The Te Mata Hall is getting a repaint this week after winning a competition on The Hits radio station. With a bigger budget and better connections than this station the plan is to paint the hall on Thursday with a ton of local volunteers followed by a ball in the hall on Friday night.
After promising free paint and free drinks 114 people have so far registered for the ball - which could be the entire population of the Te Mata area. You’ll need to stay tuned to the Te Mata area news feed to keep up with the news.
Waikato Mayors are saying they’re 100 million dollars short on transport funding after the Government didn’t meet their request.
Waikato District appears to be the worst hit with the government creating a $35 million dollar hole in their budget while similar sized Waipa District is only short 1 million dollars.
Hamilton City has lost $56 million but with three times the population of our district and a smaller roading network they’ll be better equipped to handle the loss.
The Regional Council is also down 20 million which according to Council Chair Pamela Storey means they will struggle to do bus services to new suburbs in the region. It looks like additions to the Raglan bus announced last week may be under threat as well.
“This wasn’t a small ouch, this was actually quite a big hole,” said Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate While WDC Deputy Mayor Carolyn Eyre is demanding to know who was going to pick up the shortfall in a district dealing with significant growth.
Meanwhile the government is trumpeting the extra $1.9 million coming to the region in the form of roads of national significance in the area south of Cambridge. This will enable vehicles to more easily get into the Waikato Region where they will presumably discover an increasingly rundown transport system as maintenance budgets are likely to take a hit.
The Whaingaroa Talent Factory has received eight entries for this year’s show and mentor program. Last year’s headliners Abstract Fish Lungs will be returning for the last time, along with Zen Lally while 2024 Waikato Rockquest finalists Wavy State of Mind will be on stage as well.
All seven entrants will meet with mentors for song writing and stage craft advice next week before reconvening on the day of the Showcase for wananga on copyright and legal issues, as well as the technicalities of sound check and preparing for a show.
The Showcase, bought to you by Raglan Community radio, Raglan Community House and Soundsplash will be on Saturday 12th October in the Raglan Town hall at 6pm