Devon Flannery will make his Hawke Cup debut today for Mid Canterbury. Photo supplied.The Mid Canterbury Cricket side heading to Timaru this weekend to tackle North Otago in another round of the Hawke Cup won’t have to search too far for inspiration to get a result in the two-day match.

They’ll come into the match at Aorangi Oval with a frustrating first innings loss last week to Otago Country – a match which they should have probably won – and they’ll be out to honour a notable milestone for one of the stalwarts of the sport in Mid Canterbury too.

Scorer Bob Bruhns celebrates his 80th birthday this weekend and will be in Timaru with the side and coach Garfield Charles said that a winning result would be a good gift from the side.

“Bob does a lot for the sport, and this team, so a win would be a good result for him,” he said.

Winning might require a little better effort in the field this week than last weekend where seven catches were put down.

After scoring more than 330 runs, Mid Canterbury probably should have won the match and Charles said missed opportunities really didn’t help.

“We created 15 chances but only took eight of them.

“It’s not like the boys can’t catch either – they grab everything at training, it was just one of those bizarre performances.”

But there were positives from the match that will be carried through to this weekend’s fixture.

The debut of Angus Jemmett, who scored 108 in his first appearance at Hawke Cup level, and an all round decent effort with the bat from others around him gave cause for optimism.

And after the success of Jemmett, Charles has called in some newbies to see if they can follow suit.

Tom Middleton and Devon Flannery both come into the side for the match and make their Hawke Cup debuts.

Flannery replaces Nick Gilbert, who is overseas, while Middleton has the rather large shoes to fill of Richard Turpie who is out injured.

“It’s a big ask for young Tom, he’s really an unknown at this level – but he’s a good wee bowler and excellent in the field.

“Same with Devon, he’s exceptional in the field and while he might be young he’s very capable with the bat in hand too.”

The only other change from last weekend’s match is the return of Cam Jopson, who replaces Archie Redfern who is also out injured.

Jopson will pick up the wicket-keeping gloves for the match.

Mid Canterbury: William Southby, Devon Flannery, Will Graham, Jay Houston, Angus Jemmett, Cam Jopson, Des Kruger, Tom Middleton, James Southby (capt), Shaun Stagg and Matt Tait.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 18 January 2020

Seniors practising at Monday afternoon's Mid Canterbury Summer Singing School session. Photo supplied.The Mid Canterbury Summer Singing School is in its 20th year and this year’s singing intake is rehearsing hard ahead of three public concerts, including a special celebratory gala performance on Saturday evening.

Friday evening and Saturday afternoon concerts will follow the usual format and present favourite medleys from the past as well as new music.

The gala show will also feature a scholarship alumni group, and an alumni choir of past students, some of whom have enjoyed successful careers in musical theatre.

Past scholarship winners performing include Luke Glendining, Julia Bell, Jack Hanrahan, Olivia Brown, Lucy Clough, Jacqueline Doherty, Libby Higson, Samantha McArthur, Emily-Jane Stockman, Jack Bubb, Joe Danielson and three 2020 scholarship winners.

The alumni choir of 40 includes some well-known performers such as Chris Woods, Courtney Donaldson, Jared Corbett, Layna Hunt, Matt Williams, Megan O’Reilly, Sophie Brennan, Sarah Yeoman and Sarah Hart.

Singing school director Jo Castelow said 20 years of musical theatre camps was quite an achievement and a fitting milestone to celebrate in style.

“In the early days we performed at Ashburton College, but later, and to accommodate more students and greater technical requirements, we moved to the event centre.”

Numbers had been well over 100 for many years and peaked at 150 a few years ago. This year’s intake numbered 120, she said, with 70 juniors and 50 seniors.

Auditions for sought-after solo roles were held on Sunday.

The public concerts will take audiences through such shows as Les Miserables, Jekyll and Hyde, Finding Neverland, Matilda, Motown and many more.

The senior and junior groups will perform at all three concerts, but the alumni at the Saturday evening concert only.

Tickets for all shows are available from the Ashburton Trust Event Centre or ticketrocket.co.nz.

By Mick Jensen © The Ashburton Courier - 16 January 2020

Poppy Kilworth (left) and Sophie Adams were both pleased with their NCEA results, NCEA results were released yesterday. Photo Heather MackenzieMonths of waiting finally come to an end yesterday for the 638 students from Mount Hutt College and Ashburton College who were entered for NCEA external assessment.

Among the Mid Canterbury students checking their results were Ashburton College students Poppy Kilworth and Sophie Adams.

After a patchy night’s sleep Kilworth was up at 8 30am logging on.

“The site worked really well and I got on straight away.”

The 2020 head girl said she was pleased with her results.

“Doing well in sciences means a lot to me as I’m thinking about some kind of science-based career.”

Adams, who did equally as well said she too was glad the wait was over.

“It has been on my mind over the last few weeks, like hanging over me. Now it’s over I can relax and enjoy the rest of the holidays.”

Both girls agreed that doing well in their exams has increased their self-confidence heading into Year thirteen.

“We know we can do the harder exams and that is a nice feeling.”

Robert Manfield, senior communications advisor at NZQA said there had been no issues for students accessing their online results on what NZQA call their busiest single day of the year, as NCEA results for approximately 140,000 students are released on our website.

He pointed out that these results are the culmination of students’ work in 2019.

“If a student’s results aren’t quite what they were hoping for, there are several things they can do. NZQA’s website has information about some of the options available for people who need a few more credits, or who missed out on a specific standard they need for a course.”

By Heather Mackenzie © The Ashburton Guardian - 15 January 2020