The rural community has seen highs and lows throughout 2022, and Focus on the Land has been there for it all

It has been more than two months since the body of Kathleen Kawana was found at an empty Ruatoria property on August 3. Gisborne Police Detective Sergeant Daniel Kirk told Police Ten 7 on TVNZ 2 last night that police immediately believed Ms...

A RARE native frog’s former quarry habitat near Te Puke has been classed as a conservation sanctuary, allowing it to be protected and giving it a chance at long-term survival. Twenty-four years ago, a volunteer discovered the Hochstetter’s frog...

The reality of what artificial intelligence and a robotic workforce will mean for the future of work will be the topic of discussion with a world-leading economist this week. Dual Harvard and Cambridge graduate, and World Bank economist Kinley Salmon...

SALVATION Army Family Store manager Heidi Parkes says the store has been donated so many quality household items that there is an urgent need to make some space.“We have about 4000 to 5000 books in one of our storage sheds, so we are going to have...

A statement by Wairoa Mayor Craig Little about the new rates proposal for the region has been described as “absolute nonsense” by Mahia ratepayer Bill Shortt.“His statement ‘a courageous and controversial’ proposal on changes to the...

GISBORNE District Council staff will be moving into their new administration building, Awarua, over the next two months. It will be open to the public from Monday. Chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said the staff move from the other buildings...

I have just completed reading Into the Unknown: The secret WWI diary of Kiwi Alick Trafford, No. 25/469. For those interested, it is so well worth reading this documented, true account of what was endured. Our Dad was a veteran of World War One and...

DRUGS, particularly Ecstasy or E, were the major concern for police and St John ambulance staff at the Rhythm and Vines music festival. Police said alcohol was not such a major issue this time. Of the 15 people taken to Gisborne Hospital with severe...

As an “Ask Me” volunteer for the cruise ship passengers yesterday, we received so many compliments about Gisborne it made you aware of just how lucky we are to live here. While I thanked him personally, I would also like to acknowledge the part...

Love all the new plantings going on around the district. Could the council please tell us where these plants have come from? I have a sneaking suspicion they have not come from local growers. Am I wrong?Wendy LintonFootnote from GDC contracts and...

GISBORNE teenager Daeleigh-Michelle Waihi is looking forward to her first trip overseas — to an Australian softball tournament at which she will compete this month. The Lytton High School student is in a New Zealand academy under-14 girls' team...

The state of civil defence emergency for Tairāwhiti will be reviewed later today as the weather eases back to a few showers forecast for the next few days. MetService predicts showers today, becoming isolated tonight. The forecast shows possible...

Just as the ball seems to follow a fielder in a cricket match, the political spotlight followed Labour Cabinet Minister Andrew Little last week and the focus was not always welcome. Little's main portfolio of health was in the news during a week in...

Enabled Wairoa has attracted national attention with its multipronged approach to addressing social issues, specifically its housing strategy. Green Party Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness) and Minister for the Prevention of Family and...

CREATIVITY is not optional, but crucial, say the Jarratts and they have created a programme to fuel it. They just need the community’s help. Jarratt Create and Educate is husband-and-wife team Ellen and Peter Jarratt, who are originally from...

Granny Dear agrees to share the chocolate chippie recipe she’s been making for 60 or so years. Justine Tyerman tells the story of the famous biscuits . . .When the bride-to-be requested chocolate chippies for her wedding last year, her grandmother...

AFTER 14 years as a stay-at-home mother of four, Bronwyn Scanlan wanted to help other people’s children too. Now she is an EIT Bachelor of Nursing graduate and has secured her dream job at Gisborne Hospital, starting next week. When her second...

The region's fire authorities have no plans to scale back fire restrictions in the wake of the solid falls of rain around the district this week. Before the rain the fire risk had continued to rise steadily across Tairawhiti.“The rain has been...

Three months is all that 33 wannabe boxers have to be fighting fit for the Life Education Trust’s Fight for Life extravaganza 2018. Event organiser Anelia Evans said the group had cleared the first hurdle after 58 applicants initially put up their...

A special magic shone out of a collaborative production of dance, music and spoken word at the Lawson Field Theatre yesterday. Called Tukutuku, the show lived up to its title as Gisborne Girls’ High School special needs students, students with...

Hundreds of Maori leaders and education influencers are at the Maori leaders conference, Te Eketu o te Rangi, which opened at Te Poho o Rawiri Marae yesterday. Rangatahi (youth) are a target audience for the conference, which aims to “inspire and...

Forestry industry among businesses that can reopen under Level 3 conditions

THE woman who died in a crash ?on Friday afternoon on State Highway 2 near the Mohaka viaduct at Raupunga, south of Wairoa, was 65-year-old ?Judith Shadbolt from Wairoa. The car she was driving left ?the highway and crashed into a ?bank. She died at...

SIXTEEN-year-old Amber Phillips is showing the type of football ability that thrust her father Neal into a champion Gisborne City team straight from school. Amber lives with her parents Neal and Wendy in Ashhurst, just outside Palmerston North...

GISBORNE Thistle AFC chairman Ronnie Young will meet with Team Gisborne board members next week in the hope they reconsider their decision to withdraw the Pacific Premiership champions from the 2016 competition.“Failing that — and I’m speaking...

HIGH School Old Boys, Horouta and Old Boys Rugby opened their DJ Barry Cup campaigns with comfortable wins in the 40-over competition at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday. In the match of the day, Bollywood Stars HSOB beat Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates...

It's time to play catch-up. With round-robin play concluding last Saturday, only one competition game will be played tomorrow ahead of next weekend's semifinals of Enterprise Cars Ngati Porou East Coast club rugby. Hicks Bay will be at home to Pango...

Gisborne trampolinists, tumblers return from NZ nationals with medals galore

Safetree has appointed Wade Brunt, a passionate forestry veteran, to help get forestry workers more actively involved in improving health and safety. Mr Brunt started working on Monday in his new role as Toroawhi, which means “together we create...