Te Awamutu local Corban George-Potterton has won the Riding for the Disabled (RDA) Young Volunteer of the Year Award for 2023 from a pool of 48 RDA groups across New Zealand. He is a Riding for the Disabled (RDA) Volunteer for the Cambridge Group. Corban has an intellectual disability and ADHD and is supported to live as independently as possible in the community, by local disability support provider ConneXu.
Corban George-Potterton
Students support planting
Te Awamutu Primary students enjoying their Trees for Survival planting day 2
Te Awamutu Primary students planted 414 native plants on a farm in Ngahape, south of the town.
The plants included mānuka, harakeke and karamū. The group enjoyed a a lot of parent support and all the plants were in the ground by lunchtime. The planting coincided with Trees for Survival’s ‘Donate a Native Tree’ week. Every donation made at Trees for Survival at the end of May gifts a native tree to a Trees for Survival school for students to grow.
Te Awamutu Primary students enjoying their Trees for Survival planting day 1
On their bike
Cycleway stats in both Cambridge and Te Awamutu show the last two months have been busy. Park Road in Te Awamutu had 2474 users in April and 2235 in May. April 29 was the busiest day with 160 users followed by 158 on May 5.
Rodeo sisters
Pirongia sisters Lylah and Riley Woods will compete in the United States next month as part of New Zealand’s first High School Rodeo team
taking part at the National High School Finals Rodeo in Wyoming. The Waikato Rodeo Club teens will help make up the Kiwi team of five at the event. Lylah, 16, will compete in the breakaway roping section and Riley, 14, in the barrel racing and team roping. A fundraiser in support
of their trip will take place at Te Awamutu’s Storyteller Eatery & Bar on June 22.
Helping the environment
Te Awamutu Primary students planted 414 native plants on a farm in Ngahape, south of the town. The plants included mānuka, harakeke and karamū. The group enjoyed a a lot of parent support and all the plants were in the ground by lunchtime. The planting coincided with
Trees for Survival’s ‘Donate a Native Tree’ week. Every donation made at Trees for Survival at the end of May gifts a native tree to a Trees for Survival school for students to grow.
Pirongia wins
Top three – Lynda Bennett, Denise Te Momo and Nevenka Drnasin
A Pirongia triple took the top prize in last week’s bowls tournament at Kihikihi’s where six different clubs finished in the top half dozen.
Prizes were paid down to fourth place and with two four winners and four three winners two teams missed out, with the least ends won and points scored.
The winners were Denise Te Momo (skip) Lynda Bennett and Nevenka Drnasin with 56 points from 21 ends. They narrowly headed off the Beerescourt team of Wayne Wenham (skip), Barry Chapman and Raewyn Chalkin who finished with 54 points.
The best of the three winners was a Frankton Junction team skipped by Dennis Meinung followed by a Te Kuiti team skipped by Peter Lange.
The two 3 winners who missed out were from Raglan and the host club.
First goodbye
The first of what is going to be undoubtedly several farewells to departing Waipā District Council chief executive Garry Dyet was made by independent Audit and Risk committee chair Bruce Robertson this week. “One of the things I have valued is my ability to hold my head high around the country saying I chair Waipā,” he said. “This place will miss you massively.
Jobs held
Waipā District Council has 21 vacancies with 17 positions on hold due to the current economic situation, Human Resources group manager Stephanie Shores told the Audit and Risk committee this week.
Bid thwarted
A staff suggestion that Waipā District Council ditch its Age Friendly policy Ahas been thwarted by a former veteran councillor. Kihikihi-based Hazel Barnes successfully argued at last week’s Strategic Planning and Policy committee that getting rid of the policy was not the right move. She argued the community had thousands of senior citizens who were riding bikes, swimming, hiking and having a great lifestyle who had the skills to help and be part of the council’s engagement. Staff had been keen to see the policy revoked and turned into a strategy.
Waipā winner
A Waipā man has been named the Riding for the Disabled Tom Atchison Young Volunteer of the Year Award winner for 2023. Corban George-Potterton was nominated from a pool of 48 RDA groups. Corban is an RDA volunteer with an intellectual disability. He is supported to live as independently as possible by disability support provider Connexu.
Ombudsman’s call
Waipā District Council was involved with five complaints to the Ombudsman – including one from The News over behind the doors workshops – according to the council’s Quarterly Assurance report. Two are long standing, one is preliminary – understood to be this newspaper. A complaint about council’s refusal to maintain trees on private property was dismissed and another complaint related to a late Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request will not proceed.
