedly free country and people's rates paid to maintain that space".

[Editor's comment: This issue has aroused other residents' ire, and we've started a discussion forum about it. See that forum here.]

There was a photo of a past winner of the Southern Country Music Awards, Country Collision, which will open the concert by the Country Music Club on Sunday. Fundraising from the concert will go towards mounting the annual competitions for next year's awards.

A large number of photos from local school sports events were printed toward the back of the paper, plus coverage and photos of the finals day at the Motueka Netball Centre, where Chanel A showed why they are the champions.

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