What an amazing autumn we have had this year. There was one week where nature damaged our property, but for the most part we have been lucky with the recent good weather.
There have been other good-news stories from the district also. The lights around The Square seem, at last, to be getting somewhere. Along with everyone else, I wish the team at Kitcheners “all the best” with their repair work.
One of my annual highlights is the Martinborough Music Festival, which happens in September. Although that is a few months away, planning for the Festival is well under way. In May I went to the launch of the 2025 Festival where the artistic directors, Donald Armstrong and Wilma Smith, told us about this year’s programme and who would be playing. It was a great evening, a lot of fun, and gave everyone a taste of what promises to be another wonderful Festival, later this year.
Another highlight in the annual calendar is the Wellington Gold Awards. The Gold Awards are the Wellington Region’s premier business awards. The finalists were announced at the beginning of May. There are often finalists and winners from the South Wairarapa. This year there are two from the Martinborough Area. In the “Vibrant Gold” award section, for events and hospitality, sits local luxury lodge Wharekauhau Country Estate. Wharekauhau is a very well-known business, famous for entertaining royalty and its ability to show case the Wairarapa. In the last year it has seen a 25% growth in international visitors. In the “Emerging Gold – Products” award, for firms that make things and have ten or fewer employees, Martinborough’s Cartel Food Company stands out among the finalists. For those who have not caught up yet, Cartel Foods makes and freezes handmade Burritos and Enchiladas. They describe themselves as making “Frozen food that actually tastes good.” Provided your local supermarket has not sold out, you should be able to pick up Cartel Food items in the frozen section. I wish both finalists all the best for the finals, happening in July.
Many people in Martinborough commute to Wellington by public transport. Recently the train service has been very inadequate. The current troubles are said to be due to “staff shortages” by the company running the trains. Transdev has pretty much only one job – to staff the trains with people who get those trains to Wellington and back. If they cannot do that, then they are in breach of their contract and penalty payments should apply – penalty payments that can help fund bus services that are reliable. We need to be able to rely on public transport, otherwise it does not fulfil its purpose. There has been a huge decline in the number of people using the train and this is not good for road users, or the environment, or our wallets as parking fees and petrol cost much more than a train ticket. I would like to see GWRC commission a review of the contract management of Transdev to help us understand how service levels could decline so much without someone hitting the alarm button.
In June, the Council sets rates for the coming twelve months. This year, rates will rise by about 4.7%. This is a somewhat meaningless figure for most people, as it is greatly affected by whether your household has Council-supplied water and waste-water services.
