Nifty shades of Gray
Francie Gray
In charge of the telephone exchange starting late last century at the Waikato Times she was, in many ways, the newspaper’s public voice.
Now Hamilton’s Operatic Society is planning the ultimate curtain call for Francie Gray.
Her funeral service on Monday will be staged at the Clarence St Theatre – two days after the Hunchback of Notre Dame opens there, and with the set in place.
For the length of the service the late life member of the society will replace Quasimodo and take centre stage.
Society chair Caroline Gill said she could not think of a more appropriate farewell for Gray than for her to have one last audience.
Gray had even started directing her last show before she died – asking that everyone who is there dresses colourfully.
In announcing her passing, son Steve declared on line – “she was a helleva broad and so utterly joyful she had such a perfect end. The memorial service is gonna rock, so much to celebrate.”
Alex Pelham-Waerea, a language teacher at Sacred Heart Girls’ College in Hamilton, is playing the lead character of Quasimodo in Hamilton Operatic Society’s production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame which opens tonight and runs until August 10 at the Clarence Street Theatre. Photo: Mark Hamilton.
Paralympians chosen
Eighteen members of the Paralympic Team for Paris 2004. Photo: Getty Images.
Cyclists Anna Taylor and Devon Briggs (Cambridge) and Nicole Murray (Otorohanga) are part of a 25-strong NZ Paralympic Team confirmed today for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The para cycling team manager is former Olympian cyclist Brendon Cameron while the physiotherapist is Lauren Shelley, both of Cambridge, who are part of 40 support staff also heading to France.
Students on bikes
Support the students online.
Young Oliphant House boarders at St Peter’s School will cycle for 12 hours on Saturday to raise funds for the St John Cambridge Station upgrade. It is the second event in two years the boarding students have undertaken for St John and they have set a target of $20,000. During the event, they’ll also be learning the Three Steps for Life (CPR) programme, and some of the St John team will cycle with them to show support.
Water tower
Cambridge Water Tower
The man behind a bid to stop the demolition of Cambridge’s water tower has been inundated with support. James Casey says that because of the response he is looking to call a meeting to plan the next action. Meanwhile The News has received several letters to the editor. Read: Cambridge News online version.
New chair
David Wybourne has been elected the St Peter’s School, Cambridge Alumni Association chair. Wybourne recently returned to Waipā after living in the United Kingdom for the last 35 years.
Festival lights up
Kelly Bouzaid, Aroha Croft (Chamber of Commerce), Dave Marinkovich (Shaw’s), Liz Stolwyk (GL Events), Janette Douglas (Great Kiwi Summer Festival Event Manager).
Organisers of the Great Kiwi Summer Festival at Lake Karāpiro in November have secured the return of the Illuminate Light and Sound show. Last year’s show at the domain was a star attraction at the two-day event, which is scheduled for the second weekend in November. Event Manager Janette Douglas said the festival will also host an outdoor expo, Armistice in Cambridge, the BMX Big Air Championships and water demonstrations.
2023 Illuminate Light and Sound Show
Final week
Applications to be part of the Cambridge delegation to Le Quesnoy in France for Anzac Day commemorations next year close next week. Meanwhile members of a delegation heading to Cambridge’s other sister city Bihoro later this year have been confirmed. They are Liz Stolwyk, Mike Montgomerie, Philip Coles, Alana Mackay, Andrew Myers, Alisha Robinson, Robyn Maxwell and Greg Thornton. Delegates pay for the trips themselves.
More AEDs, none lost
Tauwhare School principal Chris May and students (from left) Ryan Hunter, Hawaikii-Dehlia Pira and Emily Ding with the school’s replacement AED device, made possible thanks to the Tamahere Lions Club. Photo: Supplied
HeartSafe Cambridge has reported a successful 2023-24 year where it was involved in several projects and was not the target of thieves. HeartSafe provides and maintains Automated External Defibrillators – AEDs – to the community.
During the year it provided a lockbox and street sign to the Leamington Rugby Club to house their AED, worked with Tamahere Lions to provide a facility outside the village shops’ doctor’s office and started a project to place a third unit at the 4 Square shop on Thornton Rd, Cambridge. All three AEDs will be available around the clock.
HeartSafe also helped the Cambridge Town Hall purchase a unit so the building would be covered for all events. HeartSafe chair Henry Strong noted in his annual report it was “good news” that no AEDs were stolen during the year. An AED can increase someone’s chance of surviving a heart attack by up to 80 per cent if applied immediately. On the fundraising front grants were received from Jumble Around and the Cambridge Lions for AED maintenance and the purchase of five new AED signs – and a sausage sizzle raised $2000.
The list of Cambridge’s 24 by 7 AEDs is published regularly in The News.
Moon walk
Pictured left to right: Tina Chan, Paul Wong, Brent Montgomerie (front), Ian Crabb (back), Bill Cairns (front), Warren Beard (back), Tony and Judy Costello, Heidi Wehrle, Murray and Monique Candy, and Elbe Moreland. Photo: Michael Jeans.
A conservation project centred around a natural spring at Cambridge Resthaven is a step closer to completion thanks to a $40,000 donation by Cambridge Lions. Cambridge Resthaven representatives and 11 Cambridge Lions members recently visited the Te Puna Marama (Moon Spring) to view the new bridge, stairs and track funded by Cambridge Lions.
Volunteers galore
More than 40 people answered a Department of Conservation call for volunteers to help set bait as part of a pest eradication programme in the Pureora Forest to protect kōkako. The call was published in The News and with a well populated team, DOC has announced it will run the baiting days from August 16 to 18.
Students’ concert
Grace Burt
A concert at Te Awamutu’s St John’s Anglican Church this Sunday afternoon will feature performances by students from the Waikato Conservatorium of Music. Singers Isabella Reid, Grace Burt, Edward Smith and Sophia Yang will be accompanied by pianist Frances Cowan and there may be an instrumentalist included. The event is being put on by Te Awamutu Concerts Alive.
Health expo
Te Awamutu Menz Shed’s planned health session for men is attracting plenty of interest – and shed leader Richard Cato says it’s also prompted two new members to join. The public expo will be held in the Baptist Church in Teasdale Street on Saturday from 9am to 1pm.
Hospital upgrade
Waikato Hospital has completed an upgrade to its laboratory it says provides more space, services “co-located” and adds a new Molecular Biology Laboratory. These changes will ensure a fit-for-purpose environment that makes the best use of the latest technology, aligns with current accreditation standards, and enhances the laboratory’s capacity to respond swiftly during future outbreaks.
The $9.8 million upgrade started in March 2023 and was completed this month.
Laboratory Operations Manager, Clinical and Operational Support Kay Stockman in the new Molecular Biology Laboratory.
Drysdale elected
Mahe Drysdale
Cambridge financial advisor and former Olympic Games gold medallist and world champion rower Mahé Drysdale is Tauranga’s new mayor.
Drysdale, 45, was raised in Tauranga and attended Tauranga Boys’ College but now lives in Maungatautari with wife Juliette (nee Haigh) – herself a former world champion rower and Olympic bronze medallist – and their three children Frankie, 4, Boston, 7 and Bronte, 9.
He won by by a margin of about 6100 votes.
The final voter turnout rate was 38.7% after all special votes were processed, just behind 2019′s 40.3% and slightly ahead of 2016′s 38.1%.
Drysdale won 16,606 votes in the single-transferable vote system, ahead of ex Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless on 10,510, singer Ria Hall on 9077 and former deputy mayor Tina Salisbury on 7388.
Cameras go up
Cambridge’s newest playground – which has been a target of vandals – is now being monitored by cameras. Waipā District Council announced the move after a second attack on the Terry Came Drive playground took the sum of vandalism there to $16,500. The vandals have not yet been identified.
Nominations
The awards two years ago.
Trelawney Stud, Waikato Stud and Ray and the estate of Martha Johnson are nominees for the Sir Patrick and Justine Lady Hogan Breeder of the Year award which will be presented on Saturday at the Don Rowlands Event Centre in Karāpiro.
