Announcing our Santa Paws winners
A huge thank you to all those who entered our Santa Paws competition - what a joy to see so many festive pets!
And now the competition results you've all been waiting for... We now have our ten winners who will receive a $100 Prezzy® Card:- you can click on their names to see their entries.
Tracey Rose
Julie Chamberlain
Selina Chan
Alexi White
Robert Brumm
Maria Wood
Kerena Davidson
Julie Gregory
Mark Williams
Glen Adams
Share your most delicious (but affordable!) go-to meal...
Winter is knocking at the door and the cost of living has already made itself at home. So let's help each other out by sharing your meal ideas that don't break the bank.
Comment below with your go-to meals that are delicious and affordable.
Type 'Not For Print' if you wish your comments to be excluded from the Conversations column of your local paper.
The changes in the CBD
Last week I attended a meeting where TCC spoke of all the developments currently underway in the CBD. This changed my negative opinion of the city centre. Perhaps they could do some marketing around this to tell us about the incredible transformations that are underway.
There's the new Civic Centre, Museum, Devonport Business Block; the massive move of businesses into the CBD such as HOBEC Law; all 400 Council Employees into the one building; new vibrant recreational spaces; the Farmers Building Apartments and Shops....
BUT, gone are the days of parking right in front of the store we want. We need to adjust to walking - imagine Auckland, Wellington or Hamilton City Centres and then it helps to get our heads around this one I reckon.
The plans we saw convinced me that by this coming Xmas we will begin to see the positive results of these projects. And, the majority of the projects can not be reversed by the new incoming Council.
I admit my grumbling mind is changed and I'm so grateful that my friends in Business in the City Centre will have a strong chance of thriving again.
Creativity thrives in Tauranga’s new learning hub
Tauranga’s Incubator Creative Hub unveils new campus
In the heart of Tauranga's creative landscape, what began as a small studio space has now blossomed into a vibrant and expansive creative hub thanks in part to lottery funding support from Te Puna Tahua Lottery Grants Board. The Incubator Creative Hub was established at The Historic Village in 2013, with an aim to provide studios and events, support for the creatives in the community, and to attract art groups.
Within a few years of opening, the founders of the Hub saw a huge appetite from the community – but the hub operated in a single room which could only accommodate a small group comfortably. Lotto New Zealand players through Local Grants have helped create the ‘Creative Community Campus’ - a new multi-room, indoor-outdoor haven established in a renovated pre-school building, adding a modern and versatile space.
The Hub now operates an umbrella of sixteen distinct creative entities including five galleries, a music venue, a whakairo hub, artist studios, a photography lab, designer clothing stores and a hip hop/R&B studio. With one hundred percent of Lotto New Zealand profits being returned to local communities, every time you play a Lotto New Zealand game, you’re a Kiwi helping organisations like The Incubator Creative Hub foster a strong, inclusive, and connected community.
Read more Local Grants recipient stories.