Ashburton rowers Veronica Wall (front) and Grace Wilson won the Under 18 Girls’ Double Sculls event at the Canterbury Regatta at Lake Hood on the weekend. Photo Linda ClarkeAshburton rowers have again punched well above their weight at another major rowing regatta.

The Canterbury Regatta, held at Lake Hood on Saturday saw close to 700 competitors take to the water over two days of rowing from 27 schools around the region.

Of the strong Ashburton squad in competition, 10 A finals were reached with victories coming in four events.

Rowing dynamo, Veronica Wall claimed triple success winning the Under 17 and Under 18 Single Sculls events breezing her way through both events unbeaten to continue her golden run on the water.

She then teamed up with Grace Wilson and the pair dominated the Under 18 girls’ double sculls event to complete a great weekend.

Wilson herself was in good form, finishing second in both the heat and the final to Wall in the Under 18 girls’ singles sculls event.

The Ashburton Under 16 girls’ coxed quad sculls team of Lara Biggs, Mollie Gibson, Emma Stagg, Katie Dolan and Emma Jansen suffered a defeat in their heat, but bounced back to claim the title in the final with an impressive row.

Gibson had a good weekend too.

She finished second in the Under 16 girls’ single sculls and then teamed up with Stagg to also grab silver in the Under 16 double sculls.

Haxby Hefford produced a great performance to finish third in the Under 17 single sculls final against some stiff opposition and then teamed up with Harrison Davies to grab second prize in the Under 17 double sculls.

Davies also finished third in the Under 18 single sculls event.

With some big events still remaining, the Ashburton squad is looking in good fettle for further success particularly as they build towards the popular Maadi Cup at Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 February 2017

Libby Neumann hard at work on the upcoming series, Heritage Rescue. Photo suppliedFormer Ashburton College student Libby Neumann will star on the new season of Heritage Rescue as the show’s design assistant.

After completing her study at the University of Otago, she returned home to Mid Canterbury and worked over the summer holidays as an intern at the Ashburton Museum.

But very quickly, the opportunity to appear on television came calling.

The Choice TV show is about to air its second season featuring Brigid Gallagher, from Time Team, travelling the country to visit a different heritage site each week.

Neumann is currently on the road with Heritage Rescue and told the Ashburton Guardian she was “loving it so far”.

“I’m really happy with the final design of both of the museums we’ve done,” she said.

“We also have so many interesting stories to tell in those episodes.

“The entire team is really friendly and I am learning a lot.

“I’m loving working with Rose Evans, who is a very experienced museum conservator and expert.”

New Zealand has more than 600 museums and heritage sites, from large impressive institutions with plenty of staff and resources, to humble, out-of-the-way collections manned by volunteers and fighting for survival.

During the series, Gallagher and her team of specialists, call on the local community to lend some elbow grease, and together they reorganise the existing exhibition, create new exhibits, discover fascinating stories behind some of the significant artefacts in the collection and ensure these items are displayed respectfully and according to protocol.

Neumann completed her Bachelor of Arts with Honours (BA(Hons)) in Classics last year, and prior to that, a double major in Classics and Theatre Studies.

An air date for the show is yet to be announced.

By Megan Gnad © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 February 2017

Ashburton CollegeA $20 million-plus rebuild is on the cards for Ashburton College, due to an ageing campus and skyrocketing roll.

The school and Ministry of Education could incorporate the neighbouring former community pool site to form a newly expanded campus.

Four classroom blocks comprise the majority of the school. They were built in the 1960s and do not meet modern learning environment expectations.

At the same time the school has some leaky buildings.

Its roll is rapidly increasing due to growth in Mid Canterbury, including increasing numbers entering from surrounding primary schools. The roll is now about 1220, and expected to reach 1600 within 10 years. Principal Ross Preece said the ministry had acknowledged the necessity of developing the school site, and now the school was waiting to hear back on how it planned to address it.

“So we are waiting to hear,” he said. “It’s very dependent on funding being available.”

The availability of building funds was dependent on demand from other school sites.

Others taking priority could include the likes of Kaikoura which had lost its gym in last year’s earthquake.

The ministry could demolish and replace one block at a time, and it would be up to the school and the ministry to agree on a design.

The four blocks were state-of-the-art in their day, but are now ageing with a wide range of issues.

These include protruding skylights which are beginning to leak, low renovation potential due to a solid concrete block structure, no fluidity in terms of combining classroom spaces, and centre concrete courtyards which are impractical due to being too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

The site also comprises prefab buildings, some of which have leaking issues.

By Susan Sandys © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 February 2017