James Barron - 45O1

29/05/2026

Beautiful video from Welcomer at The Duncan Pavilion

28/05/2026

North Mole restoration project open day & free B*W 11-2 Sunday 7th

Plans for the North Mole are taking shape!

Come along on Sunday, 7 June to learn more about the next steps in the North Mole Restoration Project.

It’s a great chance to meet the people behind the project, check out the concept plans, and hear more about the vision for the area.

📍 North Mole carpark
🕚 11.00am–2.00pm
🌭 BBQ and entertainment

Everyone is welcome and there is no cost to attend. If it's raining, we’ll move to Duncan Pavilion.

Check out the event page here: https://buff.ly/xyWxkKP

Find out more about the project and the latest concept images here: https://buff.ly/hm5e3JQ

📸: Members of the North Mole steering group meet with the designers on site. See less

Whanganui District Council Progress Castlecliff

28/05/2026

Legend (googles "buy a paintball gun")

A father in Napier was fed up with boy racers keeping the household awake for months on end - and he eventually took matters into his own hands.

23/05/2026

Made in Whanganui
Q-West Victoria Police VP03 river trials
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/whanganuis-q-west-boat-builders-develops-new-high-speed-patrol-boat-vp03-for-victoria-police/V2UTCHMARBFX5BTFANLODOFNPM/

04/05/2026

Happy 7th Birthday Castlecliff Community Hub and Library
Officially opened 5th May 2019 & privately funded for its first 2 yeara to prove the (exceptional) community value it was a literally cornerstone piece of Castlecliffs rejuvenation.

Credit to Ivan Vostinar & Simonne Higgie for being first with the Gallery and succulents. To Jamie Waugh, Charlotte Melser & Ellen Young for the impossibly mad idea of a hip cafe in then neglected, run down and unfashionable Castlecliff (how the naysayers scoffed!) plus Progress Castlecliff, Jenny Duncan and others for fighting for Council backing for street improvements.

04/05/2026

Interesting

23/04/2026

Mōrena,
Steam off the quiet sea this still, fine crisp morning!

31/03/2026

OMG the Whanganui District Council Annual Plan took some acid tabs and tripped out!!

01/03/2026

Article on Castlecliff on NZ Herald website

Artist Ivan Vostinar led the succulent-themed design, inspired by his own garden.

26/02/2026

Having been on the receiving end of a coward punch & hospitalised I totally support the need for change!

Joseph Los’e

Whanganui Chronicle


City Kickboxing is the gym where popular MMA fighter Fau Vake trained before he was killed in an unprovoked street attack — and its MMA head trainer Eugene Bareman is now calling for tough new sentences for similar coward punch attacks.
Bareman says the current punishments for coward punches don’t fit the crime and devastation they can cause.
“Fau wasn’t just my fighter. He was my brother. My friend. Fau was family,” Bareman said.
“When someone sneaks up behind another person and throws a fullpower punch they can’t defend against, they are trying to inflict maximum harm . . . death or catastrophic brain damage,” Bareman told the Herald.
Fau Vake and his brother Ika Vake were attacked by four strangers on Symonds St in Auckland on May 16, 2021. Although the brothers were both handy MMA fighters, they didn’t throw a single punch.
Fau Vake, the 25-year-old father of a 3-year-old daughter, died from his injuries.
His assailant, Daniel Havili, was jailed for two years and nine months in 2022 for manslaughter — but was released after 11 months.
Bareman said that by contrast, murder convictions carry 10-year minimum non-parole periods and life sentences.
“We’re still reeling. Still waking up hoping it was just a nightmare. His killers received little more than a slap on the wrist, to what we believe amounts to murder.”
While Bareman is pleased that the Crimes Amendment Bill — now making its way through Parliament — contains two new and specific coward punch offences, he believes it doesn’t go far enough.
As currently written, the bill will increase sentences for one-punch attacks, with potential for eight- to 15-year prison terms if the punch results in serious injury or death.
It also removes the need to prove intent to kill, focusing on the reckless nature of the act and the victim not having the opportunity to defend themselves.
“It’s a solid step forward, but it needs mandatory minimum nonparole periods,” Bareman said.
“We urge Parliament to set an eight-year minimum non-parole period. It would make sure the punishment fits the real harm and help stop tragedies like the one that took