Bay Harbour: April 05, 2017

PAGE 8 BAY HARBOUR Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Wednesday April 5 2017
Your Local Views
Dictionaries in schools
Ferrymead Rotary
Club member Barbara
Crooks writes about
how important hardcopy
dictionaries in schools are,
and the value they have
compared to their online
counterpart
IT’S A developing debate –
dictionaries in traditional
book form against the ethereal
internet. It’s a poser that crops
up each year for Ferrymead
Rotary members and several
schools.
For some years now
Ferrymead Rotary has supplied
colourful illustrated dictionaries
for year 4 children in some local
schools.
This year 160 dictionaries, in
total, were given to Bromley,
Te Waka Unua and St Anne’s
schools. Each child is given a
dictionary to use at school and
eventually to take home.
In most schools they are used
as a class set until the end of the
year when the children are able
to keep them.
The schools say that if the
dictionaries were given to the
children at the beginning of the
year, there would be none in the
classroom by the end of the year.
And children who came to the
school during the year would not
have a dictionary to work with.
In spite of the growing lure of
technology and computerised
access to information, teachers
say the book dictionaries are still
valued and used alongside the
internet.
For some children, the dictionary
will be the first book
WELL
READ: The
Ferrymead
Rotary Club
donated 160
dictionaries
to Te Waka
Unua,
Bromley,
and St
Anne’s
Schools’
year four
pupils which
the pupils
can keep at
the end of
the year.
they have ever owned.
Ferrymead Rotary hopes these
dictionaries will help launch the
children on a lifelong, reading
journey.
Ferrymead Rotary is assisted
in providing the dictionaries by
the Lorna and Bill Boyd Trust.
The trust offers all Rotary
clubs in New Zealand subsidised
dictionaries to give to low-decile
schools.
If you want to go along and see
what we get up to at Ferrymead
Rotary you would be very welcome.
Phone Kai Tovgaard on 384
9485.
Push to keep cruise ships
returning to Lyttelton
National
List MP Nuk
Korako writes
about why
cruise ships
should be
brought back
to Lyttelton
Tourism is a key industry in
the Port Hills electorate. And
perhaps more than any suburb,
it is vitally important to Lyttelton.
Visitors from Canterbury,
New Zealand and the world enjoy
coming to Lyttelton to enjoy
the history, architecture and
natural beauty of the town.
Lyttelton has often played a
key role in the tourism industry
for Canterbury as a whole as
well. As the entry point for
cruise ship passengers, the Lyttelton
Port boosted visitor numbers
and tourist revenue in both
Lyttelton and Christchurch.
Of course, all that changed
with the earthquakes. And while
so much in our city has been
rebuilt, and the Lyttelton Port
Recovery Plan is progressing
well, not enough attention has
been paid to rebuilding the
infrastructure necessary to bring
cruise ships back to Lyttelton.
I have appreciated the assurances
from Lyttelton Port Company
CEO Peter Davie that LPC
is committed to seeing a cruise
terminal return to the port. But
understandably, the Port Company’s
main focus is on the areas
that give it the best return. A
cruise ship terminal has great
benefits for Lyttelton and for
Canterbury, but the commercial
benefit may not match that of
the port’s core freight business.
That is why the question of
rebuilding the cruise terminal
is not just one for the Port
Company, but also for the cruise
ship companies and city council.
I will also be speaking with the
relevant Ministers about the
appropriate level of central Government
involvement in making
this happen.
I know from my own experience
in the tourism industry that
if we don’t move quickly to bring
the cruise ships back to Lyttelton,
there’s every chance the
cruise companies will move on
and it will be harder than ever
to bring this vital component
of our tourism industry back to
town. We need to make sure that
doesn’t happen, and I am committed
to doing what I can to
ensure buy-in from central and
local government.
•More local views, p11
SMALL CHANGE
MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE
Twice a year we clear the Community Fund collection boxes at
Christchurch Airport and share the money across the community.
Kiwi dollars, international currency, small change from your cup
of coffee, plus a top-up donation from us, all add up for local
charities and community projects.
Drug-ARM Therapeutic Art group is a weekly meeting of people
wanting to make or maintain changes in their drug and/or alcohol
use. Two DrugARM staff members (pictured) support clients to use
art as a way of abstaining from alcohol and drugs. Christchurch
Airport proudly supports Drug-ARM through the Community Fund.
Charities and community groups
can apply for funds at
christchurchairport.co.nz/communityfund