On the very chilly Friday evening 35 tired and excited women arrived via charter bus outside ‘Hokey Smoke’ in Featherston to collect their separate packets of the best fish and chips in the Southern Wairarapa (a well kept secret until now).
After months of planning, and fund raising thanks to the Rural Women BALLENTYNES Fashion, Z ENERGY, and some private donations, the Wellington@Heart Mums Pamper Weekend for 40 Wellington and Wairarapa mums at the Copthorn Hotel was finally here.
Finally the bus arrived at Masterton and ‘check in’ at The Copthorn Hotel, and the crowd of tired mums soon settled in for the night to watch a film and snack on pop corn and M & M’s, and then head off to bed.
Saturday morning after a buffet breakfast a large group made it down to the Martinborough Vineyard where wine maker Paul Mason talked us through the history of this world class Vineyard, explaining how wine is made, followed by a dungeon tour of the vats and barrel rooms and ending with the tasting of some wonderful wines, thank you Paul and MARTINBOROUGH VINEYARD for having us.
Then back to Masterton, where Sandra and Victoria at CAFE STRADA treated to a ‘coffee and cake’ pamper. I know it’s easy to think its not such a big deal to go out and have a break at a Cafe for coffee and cake surely? But a lot of these mums struggle weekly to cover unsubsidised medications their children as the drugs needed are expensive.
Even something as simple as taking time out to go to a movie is a treat a lot of them have not done for years, so when I spoke with Brett at REGENT3 he said invite them ALL to a film.
After the movie, the mums regrouped back for an afternoon of manicures, hair cuts, facials and pedicures by the awesome hair and make up crew who donated their time and a fabulous photographer who donated several hours to do portraits.
Saturday evening all relaxed over a 3 course dinner, sharing stories and making new friends with other mums who have shared the same journey and stories of long stays in hospitals with their family member.
A lot of kind and wonderful people helped us make this weekend a huge success. Wellington@Heart has been supporting Wellington and Wairarapa families for 25 years, so this pamper weekend was a way of celebrating that.
So thank you Rural Women, Martinborough Vineyard, Regent3, Gay Chadburn for donating a beautiful hand bag raffle, Feldenkrais practitioners Mary Klaver and David Blake for the gift vouchers, Barbara Anker for the beautiful jewellery and watches, and of course Fiona Shanahan who came up with the idea over a year ago.
Linda Blake
