People Pieces

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From Previous Weeks

Weather cleared for Bulls parade A break in the weather allowed the Christmas Spirit to reign over Bulls on Saturday morning.

Top Gateway Student Hayley Raj is Rangitikei College’s top Gateway student for 2009.

Merry Christmas to all Project Marton has had a good year, and we’re looking forward to an even better year in 2010.

Light Up Your Home The spectacular lighted home at 11 Vera St in Marton was voted winner of this year’s Light up Your home sponsored by Rangitikei District Montior and Ward Furniture To Go. They won a $250 petrol voucher. The winners of three $100 Ward Funiture to Go vouchers are 21 Cuba St, 8 Hammond St, Bulls and 10 Feltham ST Hunterville.One voter randomly selected voter was drawn for a $50 Ward Furniture To Go voucher and it was Kelly Cockburn.Thanks to everyone who participated by voting and to the home owners for a generous display.

Generous Gift from Nestle NZ Marton School pupils are learning gardening skills thanks to the generosity of the Nestle Environmental Project.

Winning way with words Three diverse storytellers were awarded prizes in the annual Rangitikei Libraries Writing and Essay Competition held recently.

Top STAR Ag Student Michael Thomsen is the top Rangitikei College STAR Agriculture programme student for 2009. A course he has attended every Wednesday during the school year.

Christmas in Marton Crowds turned out, Christmas Spirit abounded and weather played its part when the town gathered in Broadway for the annual Marton Jaycees Christmas Parade on Saturday afternoon.

Christmas lights a gift from Marton’s past A 33 year old Marton Jaycees project to bring the Christmas spirit to Marton was finally completed on Friday when a Norfolk pine planted in 1976 was finally covered with Christmas lights.

Women’s RSA recognize dedication Six life memberships were awarded to members of the Women’s Section of the Marton RSA along with nine long service awards on Tuesday at their Christmas Party. They enjoyed a delicious lunch by Graze Out and enjoyable entertainment.

We Made It This was the feeling of many of the forty five Hunterville Year 7 and 8 pupils who got up to the Tongaririo crater after a very long steep climb on the Tongariro Crossing. It was especially significant for Carly Carroll and Holly Ormond, who were overwhelmed by the sight and magnitude of the task and really wanted to return to camp. With coaxing from Principal Stephen Lewis, they managed to carry on and once reaching the top of this section there was no holding them back. There was still a long way to go but the rest was of relatively small climbs, flat or down hill.

Novice entries up at Rangitikei Rose Show Entries in the Novice section were well up at the Rangitikei Rose Society 61st annual Show on Saturday afternoon.

120 years of Presbyterian worship St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church celebrated its 120 years on Sunday with a special service and luncheon attended by about 200 locals and visitors.

Weather no hindrance to Rose Show Entries to the 132nd Bulls Rose Show very good and the wet and windy weather proving no hindrance to rose growers.

Fine display of local talent A fine display of local arts and crafts talent is on show at this year’s annual Marton Arts and Crafts centre exhibition.

New programme offers kids holiday breaks Hundreds of children from throughout New Zealand will get the chance to attend school holiday camps designed to give them and their foster, kin or whanau carers a relaxing break this summer.

High achievers There have been three high achievers at Marton Junction School recently, two of whom have gone on to receive regional or national awards. They are both in language fields- prepared speeches and persuasive letters.

Georgie home safe and sound Georgie the 14 year old Bichon Friese says he is very happy to be home in Marton safe and sound after disappearing from outside Stewart Street Surgery about 11am last Thursday morning.

Shelter for Samoa ShelterBox is the largest Rotary club project in the World. It started in Cornwall, England in the year 2000 and has been taken up by many Rotary clubs around the world including Marton Rotary.

Boot Sale a success Boots were ajar and bargains were aplenty at the St Martin’s Lutheran Church on Saturday.

Ye Gods! A woman has doon gone and beat the blokes A woman will never win the Shepherd’s Shemozzle –“Yeah Right” says this years winner Jamie Howie from Siberia Station who basically kicked the boys butts to win the 2009 Sure n’ Be Jezuz Shield and $2500 and prizes.

Multicultural Marton For many years people regarded the town as bi-cultural. With the initiative of staff at Rangitikei College, in particular Vijeshwa Prasad, a huge cultural event took place on Saturday evening.

Mangaweka Fakes and Forgeries The usual quiet of Mangaweka was broken on Saturday for the annual Mangaweka Fakes and Forgeries Festival. Market stalls appeared in the museum grounds, in gardens and in garages, the rural fire volunteers were displaying their skills, a horse and gig transported people around the village, and cars lined the road as visitors arrived.

Give a better Christmas at the Giving Tree Even though it is only October Christmas trees have begun appearing in Marton but for a very good cause.

Big Car Boot Sale event planned Saturday November 7 will see a flurry of activity in the grounds surrounding the Marton Lutheran Church in Pukepapa Rd.

Send in your best summer photos Lots of readers have digital cameras and lots of readers got new digial cameras for Christmas. The Rangitikei District Monitor would like to give you the chance to show off your photographic skills.

Prime minister chats with toddlers Prime Minister, Mr John Key, met the children from the CALF Childcare Centre in Bulls on Friday.

Where in the world is Marton? Do you know where in the world Mauritius, Kurdistan or Yemen is? Marton Scouts, Cubs and Venturers do after taking part in the 15th International JOTI (Jamboree on the Internet). For 48 hours Scouts from all around the world ‘chat’ to each other over the internet. They find out about what scouting is like in other countries and ask each other about food, weather and even answering the question where in the world is Marton?

Taking a turn as principal Marton Junction School senior pupil Nikita Weston was in charge at assembly on Monday taking her turn as principal morning complete with shirt and tie.

Showcase of Local School Talent Next Thursday 29 October (6.30pm at Marton School Hall) there will be a celebration of state primary schooling in the southern Rangitikei. Over the past two years the South Rangitikei Schools’ Cluster has run eight extension programmes for it’s students covering maths, creative writing, sports academy, movie making, digital photography, science, gymnastics and drama.

Reaching a fire fighting milestone Bulls Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Geoff Cobham, will be recognized for over 25 years of volunteer fire service on Saturday Night.

Dancing School Pupils of South Makirikiri School were dancing with class on Tuesday.

Using skills in home town Travis White has taken up his post as Community Development Officer for Marton and is looking forward to putting his skills to use in Marton, where he was born and raised.

Popular Dance-a-Bull discos Dance-a - Bull discos continue to draw big numbers of teens to the Town Hall in Bulls.

Plenty happening at Plunket The playground at Marton Plunket rooms has undergone a facelift thanks to a local garden centre.

Lucky escape as brown wall of water faced family Ex Martonians Vivien and Andrew Wells and children Zoe and Marshall Wells, had a close shave while visiting Samoa at the time of the Tsunami.

St Andrew’s Fair Rita Bensemann dressed for the job of serving keen customers to the produce tables at the opening of the annual St Andrews Fair in the Memorial Hall .

Rotarians prepare for Targa The special 15th Anniversary Week of the Dunlop Targa 2009 will travel Auckland - Taupo - New Plymouth - Wanganui - Palmerston North – Wellington from Sunday 25 to Saturday 31 October 2009.

A happy 103 years Maud Bland reached the wonderful age of 103 on Tuesday. A special birthday party was held at Edale Home where she lives. Maud says a happy life is the secret to her longevity and she is now the oldest resident of both Edale Home and the Marton area and probably Rangitikei.

Supertex Chenille reunion 2010 The hunt is on for ex workers at Marton’s Supertex Chenille and Walkoff mats companies to attend a reunion on February 13, next year in Marton.

New venue for Cultural Festival The first Rangitikei College Festival of Cultures has moved to a new venue at the Marton School hall on October 31.

Moving forward to new site for New World Marton By the end of 2010 Marton’s old Forward Motors site in Wellington Road will be home to a modern New World, says New World Marton Owner Operator Raewyn McCormick.

Material Fair a pleasure Baubles, bangles, bright shiny beads and fabric ……stashes of fabrics,lace and buttons in stalls all around the hall attracted a big crowd to the Marton Memorial Hall fabric fair on Saturday.

Aladdin Junior a hit Welcome to Agrabah, City of Enchantment, where every beggar has a story and every camel has a tail! All of your favorite characters are here in this stage adaptation of the Disney hit, including Aladdin, Jasmine, and of course, the Genie. Filled with magic, mayhem, and flying carpet rides, audiences’ spirits soared with excitement.

Will’s Twins, college play opens Rangitikei College’s production Will’s Twins is on stage at Marton Players Theatre this week.

Spring is in the flowers St Stephen’s Anglican Church hosted their 107th Annual Spring Festival and Flower Show earlier this week beginning with church celebrations on Sunday.

Local Guide Honoured Years of commitment, dedication, perseverance and hard work have paid off for a young Marton woman.

Vehicle Production in Turakina Motor vehicle production was underway at Turakina School last week. It was all part of a unit on transport, with a technology focus.

Wear-a-Bull Art a highlight Bronwyn Meads , Bulls and District Co-ordinator says she felt overwhelmed by the Wear-a Bull Art event. “The show was a sellout and we had 25 fantastic entries from all over the region. The standard was very high and now into our 4th year, the talent and creativity is well up there. Support from local schools and music groups, together with sponsors and all the wonderful people behind the scenes, made this event a highlight of the year.”

Top NZ Fire Service driver Martin Dalley was keen to win the Wellington Provincial Fire Service Driving Challenge title but no one was more surprised than him when he won the national title as well.

Tough spelling contest Year 8 students Tori Tuau Marton School and Shannon Harrison Hunterville School tied for first place at the 2009 annual Rangitikei Schools Cluster spelling competition.

Rangitikei Wear-a-Bull Art this weekend Bronwyn Meads, Bulls and District Co-ordinator is very pleased with the 26 entries for this weekend’s Wear-a-Bull art awards. It is exciting that seven students from Nga Tawa School have entered which we have never had before.

Goldilocks in Bulls Bulls School presented their annual production this week in the Bulls Town Hall.

Daffodil Day Friday August 28 - a very important day

Age Concern new office Age Concern Wanganui has opened a Marton call-in office in the Rangitikei Health Centre in Blackwell St each month and wants to welcome visitors.

Thanks to locals for Telethon support In the aftermath of the Telethon Marton organizer Sharon Brosnan says the main people to thank were all the volunteers that stepped up even on Saturday morning out of the blue to help and stayed for the duration.

Settling into Elim position New Elim Church pastor Graham Moore and his wife Margaret are settling well into life in Marton.

Playground project a gift Tamariki from te Paimarie Kohanga Reo in Marton are enjoying the results of a project by five Rangitikei College Woodwork students.

College play in rehearsal A cast has been chosen and rehearsals are underway for a Rangitikei College production next month on stage a Marton Players.

Road flight for Spitfire Travellers along State Highway One were surprised to see a WW2 Spitfire aircraft in transit on the back of a truck making its way from Feilding to Ohakea Airbase on January 13.

National Gig and Carriages at Bulls It was like a step back to the Rangitikei when gig and carriage drivers from the National Carriage Driving Society were put through their paces at the National All Harness Show Annual Competition.

Manawatu/Wanganui welcomes new area manager for Plunket Plunket is delighted to announce the appointment of the new area manager for Manawatu/Wanganui, Craig Fleury.

Country Festival growing in quality and reputation Marton’s annual Country Music Festival is growing in quality and reputation attracting performers from America as well as the North Island.

Cool at the pool The Tawa swim team from Wellington were captured on their final day at the Marton Pool. The Marton 50m complex has become a popular summer training facility for swim teams from all over the lower North Island in early January

Action-a-Bull treatment claims by Bulls group A dispute over a lease for the Old Courthouse building in Bulls has led to the Bulls and Districts Enterprise Group taking legal action to defend their rights against a Rangitikei District Council decision.

25 Years Service Recognised Tony Eichler’s twenty five years of dedication to the fire service was recognized at the annual Marton Fire Service award evening on Saturday night.

Supporters morning tea The special people at Ideas Services in the Creative Courtyard held a special morning tea last week.

New citizens from three towns in Rangitikei Fourteen New Zealand citizens were sworn in en masse at a ceremony at the Rangitikei District Council on Monday morning including three young children

Caught in trap This poor black and white male cat was found with its leg caught in an illegal gin trap along Calico Line in Marton last a week ago and taken to the SRVS.

Best Co-ordinator in Australasia Bulls co-ordinator Bronwyn Meads received some fantastic news from Australia last Friday morning.

Army cleaning up the town Soldiers were seen patrolling all over Marton including through Broadway on Monday and in other locations on Sunday. Lt Towowoda from Papua New Guinea (left) and Sgt Perkins from Burnham were in discussion near the entrance to St Stephen’s Church planning a strategy to locate four (fictitious) perpetrators who left items on the ground at Centennial Park and ran away. Two groups of about 30 troups were being tested on an anti terrorist leadership training course over two days in Marton to prepare them for overseas duties.

Keeping it Green on stage Marton Junction School pupils presented two performances of their show on stage at the Marton Players theatre before the end of last term enjoyed by their parents, friends and families.

Rangitikei band wins people’s choice Local band Syntax Error from Rangitikei College won the Smokefree People’s Choice Award, at the Manawatu finals of the Smokefreerockquest awards on Saturday night at the Regent on Broadway in Palmerston North. The award is selected by text vote at the event. They now have an opportunity to compete for on of the six finalist spots in this year’s Smokefreerockquest.

Rangitikei Schools at Kids for Kids 54 children from Hunterville and Marton Schools had the thrill of singing in the first of 3 performances in the Regent Theatre, Palmerston North, in the “Kids for Kids World Vision” concert on June 9.

Glenn and The Men It was standing room only at Marton Public Library last Friday night, as over 80 people braved the weather to see Glenn and The Men, an evening of words and music.

Career Information Provided Last Wednesday all Year 12 and 13 students at Rangitikei College were given some expert advice and guidance on their future career options. The students were provided with advice about careers in the trades and tertiary study as well as information about making the right impression in job interviews and in curriculum vitae’s. The students also worked with Careers Services to get more in-depth information on their future career paths. Careers Advisor at the College Claire Mulcahy was delighted with the day and she hopes to make this a regular learning opportunity again next year.

Matariki Celebrated by Local Schools Students from James Cook School, Marton Junction and Turakina Maori Girls College gathered at James Cook School to celebrate Matariki on the actual day, June 3

Kiwi Can ends celebration at first school Rangitikei Kiwi Can ended a series of tenth birthday celebrations at Rangitikei schools with fun activities at Marton Junction School this week.

The sweet sounds of Country Music were played and sung all weekend in Marton at the sixth annual Queen’s Birthday weekend Country Music Howdy Doo. A big crowd of 350 to 400 visitors attended the event hosted in the grounds of Marton School with performers appearing on stage in the school hall throughout the three days.

Focus for young photographers Fifteen young photographers from Rangitikei schools visited the Rangitikei District Monitor on Friday to learn all about news photography.They are part of the Young Explorers Programme an initiative of the Rangitikei Schools Cluster involving each school taking turn at a different focus or subject.Two students from every school have been selected to attend a photography skills course under the leadership of Marton School teacher Leigh Harvey during the present term. They have met once a week for the last three weeks learning as much as they can about the different types of photography. At the Monitor they learned what news photographers look for in a photograph and how they go about it selecting and preparing photographs for print.They have also visited Ohakea Air Base to meet with the Air Force’s professional photographic division.The pupils pictured came from Marton School, James Cook, Marton Junction, Hunterville, Bulls, Clifton and South Makirikiri schools and all had their cameras at the ready. The ultimate goal is for the pupils in the photography programme to go back to their schools and help with school photography groups.

Top Scholar Recognised at Parliament Nga Tawa School student Emily Adlam represented the Diocesan School for Girls at the New Zealand Scholarship Top Scholar Awards which recognises the 29 elite students that make up the country’s Premier Award and Top Subject Scholarship Award winners.

Rangitikei College’s pensioners gather The original pupils of Rangitikei College had a post 50th reunion gathering recently at Sugar Plum Cafe. The ‘1958ers’, who are now ‘Old Age Pensioners’ or very near to it, enjoyed a lunch and reminisced about the late 50s. The stories may have had elements of exaggeration but this was probably due to memory lapses rather than deliberate actions. A good time was had by the sixteen pupils that were there and ex teacher of the time, Bruce Rennie, and all left promising to make an event such as this an annual one.

Moooving out - James Cook School visit local dairy farms On Thursday 14 May over 100 students from James Cook School left their school grounds to visit local diary farms in the area.

Dancing with the Staff at Edale For the second year, Edale residents and tenants were entertained by some members of the staff with a performance entitled ‘Dancing with the Staff’.

Budding Reporters Visit Local Paper The pupils of Room 6 from Clifton School visited the Rangitikei District Monitor on Monday morning to find out some awesome information about how newspapers work. The visit was part of their school theme of Printing and Publishing that they are studying at the moment. The programme ends with a Book Fair in early June.

Fifty eight year gap between meetings It has been a long time between meetings for Marton man Dusty Miller and his ex Royal Navy mate, Bob Roberts.

Coins for Asthma Pupils of Marton Junction school have donated a coin trail to the Asthma Foundation as part of Asthma Awareness Week displayed by the Sewell family, from left: Hannah , Rachel, Claire, Richard and Bradley

Olympian at Orlando Sarah Ulmer was at Orlando Country for dinner last week as a guest of the “Puddleducks” Nursery & Child Care Centre.

Grey Power attracts high profile speakers Prime Minister a John Key and Minster for Local Government Rodney Hide turned up to speak at the Grey Power annual meeting held at Nga Tawa School early this week.

Enjoy some Incredible Years with your family Do parenting programmes on TV make it look all too easy?

Consultation Goes To College The Rangitikei District Council was busy recently bringing their 2009 - 2019 Long Term Plan to Rangitikei College as part of their consultation process.

Turakina to lose postal boxes Turakina is about to lose their post box service with little notice to users and Rangitikei District Councillor Soraya Peke is keen to hear from the locals this will effect.

Marton to the Mountain on chrome Broadway was lined with shiny chrome on Sunday morning when bikers gathered for the inaugural Marton to the Mountain motorbike rally to raise funds for Rangitikei College.

In Council About amalgamation

Good numbers turnout to shoot Keen shooters gathered for and the annual South Makirikiri School duck shooting warm up sports shoot on Sunday.