February 2013 Edited by Jo Todd and Mike Gray The new year has well and truly begun, ushered in by storms and extreme heat or both all on the same day. The lightning has caused some damage here and there and its an auspicious time to be mindful of all your electronic equipment, turn your gear off and unplug at the wall when there is lightning about. The fabulous weather of the last week has been a great finish to the school holidays, so often the best days come after school returns. This edition contains a short story which gives a glimpse of school days in our past and in our area, and school really is the focus of the community this week as the yearly cycle begins again at Term 1 and we welcome the new headmaster to Duntroon. FUNDRAISERS IN THE NEWS There are always fund raisers going on but two featured here in the Digger this month are worthy of comment. Cancer reaches into most families and many of us are keen to support any fundraisers for the ease of sufferers or for research. We have a great event coming up later in February so order your tickets and join the Tokarahi Rural Women for a CHAMPAGNE BREAKFAST. (see ad. on p. 4) Although the other cancer fundraiser is in Otematata maybe some of our locals might like to enter teams in the event planned there for Easter, (see ad. on p.5 ). Get your farm workers or your golfing team or coffee mates together and make up a group to enter in the relay. It sounds like a fun day out during Easter. Both events promise to be fun filled and are a great way to get together and to help with the fight against cancer. Rescue services given a boost in the Waitaki For immediate release: 11 January 2012 Over $124,000 has been granted to a broad range of Waitaki Valley community projects in the latest alloca- tion from Meridian Energy’s Waitaki Community Fund. $40,000 will help build a new combined base for Mackenzie Search and Rescue and Coastguard Mackenzie Lakes. “These volunteer organisations provide a much-needed search and rescue service to the Mackenzie and Waitaki Valley communities, and have been in high demand over this busy holiday season” says Dene Madden, President of Coastguard Mackenzie Lakes. “Our Search and Rescue team has been operating out of a garden shed, and the Coastguard has been based at the local school’s old Dental School room. Having a combined, functional base means we can increase the effectiveness of our response in an emergency” says Dene. Lower Waitaki residents will soon be able to enjoy a new walking track and revitalised picnic area at the Glenavy Reserve, thanks to a grant of $4,150. “The Reserve is a popular area for walking, but recent river- bank erosion has made the current walking track impassable” says Mark Gurnett, Chairperson of local vol- unteer organisation Waimate Trackways. “We’re really looking forward to starting work on a new loop walk and cycle-way through the reserve. We will also be enhancing the public picnic area, and are very grateful to Meridian for their support” says Mark. Visitors to Duntroon will have the opportunity to experience an authentic village blacksmith shop and Brewery Hole with a grant of $40,744 from Meridian. “There’s a lot of fascinating history in Duntroon” says John Hore, Chairman of Nicol’s Blacksmith Historic Trust. “The Brewery Hole, the original source of Duntroon’s water supply, is part of a broader network of un-mapped underground caves. The old Nicol’s Blacksmith has also attracted a lot of interest, and we’re really looking forward to restoring it with the help of Meridian’s grant” says John. “We continue to receive a diverse range of high quality funding applications” says Neal Barclay, Chair of Meridian’s Waitaki Community Fund. “It’s great to see the number of projects that are making a real differ- ence in the Waitaki Valley. Meridian is proud to support initiatives that help sustain these communities” says Neal. Meridian’s award-winning* Waitaki Community Fund supports community development initiatives in the Waitaki Basin. Over $1.9 million has been granted to more than 200 local community projects over the last six years, including environmental conservation, volunteer emergency services, schools, local events, and heritage restoration. DOC WORKING BEE Gards Rd, February 23rd at 11. 00 am DOC are having a working bee at the Gards Road Reserve which could be a Vanished World Trail site in the future. Boxthorn is the target so gloves to pull seedlings and to protect when cutting and bundling. Cutting tools and long handled scrub cutters would be good. Eye protection too, and garters to keep grass seed out of sox. Site is very hot so plenty of water and lunch required. Ring John Hore if you can come at 4312508. Tourism Duntroon. There is a growing group here, of people providing in some way for the tourism industry. This may be by accommodation or attractions or services. While the DDDA looks after promotion of Duntroon and the area as a whole and also deals with day to day matters concerning the village I feel there is a gap where people in these businesses could get to know one another better for the improvement of local knowledge and of what we have to provide here. We can then promote each other in our separate businesses, according to the need of the person in front of us, with more confidence. So far my idea is just an idea and depending on response may become a group or it could be a simple as a closed group page on Facebook. Occasional meetings could highlight one or more local businesses or visit local areas of note so that we all have a better idea of what there is to see and do and where to stay. I am aware of how busy everyone is and don’t really imagine a high profile group with a big agenda and formal procedures but more a social networking opportunity for people in a ever growing industry which will be of benefit to all operators. Email me or phone me if you are keen to develop this idea. Jo 4312596 [email protected] Schooldays in the Danseys. There was no way out for my poor hardworking mother. She needed for us to have a governess. Living on an isolated property in the back country with a busy household to run, shearers and farm workers to cook for and three children all born within three years, there was no time left to teach or supervise the lessons sent from the Correspondence School. Our first Governess, Lorraine, a jolly plump person in her late teens with a lovely smile reflecting in her shining bangles and earrings, came to us when my eldest brother turned five. I had just turned two. When I turned five on August the 22nd, 1942, almost 155,000 New Zealand young men and women out of a population of fewer than two million, were fighting in the second world war far away from home. At nine o’clock each morning, we gathered close together in the corner by my father’s desk, to listen to the battery-powered radio. The wireless reception was not always good; sometimes the battery died before we could hear the solemn morning news that included lists of the missing and the dead. After the news, it became time for me with my two older brothers to scramble up to the large wooden table in our ‘Bigroom’, as the sitting room in our home was called. I had scrambled up to this table many times before, pestering to be allowed to join in the lessons, and scribbling on scraps of paper or scratching on a slate. The fire, fuelled by coal and pine, would spit and roar in the grate of the tiled fireplace, and the delicious aroma of fresh scones, ginger gems, pikelets or sugar buns mingling with the dinner roast wafted through from the kitchen. In the winter, which lasted a lot longer up the Danseys Pass than it did in most places, the sun rose in the North over the tops and shone on our home for a mere two hours, just to melt a little of the frost or snow, then sink down again behind the peaks, again in the North, as if exhausted by its efforts to bring a little warmth into our tiny narrow valley. On my first day, with help from Lorraine, I excitedly prised open the sharp metal clasp, which fastened the large gold coloured foolscap pack containing my very first and long awaited set of fort- nightly lessons from the Correspondence School in Wellington. The pack included a welcoming letter from my new teacher, some ‘Readers’, a slate in a wooden frame and exercise books with lined pages and all the letters of the alphabet waiting for me to colour in with the pencils I had received for my birthday. At 9.30 however, after the news and hardly before I could begin, it was time to tune in again, this time, to the School broadcast and we’d listen to the measured tones of Dr Butcher addressing pupils and parents listening in from scattered and isolated properties all over New Zealand. We learnt songs and sang along with the resident choir and listened to stories and personal messages from the teachers. It was just like an ordinary school assembly.