Sanderson Group, which is developing a new retirement village in Tamahere, has sold the bulk of its villages to major operator Arvida for $180 million.

Group chairman Fraser Sanderson told the NZ Herald that his son, Nathan, 30, who was starting out on his own, would continue to develop the Tamahere Country Club.

Four students from Tamahere’s Montessori School have represented New Zealand at a United Nations meeting in Italy.

The 10- and 11-year-old students, Avera Ngawaka, Aengus Moore, Aidan Smith and Husain Mehdi, took part in the Montessori Model United Nations – an international conference hosted at the UN Rome headquarters in May.

The four Kiwi primary school pupils were called on to represent UN member, Turkey, at the event.

New Zealand’s education watchdog has hailed the success of a Tamahere School reading programme to educators nationwide.

The Education Review Office (ERO) has featured the school’s innovative library-based programme for Year 5 to 8 students as a top example of effectiveness in keeping children engaged and achieving in reading.

This week the school said it was proud to see the ERO celebrate its reading success “and our wonderful librarian, Mrs Theresa Kewish.”

Recently Apple made a bit of stir by releasing a $US5000 computer screen, then charging an extra $US1000 for the stand that the monitor required to stay upright.

The cynic in me thinks this is probably just a marketing stunt – they wanted to charge $6000, but knew they’d get more publicity if they got everybody riled up about how ridiculous this is, and keep themselves in the headlines for a lot longer than if they’d just, you know, sold the thing.

A dairy farmer friend said to me: “Just go to a café, look at the menu and what people are eating, and you know things are changing.”

That was years ago. Change continues, and the pace of change is accelerating.

The Craft Meat Co of Dunedin, for example, has “100% plant-based” No-Meat Mince. Sunfed Meats offers Chicken Free Chicken Wild Meaty Chunks made from premium yellow pea protein.

Tamahere Park’s new skatepark and playground will be officially opened at 1pm on Friday, June 28.

The ceremonial opening of the park, already drawing huge crowds at weekends, is a way to mark a real milestone for the Tamahere community, says Tamahere councillor Aksel Bech.

Tamahere School’s 70-member Kapa Haka Roopu will be part of the haka powhiri, performing its own haka for the first time.

Waikato District Council is extending its deadline yet again for further submissions on the submissions that it received on its Proposed Waikato District Plan (Stage 1).

The new closing date is now July 16.

The council had already said it was extending the original deadline when it discovered errors in its published summary of submissions.

SH1 traffic is to be switched on to new lanes running under the East West Link Bridge in July or earlier.

This will affect access to Cherry Lane, Bollard Road and the section of Cambridge Road in between.

Construction project staff will be at the Tamahere Community Centre from 4pm-7pm on Wednesday, June 19 to demonstrate how the new road layout will work, and answer questions.

The latest QEII covenant registered in Tamahere is another small but important step toward restoring some of the vast natural environment lost in the Waikato.

Tamahere resident Leo Koppens is proud to have the sixth covenant in the Tamahere-Matangi area protecting private land forever.

The QEII National Trust partners with landowners to protect special places on private land for the benefit of present and future generations.

Tamahere Lions are appealing for community support for barbecue facilities it is developing in the Tamahere Park.

The ground work and floor slab have been completed and the Lions are now raising funds for the rest of the project in the central Tamahere recreation area.

The plan is for a double electric barbecue and two sets of seating under an attractive weatherproof shelter.