Paul Mason

Paul Mason

November 2022

November-2022-headline

Tool library opens in time for summer by Guy Walker The long-awaited A Mua Community Tool Library is now open for business.It stocks a growing range of tools, gardening implements and machinery, ladders and a wheelbarrow.Membership for the tool library…

October 2022

The Robert Algie Memorial Trust was lucky enough to partner with Wairarapa Bush Rugby and the New Zealand Parliamentary Rugby Team for a fundraising game last month.Born and raised in Featherston, Robert is remembered as one of New Zealand’s most…

September 2022

Moves underway to upgrade popular campsite by Anne Hynds Concerned Featherston residents Ed and Sian Harcourt and Anne Hynds recently met with representatives from the Department of Conservation (DOC) to talk about the need to improve facilities at the Bucks…

August 2022

Featherston’s Matariki festival is something to be proud of. This year New Zealand has celebrated our oldest and newest national holiday for the first time as a bicultural and multicultural nation, and it will be an entry in the history…

July 2022

Restoration Day attendees spent two days getting kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) with the local fish species of the Wairarapa Moana wetlands. Magical weather and hands-on learning, from spotlighting for fish to touching eels, made this a captivating field trip.…

March 2022

The wind blew and the gazebos could not be put up – however, the Sports Hub Open Day was a huge success, with around 80 people turning up to register their children or themselves for a range of sporting activities.“We…

February 2022

The coast may be half an hour’s drive away, but Featherston is well endowed with summer swimming opportunities.The South Wairarapa District Council-run swimming pools on Johnson Street, behind the Sports Hub clubhouse, are open fromearly December to mid-March and are…

December 2021

It has been great to see the Windy Wheels community bike track being enjoyed this year. It looks like we will be spendingmore time socialising outdoors this summer, so it’s good to have another place to enjoy spending time together.…

November 2021

Having children is a life-changing experience for anyone. But Featherston resident Kimberlee Le Ceve has taken it one stepfurther. After watching how her daughters Alex (now 4) and Indi (3) responded to the pictures in their storybooks, she was inspired…

October 2021

On a bright but chilly Sunday in August – just before the last lockdown – South Featherston School was alive to theindustry of whānau, staff and kids getting muddy, hauling river stones and planting saplings and shrubs in the new…

September 2021

It seems incredible that it is almost 17 years since an informal group of about six singers gathered with the intention of starting a choir. Within two weeks there were 12, which soon swelled to 20, and the number has…

August 2021

Saturday 11 July dawned cloudy and cool. The temperature was low but anticipation was high as the heavyweight of trucks – a big shiny black Mack – lead a convoy of fifty-plus classics, hotrods and vintage cars out onto the…

July 2021

On Saturday 12 June, Wairarapa’s Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate (OGKWI) club competed against karate clubs from across the lower North Island to win the overall Kāpiti Karate Academy Championships. Thirteen karate students from South Wairarapa travelled to Kāpiti to compete against…

June 2021

Another first for Paetūmōkai-Featherston! On 1 May 2021 this became the first town in South Wairarapa to have its own resource recovery centre. Called Ā Mua Community Resource Centre, this new facility has been set up by a group of…

May 2021

For those of us seasoned enough to remember May 1996, not much has changed, and yet so much has. “How Bizarre”, from Auckland’s OMC, was one of the world’s top selling songs, and number one in charts around the globe…

April 2021

Featherston Booktown launched the 2021 Karukatea Festival programme on 31 March at the Sports Hub, and it’s a wonder! Check the programme at www.booktown.nz and start marking your calendar for talks, debates, workshops, readings and spoken-word performances. From novelists to…

March 2021

There are only another 20 or so days to go until Dogs in Togs! Our annual pool party will take place at Featherston Swimming Pool on 20 March from 1pm to 5pm. All welcome! We had such a great response…

February 2021

Three years ago Featherston’s Ashley Taylor never thought she would be interested in drama, let alone good at it. But now she is poised to tread the boards at the Globe Theatre, after winning a place in a prestigious programme…

December 2020

Featherston Community Centre’s new art exhibition, iti: small works, was held 12-15 November 2020 and it was astonishing. It broke all previous Centre art sale records by an incredible 80% and delighted visitors and locals alike. iti explored the experience…

November 2020

A ruined and authentic heritage building just south of Featherston could become a key attraction for people wanting to experience the Wairarapa region’s night skies. Mouldering tōtara planks and steel rails from the night sky observatory built by amateur astronomer…