Makino prepares for holiday season

MAKINO Aquatic Centre’s readiness for the outdoor summer season is near complete, even though the cold, windy weather that has covered much of New Zealand in recent weeks has slightly hampered preparations at the Feilding complex.

MAC Manager, Nick Mannix, said the recent opening of the 50-metre outdoor pool was well received by regular and casual users, with good attendance figures already recorded.
And school groups were showing a keenness to make use of the outdoor area – with its additional pools for learners, toddlers and divers – and have made bookings through until the end of the school year.

“We’ve not been helped by the weather,” said Mr Mannix, “as it’s been hard to heat the main pool to the right temperature (27 degrees) because of the cold south-easterly winds.”
He said a pre-holiday work programme for the outdoor complex had been completed including repairs and retiling to the pool surrounds, maintenance of the filtration tank and a general tidy-up of the gardens.

MAC Programme Coordinator, Adie Johansen, said a busy summer programme had been finalised with water slides and inflatables available every weekend from Saturday, January 9, to Sunday, January 24, when the impressive Black Belac makes an appearance.
The popular “Wet ‘n’ Wild” Westpac Children’s Day is on Saturday, January 16, and features an all-new foam canon slide and the Aqua Run inflatable.

In the meantime, upwards of 300 school road patrol members and road wardens from the district were hosted at the Makino by police to acknowledge the work the children had done throughout the past year.

Police Education Officer, Constable Diana Hayden, of Feilding, said the annual “thank you” was in appreciation of the challenging task undertaken by the year six to eight children for 40 weeks of the year.

“It’s a hard, thankless job and it’s not easy. They are there early in the morning, and the last to leave in the afternoon, and are often on duty in rain and snow.”
She said the children faced a big responsibility in getting people safely across the road, especially if the school was on a state highway or in a high density traffic area, and it was upsetting that they sometimes copped abuse from passing motorists.
* MAC’s second teen-only night, “The Nightmare before Christmas”, is to be held from 7pm to 9.30pm on Friday, December 11. MAC Manager, Nick Mannix, is hoping to attract more than 100 teenagers after the first such night, “Friday the 13th”, was a great success after teenagers were alerted to the event by texting, F