The 2023 edition of Whaingaroa Talent Factory has been announced for Saturday 8th July in the town hall. This will be the 3rd edition of the youth music showcase put on jointly by the Raglan Community House, Sound Splash and Raglan Community Radio. Rangatahi aged 13-18 have until June 25th to enter and will have the opportunity to work with professional musicians who will mentor them ahead of the all-ages event at the town hall.
Still with local music, Abstract Fish Lung, who performed at last Year’s Whaingaroa Talent Factory, played at the Waikato Rock Quest last weekend where they impressed enough to progress through to the regional finals – which will he held June 24th at the Clarence St Theatre in Hamilton. If you want to know more about their experience checkout the podcast on raglanradio.com.
Waikato Regional Council has released some data from their tide gauges showing that the recent storm on Saturday 20th May caused a dramatic rise in sea levels with the water being 1.3 metres above normal at its peak – fortunately this coincided with the low tide but it was still 0.8 metres higher than normal at high tide leading to coastal inundation around the rugby grounds, Papahua and Lorenzen Bay According to WRC this was the result of low atmospheric pressure which allows sea levels to rise and a strong westerly storm that pushed water up against the coast.
With another Coastcare working B at Ruapuke North this weekend, where 800 plants are due to be planted, we took the chance to ask Andrew Anderson from Waikato regional council about the erosion of the dunes at Papahua between the walkbridge and the boat ramp. He said planting would very likely resolve the issue and should be tried before something more dramatic like the installation of a groyne.
Andrew said the problem at Papahua was on their radar although it is also a district council issue as it’s located in a public park. For its part the district council has been promising to do some protective planting at Papahua for 5 years but for unknown reasons has yet to even start the project. https://raglanradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/349096929_798156768349194_1580243430885140715_n.jpg