Author Archives: Jenine Abarbanel

Whangateau Folk Club News

23 Jan 2023
Sneaky Bones and Friends

Folk Club Night is a little bit special this month with a triple header of Auckland Folk Festival stars, beginning with up and coming New Zealand phenoms, Butter Wouldn’t Melt.  This power duo has grown up on the New Zealand Folk Scene and they have been wowing crowds for a couple of years now.  We are very excited to be getting them to Whangateau Hall, supporting Albi & the Wolf (only one this time!) and festival headliner Sneaky Bones.  This will not be a traditional folk club with first half floor singers, but we will still have intermission tea and biscuits. We are also not on our usual last Monday of the month, this concert will be 23 January, doors opening at 6:45pm.  Tickets are $30+fees from Under The Raider.  $35 at the door. Pre-booking is recommended for this show to avoid disappointment!
In February we will have our traditional club night, so bring your guitar or instrument-of-choice and step on up in the first half to play a couple of tunes.  Our second half guest is Greta O’Leary.  Greta is an Aotearoa songwriter and musician whose spacious and pervasive sound is laced with dark humour and relatable insight, creating gentle-yet-poignant offerings that bend the folk genre to her own plain and unique sound.  Monday, February 27, 7pm.  $10, door sales only.

Evening Christmas Market this Friday at the Hall

Whangateau Residents and Ratepayers Association (WRRA) invites you to the Evening Christmas Market at the Whangateau Hall.

This Friday, 9 December from 4pm – 7pm

There will also be an Info-stall for the Forest Bridge
Trust with taxidermy mounts of NZ predators, handmade cards and lots of support for all the people involved in active predator control and trapping. You will find plants and produce, books and gifts, a sausage sizzle and a welcoming friendly community atmosphere.

market produce

November Club Night with Andy Hamilton

This month’s club night is going to be a ripper!  Consummate showman Andy Hamilton is back and will be singing songs and telling stories new and old, accompanied by his outstanding guitar stylings. He will be joined on stage by a variety of local guests, including the other members of the Dirt Road Orchestra.  Andy’s original songs illustrate intimate personal stories, the deeper issues concerning our place in the world, and the mystical.

This is a regular club night.  Everyone is welcome to sign up to play a couple songs in the first half.  We already have a couple of great sign-ups, so it’ll be a terrific first half, guaranteed.  Email me now or sign up at the door for a spot of your own!  Doors open at 6:45 pm for a 7:00 pm start.  $10, cash only door sales.  No pre-booking necessary.  And, as always, tea and bikkies at the break included in the price of admission!

Covid 19 notes: holy smokes cases are back on the rise again!  No mask mandate, but we will be bringing back contact tracing to help keep our community safe.  Please, if you have any flu or cold symptoms, stay home. Let’s all do our part so we can have a happy, fun summer with our loved ones!  

26 September 2022: Music and Community tonight!

Matt Jones of the Dirt Road Orchestra in Puhoi hosts tonight at Whangateau Folk Club!  His special guest is Jemilah Ross-Hayes.  Jemilah’s rich vocals like warm milk, are the perfect accompaniment to your folk club half time bikkie and cuppa.  Read more about her below.  If you’d like a first half floor spot, come early and sign up at the door.  I’ll be rolling in from Queenstown a little late, hoping to see you all there!  $15 at the door, 7pm start!  

Jemilah Ross-HayesAbout Jemilah Ross-Hayes:  Jemilah will entrance you with honest lyricism that seeks to unravel the tough truths, deep doubts and soft soul within her experiences. Knitted into a soft blanket of open chords, Jemilah’s lyrics aspire to wrap you in the feeling of coming home.
Between the green comforts of her upbringing on Waiheke Island, to the bustling cities of Europe, she has dipped her musical spoons in many jars of honey. Discovering loneliness, freedom, confidence and wonder, she will transport you to Galway’s cobblestoned Irish streets and walk with you through the curving canals in Venice.

Jemilah will be accompanied by musical collaborator Koen Aldershof.

Pohutakawa Trees on the Domain

Suzette McFarlane who lives in the Whangateau village has organised a meeting for the local residents to discuss the trees (SEE BELOW) and I am sending this information out to members as requested.

Whangateau Community Meeting at the Whangateau Hall, Wednesday 14th September 6.30pm

Topics of Discussion:
· Saving Existing Pohutukawa Trees
· New Tree Plantings in the Whangateau Domain

You may or may not be aware that there are a few actions underway in the Community at present around trees in the Whangateau Domain:
1. Saving the existing Pohutukawa trees along the waterfront
2. Planting of new Pohutukawa trees in the Domain

This meeting is an opportunity for the Whangateau Community to hear from the Hall Committee and community leads around the plans for new and existing plantings and provide a forum for discussion/feedback.

The planned plantings outlined in a flyer distributed a couple of weeks ago to the residents of Whangateau have been put on hold pending the Community feedback from this meeting.

If you are unable to attend the meeting in person but would like your views heard, please email the WRRA Secretary Audrey Sharp am.sharp56@gmail.com prior to the commencement of the meeting.

Toilet Block Replacement

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Attached below are the current council plans for our toilet block replacement. All members of the community are welcomed to review and submit comments. The Hall and Reserve Committee are very happy with the current plan and eagerly looking forward to its implementation!

Note on the plans below:
The photo montage of the new Permaloo prefabricated concrete building on page 7 (plan sheet G06) shows the colour of the roof as the same as the existing colour of the hall roof. However, the hall roof is up for replacement later this year after a structural design review that is currently in progress, is completed. The colour of the new roof is to change to ‘Gull Grey’ as requested by Council’s Heritage Specialist so obviously the new toilet roof will also need to match the colour of the hall

August Club Night, Monday the 29th with Monty Blevins

Monty Bevins

August Club Night is going to be a ripper with soul-folk singer songwriter Monty Blevins doing the honours as our second half guest musician. Monty Bevins is a New Zealand based singer-songwriter known as a touching, spirited performer, whose soul-folk songs ask the big questions while telling the small stories. With a
warm rich voice and articulate guitar grooves, Monty digs out and distills themes of
tenderness, personal revolution and adventure. Monty is touring in support of his debut album release, “Time to Bide.”

Usual club night format with floor singers welcome to play two songs (or for a maximum of 8 minutes, whichever they prefer) in the first half. Hot drink and a bikkie at intermission included with your $15 door charge.
Email jenine@torkington.com to request a first half spot!

July Club Night, Monday, 25 July, 7pm. $10

Whangateau Folk Radio Hour

It’s time for club night! Next Monday, July 25th is our monthly club meeting. We will have floor singers in the first half, and we’ve already had a few goodies sign up, so I’m excited about that. If you would like to perform in the first half, reply to this message or email jenine@torkington.com and I’ll get you on the list.

In the second half, Nat and I will be hosting the Whangateau Folk Radio Hour, an old-time variety hour featuring two musicians with interesting stories to tell. This month we have two young artists who will talk about their song writing and performing styles, and will give you a few examples of their work. We’ll also perform a few songs with them. Our featured artists are Sam Rhodes (age 19) of Rhode Works and You, Me, Everybody, and Aura Torkington (age 20) who is, yes, our daughter and has been performing on stage since the age of 7 and is now writing and performing their own material with over 100,000 followers on TikTok and almost 25,000 on Instagram.

Doors open at 6:45 for a 7pm start! $10, door sales only, no prebookings.

Covid-y stuff: we’d love it if you wore a mask but it isn’t required. If you have ANY cold or flu symptoms, please stay home! Covid cases are up, protect yourself, protect your community.

We will be livestreaming the audio from the show to Facebook and hopefully YouTube.

T-Bone at Whangateau Hall tonight: SHOW SOLD OUT!

This is amazing and exciting and very surprising, but we are fully sold out for the show tonight, Whangateau Hall will be full to the rafters for the first time since before the Pandemic.

Sorry if you were planning on coming and buying tickets at the door. Please do join us for folk club night on July 25th for an equally enchanting evening of music and community!