Selwyn Times: September 15, 2021

Selwyn Times Wednesday September 15 2021
10
OUR PEOPLE
SMALL BEGINNINGS: Gavin King’s father Louis milks the
family cow on their Hororata farm in the 1970s.
‘You must have goals’
• From page 9
Do you still farm the
property?
I’m semi-retired. We sold the
main part of Shelterdale to our
oldest son Fraser (40), he’s leasing
the balance of the land. So I
started out as a boy and now I’m
just a boy again. We also sold a
nearby farm to our second oldest
son Dougal (37). He converted it
and milks 1300 cows. Our other
son Angus (34) is a geologist at
the Red Dog Mine, in Alaska.
So you have gone from
buying the modest family
property to a bit of a family
farming empire?
Sort of, yes. I sold the original
family farm when I bought
Shelterdale. The total area
farmed by the family is about
3700 acres, on four different
properties between Hororata and
Windwhistle.
Will you retire off Shelterdale
one day?
We possibly will, but the
grandkids are just down the road,
Dougal’s and Fraser’s kids. If we
moved away, we wouldn’t see the
grandkids as much.
So I guess you have more than
met your teenage goal?
Yes. Mountain climbers have
goals, they have to get to the top.
Every year we have a Lincoln
Uni class come up here. I say to
them – in our life you must have
goals, if you have no goals you
will go nowhere. Even if a goal
seems unrealistic, you will be
surprised how far you get along
to achieving it.
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Games hinge on alert levels
• By Susan Sandys
HORORATA residents are
excited to be staging their
annual Hororata Highland
Games on November 6, but need
to see a change to Covid alert
level 1.
Hororata Community Trust
executive officer Cindy Driscoll
said momentum on ticket
sales had slowed down
only a little since New
Zealand’s current Covid
outbreak took hold.
“We are still selling
tickets, people are still
committing to the event
which encourages us to
keep going,” Driscoll said.
“It is challenging planning
events under the Covid cloud,”
Driscoll added.
A change to alert level 1,
at least in the South Island,
would be required for the 11th
consecutive annual highland
games. However, as some judges
and competitors were booked
to come from the North Island,
ideally any such level change
would be country-wide, Driscoll
said.
Pre-sale and 40 per cent of
early bird tickets had already
sold. At the same time, there had
been many applications from
potential stall holders wanting
to book sites, and organisers had
had to turn 40 per cent away.
“This is a fabulous position to
be in as we can select the best
stalls for our event. We have 130
stalls lined up,” Driscoll said.
While international heavy
competitors could not attend
once again this year, there would
be a top field of New Zealand
athletes, competing in four
categories.
Highlights would
include hosting the
Malvern Fire Fighters
Combat Challenge and
welcoming back international
Celtic singer songwriter
Steve McDonald.
“So all the early indicators
are pointing to another
great Hororata Highland
Games,” Driscoll said.
The games are one of two signature
events held by the trust,
the other is Hororata Glow Festival,
held in May. It has taken
over the running of a smaller
event for the first time this year,
that being the annual Hororata
Mechanical Swap Meet, planned
for September 25.
Driscoll said the trust would
make a decision this week on
whether the swap meet would
go ahead, as level 1, at least in
the South Island, would also be
required for this event.
Meanwhile, the trust has
taken on a new trustee.
Hororata farmer Chris
Thwaites has replaced former
Cindy Driscoll
trustee Andrew Hastie to
become one of the group’s six
trustees.
Thwaites is already an active
member of organisations including
the Selwyn Rugby Football
Club, Mt Olympus Ski Club, Go
Hororata and is a member of the
Hororata Primary School board
of trustees.
He said he was excited to have
joined.
“Knowing the positive impact
the trust has on our community,
I felt it was worth making the
time,” he said.
Chairman Richard Lang
welcomed having Thwaites’
“passion and vision” around the
table.
“Chris is a motivator; he gets
people involved in the community
and leads by example by
rolling up his sleeves.”
Lang said a big focus for the
trust in the challenging Covid
environment of the past 18
months had been the community’s
well being.
One of the main ways of doing
this was by providing resources
to volunteers of other community
groups.
Currently the trust was developing
a digital community hub
to give people access to a range
of digital tools to help them
with their volunteer roles. It was
currently seeking funding to
develop the project.
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