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Kapiti Observer : May 20th 2013
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Observer KAPITI MONDAY, May 20, 2013 Unsafe Bridge spat, P3 Mobbed Canes a hit, P16 Editorial (04) 298 5019 -- Advertising (04) 298 5019 -- Fax (04) 298 2073 -- editor@kapiti-observer.co.nz -- www.kapitiobserver.co.nz Weavers' work goes to UN By TALIA CARLISLE Display in New York United nations: Kapiti weavers Pip Devonshire, Sonia Snowden and Tracey Huxford complete a tukutuku panel headed for New York. Eight Kapiti and Horowhenua artists have joined national weavers to create 50 tukutuku panels for a special assignment in New York. The work comprises 25 pairs of woven panels, which will be dis- played in the United Nations Headquarters General Assembly building in September. They will be displayed on the building s rimu wall, gifted by New Zealand during the build- ing s construction in the early 1950s. Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples initiated the idea for the panels, after visiting the building and noticing the wall had become damaged over time. Adding the tukutuku panels will bring life back to New Zea- land s special place in that build- ing . . . while showcasing the unique cultural identity of Maori as tangata whenua, the indigen- ous people of Aotearoa, he said. Waikanae resident Tracey Hux- ford spent at least four months completing six woven panels with the help of her children Bryn and Caylin Morgan, aged 8 and 13. Each pair of panels follows a different traditional-based design, which will be presented on the wall with a story behind it, she said. Huxford co-ordinates weaving programmes for Te Kokiri Devel- opment Consultancy, a private Maori training organisation in Levin, and is the deputy chair of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu O Aote- aroa, Maori Weavers of New Zea- land. Each of the women creating panels have strong backgrounds in weaving, with Devonshire, Bevan and Snowden tutors on the arts and weaving programme at Te Wananga o Raukawa. Snowden also supervised the replication of tukutuku panels for Rangiatea Church in Otaki, after the original church burnt down. Starting in 2001, she led a group of 23 fulltime weavers, who gathered and prepared kiekie and pingao fibres, set up the tukutuku framing and recreated 76 purapurawhetu tukutuku panels before the church s reopening in November 2003. Snowden said it was wonderful the works were going overseas, especially to New York. [It s] a chance for our people over there to see the works, she said. Devonshire, of Ngati Raukawa and ki te Tonga descent, was happy to be part of the project. This is the work that our ancestors created really. We re sort of just replicating it and keep- ing it alive, she said. Huxford said the newly installed works would be cele- brated at a launch in September. New truck ready to roll New wheels: The council's new electric truck outside the Clean Technology Centre in Otaki with Zero Emission Vehicles managing director Andrew Rushworth and the council staff who will drive it, Kevin Pritchard in the cab and Norman Huff. By JOEL MAXWELL Kapiti Coast District Council s $198,000, near-silent electric rubbish truck is only weeks away from official collection duties. The vehicle is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and will collect rubbish from bins between Raumati and Otaki, with a top range of about 150 kilometres. Sporting flouro-green trim, the truck was rolled out for a photo-op on Friday outside the council headquarters after being certified as road-legal. Council climate change and energy adviser Jake Roos said over the next two weeks the truck will be tested by council staff, which will give a better idea of its range. It will depend on how it s driven too. It has regenerative braking, so when you take your foot off the gas the battery starts charging up as the vehicle slows down, so that gives you extra range. Mr Roos said the truck, built by Clean Technology Centre business Zero Emission Vehicles, would likely run for a third of the cost of its diesel counterpart. He said there are two charging stations set up to recharge the truck, at Paraparaumu and Otaki. It shouldn t need to really start charging till 8pm, so we ll leave it till then so we ll use more power when it s cheaper. Mr Roos said the truck has no tail pipe emissions and the only carbon footprint in powering it comes from the production of some of the electricity used to charge it. Meanwhile councillor Tony Lester took the truck for a short test drive. The truck emits only a quiet hum, and the standard reversing alarm when going backwards. Mr Lester said the vehicle shows the really clever stuff that comes out of Otaki s clean technology centre. This is the first of hopefully many that will ultimately end up getting built in that Kapiti area.
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