Articles by Sally Sumner

Mastercraft Kitchens in Pukekohe offer a complete design service from their Manukau Road based Showroom and combined with their extensive cabinet making experience and ability to produce one off functional, stylish designs for kitchens, bathrooms, offices, laundries, living and entertainment spaces they can turn dreams into reality that suit individual requirements and budget. With more than 30 years of industry experience, owner Gavin Campbell…

The second Sunday of May is when New Zealand traditionally celebrates Mother’s Day. Its modern-day origins come from an American celebration created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 that became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Interestingly, Jarvis would later denounce the holiday’s commercialisation and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. · Historically though, our Mother’s Day has its origins in Christianity. It…

Your home is your castle, but not everyone likes a castle, some want a cottage or an eco-friendly self-sustaining, climate friendly minimalistic studio! When you are selling your home, because you love it as it is, it is sometimes difficult to imagine it being loved differently by others. · That’s where the Emma Burn Home Staging team steps in. They will confidently style and fully fit out your home using the very best use of its space,…

New Zealand is still awash with grief in the aftermath of the killings in Christchurch that left 50 New Zealanders dead and many more injured. Our image overseas while tarnished as a safe haven, has been boosted by our Prime Minister who has presented the face of the nation as one that embellishes an inclusive spirit, one that welcomes all to the shores of New Zealand to start a new life. My own brother living in Seattle, remarked that New…

One of the things I love best about being involved with elocal is the number of people that call in or email us to tell us about how much they liked reading the last edition and when will the next one be available. · The number of calls from outside the area has increased somewhat as our regular readers pass on their own copies to friends, families or neighbours who have moved outside our area. · This month, I have had calls from Nelson,…

Much has been made of a recent discovery of a Queensland Fruit Fly in two areas of Auckland in February and like many foreign species, if it were to get a hold in the country our horticultural and associated industries could suffer severe consequences. Termites are another example. Also known as white ants, they can live in colonies that can number in the thousands. Invasive species could also pose a significant threat to New Zealand timbers…

In years gone by, it has been a rite of passage for many New Zealand Kids to watch mesmerised trackside, Hot dog on a stick in hand, while custom and hand built road cars race round an oval dirt track, in all or nothing, guts and glory type racing that is Dirt Track speedway. New Zealanders have had a love affair with speedway of all kinds and Dirt Track racing at the Meremere Dirt Track racing club offers a fun, relatively safe, low cost…

It’s hard to believe that as you folks read this month’s edition of elocal it will be February, Kids will be back at school, the humidity will be full on, and we will have endured another year of who went, who didn’t and who did and didn’t do what at Waitangi. · We have had lots of letters in over the holidays and requests from people wanting to hear more about certain topics, so due to space constraints we have put our letters to the editor…

Hard to imagine the end of yet another year is upon us and what a year it has been. Media seem to depict a gloomy picture, with house prices set to drop, rates to rise and business confidence at a nine year low, as companies worry about lack of direction in government policies, higher costs, softer demand and weaker profits. · Nurses, teachers, support staff all have flexed their muscles with strikes to take advantage of a Labour Government…