Come along and join Mayor Michael Laws and the Wanganui Lions Club for the grand opening of the newly extended Tot Town railway tunnel at Kowhai Park.

Mayor Michael will cut a ribbon and officially declare the extended tunnel open and take a ride on the train through the tunnel. The train, tunnel and Kowhai Park will be decorated with balloons.

A third carriage has been built for the train so it will be able to carry more passengers, but the tunnel, where the train is stored when not in use, was no longer big enough to accommodate the additional carriage.

The extended tunnel now accommodates all of the carriages as well as adding a new dimension to the train ride for regular passengers.

Rides on the train will be free for everyone on Sunday so bring the whole family along for a fun time. There will also be a sausage sizzle and bouncy castle.

The event is being supported by Wanganui District Council as part of our commitment to developing a family-friendly Wanganui.

If the weather is wet the event will be postponed until a later date.

On Wednesday, June 2, Mayor Michael Laws is hosting a civic reception for ultramarathon runner Lisa Tamati.

Lisa has been involved in ultra distance running since 1997 and has taken part in some of the world's toughest races. These include the 217km Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley and the Trans 222km in Niger, through the Sahara.

In October 2009 Lisa started her journey to run the length of New Zealand from Bluff to Cape Reinga, covering 2,200km in 43 days. The aim of the run was to raise money for the CanTeen and Curekids charities and on the way she also visited around 50 schools to promote active kids programmes in primary schools.

She was nominated for New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year in 2008 and was named New Zealand Maori Sportswoman of the Year.

Mayor Michael Laws is looking forward to officially welcoming Lisa to the city.

"Lisa Tamati is an inspiration to all New Zealanders. Her sporting achievements are phenomenal and she continues to meet and exceed every new challenge she sets herself.

"Her message applies to everyone – get out there and do it. If you believe in yourself then you can do pretty much whatever you want to."

Lisa is from Taranaki and based in New Plymouth but travels all over the world for her sport. On June 27, Lisa will be starting her next major challenge, running the Gobi Desert 250km race in Western China. She will be filming a documentary of her adventures.

Wanganui's new Computer Clubhouse opened for business on Monday, May 24.

Open Monday to Friday, from 3.00pm to 7.00pm, the Computer Clubhouse gives youth, aged 11 to 18 years, the opportunity to work on creative and technology based projects with the support of mentors. The Clubhouse is situated at 7 Park Place, in the Youth Services Trust building.

The Clubhouse is packed with high-tech state of the art technology including 15 Mac workstations, 2 Mac laptops, a music studio, digital cameras and video, a telescope, lego robotics and a big screen TV.

On May 21, prior to opening the doors to Wanganui's young people, a blessing took place by John Maihi and Jay Rerekura, followed by a morning tea for invited guests who have played key roles in establishing the Computer Clubhouse, which is the fourth in New Zealand.

Deputy Mayor Dot McKinnon attended the opening of the Computer Clubhouse.

"The Clubhouse is an amazing, free and safe place for our young people to go, to learn and develop their skills. Wanganui has the lowest number of people with access to computers in their homes and facilities like this offer fantastic opportunities for the community."

The Computer Clubhouse is free to join and permission forms are available from the Davis Library, Gonville Café Library and from the Clubhouse.

The Rating Information Database is available for public inspection as per section 28 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.

The Rating Information Database contains a record of all information required for the setting and assessing of rates and allows for the calculation of rates liability for each rating unit.

The database is available for viewing between 8.00am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, at the Municipal Office Building, 101 Guyton Street, Wanganui.

The Sarjeant Gallery will be closed from Monday, May 24, until Saturday, June 19, to enable building maintenance work to take place.

This will involve the gallery floor being sanded and re-varnished.

In order for this to take place the front of house area, offices and library will be cleared and artworks removed from the gallery. Once the work is complete then everything will need to be reinstalled in time for the annual Whanganui Arts Review and the winter season of exhibitions and events.

Details about the following vacancy are available on this page:

Development Engineer
Applications close 18 June 2010

The Wanganui District Council is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.

Details of upcoming meetings are:

Council – Monday, May 31 (Council Chamber, 12.15pm)
- Hearing of Submissions to draft Annual Plan 2010/11.

Council – Tuesday, June 8 (Council Chamber, 1.00pm)
- Deliberation on Submissions to draft Annual Plan 2010/11.

Youth – Monday, June 14 (Committee Room 2, 4.00pm)

Hearings – Thursday, June 17 (Committee Room 2, 3.00pm) – to be confirmed

Agendas are available at the Customer Services Counter, Municipal Office Building, 101 Guyton Street, Wanganui and the Wanganui District Library two working days prior to the meeting.