Website visits
Our tribute to Te Awamutu motorcyclist Donna McCauley, who died in a crash at Te Poi, was most read story on the Te Awamutu News website last month with a quarter of all visits.
Visits were up 160 per cent on the previous month and the story becomes our second-best ever online – first is last year’s exclusive on the Alpha Hotel in Kihikihi – since the website’s launch five years ago.
The story about Richard “Grizzly” Mills, who died unclaimed in his home but was farewelled in moving style by RSA members, came in second followed by the 50th anniversary of Waipā parish priests Leonard Danvers and Joe Stack.
The ever-popular News in Brief column was fourth followed by the earlier story about Donna and the other motorcyclists empowering women on a national bike riding day.
The second best read page was The News home page – with Publications – the online version of the newspaper – coming in third.
The Te Awamutu News App continues to add subscribers – up 24 per cent in May. The app can be downloaded on both Google Play and Apple’s App store and is the best way to keep in touch with local news between publication days.
Rotary visit
Gordon McInally
Rotary International president Gordon McInally and his wife Heather are visiting Waipā tomorrow (Thursday) as part of his New Zealand tour. McInally, who lives in Yetholm in the Scottish Borders and grew up in Portobella, is the second Scot to become international president. He was to visit Rotopiko/Lake Serpentine near Ōhaupō and Urban Miners in Cambridge this morning and attend a dinner in Hamilton tonight. Yesterday he visited Hamilton Airport to see the Life Flight Rotary project.
Choir song
The acclaimed Christ’s College Chapel choir from Cambridge in the UK is to perform in St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Cambridge, New Zealand next month. The choir was founded in 1505 and today is a mixed-voice ensemble which undertakes world tours.
Stewart missed
Barbara Stewart
Former NZ First MP and Cambridge resident Barbara Stewart has died aged 72. She is survived by her son Alister.
Her husband Gordon died in early 2017 which prompted her announcement she would not stand for re-election later that year. Her greatest achievement was working with Labour on providing free doctors’ visits for children under six.
Night works
The finishing touches are being applied to the fifth turnaround bay in the SH1 Cambridge to Piarere safety improvements project, just north of Hickey Road. Along with constructing the turnaround bay, the entrance road at the weigh station on SH1, between Hickey and Hydro Roads, will have median and side safety barriers installed. Night works began on Tuesday, to undertake line marking, followed by the removal of existing line marking and the installation of barriers.
More clams
Pest clams found earlier this year at Lake Taupō’s Aqua Park are not the same as those discovered at Lake Karāpiro in Waipā. The clams are an Australian based subspecies of the unwanted golden clam – but are, like their cousins, prolific breeders and present an environmental threat to New Zealand waterways.
Budget boost
Funding for flood management infrastructure as part of Budget 2024 will accelerate six projects in the Waikato Regional Council area. An initial $200 million for flood resilience infrastructure and with co-investment from regional and unitary councils will assist at total of 42 flood resilience projects,
