After six wonderful years, Fab Feathy has wrapped up.
Please see our report below for a quick look at what we have achieved as a community from Feb 2018 – Feb 2024.
What to do in Featherston these school holidays!
Featherston is bursting with things to do during the school holidays, there’s no reason to be bored! Loads of places to go for a walk, for a picnic, to explore history, celebrate Matariki or even learn a new skill. Pae Tū Mōkai is the place to be this July!
Events:
Wellington Carnival Street Band: 
Join the Wairarapa Library Service as The Carnival Street Band fills the air with infectious rhythms, vibrant melodies, and pure musical joy. Let their energetic tunes transport you to a world of celebration and delight! 
Wednesday 5th July, 10.30am at ANZAC Hall.
Immerse yourself in the magic of Matariki with Moira, a captivating storyteller who will take you on a journey through ancient legends and tales of wonder. Discover the beauty and significance of this celestial event like never before!
Friday 7th July, 10.30am at Featherston Library
Flex those creative muscles! At Fareham Creative Space they have so much going on! Check out their programme below for more details.
Matariki Community Garden Working Bee:
Bring your gardening gloves, trowels, shovels and spades and help us begin to turn this blank canvas into a community garden for all to enjoy!
Learn about kūmara planting from Diane Buckley. Diane has been part of a long standing kūmara growing project here in the Wairarapa and has built up a wealth of knowledge over the years.
There will be a shared morning tea provided by the parish council of St Andrews Church, feel free to bring a plate to share.
Friday 14th July, 10am, 64 Fox Street
Wheels Club: Does your child or teen love skating?
Onboard Skate School, with the support of Fab Feathy and Aroha for Featherston Skate Park want to investigate if the formation of a ‘wheels club’ would be something the rangatahi and tamariki of our town would be interested in 
We invite you to come along to a hui to share your ideas and help establish a wheels club (scooters and skateboards) for our local youth. We’re also on the lookout for older teens to become youth mentors! All kids, teens and parents welcome
Tuesday 11th July, 1pm at Featherston Community Centre
OnBoard Skate School are back in Pae Tū Mōkai for the July School Holidays!
These guys have run skate lessons out of Featherston School earlier this year, scooter competitions at Featherston First Fridays and they are looking to see how they can continue to support our tamariki and rangatahi going forward.
There will be a girls-only workshop (9.30-11am) as well as mixed genders session (11.30-1pm). Suits ages 6+
Matariki: big, beautiful community things are coming! Watch this space for a timetable of events.
Kai:
Grab some lunch or a sweet treat at Everest Cafe or Brac and Bow. Get a bit fancy and have some delicious afternoon tea at the Dickensian Bookshop and Tearooms.
Picnic time! Take your pick from sushi from The Bento Box, chips from Quinwah or Town and Country, a sandwich from The Baker or a pie from Pioneer and walk to one of our lovely local spots to enjoy your lunch. Our playground, Clifford Square, Dorset Square or Barr Brown Bush are great options (can you find the fairy houses in Barr Brown Bush?)
Museums, libraries and shops:
Explore the worlds only remaining Fell Engine and learn how different life was in Featherston when the Incline was in use 1878 – 1955. The Fell Locomotive Museum: open Saturday and Sunday
Explore the history of the Featherston POW Camp during the World Wars and have a look at the beautiful 1932 Fire Engine at the Featherston Heritage Museum: open Saturday and Sunday
Visiting our lovely library who have lots of activities on during the school holidays! Our little town also boasts seven bookshops! A particularly good spot for the school holidays is the Chicken and Frog bookshop, full to bursting with beautiful childrens books.
Get outdoors:
Get on your bike and head down to the Windy Wheels Community Bike Track at Featherston School. There’s even a skills track to help increase confidence!
Walk the Featherston Heritage Trail
Head down to the Moana and see how many different types of birds you can spot!
Climb up to the lookout at Lone Pine Hill/Featherston Domain – how far can you see?!
Visit the new Science Table at Donalds Creek and read all about our native freshwater critters
Feed and Fund Round Two
Fab Feathy and the Featherston Communtiy Centre joined forces to run our second Feed and Fund event, and it was such a great evening. There were some marvellous pitches, so in case you missed it (or you want reminding), read on to find out more!
Featherston Community Garden
Pitched by Tanja Schubert-McArthur and Amanda Bradley
What’s your project?
Imagine it’s the year 2028, you walk along Fitzherbert Street to get your Friday takeaways, but when you walk past St Andrews you hear chatter and laughter and decide to check it out. As you walk around to the back of the church you stumble upon a secret garden you didn’t know existed: veggies in raised beds grow happily next to sunflowers, tamariki play with caterpillars on the swan plants and a group of people of all ages husk corn while having a yarn. Someone comes over to greet you and offers you a slice of apple pie made from the fruits harvested. You ditch the takeaways and take a seat at the picnic table.
Welcome to the community garden! Nau mai, haere mai ki te mārā o Paetūmōkai! This is a community garden that is open to everyone who wants to learn about growing their own food and we will run workshops to teach people skills. This garden can fill our community pantry and connect people!
How will this/does this benefit the Featherston Community?
Research shows the many benefits of communities gardening, beyond just harvesting a bunch of kale that might be healthy to eat and providing the community with food security.
Spending time connected to nature can improve our mental wellbeing. People who participate in community gardens are more hopeful, positive, energised, and optimistic about the future. They have improved levels of attention, life satisfaction and self-esteem.
We want our garden to be a place of belonging where we can grow social capital, where we can support others and build new relationships.
We are an informal group which formed last year after St Andrew’s Church offered their back yard to Fab Feathy as a potential space for a community garden. The group have had several meetings and one workshop planting daffodils at the garden site. The goal is to build a community garden that will grow food for the community, share skills and resources. With outcomes of community wellbeing, social capital, and improved food security.
How do people contact your group/how do they get involved?
Do you want to learn some new ideas and tricks for your own backyard?
Do you have a green thumb and want to pass on your skills?
Why not join our motivated group of gardeners and wannabe gardeners who are keen to get their hands dirty? All ages welcome!
Join us on Facebook: “Featherston Community Garden Planning”.
Or come to our workshop preparing a bed for planting kumara on Matariki July 14th (check the Facebook page for details).
Wairarapa Moana Trail
Pitched by Geoff Thurston
What’s your project?
Wairarapa Moana is a precious local Taonga of historical, ecological, cultural and community importance. A group of Featherston residents got together when they found that they were all interested in getting a cycle trail running from Featherston to Wairarapa Moana. The vast majority of feedback received from the community when it has been sought, has been very positive.
In conjuction with Fab Feathy a feasability study was carried out that investigated a number of routes that could be taken. The route chosen was a combination of state highway, paper road and rail corridor, and will link in with Pae Tu Mokai o Tauira Te Whare Whakapapa at its midpoint. The trail forms a part of the Five Towns Trail and Remutaka Great Ride. It also gives rise to other short rides of interest that could be added at a later stage.
How will this/does this benefit the Featherston Community?
It is estimated that there would be over 10,000 users in the first year of trail operation. It is also estimated that for every dollar invested in its construction the trail would return four dollars to the region. The benefits to the local and regional communities make the proposed trail a good investment for potential funders.
How do people contact your group/how do they get involved?
A Moana Trail Trust has been formed to guide this project through, but as time has gone on and for a variety of reasons some members have moved on. We are needing replacements who share our enthusiasm for this vision. Interested people can get in touch with us via the good folk at Fab Feathy.
Featherston Beautification Group
Pitched by Julia Reed
What’s your project?
Our group tries to have multiple projects on the go, currently the big one is to get our entrance ways back on the outskirts of town and complete our 3rd one. As we request funds from other areas and need to show we are also proactive in our own fund raising, which we do with our annual calendar and our community picking garden and sales Nursery. For our garden we are looking to fund a picnic table to enhance this area and make it a place people can sit and enjoy our Fridge library at No 2 Bell St .
How will this/does this benefit the Featherston Community?
The funds we raise go towards our beautifying Featherston main Streets and parks. Which we hope bring a smile and a pride to those passing through and who choose to live in Featherston.
How do people contact your group/how do they get involved?
The best way to contact us is email Featherston.b.g@gmail.com, we do have a fb page FBG Featherston beautification group
Youth Hub – Wairarapa Whanau Trust
Pitched by Tahlia Steedman, Naliyah Namana and Taizak Walker
What’s your project?
A Youth Hub on the main street of Featherston – based at Common Ground.
How will this/does this benefit the Featherston Community?
Young people have skills and gifts but often needs a platform for that wisdom to be heard. This will be a space down the main street where they can discover their talents and gifts, and where there’ll be regular workshops and activities.
How do people contact your group/how do they get involved?
Contact Tahlia Steedman at tahlia@wairarapawhanautrust.com
Kākano collecting with South Featherston School and Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira
Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira is a local rōpū of passionate people. Last week I had the privilege of joining them and a group of curious tamariki from South Featherston School for a morning of seed collecting and kōrerō.
Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira was established to promote the revitalisation and sustained kaitiakitanga of te taiao, with an emphasis on Wairarapa Moana and its surrounding natural environment. One of their current projects is the creation of a native tree nursery. They are learning (alongside our tamariki) how to painstakingly collect seeds from local, established trees, then how to process and plant them. The aim is to raise them into seedlings big enough to be planted out around our moana. Both DOC and GWRC have shown interest in using these locally grown trees for their own conservation efforts at our moana.
The kākano (seed) collection with South Featherston school focussed on three species of native tree, the kowhai, tōtara and tī kōuka, and the tamariki did a fantastic job of carefully collecting the seeds and asking lots of pātai. Did you know you can eat the berries of the female Tōtara tree? One of the tamariki assured me they taste just like pomegranate seeds! Another thing I learnt was that all parts of a kōwhai are toxic, and that it’s really important to wash your hands after popping out the lovely yellow seeds from their pods. It was awesome to hear the tamariki so enthused and wanting to share their knowledge with me.
We also talked about predators and the importance of trapping. The tamariki were thrilled with the ‘trail of death’, a path with multiple traps along it.
It was such an inspiring morning, I’m always blown away by the passion and dedication we have in this community. Both Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira and South Featherston School were so welcoming and enthusiastic, I can’t wait to see this project evolve and to witness our moana thrive under such generous kaitiakitanga.
Ngā mihi nui to Riki, Anne and Derek for your hospitality. Ngā mihi nui to the tamariki of South Featherston School for sharing your wonder with me.
If you would like to hear more about the work of Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira, you can follow them on Facebook here, find their website here, or email them here.