Highlights of a busy week.

Minnie, Maxine and Mauosamoa
talking housing in the warden's whare

The week started well with an opportunity to introduce Samoan pastor and matriarch Mauosamoa Fatialofa to Tu Tangata chair and trainee Maori warden Minnie Ratima to talk about housing.  

Christine Scott addresses the Grey Power meeting
along with Dave Pipe, Paul Bailey,
Pauline Elliot, Alan Dick.

It was great to have Mauo meet the Wonderful (Maori) Wardens at their whare and use Minnie's expertise in looking at housing options for her.

Tuesday was a meeting for Grey Power - and other members of the public - to hear the candidates standing for the three Napier seats on the Hawkes Bay Regional Council.  

All - Christine Scott, Tim Tinker, Alan Dick, Pauline Elliot, Paul Bailey and Dave Pipe (except for Alan Baldock who was unavailable) - acquitted themselves well, tackling some of the controversial issues such as the Ruataniwha Dam, Fracking and Amalgamation. 

An attentive Grey Power crowd
 listening to the candidates

I'd recommend you go to the election  site  www.vote.co.nz/ to find out more about their beliefs and what they are offering.  

It was nearly full house for us, with about 80 people attending, and the usual scrumptious afternoon tea.  

Inside the MTG or Tai Ahuriri at the opening

Grey Power is also offering cheaper electricity rates for our members with a new agreement signed between Grey Power and Pulse Energy.  

It must be good because I signed up and already my previous provider, Energy Online has rung me trying to take me back and offering me $100 tjo stay.  

Sorry, this horse has had enough of price increases from the power companies and I've bolted!

Early - 5:45 am - on Wednesday, I attended the powhiri/blessing opening of the new Museum-Theatre-Gallery - tai Ahuriri -  to witness the community's first look at this impressive building.  

Manuhiri representatives addressing the kaumatua

It was a Maori occasion, with the usual formalities and prayers so I left feeling the building had been blessed by tangata whenua and was ready to open. 

The public will be able to see it all from Saturday on, and though they are likely to be impressed, I am disappointed that the admission price is $15 which makes it inaccessible to many.  

Manuhiri representatives addressing the kaumatua

My efforts to have the fee reduced for pensioners and beneficiaries at the Council table were unsuccessful, though I haven't given up.  Vote Maxine!  and I'll take it up again with the new council!

Today I joined a contingent from the Keep Napier Beautiful committee that I chair and the National Aquarium staff in a beach clean up to commemorate Clean Up New Zealand week. 

The cleanup crew this morning after a couple of hours
cleaning up the foreshore along the Marine Parade.

Last year there seemed to have been more rubbish, and I even found a pink set of lady's underwear, but this year the only piece of usable clothing I found was a nice pair of jandals... You wonder how people manage without such footwear when they left the beach - and their shoes - behind.

So today is a full moon, and my dear friend Shirley U has invited me to join her and others at her house for a delicious meal to mark the Chinese "moon day".  Yum!  Any excuse to  partake of her delicious cuisine is good enough for me!!

The weekend looms and many of us will receive our voting papers, so the process begins... remember to check out the candidates on the website above, as we all have only 150 words to "sell" ourselves in the official booklet, and it's hard to get a real idea of who we are from that.

A great day in the Bay

Two very pleasant events made today memorable and happy for me and many other locals.

Maori wardens & voluntary community workers
Nita Rouse and Zita Smith at the Magpies' parade

First was the parade of the Hawke's Bay Rugby team, the Magpies, through town, proudly bearing the Ranfurly Shield that they wrested in a nail-biting cliff-hanger from Otago yesterday.  

It is over 40 years since we had won this provincial competition, and nothing could take away the delight and pride of the happy crowd today.  

Children and parents wore black and white shirts, waved the Magpies' flag, as they shook the hands of the players when they paraded through town. The joy and pride was infectious and it rung through the usually-quiet CBD.  It's got to be good for us!

Then tonight, six special Napier citizens received their annual Civic Awards in the Council Chambers.  These are given to locals  who have excelled in community service over a period of years, and what impressed me most about each of them was their humility and the way they all paid respects to the teams they are working with in their various fields of community work.  

Congratulations Selwyn Dyet
for your well-deserved Civic Award.

I was particularly thrilled to see Selwyn Dyet, who sits on the Keep Napier Beautiful committee that I chair, and whose years of work for the Annual Recycling Day, plus his active guardianship of Taradale's Dolbel reserve earned him this special recognition.

It's all a pleasant change from the pressures of campaigning.  Even though I spent yesterday putting billboards up (thanks Minnie and Warwick) and door knocking along the Parade, I always have this sinking feeling that I'm not doing enough. 

But today was not my day, it was a day to celebrate others' achievements and to bask in the reflected glory that they earned.