And just as well as it’s only seven weeks away! While details are yet to be finalised and will be released closer to the time, it will be held in West Flaxmere this year. It will be a double celebration this year, with Flaxmere West’s Community Plan being officially launched at the same event. Headlined ‘Growing Strong Tamariki’, the plan has been put together by West Flaxmere residents working to fulfil the vision: “A healthy, working community full of great opportunities f

Every home in Flaxmere can be warm and dry – no excuses. A scheme that provides free insulation to homeowners who live in their homes in Flaxmere, and rules that mean landlords have to insulate their properties, should see everyone in the suburb living in a healthy warm home by next winter. There are no financial limits to the homeowners’ scheme – it does not matter what you earn. The only rules are that the property has to be in Flaxmere and be built before 2008, you have to

The first of the 124 homes in Flaxmere’s Waingakau Village are almost complete. The vision for the village, masterminded by Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga (TToH), is to provide warm, healthy, quality homes using a co-housing model, underpinned by Māori values of co-operation and inter-generational living. Regenerative Ltd project director Emma Horgan says a number of the first homes have buyers but, with many more to be built, that should not put off people contacting TToH to disc

Hundreds of youngsters from 22 primary schools across Hastings and Napier celebrated Pasifika culture in September – putting on a fantastic show. Hawke’s Bay Junior Polyfest 2019 was hosted by Flaxmere Primary School again. “They did a fantastic job at short notice,” said Junior Polyfest co-ordinator Anna Marie Faavae. 📷It was three days of celebration and fun, with food trucks on site to keep the performers and huge audience fuelled. Song and dance f rom the Cook Islands,

📷From preparing a hot lunch for Flaxmere’s Senior Housing residents, helping with the catering for Age Concerns birthday 25th birthday, and cooking up a hangi storm for Te Wiki o te reo Māori, Flaxmere College students have been delighting the community with their fantastic cooking skills. One of the biggest challenges was preparing a feast for Māori Language Week for 300 students and staff. On the menu were boil up, creamed paua and Maori bread (takakau), followed by spong

📷Lots has changed at Age Concern Flaxmere over the last 25 years, but the principles remain the same: a friendly place where older residents (and some not so old) can gather for companionship and activities. In September the organisation celebrated 25 years since becoming an incorporated society. It was a big day with a lunch prepared by friends of Age Concern, including Year 11 Flaxmere College students. Donations of food came from, among others, Nourished for Nil and Flaxm

It has been a whirlwind ride for Peleti Oli, as he campaigned successfully to become a Hastings District councillor representing Flaxmere. He is the first to admit that he has a lot to learn as he starts on his first three years of working for the people of Flaxmere and the wider district under the formal council structure. Peleti is well-known in the community and across New Zealand for his passion for helping men improve their mental health, not least using his barbering sk

“Kia-lofa has entered the building,” says re-elected Hastings District councillor Henare O’Keefe. At his side around the Hastings District Council table will be new councillor Peleti Oli, who took the second Flaxmere seat in this month’s elections. Hence the combo-greeting – from kia ora, and tālofa – representing the men’s two cultures, Māori and Samoan. Mr O’Keefe, who is also Hastings Ambassador, says the Flaxmere’s residents continued support for him has given him his “se

Watch this space: A young Flaxmere woman with an eye for telling stories through video has had a phenomenal reaction to her work – and that’s just for the promo clip. Roshan Uelese’s 8-minute short documentary is due out at the end of this month; the first of a four-part series she is doing on “basketball changing lives”. 📷That first episode, called Living the Game, features Flaxmere 14-year-old Rongo Maaka Morrell, who says there is no doubt basketball is stopping him from

There is nothing 7-year-old Oupea Moata’ane likes better than watching the diggers demolishing the old buildings at his school. He is out there every chance he gets, says Kimi Ora Community School principal Matt O’Dowda. The school’s old buildings are being brought down to make way for a complete rebuild. Oupea’s dedication to keeping an eye on the project got him a very special reward on Friday; a close up view of a three-tonne digger and a sit inside the cab. Oupea is prett