Work is underway on a major, 100m extension of the Tamahere Reserve’s network of boardwalks.

Funded by a $13,000 grant from the Waikato District Community Wellbeing Trust, the hard work of lugging tonnes of timber on site is being done by local youngsters.

The group, pictured, are transporting the timber by hand and on wheelbarrows in the challenging terrain for the boardwalk.

Tamahere’s Angie Millar, the architect of the successful fundraising Divine Eats cookbook has been awarded a ‘local hero’ award in the annual Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards.

Millar was one of 12 Waikato people to receive a local hero award tonight at the first of 16 regional ceremonies to be held across New Zealand recognising the achievements of 350 Kiwis.

Millar was inspired to put forward the idea of a cookbook to help raise funds for a new swimming pool for Tamahere School in 2015 after seeing a 1992 cookbook, which was also a school fundraiser.

A hi-tech rural services company co-founded by Tamahere man Russell Gibbs has taken out the innovation award in the annual Westpac Waikato Business Awards.

Tag IT Technologies’ HALO wi-fi system allows farmers to monitor and control their farm effluent systems remotely.

HALO can also be used to monitor water meters, tank levels, milking systems and milk vats.

The Tamahere Reserve’s rubbish burden is significantly lighter thanks to St Peters School student Ollie McGahey.

Ollie undertook a school project to investigate the rubbish around Tamahere and how the community might address the problem.

He soon found that one way to tackle the problem was to get stuck in himself.

Christine Pickering lived a life of service to her family, her community, her church, and to many New Zealanders she did not know, and would never meet.

Hers was a way of living that many today would see as quaintly old-fashioned and out-of-step with the neo-liberal zeitgeist of the “individual before others” so prevalent in modern society.

Her community work should probably not be measured in money, but it is true that Christine helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over more than four decades for a range of charities.

Tamahere’s Sue Pickering was a Francophile of the first order – she had a lifelong love affair with the republic, and spoke the language with such fluent ease even native French speakers were often confused into trying to pin down her dialect to a part of France.

Sue grew up in Auckland near One Tree Hill with her sister Mary and brother Jim. She went to St Cuthbert’s and then on to Auckland University, where she studied English and French.

The Tamahere youth action group’s labours are likely to bear fruit for many years to come.

In its first outing, the new group planted 22 fruit trees along the boundary of the Tamahere School and the recreation reserve today.

Joined by Tamahere councillor Aksel Bech the group planted pear, apple, plum, mandarin and feijoa trees.

The restoration of Tamahere nature reserves got a boost today when some Hamilton bank staff swapped their offices for the outdoors.

Six staff from the BNZ Hamilton branch downed office tools and picked up gardening tools to join Tamahere conservationist Leo Koppens in two local reserves – the Tamahere Reserve on Tauwhare Rd, and the Allan Turner Reserve, on Woodcock Rd.

Their big day out was part of Closed for Good, the BNZ’s annual day of volunteering.

Matangi man Robert Hos, an amateur photographer with a keen eye, has taken top spot in this year’s Hamilton Halo photo competition with his image of a rain-loving tūī.

Hos’s photo was among more than 70 entered into the biennial Hamilton Halo photo competition in July and judged the overall winner by a panel of experts.

Six years ago when they first moved onto their Matangi property, Hos and his wife were excited to see one tūī.

Tamahere’s Leo Koppens got up close with a kokako this week when he was picked to release the rare bird on to Mount Pirongia.

Kōkako once had a strong presence on Pirongia but due to constant pest threats the last birds of a diminishing population were removed in the 1990s to try to ensure their survival.

Now, they are being brought back to the mountain by the Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society, which has created a 1000 hectare, predator controlled area on the mountain.