28/03/2006

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Children from Otorohanga Playcentre dressed up to donate a book called "Magic Places" to Otorohanga Public Library on Friday.
This event was a part of the Playcentre Awareness Week campaign held from March 19-25 supporting early literacy in both playcentres and at home.
Every two years Playcentre runs an awareness campaign to raise their national profile.
This year's theme ties into the 2003-2012 United Nations Literacy decade which addresses raising education and literacy levels for all.
In order to develop children's reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, children need a rich background in language together with a wide variety of experiences, which they get from playcentre.
Playcentre has been running for more than 60 years and with 500 playcentres operating throughout the country, is active in the early childhood sector. It is a parent co-operative, unique to New Zealand, and internationally recognised.
It provides early childhood education for whanau /families in safe and secure learning environments for children from birth to six years.
Its philosophy centres on child initiated play and parents as first educators.

Busy schedule as summer draws to a close

It's been a very hectic but exhilarating time since my last report.
Since being elected to mayor hardly a day has passed that hasn't seen a highlight or two, but the Otorohanga Mayoral Graduation Ceremony held on March 2 raised the
bar to a new level for me.
The opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our local trade training and apprenticeship graduates was so rewarding, and it was a fitting acknowledgement for the many organisations and individuals whose support, encouragement and contributions have made the Wintec Otorohanga Trade Training Centre such a success.
The 2006 semester is well underway with 10 students training for their pre-apprenticeship qualification, and I warmly welcome anyone interested in seeing what happens at the centre to call me for a personally guided familiarisation tour.
I have had three trips recently to Wellington to various mayoral forums and government departments.
Council has been fully engaged in regulatory processes including the representation review, LTCC Plan and so on, and come July will undertake the District Plan review so the next few weeks will be a return to normal duties and, I trust, a well earned breather.
The Kiwiana Festival was again a fantastic event and even the inclement weather early in the day did not dampen the spirits of the thousands who took part. Our schools have been active in staging swimming, athletic and triathalon sports days.
Work is ongoing around the district on many exciting initiatives such as the Harvest Community Centre, there are many subdivisions under way of various sizes catering for the strong interest in our quality real estate. Commercial and industrial growth continues to reflect confidence in the Otorohanga district.
PGG Wrightson, Cre8tive Solutions, a new barber shop and many others are just some examples of recent new additions to the district's business community.
It is pleasing to see so many sports and active lifestyle opportunities being promoted in the district by Sport Waikato and the many organisations that recognise being active is the smart choice.
Council staff has formed an activity group to encourage participation towards a healthy lifestyle, and so far we have teams in the weekly business house netball, Kiwi to the Harbour relay run and walk and last weekend's Otorohanga raft race challenge.
Almost every day you will find a sport being played near you or an organised social activity you can join in so there's really no excuse not to join me and be active.

Intersection makeover

An Otorohanga intersection is having an extreme makeover.
So extreme Otorohanga District Council has chosen to temporarily test the new design before making the changes permanent.
Rows of sandbags are currently laid out in the outline of a proposed central traffic island and kerb extension at the intersection of Hinewai St and
Kakamutu Rd.
The intersection was described as "an accident waiting to happen" during a community board meeting late last year.
At the meeting engineering manager Dave Clibbery described the intersection as "a very wide open area of seal that does not encourage consistent or cautious driving".
He suggested the paved central traffic island and kerb extension be installed to direct traffic and "provide a refuge for pedestrians crossing Hinewai St".
He also questioned whether the current give way sign on Hinewai St should be changed to a stop sign in order to slow traffic and reduce the risk of collisions.
"Otherwise it is likely that someday somebody is going to make a wrong move and there is going to be an accident," said Mr Clibbery.
Because the proposed changes are significant, require considerably reduced vehicle speed and can prove quite "tight" especially for larger vehicles, it agreed the kerbing should be trialled.
The sandbag experiment allows council staff to easily adapt the plans if necessary before anything permanent is put in place.
A budget of $14,000 is allocated to the project in the current financial year.