On line stats
Our teawamutunews.nz website continues to gain new readers led by our best post last month, Chris Gardner’s piece on Viability ‘destroyed’, about the pressure farmers are finding themselves under.
In yet another record month for the site, columnist Janine Krippner’s piece on moving back to her stable base in Te Awamutu came in second followed by our ever popular News in brief.
Faith in Waipā’s Christine Bryant was third with her column on visiting Ketchikan in Alaska and finding a totem pole carved in vision of a local museum and likening that to the deaths this year of Alan Empson and Keith Storey.
Fourth was On the road again, Waipā District Council’s Ahu Ake roadshow, and rounding out the top five was Te Awamutu Grey Power having its say about parking in town.
Home is still the most visited page followed by pdf versions of the newspaper, Good Local Media contact details and advertising rates.
Cancer fundraiser
The Te Awamutu Cancer Support Group, which meets at the Te Awamutu RSA on the first Wednesday of every month is holding a garage sale at 123 Te Temo Street on Saturday at 8am to raise funds to help members in need of frozen meals, petrol vouchers, lawns mowed etc. The group currently has 22 members.
Consents rise
Waipā building consents in the quarter starting July 1 were up eight percent to 236 on the same quarter last year but still well down on the 338 in 2022. August was the busiest month with 87. New dwelling numbers are also up in the three months by 11 percent to 92 but again lagging behind 2022’s 131.
Parking complaints
Over a third of the people who copped parking fines in Cambridge and Te Awamutu in the quarter starting July 1 have complained to Waipā council. Of the 361 parking infringements issued, 128 queried the fine. The majority were for overstaying in time limited parking spaces.
Winning students
Winning team, from left: George Poolman, Ben Woodgates, Seamus Lohrey, Zack Robertson with associate professor Margalit Toledano. Photo: Myles McInnes.
Two Waikato University public relations students with Waipā connections have won the Waikato Management School Public Relations Campaigns competition with their Puumanawa PR team. George Poolman from Te Awamutu and Zack Robertson of Cambridge joined team mates Seamus Lohrey and Ben Woodgates in pitching the idea of GoEco launching an accreditation scheme of farms’ sustainable practices.
Transport refresh
Hamilton Transport Centre
Regional bus users from Waipā and King Country now have access to upgraded facilities at Hamilton Transport Centre following a $6.6 million refresh funded by New Zealand Transport Agency and Hamilton City Council. The upgrades focused on increasing security, promoting a feeling of safety and creating better accessibility.
Official opening event for Hamilton Transport Centre
Correction
District councillors Lou Brown and Bruce Thomas declared a conflict of interest and did not vote on the Te Awamutu-Kihikihi Community Board decision to ask the council to push back on orders to add fluoride to the Cambridge water supply. John Wood voted against the recommendation, not Lou Brown as we reported last week. * We already corrected the story online.
First for Waipā
Ebode Homes show home in Kotare Park, Cambridge.
A show home featuring structural insulated panels was launched in Cambridge last week. The house built by Ebode Homes – a partnership between Higgs Building and Tawa Architects – is in Kotare Park and its builders say it will use 70 per cent less energy than the standard New Zealand building code home.
Shaun Higgins (r) and Brooke Cholmondeley-Smith (l)at the launch of Ebode Homes
Bird watch
Cambridge mum Sarita Betschart has published a book to encourage children to learn more about birds in New Zealand. “My parents Steve and Dale McClunie and my in-laws, Betscharts and Cowans, have done heaps of conservation work around the area over many years for the forest and birds, so I grew up with that love myself,” she told The News. “I’m passionate about educating kids well, and about being good stewards of the environment around us.”
Showroom all go
The Bunnings site in Cambridge will become a car yard for Ingham.
Resource consent has been granted to Ingham Group to build a new car showroom on the old Bunnings site in Cambridge on the corner of Queen and Lake streets. Ingham has eight brands – Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Honda and Mitsubishi – at 17 dealerships and earlier this year purchased Windsor Nissan.
