Tamahere Sharks took out the Cambridge Bowling Club’s Twilight Bowls league last week holding out perennial winners All Hacks on the final night.
The team of, from left Keith Jones, Bryan Anderson and Bill Edge are shown with the trophy and Twilight Committee chair Don Harris.
Gabriel’s Golden Girls won the most popular team prize while Grassyass, comprising Gaynor Hotham, Rob Steenson, Michael Franklin and Pauline Mercer won the consolation event.
Bring lunch
Cambridge High School announced contingency plan last week after learning it would not be getting school lunches through Libelle’s liquidator. Parents were encouraged to pack lunches on Monday and Tuesday when the school canteen would be closed. It was scheduled to reopen with a limited menu yesterday.
Sister city boost
Le Quesnoy deputy mayor Axelle Declerck lays a wreath during the French town’s delegation to Cambridge last year.
The cost of new information boards and additional outdoor signs talking about the significance of Le Quesnoy will come from the Cambridge Sister Cities Reserve. The $2500 joins spending of $10,000 each on visits next year from Bihoro, the other sister city in Japan, and Le Quesnoy in France the year after. The fund currently sits at $24,077.
Debt up
Sarah Matthews
The Local Government Funding Agency has approved an increase in Waipā District Council’s debt level from 2.8 to 3.5 times its revenue. Economic factors make it difficult for growth councils like Waipā to meet their debt limit benchmark. Waipā’s debt is closing in on $400 million and expected to reach $600 million by 2030.
Meanwhile Waipā Networks Trust chair Sarah Matthews has been appointed a director of the agency.
Planning underway
Public consultation on Waipā District Council’s Long Term Plan gets underway this week. Hearings will be held in May when the council hears public submissions and will provide residents with the opportunity to present their views in person. Council will adopt its plan in June.
Quarry hearing
A three-day hearing in Te Awamutu next month to consider an application to establish a quarry south of Cambridge in Newcombe Rd will be livestreamed next month following a request from the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce.
Park of the year
Our Summer at Lake Te Koo Utu. Photo: Liana Bailey.
Lake Te Koo Utu is Waipā’s park of the year following a popular vote held as part of Parks Week. The Cambridge lake secured 58 per cent of the vote, edging out Te Awamutu War Memorial Park. Waipuke Park on the shores of Lake Karāpiro was third and Alexandra Redoubt in Pirongia fourth.
One stung
A sting operation test liquor outlets resulted in one outlet facing further action after alcohol was sold to a person under 18 last weekend. The operation run in Waipā and South Waikato covered 24 outlets.
Work completed
Interim repair work on Shakespeare St – from Cook Street to Fergusson Bridge – finished this month and a more substantial rebuild is rescheduled for the next construction season later in the year to allow sufficient time to engage with businesses and residents and formulate the best and least disruptive traffic management and safety plan.
Disruption ahead
The next stage of construction at the Cambridge Rd roundabout starts soon.
A change of traffic management for the next stage of construction on the Cambridge Rd roundabout between Te Awa Lifecare and Amber Garden Centre will cause some disruption. Traffic will be diverted to the other side of the central island.
Road named
Te Aka Matua Rise, Bridleways Estate
A major feeder road in the Bridleways Estate will be called Te Aka Matua Rise. Mana whenua gifted the name which means “the main vine of knowledge” for the road from Don Gerrand Drive to Cambridge Rd as a way of linking St Peter’s School, the stalled Cambridge West Primary School and Te Arikinui Marae and two large residential growth cells.
Pro boxing for Waipā
Matamata based Alex Mukuka, will make his professional boxing debut in Te Awamutu.
Makuka will feature on a card being put together by Nigel Elliott in the Te Awamutu Events Centre in May.
The 28-year-old Zambian-born New Zealander is regarded as one of the country’s best amateurs.
He is a four-time New Zealand national amateur champion across two weight divisions, lightweight and Featherweight and represented New Zealand at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, reaching the quarterfinals.
He announced he would turn pro after a loss in the last Olympic qualifier in Thailand in May 2024. Makuka enters a relatively lightly populated New Zealand field at featherweight – 57kg – and may have to risk rising to the welterweight class.
His debut will be against Ross Malthus from Whangarei. Malthus has recently had a resurgence in his career and is chasing a third successive win.
