Ashburton Courier: March 11, 2021
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www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
Show features war stories, song<br />
MICK.JENSEN<br />
@ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
Aspecialoneoffshow<br />
featuringlocal talentand<br />
reliving the warera through<br />
storiesand song willbe<br />
performed at <strong>Ashburton</strong>Trust<br />
Event Centre onApril 24.<br />
The show is called Anzac<br />
Stories and Songs fromthe<br />
Front Lineand hasbeen<br />
compiledbyElaine Beach and<br />
Sally Farr,withtechnical<br />
directionfrom Roger Farr.<br />
The twohourshow isa<br />
fundraiser for theevent<br />
centreand will help withthe<br />
costoffuture infrastructure<br />
upgrades.<br />
MrsBeach saidanumber of<br />
wellknown andregular local<br />
performers had put up their<br />
hands to be involvedand<br />
support theshow.<br />
Brent Gray and Mitchell<br />
Farrwould both perform<br />
compere roles andwould read<br />
war storiesand letters that<br />
related to local families.<br />
There would be solos from<br />
thelikesofChrisWoods and<br />
Libby Higson, whowould be<br />
transformed into the role of<br />
popular World War 2<br />
performer VeraLynn.<br />
MrsBeach saidthe show<br />
would touch allthe emotions.<br />
‘‘There will be sad and<br />
happy bitsand peoplewill<br />
Wearing military hats and standing to attention are show compilers (from left) Sally Farr, Roger<br />
Farr and Elaine Beach.<br />
findthemselves laughing and<br />
evencrying.’’<br />
Afull companyof14<br />
performers willbesupported<br />
by ateam of dancers and<br />
eightpiece band.<br />
There will be slots featuring<br />
highland dancersand theRed<br />
HotNanas.<br />
Most performers will wear<br />
war era clothing and military<br />
enthusiastDerrick Cullimore<br />
willset up astage display.<br />
Sally Farr said the show<br />
would feature wellknown<br />
singalongs likePackUpYour<br />
Troublesand TakeMeBack<br />
To dearOld Blighty.<br />
‘‘There will be<br />
opportunitiesfor the<br />
audience to joininand we<br />
encourage themtodoso.’’<br />
She saidthe showhad been<br />
in theplanning forthe lastsix<br />
months andwas suitable for<br />
people of all ages.<br />
Ticketsfor the 2.30pm show<br />
areavailable from theevent<br />
centre ticket office or the<br />
venue’swebsite.<br />
Covid impacts gallery visitations<br />
Covid heavilyimpactednumbers through<br />
the doorsof<strong>Ashburton</strong> ArtGallery in the<br />
secondhalfof2020,with visitationsdown<br />
29 peronthe same period in 2019.<br />
Visitor numbers forthe six months to<br />
December 2020were 9267, compared<br />
with13,097 in theprevious year.<br />
ArtGallerymanagerShirin<br />
Khosravianisaidthe declinewas mostly<br />
because of changestovisitorbehaviour<br />
following Covid19 andalert level<br />
changes.<br />
Exhibition openings and events in<br />
August and September were impacted by<br />
lower numbers as most of NewZealand<br />
moved to level 2.<br />
School and other group visitswere<br />
heavily reduced or cancelled to ensure<br />
staffand publicsafety,she said.<br />
Anotherfactorcontributingtothe<br />
lowernumbers wasthe reschedulingof<br />
the<strong>Ashburton</strong> Society of Arts annual<br />
exhibition,which moved from July to<br />
October and wasreducedinscale.<br />
Significantly lower numbers also came<br />
through the gallery forthe exhibition,<br />
said Ms Khosraviani.<br />
Extradata is now collected by art<br />
gallery staff on the demographics of<br />
visitors.<br />
Forthe secondhalf of 2020, some 87 per<br />
cent of visitors were local, most of the rest<br />
were from outsidethe districtand less<br />
than 0.5 per cent wereinternational.<br />
The gallery hosted four local<br />
exhibitions andseven nationalartists.<br />
NEWS<br />
<strong>Ashburton</strong> <strong>Courier</strong>, <strong>March</strong> <strong>11</strong>, <strong>2021</strong><br />
13<br />
Council<br />
puts in<br />
transport<br />
submission<br />
The need for asecond<br />
<strong>Ashburton</strong> River bridge and the<br />
desire for afourlane highway<br />
between Rolleston and Tinwald<br />
are the key areas highlighted by<br />
<strong>Ashburton</strong> District Council in<br />
its submission on the draft<br />
Canterbury Regional Land<br />
Transport Plan.<br />
<strong>Ashburton</strong> District<br />
councillors discussed the final<br />
details of the submission at last<br />
week’s meeting, the day before<br />
submissions closed.<br />
Mayor Neil Brown said the<br />
draft Canterbury Regional<br />
Land Transport Plan <strong>2021</strong>31<br />
was short on detail for Years 3<br />
to 10 and needed more detail<br />
when the final plan came out.<br />
He said asecond <strong>Ashburton</strong><br />
River bridge was included in<br />
council’s planning going<br />
forward, and needed to be<br />
included in the 10year<br />
transport plan.<br />
Afourlane highway was<br />
needed to improve safety on<br />
State Highway 1.<br />
Councillor Angus McKay said<br />
afourlane highway would help<br />
the movement of increasing<br />
amounts of freight on the road<br />
and would make it safer for<br />
overtaking traffic.<br />
His suggestion that a<br />
reference to freight be included<br />
in the submission was<br />
supported by councillor<br />
Carolyn Cameron, who said<br />
road safety should be<br />
paramount in the plan.<br />
She also suggested including<br />
available statistics on the large<br />
volume of traffic that crossed<br />
the <strong>Ashburton</strong> River bridge<br />
every day to support the case<br />
for asecond bridge.<br />
Mr Brown said there was also<br />
atraffic counter on the Rakaia<br />
River bridge and including data<br />
was agood idea.<br />
IT’S IN OUR HANDS<br />
Kai roto iōtātou rikarika<br />
#toitūWaitaha #ourCanterbury<br />
Steppingupfor thefuture of our regionnow… means asking morefromall of us.<br />
Environment Canterbury needs your input intothe draft Long-Term Plan <strong>2021</strong>-31, whichoutlines the proposed actions<br />
that will help shape our region’s future. Make asubmission at haveyoursay.ecan.govt.nz/LTP.
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