WHOLE FOOD FAMILY: Mathew and Hannah van Leeuwen at their shop with daughter Charlotte. Photo Louis Klassen D5497-7

THE new owners of Whakatane’s Bin Inn say providing their customers with the personal touch is their aim to enhance their business.

Mathew and Hannah van Leeuwen are working hard to stock the shelves with all the items their customers request.

“Because we deal with whole foods and specialty items, it’s a challenge to keep up with the demand,” Mr van Leeuwen said.

For example, an organic apple cider that sells in his shop is difficult to find because of the poor organic apple harvest in the United States where it is manufactured.
“So, the supply to New Zealand is non-existent at the moment,” he said.

Customers were increasingly looking for whole foods that provided the highest possible nutritional value, he said.

“People are becoming more aware of what processes their food has gone through before they eat it. Buying certified organics is one of the few ways you can know what has happened to it.”

Since organic food has grown beyond being a niche market, competition has become tougher. But Bin Inn has much more than organics.

The van Leeuwens work to meet the changing needs of their clientele in many areas, such as cake decorating, pet supplies and bulk goods. The shop also has a large home brewing section containing an extensive range of home brewing supplies.

Owning and operating a retail business is a new and exciting challenge for the couple and Mr van Leeuwen said what they liked most about it was providing their customers with “the personal touch” when they walked into the store.

“We really enjoy what we do and we enjoy meeting with our customers,” he said.

MATATA man Lucas Jackson Edwards committed shoplifting and burglary offences when he was desperate for money to repay debt.

Police prosecutor Ian Dodds said the two offences occurred at the end of last month.

Edwards appeared in the Whakatane District Court last Wednesday and pleaded guilty to shoplifting, burglary and a breach of bail.

The shoplifting charge involved Edwards requesting a packet of Port Royal tobacco at a Whakatane dairy. When the teller put the packet on the counter, Edwards picked it up and fled the shop at speed.

The burglary involved Edwards jumping through an open window at a private property and stealing two cellphones and a set of keys from the table. He used the keys to steal the car.

When the victims realised their property and vehicle had been stolen, they called the cell phones.

Edwards answered and organised for the property to be returned. The car and cellphones were returned to the victims.

Edwards said he tried to sell the car but no one wanted it.

Appearing via audio visual link, Edwards told Judge Christopher Harding his offending wasn’t to feed a methamphetamine addiction, it was to pay back debt.

He was remanded in custody until August 9.

SOME readers recently made uninformed and disdainful remarks regarding Ngati Awa’s farm in Ohope.

The farm is owned by Te Runanga o Ngati Awa on behalf of, and for the benefit of Ngati Awa people.

Farm operations are overseen by a board of directors with significant farming and governance experience, and managed by myself as chief executive for Ngati Awa Group Holdings. We do not source cultural advice from members of the public offered via this column.

The history of the trees in question was covered in Karla Akuhata’s Beacon story on March 8.

To paraphrase that story, Ngati Awa undertook a Land Utilisation Capability (LUC) survey of the entire farm. The LUC is a programme of listening to the land, the soil and the environment, with a view to working with, not against, it’s capabilities.

The LUC concluded the exotic eucalyptus plantings were not suited, and needed to be removed. The land is being returned to pasture.

I am confident that our land utilisation work sets the framework for a long-term sustainable, mixed use of the Ngati Awa Ohope farmland.

However, the farm is not only a workplace, it is also private property. It contains multiple hazards.

It is unsafe, not to mention illegal, for the public to enter the property without our permission.

It appears some readers have trespassed on the farm, ignoring boundaries and hazard notifications placed to ensure public safety, so they could write wildly inaccurate and critical letters to the Beacon.

This is hurtful, and disappointing. I suggest if these authors wish to discuss how we operate the farm, they should do me the courtesy of speaking to my face. Otherwise we will continue to remain quiet. Confident in our actions, on our own lands.

In return, we expect members of the public respect our private property rights.

Geoff Hamilton
Chief executive officer
Ngati Awa Group Holdings Limited

PLANTING: from left, back row: Ben McBeth, Etienne Otto, Amber Fort, Karis Rintoul, Emily McClure, front row: Mark Wooley, Michael Mitchell and
Stevie Shaw at the annual dune
planting at Thornton Beach. Photo supplied

A FIVE-year tradition continues at Edgecumbe College.

Edgecumbe College’s Gifted and Talented year 9 students held their annual dune planting at Thornton Beach on Friday.

Deputy principal Rene Otto said the school had been planting the dunes for the past five years and this event was the second year the group had planted at Thornton Beach.

Mr Otto said Coast Care, a community action programme, provided the plants and Craig Majurie from the organisation, showed the students the importance of the plants to protect the dunes and the coastal environment.

“This year we carried on from what we did last year by planting flaxes and kanuka trees.”

Mr Otto said Edgecumbe College and Coast Care had big plans at Thornton Beach.

SPINNING OUT: Magnus McDonald has created what may be the world’s best fidget spinner. He has made the prototype and will be raising funds through Kickstarter to purchase the titanium so he can begin making the gadgets at his Whakatane workshop. Photos Louis Klaassen D5496-35/12

THE world’s best fidget spinner is on the way – and it is made right here in Whakatane.

Magnus McDonald is the creator of what he believes is the “ultimate” spinner and has already generated huge online interest in the gadget ahead of its Kickstarter launch.

Mr McDonald, who manufactures high-end titanium products which he sells online, created a prototype for his fidget spinner months ago.

A YouTube video of it generated more than a million views in three weeks.

He said about half a dozen Chinese companies had already copied it – but they had not recreated his one, which was simple, but detailed in its design.

He has spent a few months creating the ultimate spinning experience. All the curves, points and serrations have been perfected. “There are a dozen reasons why it is shaped the way it is,” he said.

And now his online audience is anxiously waiting for the first fidget spinner to emerge from Mr McDonald’s Valley Road workshop.

“Lots of people are asking when it will be ready. I have been telling them another three to four weeks. After four months, it is finally ready.”

He said the people who wanted the product “more than likely already have two or three of the best spinners out there.

“There a few that are of good quality and design and they have usually been made in the US or Europe.”

But the gadgets are not the mass-produced $5-$10 ones you can buy at stores. These are high-end and retail for $200-$300 each,” he said.

Mr McDonald will be launching his fidget spinner on Kickstarter soon, where he expects to raise funds which he will use to buy the titanium, which sells for $50 a kilogram. He will then cut the spinners and his machinist will make them. “Seventy percent of the titanium is machined away to result in the spinner.”

Mr McDonald will then finish and polish the spinners.

All his titanium products had been launched with Kickstarter funding, he said.

Check out Mr McDonald’s fidget spinner on YouTube – just type in Magnus, or on Instagram: @CogentIndustries. Website is CogentIndustries.com

The fidget spinner craze has gone global and has ramped up in Whakatane after the Beacon reported earlier last month that the first spinners were available to purchase in town.

kathy.forsyth@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

YESTERDAY’S $7 million boost for industry training and apprenticeships is welcome news for employers, industry trainees, and apprentices, in the face of skills shortages across the economy, says the Industry Training Federation.

Tertiary education minister Paul Goldsmith and associate tertiary education minister Louise Upston announced the funding increase at the ITF Workforce Development Summit in Wellington where ministers, MPs, agencies, employers, educators, and Industry Training Organisations had gathered to discuss skills, work, and productivity.

ITF chief executive Josh Williams said 148,000 industry trainees and apprentices were in jobs, furthering their careers, earning and learning, gaining qualifications, paying tax, and not racking up student loans. The funding boost recognised the current and future need for more apprentices and trainees in New Zealand.

“Skilled and qualified workers are the key to supporting prosperous communities and improving productivity.”

“We need more people, young and old, to see work-based learning as a valid pathway, at a time when industries are crying out for skills,” he said.

CONTEMPORARY: Ohope Beach School’s new two-storey building will include innovative learning spaces. Concept drawing Ministry of Education

OHOPE Beach School should be able to increase its roll by almost 100 students when its contemporary new building is completed early next year.

Images of what the new school building is going to look like have been unveiled – and the new structure will enable the school to boost enrolment from the current 260 to 350, with potential to grow that to 450 in the future, according to principal Tony Horsfall.

He said future planning had been incorporated for spaces to accommodate up to 450 students if needed in the future.

Mr Horsfall said he expected the new two-storey building, which would include a classroom block, library and administration area, to be completed by the end of the first term next year.

The $13.5 million development was the result of eight years of negotiations with the Ministry of Education, he said.

“Most of the time-consuming work has been done. Laying the base, the foundations and rest of the building should come together pretty quickly.”

A new car park for staff and a drop-off area will also be built in front of the building. New outdoor teaching areas will also be installed.

Mr Horsfall said the footprint of the school would be smaller than what existed before as they were building upwards, and this would free up playing areas for students.

The new structure would include 10 large teaching spaces – called innovative learning environments – in line with the education ministry’s model of advanced modern learning – and include high-quality acoustics, ventilation, heating and cooling.

Rather than traditional classrooms, the rooms would be large, open-plan rooms with different learning areas.

The new building would also enable better security at the school as visitors would have to go through one major entrance, he said.

Mr Horsfall described the building as a “primary school version” of architectural award-winning Tarawera High School in Kawerau.

Some buildings, including the hall and three classrooms at the rear of the site, had been remediated and would be kept.

Mr Horsfall said the bulk of the work had been completed – a huge hole in the ground was dug to remove unsuitable material and filled in with engineered basecourse.

“Laying down the foundations for the base is next,” he said.
The development would replace all the other poor-quality and relocatable buildings that made up much of the school. A number of temporary buildings had already been removed or demolished and the rest would be removed as the new buildings are completed.

Mr Horsfall said the development also aimed to put an end to flooding issues in the school by diverting stormwater from the rear catchment to areas away from buildings to the stream via large pipes and careful ground shaping.

“It is really exciting; the teachers are looking forward to it … it will introduce different ways of teaching.”

Mr Horsfall said the teachers were already adjusting the way they taught in line with the new model, and would be ready to adapt to the new learning spaces next year. However, he said it would have been good for the ministry to invest in a support package for the training of teachers in the new advanced modern learning model.

The school’s board of trustees chairman Mike Jones said he was pleased with the progress.

“It is really pleasing to see the foundation work under way,” he said.

“It has taken a few years to get to this point, but I know the wait is going to be worth it.

“We will have some really exciting teaching spaces available in the new year. Our staff are already exploring the opportunities these open-plan, collaborative spaces will provide to our students and are seeing many positive results already in the older classrooms.”

Regular consultation was undertaken with Ngati Awa, which owns the land.

kathy.forsyth@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

WINNERS: An Homage, a horror film created by students of Christchurch’s New Zealand School of Broadcasting, won the $1000 prize at last year’s International Youth Silent Film Festival.
Photo supplied.

Young Eastern Bay film-makers have the opportunity to learn and hone their craft with school holiday workshops on offer in Tauranga.

The workshops aim to help participants create a three-minute silent movie for entry into this year’s New Zealand leg of the International Youth Silent Film Festival (IYSFF) – the second year the contest has been run in this country.

Each of the four days focuses on a separate skill – writing and storyboarding, pre-filming preparation, filming and editing – and each will be tutored by a specialist, including Bay of Plenty Film general manager and film director Anton Steel, and Tanya Horo, an experienced actor, singer and writer.

The workshops will be held in Baycourt Theatre in central Tauranga on July 17, 19, 20 and 21 from 9am to 4pm each day.
The cost for students is $42 a day or $148 for 4 days, with tickets available from www.ticketek.co.nz.

Entrants, who must have been 20 or younger on April 15 this year, make three-minute family-suitable silent films which may be live action or animated, colour or black and white but which must use one of 10 genre soundtracks available from the website, www.makesilentfilm.com/rules.

Entries close on October 1.

A red carpet prizegiving will be held at Baycourt on November 22 and the winning movies will go forward to the international final held in Portland, Oregon in June 2018.

Last year’s winners were from the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch, while Katikati’s Liam Davison, then 10, made history as the contest’s youngest-ever entrant – “Trouble in the West” made with older siblings Jack and Emily, placed third equal.

FOREST FEATURE: A.R. Newbery’s exhibition, Tree Feller, opens at Taneatua Gallery on July 1. Photo supplied

A NEW exhibition coming to Taneatua Gallery features the work of South Island artist A.R. Newbery.

Newbery’s new series of paintings, Tree Feller, is inspired by the history of tree felling in New Zealand. The exhibition will open on July 1.

While touching on the political and historic story of the forestry industry, Tree Feller hopes to focus on the workers closest to the act of cutting down a tree.

As the artist puts it: “I hope to paint a kind of portrait for the young man in the most danger, the one holding the toki, the axe, the chainsaw.”

Newbery is of Tuhoe descent but was born and raised in the small South Island port town of Lyttelton.

In pursuit of a career in the arts, he moved to Palmerston North to study Contemporary Maori Art at Massey University’s Te Putahi a Toi.
In 2012 he graduated with a Masters of Maori Visual Art.

Primarily working in paint, Newbery considers his artistic practice a conduit of learning for his Tuhoe heritage. He pulls inspiration from customary Maori visual culture, history and contemporary any political issues.

Newbery thanked Palmerston North Creative Communities for its support for his exhibition.

SHIPPING irregularities pushed total imports of petroleum products and motor vehicles to $4.8 billion in May 2017, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Monthly imports were $635 million (15 percent) higher than for May 2016.

The leading contributor to the increase was petroleum products, up $269 million (71 percent). It was led by crude oil, up $127 million (65 percent) on a year earlier.

“Crude oil and other petroleum products are imported in large, irregular shipments, which can cause large percentage fluctuations in values,” international statistics senior manager Daria Kwon said.

“This month’s increase in value is much higher than in recent times.”
Imports of motor vehicles and parts were up $135 million (22 percent) from May 2016 to reach $739 million in May 2017. The increase was led by passenger motor cars, up $87 million (23 percent) to $468 million.

A boost for dairy exports was also recorded over the same period.
Total export values were $5 billion in May 2017, up $395 million (8.7 percent) from May 2016.

The largest rise in export values was in the dairy commodity group, up $342 million (42 percent). Milk powder, butter, and cheese all rose at least 40 percent on a year earlier.

“Higher world prices for milk powder helped boost export values in recent months,” Ms Kwon said.

“Exports of dairy commodities to China led the increase in values.”

There were also smaller increases across other large export commodities, including beef and lamb, forestry, fruit, and wine.

These conditions were responsible for a wider annual trade deficit.

The annual trade deficit for the year ended May 2017 widened to $3.8 billion, from $3.6 billion in April 2017.

The trade surplus in May 2017 ($103 million or 2.1 percent of exports) was lower than the average surplus (5.7 percent of exports) in recent May months.

NO BEDS: Accommodation is expected to be tight for the 2018 Whai Ora Spirited Women event prompting a call for people to offer their homes to competitors. Photo Louis Klaassen D5526-41

FEMALE adventure racers are expected to fill all available beds in the Eastern Bay next March.
With the 2018 Whai Ora Spirited Women event almost completely sold out, the call has gone out for everyone and anyone with accommodation options to come forward.

Julie Allerby, marketing co-ordinator at Whakatane District Council, says teams are coming from across New Zealand as well as from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, and each team is likely to have a support crew of at least two people.

“Basically, the district can expect to see over 2000 people in town during the event, and the popularity of Whai Ora is highlighting the need we have for accommodation,” she said.

Anyone with a bed and breakfast, holiday home or holiday rental should get in touch with the Whakatane i-SITE, who are helping to co-ordinate entrants and supporters’ accommodation arrangements.”

Ms Allerby said the event would be a great boost to the local economy, with dining out, activities and “retail therapy” likely to be a focus for visitors.

“We are also hoping that accommodation providers with listings currently available through Book-a-bach, Bachcare and Airbnb will consider reducing their minimum stay period over this weekend, to help welcome these visitors for the weekend and ensure that the local region benefits as much as possible from hosting this unique event.”

Most of the entrants and their supporters are expected to arrive on the Friday, just in time for the registration and event expo, and racing will begin early on Saturday.

Teams will finish by Saturday night and most will stay on so any accommodation providers with spaces for the weekend of March 16 to 18 are asked to come forward.

Event organisers Dare 2 Sweat say they have been overwhelmed by the response to the event, with a full field of 1440 women in 360 teams expected to compete.

A wait-list is in place to ensure that anyone who has missed out will have a chance to fill slots if teams drop out closer to the event.

The all-women’s adventure race is a new concept that combines a challenging team race with a “social weekend away with the girls”.

“This event defines the spirit of a Kiwi woman – her give-it-a-go attitude, sense of adventure, a strong belief in her girlfriends and a desire to help them through difficult times and celebrate the good times,” said race director, Neil Gellatly.

FAMILY AFFAIR: Jay, Helen, Kendall and Sean McKane now spend more time together after taking ownership of the Fresh Market.
Photo Louis Klaassen D5553-09

THE new owners of Whakatane’s Fresh Market have chosen to run their own business to promote their philosophy of healthy eating – and to spend more time together.

Sean McKane, who co-owns the Lovelock Street business with wife Helen, said what he liked about the business was that it was organised in a way that ensured freshness.

“Up to 12 deliveries a day are coming through from our different suppliers and that means our produce is always fresh because of the limited cold storage area and fast turnover of goods,” he said.

That promise of freshness is supported by their commitment that only the best produce makes it onto the shelves.

“Freshness is easy to guarantee because if it’s not fresh it doesn’t go out front,” he said.

Mrs McKane said they wanted to make the business a true family concern.

“[Customers] will see our kids here too. We want them to be part of it; one of the reasons we are here is because Sean was working at the Mount every day. It was more about the lifestyle change for us. Even though it is more hours, the kids can be a part of it,” she said.

Mr McKane said he knew from the beginning that the business was a good prospect.

“We’ve been looking for a local opportunity for a little while.
We’ve shopped here in the past and were impressed with the business and the great staff.”

He said the previous owner, Jeremy Johnson, had already done the research and development for the business and had local suppliers already in place.

“What we need to do is manage those relationships and make sure the produce is fresh and our customers are happy,” he said.

Because the business is established and a high-performer, Mr McKane said he had no intentions of making any fixes or changes to how it was run.

Mrs McKane’s teaching experience as former head of physical education and health gives her an understanding of what health-conscious shoppers want.

“With all the cooking shows, there’s definitely a cultural change underway and knowing that people have that mindset makes it a lot easier to stock a shop like this,” she said.

Her education background is also the driver behind the couple’s enthusiasm in teaching new skills to the youth who work with them.

“It’s exciting for us to be in the position to provide the young people in the community after school jobs. I’m really excited about seeing them grow and develop,” Mr McKane said.

“It’s great to see them outside of school growing into young men and women who are capable of doing this type of work, which is what teachers and parents like to see,” Mrs McKane said.

mark.rieder@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

THE symbolic first sod will be turned at a special ground-breaking ceremony in Burgess Park today, marking the start of the construction phase of the Whakatane Museum and Research Centre’s redevelopment.

The construction phase follows the acceptance of the lowest tender for the physical works for the project, at a cost of $4.32 million. The successful tenderer, Watts and Hughes Construction, will set up on the site early next month, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of July 2018.

The redevelopment involves the retention and refurbishment of the existing museum building in Boon Street and extension south into Burgess Park.

New features include:
- Enlarged collection storage areas with the environmental control systems required to adequately protect the museum’s valuable collections
- A dedicated, multi-functional room for delivering outreach and education programmes
- Secure collection viewing areas for families and researchers
- A community research centre providing enhanced access to museum resources
Project manager Paula Chapman told this month’s Whakatane District Council meeting that while the tender price was higher than the $4.145 million estimated in July 2016, the development now included a mezzanine extension to the first-floor storage area, which had not been part of the original design.

Today’s ceremony will involve a blessing by Ngati Awa kaumatua and will be attended by supporters of the museum, amongst them descendants of the Burgess family.

The ground-breaking coincides with the fifth anniversary of the opening of Te Koputu, Whakatane’s library and exhibition centre – the first stage of the district’s major arts and cultural development programme.

AN estimated two thirds of Eastern Bay businesses still have no idea how their health and safety system is performing, despite new laws having been introduced more than a year ago.

Eastern Bay health and safety consultant, Kay Mead from Securo, says many companies remain in the dark about how their contractors, branch offices or even their own workplaces rate in terms of the new health and safety requirements.

“We’ve seen a lot of businesses step up their activity since the new Health and Safety Act came into force in April last year which is great.

But the majority of businesses need to go much further, otherwise they risk exposing themselves to substantial fines or even imprisonment under the new law,” she said.

“If you’re engaging contractors for example, you are liable for their health and safety performance also. Have they got public liability insurance? Is it adequate? Do their workers have the necessary training and qualifications? What’s their health and safety record? If you’re about to embark on a contract with someone, you need to know these things and too many Bay of Plenty businesses don’t have a system in place to assess that properly.”

To address the problem, Securo, in association with Omni Risk, has launched a new online safety audit which helps businesses to identify their strengths and weaknesses in this area.

By inputting information such as hazard registers, training records, certifications, licences, and permits to work, an independent health and safety expert can then assess how robust a business’ health and safety system is, and issue a risk rating across different key areas.

“This online system produces a high quality report which tells you what you’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement,” she said. “It will throw up ‘red flags’ to help you prioritise health and safety areas that need further work.”

The new online tool was ideal for senior managers who needed to present a health and safety report to their board, or for companies who need to pre-qualify contractors before they hire them, she said.

“At the end of the day it’s about ensuring people come home safely from work.

“New Zealand companies should be doing their utmost to protect their staff.”

The new online audit has taken 18 months to put together to ensure it’s as robust as possible.

In addition to being independently verified, Mrs Mead will also visit Eastern Bay businesses on site for two hours to help input the relevant information and offer any necessary advice.

“A big part of the new Health and Safety Act is that senior management and owners are now responsible for health and safety in their own companies as well as companies they contract with,” she said.
“This new online system will provide a very good understanding of where either they, or the companies they contract to, stand in terms of health and safety.”

BIG RETURNS: The Opotiki College YES team, with Keely Carter, Thomas Ashford, Leo Stuart and Hasley Moore in dark blue and Loren Alvarez in white, is hoping for a big return against something small ventured. Photo supplied

ENTREPRENEURS from Opotiki College are offering a Snickers bar in return for a potentially life-saving action.

In their stickers-for-Snickers project, Hasley Moore and his teenage business colleagues Leo Stuart, Thomas Ashford, Keely Carter and Loren Alvarez are addressing the danger of overseas motorists driving on the wrong side of the road.

The team is promoting Keep to the Left stickers for fixing to the inside of car windscreens – and offering free Snickers bars as a bribe to drivers.

The students are hoping by giving away something small they will achieve a big result – both in terms of road safety and their success in the 2017 Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme.

Opotiki College teacher Debbie McKillop said the school had won 11 of the last 12 Eastern Bay Young Enterprise Scheme contests and last Wednesday won the Dragons’ Den.

“It’s an achievable standard,” she said. “[And] for this year, our team has chosen a topical subject.

“There have been several crashes caused by overseas visitors driving on the wrong side of the road,” Mrs McKillop said.

On November 3, 2016, Opotiki woman Dale Ashford-Hill was killed after her car collided with a vehicle driven by an Argentinian visitor who admitted he was driving on the wrong side of the road.
Mrs Ashford-Hill was the mother of YES team member Thomas Ashford.

Opotiki orchard owner Brett Wotton and Kukumoa Lodge owner Neal Berry have previously featured in the Opotiki News, promoting arrow-based solutions to the problem.

Mr Berry was in favour of directional arrows being painted on the roads – which has since been implemented by the New Zealand Transport Agency – and Mr Wotton wants reminder arrows affixed on the inside of car windscreens.

The Opotiki College Left of the Line Always team will have its first-draft keep left sticker designed today and is planning a first print run of 100 stickers. They will be available at the Opotiki Caltex petrol stations.
Armed with 300 sponsored Snickers bars, the team will create the incentive for drivers to actually affix the stickers to the inside of the car windscreen.

Thomas said that for the stickers not to obstruct the vision, they had to be reasonably small.

“They can be maximum 10 centimetres up from the bottom,” he said.
The team hopes to hold its product launch at the Motu Trails in Opotiki, where many overseas visitors are staying.

Mrs McKillop said the proceeds from winning Wednesday night’s YES Dragon’s Den competition would pay for the production of the first round of stickers.

“If there are people in the community who want to support the production of more stickers they can contact me,” she said.

newsdesk@opotikinews.co.nz

TWO Whakatane businesses affected by April’s flood have been accepted for funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) with another 28 awaiting approval.

MBIE provided a grant of $200,000 to assist Eastern Bay businesses that suffered sustained disruption from flooding and storm-related disasters.

Council staff members worked with the Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce to contact businesses affected by the April storm events so they were aware of the fund and the application process.

Relief grants are available to businesses with less than 20 employees that can show they suffered significant and sustained losses from the April flooding and cyclone events.

The fund was granted jointly to Whakatane District Council and the chamber of commerce. It is administered by the council.

Further information and the criteria for applying to the fund can be found on the chamber of commerce website http://www.ebopchamber.co.nz/.  The programme will not operate beyond September 30.

IN DESIGN: An
elevation showing the floor plan for the
two-bedroom relocatable units which will soon be available as temporary housing for people displaced from their homes in the April flood events.
Photo supplied

MODCOM Portable Buildings will build 10 relocatable homes for use by people displaced from their flood-damaged homes

The units will form a “relocatable house park” to be sited at the Whakatane Holiday Park and will be available to meet flood-related, temporary housing needs for up to one year.

A joint initiative between the Whakatane District Council and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the government organisation is contributing $700,000 to cover transport and infrastructure needs including road access, water, wastewater and power connections.

The council will purchase the buildings at a cost of $850,000 to use in future tourism accommodation.

At a meeting last week, council announced Modcom Portable Buildings would also supply six two bedroom units and four one-bedroom units at a further cost $860,000.

Council places and open spaces manager Mike Naude reported that the four tenders received had been evaluated on price and non-price attributes, which confirmed that Modcom’s offering provided “the best overall value”.

He said the mix of two- and one-bedroom units was also a good fit for both temporary housing use and the holiday park’s longer-term tourism accommodation needs.

Councillors approved the recommendation that the budget for the project be increased by $50,000, to $900,000, to cover the additional purchase cost and provide a small contingency fund for any unforeseen costs which might arise.

Taking into account depreciation, debt servicing costs and projected income, the net cost to the council over a 10-year period is expected to be just over $65,000.

A resource consent for the project has been approved and the council expects building consents for the foundation design to be lodged this week.

If the development proceeds as expected, the first of the units should be ready for occupation by the end of July.

With all the hoo-ha that is printed, said, or seen particularly at election time, reminded me of a court case I happened to follow some 70 years ago where the defendant was charged with “false pretences”, ie promising to do something in the future.

After hearing all the evidence, the learned magistrate dismissed the case, saying the presentation he made to induce the person to buy the product was “salesman’s license” No falsehoods, just a “con-vincing” sales pitch.

Some 30 years later I attended a political meeting of several party candidates presenting their policies.

I suggested they were all political salespeople using salesman’s license – convincing but not completely factual.

One candidate later spoke on Radio 1XX stating he was not a life insurance salesman and did not use salesman’s license as they did.
Which brings me to the point – are we not all salespeople trying to convince others of our beliefs in a cause or product and using salesmen’s license?

No falsehoods, just a con-vincing sales pitch.

Basil Simpson

Local brass band fans have had two recent opportunities to celebrate musical excellence at the Church of St George and St John.

And what a feast we have enjoyed:

Eastern Bay of Plenty Brass brought us Virtuso Brass on June 4. That recital featured a superb collection of solo, duo and trio performances from the band’s section leaders and champion players.

What a joy it was to know that event went a small way to fund the cost of travel to distant locations to compete and participate at national level.

Travel has always been such a very big part of brass banding and our ladies and gentlemen certainly know how to bring back great results.

But wait …. there’s more: Last Tuesday a close to capacity audience not only delighted in the full band weaving its brass magic around an amazing programme with a pronounced American flavour, but were introduced to their heirs and successors – the development squad.

Twenty or more mostly young players (plus some with just a tinge of grey) joyously demonstrated ingredient X.

What a revelation – and how rewarding must it be to know that there is a succession plan.

It was really heart-warming to get to know how Song of Hope was composed and titled by Peter Meecham – even better to learn that our band’s musical director had worked with him recently at a master class of brass buffs in Chicago.

This small-town institution has given of its very best for neigh on 103 years.

Current leadership, dedication, enormous talent and mighty support places it at national champion level.

I’ll treasure their two recent performance programmes for they carry the names of a truly great band of musicians. Looking forward to your next offering.

David Dowd

THE Mixed Town and Country tournament was held at the Whakatane Golf Club on Sunday.

The field included more than 100 golfers and Tyler van Asselt was the division one winner, Alan Steel took out division two and Bob Thompson was the division three winner.
Ladies division one winner was Fay Rowe while Rema Hinds won division two.

Nine hole men’s winner was Brian Wagar.
Beacon photographer Paula Massey was at the course to take these photos.