NEWS 10 <strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> <strong>News</strong>, <strong>January</strong> <strong>13</strong>, <strong>2022</strong> Community thanked for its amazing support of hall By SHELLEY TOPP The BalcairnPublicHall Society is promising agreatlineup of events at thesmallcommunity venuethisyear. The society’s chairman,Jeremy Finn says the committee wanted to thankthe communityfor the ‘‘amazing support’’ theyreceived last year whichmadeitpossible to hold events at thehall despitethe Covid19pandemic restrictions. ‘‘We arevery grateful to allthe patrons whoattendedour concerts and whohad to negotiate the cancellationsforced by Covid 19. ‘‘We arealso very gratefulto thosewho hiredthe hall fortheir events,’’ he says. ‘‘Special thanks arealso dueto our principal sponsor Mike Greer Homes(<strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong>)Ltd and to those who selleventtickets on our behalf(Sally Mac’s, in Amberley, SeftonGarage and Stan’s 7Day PharmacyRangiora) and to BrandtsGiesen McCormack whoprovide printing services for us,’’hesays. ‘‘We have already arranged a greatlineupofevents for the year,and we plan to addseveral “blackboard”communityconcerts as wellasthe Poetry Day event whichwewereforced to postpone earlierin2021.’’ Thereare fourconcerts booked so far for the hall andnegotiations are underwaywith ‘‘local artists’’ Community facility ... The Balcairn Hall provides an intimate venue for events. PHOTO:FILE for two or three moreevents. However Jeremy saysthe committeewere alsointerested in hearing from thecommunity about anyevents they wouldlike to see in the BalcairnHall. ‘‘Itisacommunity space and we wantittobeusedasacommunity space.’’ This year’sconfirmed concerts, which areall beingheld in association withArts On Tour New Zealandare: Mundi Trio, on Saturday, February12. Alpaca SocialClub, on Saturday, March 26. Albiand theWolves,onSunday, May 15. Acrossthe Great Divide,on Saturday, September3. All of theconcerts, except for Albiand theWolves,are evening shows and will start at 7.30pm. A starting time for Albiand the Wolves is still being negotiated and will be announced at alater date. Bookings can be made around four weeks beforeeach concertand tickets canbebought fromSallyMacs, in Amberley, the Sefton Garage,Stan’s 7Day Pharmacy,Rangiora, andonline at bookings@balcairnhall.com. Youth to reboot and look to the future Waimakariri’s youth leaders are looking to ‘‘reboot’’after a challenging 2021. WaiYouth and the Waimakariri Youth Council will hold aplanning daynext week as they look to regroup afterayear where events were cancelled. Last year iconicevents like All NightParty were cancelled due to Covid restrictions. But Waimakariri DistrictCouncil youth development facilitator Emily Belton is hopeful things can get back on track. ‘‘It was achallenging year last year with Sam (Redman) moving on and with Covid,’’ says Emily, who took over just a week before lockdown in August. ‘‘For us therewas alittle bit of alull because Covid changed the opportunities for events to be hosted and the health and safetyrequirements meant thingshad to be adapted.’’ Both groups are looking to begin the year with recruitment, while WaiYouth is planning aSummerFestival duringFebruary and March. Detailsare still being finalised for Summer Festival, but it is likely to be spread out over two or moreweekendsand include askate jam, talent show, movie night and perhaps awater fight.Emily says WaiYouth is keen to get back to running large events like the All Night Paryt. But Iwill also look at running anumber of smaller activities in collaborationwith local partners to ensure events are held. The youth counciliskeen to press aheadwith its biota node project at Tuhaitara Coastal Park,whilethe Dudley Park project is set to finally come to fruition. Emily says the youth council is looking at quotes for its platform / activation space, while the Rangiora Youth Hub (YDOT) has offered to facilitate building apicnic table. An artist is also being lined up to produce ayouthled mural at Dudley Park. Planning day workshops will including writing submissions and running social media campaigns, as the youth council looks to support young people in having avoice on local and nationalissues. The youth council and WaiYouth will once again support the <strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> Youth Futures Careers Expo, set to be held at Rangiora High School on June 22. ‘‘It’sreally cool to be apart of the expo. It’s an opportunity for young people to meet with local businesses who are willing to work with youngpeople and provide them with opportunities,’’ Emily says. She says the Covid19 environment could create opportunities, as well as challenges, for young people. Brougham Street upgrade There’sstill time to tell us what youthink Wewanttomakeitsaferand easier forpeople to do everyday things like taking children to school, travellingto work or theshops, movinggoodsand doingbusiness. Ideasand feedback from localpeople have helped shape ourplan,but we’d like to checkinone more time before we finalisethe design andget startedonconstruction. Youcan getmoreinformationonthisproject, view aflythrough video andshare your thoughts online at nzta.govt.nz/brougham Or pick up acopy of ourinformationbooklet from your locallibrary andfreepost a feedback form. SCANME Feedback closes Friday28<strong>January</strong> <strong>2022</strong>
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