Ashburton Courier: August 06, 2020

www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Garden fete to rescue St John
NEWS
Ashburton Courier, August 6, 2020
19
St JohnAshburtonis
organising agarden feteinthe
magnificentgroundsofRakaia
Gardens later this year.
Thefete,onOctober15, will
see more than 50 stalls on site,
sellingitems such as food,
clothing jewellery, beauty
products and household and
giftware, plusentertainment.
St John runanumber of
community health initiativesalong
with the ambulance
service in the district ­and a
number of fundraising
projects are planned to boost
the coffers, including thelarge
garden fete.
St John Ashburtonexecutive
officer Elaine Vallendersaid
StJohnAshburtonwas
approached by stalwart
supporters Sueand Ted
Rollinson who offered the use
of their gardensfor agarden
walk.
It has since developed into a
garden fete.
“Sue and Ted have always
beengreat supporters of St
John andthey wanted to once
again help us out.
“This garden tour has now
growninto afete, complete
with more than 50 stalls,
including foodstalls, and
entertainment, as wellasthe
opportunity to stroll through
St John Ashburton will host agarden fete in the grounds of Sue
and Ted Rollinson's Rakaia Gardens.
PHOTO SUPPLIED.
the six acres of mature
gardens.”
“We are also lucky to have
local chef and caterer,
ChantelleQuinn, on board
with acooking
demonstration.” Chantelle was
aMasterchef contestant afew
years ago.
The stallholders aremostly
Full house for online banking tips
Canterbury basedbut there
arealso vendors travelling
from as farsouth as
Invercargill and as far north as
Dannevirke.
They cover children and
women’s clothing and
accessories,baby gear, garden
supplies,furniture andgarden
art, plants, ceramics, stained
glass, beauty products, eco
products, food and wine,
flowers, household and
giftware, jewellery and
woodenproducts.
“We are also thrilled to have
the support of theRakaia
Lions Club andthe Hotel
Ashburton,” she said.
Tickets, costing$15,will be
availablefrom mid­August and
will be available at avariety of
outlets in Ashburton,Rakaia,
Methven,Mayfield, Geraldine
and Timaru,aswellasonline.
Ticketswill be $20 per
person on the day.
The organisationisfacing
significantfinancial
challengesthis financialyear
(July 1toJune 30, 2021) and
any boost in financial support
will be welcome.
St John chief executive
officer Peter Bradley has said
up to $30million of cost
savingswereneeded to offset
an increasinglylarge deficit
throughout the organisation,
created in part by Covid­19.
“Our long­standing funding
issues have been welldocumented
and, combined
with the financialimpact of
Covid­19, we are now forced to
undergo asignificant
programme of cost
reductions,” he said.
Opera on
Ashburtonraised and
internationallyacclaimed tenor
Simon O’Neill willperform
alongsideother top opera
performers at aconcert at The
Pianovenue in Christchurch on
Saturday.
Mr O’Neill is set to curate the
Opera in The Cityprogramme
and will perform alongside
sopranoNatasha Wilson,
baritoneEdward Laurenson and
mezzo sopranoKristinDarragh.
David Kelly is on piano.
The musicalselectionincludes
pieces from Handel, Mozart,
Gounod, Bernstein and
Sondheim.
Tickets are available from the
website nzopera.com.
Hamish Hutton
ACT party
candidate
North Canterbury based
Hamish Huttonhas been
confirmedastheACT Party
candidatefor theRangitata
electorate.
The 46­year­old has spent his
career helping marketand
build businesses and brandsin
the technology andagriculture
sectors.
He lives in Leithfield,but
grewuponafarm in
Windwhistle that is still farmed
byhis father.
After astint in London, Mr
Hutton was involvedin
marketing theTaitbrand in the
USA and later worked for
Fonterra.
He is stillinvolved in
software marketing andisalso
helping farmers getoff the grid
with solar, and runsanonline
retail businesswith his wife.
‘‘I am passionate aboutthis
great country we livein, butI
believe there is more potential
to make it an incredible place
to live.’’
Mr Hutton said he believed
more needed to be done to
support small business.
‘‘We need to makelife easier
for small business ownersand I
have concerns that will not
happen under the current
government.’’
Mr Hutton said he had
followed theACT party for a
while andafriend who had
stood for the party in the Port
Hills hadintroduced him to the
many talentedpeople in it.
He said the election would be
a‘‘good learning experience’’.
Every chair in the building was in use for SeniorNet’s special session on how to get to grips
with internet banking. Organiser John Burn said 98 people came along to the Sinclair Centre
for the event, which was aimed at helping older people think about and move to internet
banking once cheques were no longer in use. SeniorNet meets regularly and covers arange
of technology in commonplace use, like supermarket scanners and paywave.
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