Troopers hold sausage sizzle
Joining a marching team was always something Helen Drummond dreamed of. So when she was invited to join a leisure marching team for older ladies in 1998 she grasped it with both hands and has never looked back.
‘‘I was never a marcher. I was never allowed,’’ Drummond said.
‘‘My parents wouldn’t let me join a marching team. I don’t really know why.’’
Now she’s the coach and leader of the New Plymouth Troopers leisure marching team.
It meets every Thursday for about an hour from 10am at the Star Gym in Westown.
‘‘We’re not affiliated to anybody because we’re leisure marchers, we don’t come under the marching umbrella,’’ Drummond said.
But the team does travel around the country to compete at the North Island nationals or the New Zealand competitions. ‘‘We’re not judged,’’ she said. ‘‘We just all go and show what our team does.’’
The next competition is in Tauranga on August 13.
Their routine involves all sorts of fancy steps in like wheels, step throughs, salutes, and cross overs, she said.
‘‘You really have to concentrate for that five minutes.’’
Drummond doesn’t like using a whistle so the team members have to learn all the steps off by heart once she’s designed the routine.
‘‘We have a certain sized floor and so I have to work in this plan for the floor, so many steps this way and so many that way,’’ she said.
Normally the team has nine members with an age range from 50s to just about 90, and they’re seeking more.
‘‘Fun, fitness and friendship, that’s the motto.
‘‘The ladies just love it because we do a five-minute routine for an hour, so that’s quite a lot of practice in one hour.
‘‘We all just get on so well together and have a lot of fun,’’ she said.
Fundraising is a big part of what the group do.
On Sunday September 4 the team will set up and run a sausage sizzle stall in front of Mitre 10 MEGA.
Then on Tuesday September 6 they’re holding a fashion evening.
Contact Helen Drummond on 06 753 0141 for more information about the group and the upcoming events. with the local elections just weeks away. Voting papers for the local elections will be posted to enrolled voters in September, and can only be sent out to those who are enrolled by August 12.
‘‘If you’ve moved house, or had any other changes to your details, you need to update your details now,’’ says Mr Peden.
Those enrolling after 12 August will need to cast a special vote, and will need to contact their local council for voting papers.
‘‘Checking your enrolment details only takes a minute,’’ says Mr Peden. ’’You can do it online at , or by calling 0800 36 76 56. And if you’re not enrolled, you can start the process right then and there. It’s easy.’’