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SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Tuesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2017</strong> 25<br />
News<br />
Field days for whole family<br />
MORE THAN 600 exhibitors<br />
will be at the South Island<br />
Agricultural Field Days when<br />
it is held for the second time at<br />
Kirwee, this month.<br />
The annual event, which<br />
switches between Canterbury<br />
and Southland each year, will<br />
take place <strong>March</strong> 29 - 31.<br />
It was held at the Courtenay<br />
Rd site for the first time in 2015,<br />
after outgrowing its previous<br />
site at Lincoln, where it had<br />
been based for 32 years. More<br />
than 27,500 people attended that<br />
event and organisers anticipate<br />
the same number or more this<br />
year.<br />
Field days media spokesman<br />
Daniel Schat said a lifestyle section<br />
with exhibits for the whole<br />
family would add something<br />
new to the event.<br />
“We have 50 exhibitors lined<br />
up to display products ranging<br />
from model trains and spa pools<br />
to dog control systems and solar<br />
water and power units.”<br />
Other attractions would<br />
include Farm Trader magazine’s<br />
top tractor shootout. It will<br />
compare variable transmission<br />
tractors made by the world’s<br />
leading brands. Judges will test<br />
the tractors on a range of criteria<br />
including performance and affordability.<br />
PULLING A CROWD: The 2015 South Island Agricultural Field Days attracted 27,500 people and<br />
organisers are hoping for a similar turnout this year. Inset: Rodney Hadfield <br />
Two fencing competitions<br />
will also be held, and another<br />
event which has been popular in<br />
the past is the Agri-Innovation<br />
awards which recognise New<br />
Zealand-made innovations or<br />
inventions. Entrants are given<br />
a chance to demonstrate their<br />
inventions.<br />
Mr Schat said the site had a<br />
good crops of maize, fodder<br />
beet, pasture and oats ready for<br />
harvest machinery demonstrations.<br />
“Cultivation and seeding machinery<br />
will also be in action,”<br />
he said.<br />
Field days is a non-profit<br />
organisation made up of farmers<br />
and others in the agricultural<br />
industry. Organising committee<br />
chairman Rodney Hadfield said<br />
it would not be possible without<br />
the work of volunteers and<br />
community groups and Friends<br />
of the Field Days who donated<br />
equipment and services.<br />
He said it was a good community<br />
fundraising opportunity for<br />
local schools and young farmers<br />
who helped with parking, running<br />
the tills and the entrance,<br />
and clean up.<br />
Danish settler<br />
history<br />
celebrated<br />
ABOUT 70 descendants of 19th<br />
century Danish settler Peter<br />
Sorensen gathered in Greenpark<br />
and Akaroa recently for a family<br />
reunion.<br />
A gathering and exhibition<br />
of work by Danish born woodworker<br />
Philip van Deurs was<br />
held at Greenpark Memorial<br />
Community Centre, and there<br />
were visits to various Banks Peninsula<br />
sites associated with the<br />
family history.<br />
The reunion culminated with<br />
a get-together at the Akaroa Recreation<br />
Ground.<br />
Many of the descendants came<br />
from <strong>Selwyn</strong>, as well as other<br />
parts of Canterbury, Otago and<br />
Southland.<br />
Some also came from the<br />
North Island and Australia, as<br />
well as as far afield as Wisconsin<br />
and Vietnam.<br />
Descendant and Lincoln<br />
resident Adriana de Groot s<br />
aid the reunion had gone<br />
well.<br />
Mr Sorensen, a carpenter, and<br />
his wife Rasmine made the journey<br />
from Yding, Denmark, to<br />
Lyttelton onboard the Cardigan<br />
Castle in 1873.
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