IN BRIEF

Felines under spotlight

Katikati plays host to the Wonderful World of Cats cat show on September 1. The supreme event will showcase the best of the best in a range of feline breeds at the Katikati Memorial Hall. The event is open to the public with the supreme awards final at 3pm.

Finalists compete

Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Danni van der Heijden, a technical representative at avocado exporter, AVOCO is one of seven finalists competing for the title of 2018 Young Grower of the Year in Napier on Wednesday. The seven finalists — the most the competition has ever seen — will go head to head at venues along the Napier waterfront. They will face a gauntlet of practical and theoretical challenges designed to test their knowledge and skills around running a successful growing business. The final test will be delivering a speech in front of the judges at an awards dinner.

Share a poem

National Poetry Day is next Friday, August 24. Local poetry enthusiasts are invited to the Lighthouse Cafe´ at 10 Lockington Road south of Katikati at 12.30pm to share a poem. Local dance teacher/writer Gaye Hemsley has been organising poetry day celebrations since its conception 21 years ago. You don’t have to be a poet to enjoy the day, all it takes is a love of verse, says Gaye who will also be visiting a school, a kindergarten and a rest home encouraging participants to ‘have fun with poetry’. Phone 07 577-1753 or 027 274 8753.

Ma¯ ori option closed

The 2018 Ma¯ ori Electoral Option has closed, with more than 23,300 Ma¯ ori choosing to change roll types or enrol to vote. The option ran from April 3 to August 2 and gave all enrolled voters of Ma¯ ori descent the opportunity to be on the Ma¯ ori roll or general roll. At the end of the option,

52.4 per cent of Ma¯ ori voters were on the Ma¯ ori roll and

47.6 per cent were on the general roll, compared with 52.8 per cent and 47.2 per cent at the start of the option period. There have been net increases of 1200 on the Ma¯ ori roll and 4015 on the general roll. About 95 per cent of Ma¯ ori voters chose to stay on the roll they were already on and there was a small change in the proportion of voters on each roll,” says Mandy Bohte´ , national manager for enrolment and community engagement. Of those who opted to change rolls, more moved from the Ma¯ ori roll to the general roll, and when it came to new enrolments, more opted for the Ma¯ ori roll.