News in Brief
Bikes return
Bike racks are back on Te Awamutu-Kihikihi buses
Bike racks are back in use on Waikato regional bus services from Cambridge, Te Kūiti and Te Awamutu-Kihikihi this week. Tokoroa and Taupō bus services will be ready to go from next month once some modifications have been made. The Bus and Coach Association (BCA) and its members who operate contracted bus services in the Waikato region, issued a national notice to temporarily withdraw the use of bicycle racks on buses in November last year.
Sunday concert
Sunday afternoon’s Te Awamutu Concerts Alive! presentation at St John’s Church will feature one of the town’s own talents. Te Awamutu pianist Carlee Hanna will join fellow Waikato Chamber Collective members (pianist Fergus Byett and flautists Matthew Burns and Jacqui McPherson) to perform music by Debussy, Chopin, Faure, Reinecke and Doppler. All four have recently completed their studies and are launching their musical careers by performing and accompanying.
Pick up time
Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community Board will stage its third town clean-up day in Te Awamutu this weekend. Members of the public are being invited to don gloves, collect bin bags and pick up litter in the town. “We provide the gloves and bags, and invite people to join us after for a morning tea,” deputy chair Kane Titchener said. The event starts at the Te Awamutu Rugby and Sports club carpark on Saturday morning.
A win to savour
Te Awamutu’s top men’s football team has finally celebrated victory – and a resounding one in a derby.
Joe Gifford’s side saw off Ōtorohanga 4-0 on Saturday in a Waikato Division 1 match at the Stadium thanks to goals from Nicolas King-McRae, Joe Roil, Jack Edgar and a Logan Allen own goal.
Having gone through last season’s Southern Conference league with a record of four draws from 21 outings, Te Awamutu has looked a good match for teams in the Waikato competition this season.
It was held to a goalless draw by Tokoroa and lost by the odd goal against two Claudelands Rovers teams in its previous outings.
Ōtorohanga, Southern Conference championship winners last season, continue to struggle through a rebuilding phase. It has collected a point from a 1-1 draw with Wanderers.
Time for a quick round
A recent drone shot of the new roundabout provided by NZTAWaikato’s new giant roundabout is passing its first tests.
The Piarere intersection where State Highway 29 meets State Highway 1 had long been a log jam as north bound traffic from Tauranga stalled at what was a T-intersection.
When Waka Kotahi – the New Zealand Transport Agency – unveiled plans for the roundabout there was considerable opposition from a faction which preferred having a flyover similar to the intersection between highways 1 and 2 at the foot of the Bombay Hills near Pokeno.
But with the completion of each stage of the project, traffic flows appear to have got better.
When The News editor Roy Pilott took a day trip on Saturday to Tauranga, he noted the queues of old were no longer there.
The Waikato Expressway extension from Cambridge will eventually connect with the roundabout.
Festival addition
Cambridge’s Tivoli Cinema has been added to the French Film Festival tour which features 23 hand selected films playing across 24 towns and cities in what is now the country’s biggest film festival. The first film on June 19 is The French Job comedy which centres on the trio of thieves who stole €100 million worth of works of art by Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani.
Resurfacing
Resurfacing work started this week on the Cambridge section of the Waikato Expressway this week and goes through to July. Crews will remove layers of the road and replace them with a new asphalt surface.
More memory meadows
Daffodil bulbs planted in Cambridge on the corner of Taylor and Bowen Sts. Photo: Michael Jeans.
Spring is sure going to look good in Waipā after a mass Mother’s Day daffodil planting operation.
The memory meadows in Pirongia and Cambridge honour those affected by cancer and will mean come September, the yellow blooms will brighten up the neighbourhoods.
Waikato Bay of Plenty Cancer Society, in partnership with Waipā District Council and Lodge Real Estate, enabled 10,000 daffodil bulbs to be planted. Te Awamutu established the district’s first Memory Meadow in Sculpture Park last year.
Purchasing the bulbs meant funds went to the Cancer Society so they could provide crucial free services to people with all forms of cancer and their whānau.
Library launch
Children reading to a dog at the new Paws and Pages programme at the Cambridge Library.
A programme called Paws and Pages for children to practice reading aloud to friendly, trained dogs has launched at the Cambridge Library,
The goal is to help young readers boost their confidence in a stress-free environment. Meanwhile, Te Awamutu Library is flipping the script on traditional lending with its brand new Library of Things. Members can borrow everything from sewing machines and spinning wheels to GroPros, guitars and a digital drum kit, all for a small fee.
