Latest news with #Acorn
Scoop
a day ago
- Business
- Scoop
Local Group Of ‘Angels' Celebrate A Decade Of Giving Back To Western Bay Of Plenty
21 July 2025 What do you get when you mix a glass of wine or a good coffee, with a big heart for helping others? You get Sally's Angels – a group of Tauranga women who have turned friendship into one of the region's most inspiring forces for good. This year, Sally's Angels are celebrating an incredible milestone: more than 10 years of giving back to the Western Bay of Plenty through the Acorn Foundation. In that time, this small-but-mighty group has donated over $100,000 to local charities and community organisations – simply by pooling a little each month and fundraising for causes that need a lift. 'We're all like-minded women who want to do something positive for our community,' says founder Sally Morrison. 'The beauty of this group is its simplicity – we each contribute a modest amount, and when you put that together over time, the impact is just incredible.' And yes, they make it fun to be an Angel – often catching up at a local café or over a glass of wine at home. Several times a year, the Angels meet to learn about local organisations making a difference. They also work with Acorn to tap into insights from Vital Update: Tauranga, a wellbeing survey developed with TECT, BayTrust, and Tauranga City Council. This helps them identify the most pressing needs and direct their giving where it will have the most impact. This year, Sally's Angels supported BOP Youth Development Trust and UOKBRO, continuing their long tradition of backing causes that make life better across the Western Bay. Over the years, their giving has reached a wide range of initiatives – from foodbanks and community kitchens to organisations helping vulnerable whānau, youth development, and mental wellbeing. Matty Nicholson, Acorn Foundation's Corporate & Community Giving Specialist, says Sally's Angels prove that small actions create big change. 'Most people think fifty dollars a month won't matter, but when you pool it together, it changes everything. That's what these Angels have done—they've made a huge impact on our community.' Giving Circles like Sally's Angels are part of a growing movement, with more than 2,500 worldwide. Simple and flexible, they're often just friends who want to do good in their own backyard. Through Community Foundations like Acorn, this model is gaining momentum in New Zealand—showing that giving together goes further. After ten years of generosity, these Angels aren't hanging up their halos just yet. Their next chapter is about finding new ways to make life better in the Western Bay – and if the past decade is anything to go by, the sky's the limit.
The National
7 days ago
- Business
- The National
Election of 37 Scottish Labour MPs has been a disaster for Scotland
With the commendable exception of Brian Leishman, these Scottish MPs have toed the London-orchestrated party line and remained silent while Scotland has been stitched-up. Pensioners, children, Waspi women, the disabled and the poor have been denied the support one would expect of a purportedly socialist party while, contrary to the rhetoric, the 'good deals' on industrial infrastructure have been committed to projects in England without comparable investment in Scotland to benefit the workers of this country. READ MORE: Brian Leishman: 'Anas Sarwar hasn't spoken to me in 6 months' The Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Scotland was set to go ahead, yet £22 billion was committed by the [[UK Government]] to nascent projects in England while Acorn and Scottish Cluster partners have been advised they may receive a token amount of around £200 million in development funding. This same relatively paltry amount of around 200 £million is what may be paid out by the [[UK Government]] 'to support the area's economic transition' while the Grangemouth refinery is shut down and hundreds of workers lose their jobs; yet the same Labour [[UK Government]] immediately committed to maintaining operations at the loss-making Lindsey oil refinery while refusing to reveal the cost to taxpayers. This follows [[UK Government]] funding of £2.5bn to keep Scunthorpe's British Steel plant open. As if this continued heavily distorted UK infrastructure investment wasn't bad enough for Scotland, the Labour Party have rowed back from repealing the Tory's Internal Market Act, which further restricts the already limited powers of the Scottish Government. To add insult to injury, we now learn that the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray (aka Starmer's Scottish poodle), has the audacity to claim he has no role in delivering devolution deals for Scottish cities as disingenuous justification for Glasgow and Edinburgh not receiving the funding provided by the [[UK Government]] for City Deals in England. READ MORE: Anas Sarwar silent as Brian Leishman thrown out of Labour Regarding my own Lothian East MP, it appears that he learned nothing from his complicity as a [[UK Government]] minister in the illegal invasion of Iraq, and by his relative silence he is now despicably complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank. Neither Douglas Alexander, nor the [[Labour Party]], speaks for me or for the vast majority of the people of Scotland. In the 2026 Holyrood election it is important that everyone who believes in democracy and cares for the futures of our children to grow up, study, live and prosper in Scotland, gets out and votes for a party that will speak up for the right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future via the directly elected Scottish Parliament. Stan Grodynski Longniddry, East Lothian I WOULD have had some respect for Thom Cross's Long Letter (Jul 16) if he had said objectively only the SNP WILL win independence rather than CAN win independence. However, without some clear Damascene policy strategic and tactical revelation, I'm sorry, but I am not going to vote for this contemporary SNP as I have done in the past. Sadly not only are they not listening to the message, they stoically refuse to even hear it. It's going to take a major reversal for them to get with the indy support, and a drubbing at the polls again next year may well deliver it. And all this does is force the campaign further down the road, which seems to be game they are playing. READ MORE: Legal rights without enforcement are merely political ornaments I also don't understand where Thom Cross is coming from by seeking to persuade us Scotland is not a colony. The very existence of the Scottish Secretary of State who oversees us, and operates outwith the elected authority of the Scottish Parliament, is nothing less than a Westminster-appointed High Commissioner, that kowtowing British empire power symbol despised by the 60 former colonies that turned their backs on the empire for their independence, none of which begged to be suborned by Westminster rule again. Refusal to recognise our colonial status merely proves how successfully the propaganda has worked. Scotland will never be independent unless it creates a constitutional crisis – supported by hopefully peaceful direct action, as in Gandhi's leadership example – and this SNP have shown they just won't deliver it. Swinney is clearly hoping somehow indy will happen and his party can claim the credit for it, but won't force the issue. He is not prepared to poke the bear that needs poking. READ MORE: Will John Swinney surprise us with a courageous election manifesto? Scotland allegedly entered into a partnership in 1707, taken there by a small minority of self-interested traitors who allowed the English power to con us, with dissent crushed by the British (English) army. However that treaty is superior to the Scotland Act. Resile from the treaty and the Scotland Act is irrelevant. We have a democratically elected parliament, just the vehicle to reassert our authority. What we don't have is an SNP leadership prepared to step out of their establishment comfort zone to make it happen. The 2026 election is the ideal opportunity to set the agenda. Just one issue. Independence. Ignore the media onslaught on the SNP's record, good or bad. Use social media and street protests to drive the independence agenda. But it has to be declared from now. The argument has to be made clearly to push support higher. The alternative is to remain as a colony served by a High Commissioner about to waste money to develop the nuclear weapons base that imperils Scots like canon fodder and the English avoid because we let them. Choice stolen from us. We have to tell them we reject Ian Murray in his High Commissioner status, we reject his nuclear weapons and we reject his colonial British empire wannabe Westminster government. Independence NOW! Jim Taylor Scotland
Scoop
17-07-2025
- General
- Scoop
Western Bay Teens Awarded 2025 Outward Bound Scholarships
Press Release – Acorn Foundation Funded by generous Acorn donors and community partners, the scholarships enable students who show leadership potential, service to others and financial need to experience Outward Bounds renowned outdoor challenges. Tauranga, 10 June 2025 The Acorn Foundation marked its ninth consecutive year of supporting local rangatahi with a celebration at The Kollective co-working space, honouring recipients of the 2025 Outward Bound scholarships. Twelve Year 12 students from seven Western Bay of Plenty secondary schools – Tauranga Boys' College, Tauranga Girls' College, Ōtūmoetai College, Pāpāmoa College, Te Puke High School, Katikati College and Whakatāne High School – travelled to Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds to complete the three-week Tangaroa Watch course. Funded by generous Acorn donors and community partners, the scholarships enable students who show leadership potential, service to others and financial need to experience Outward Bound's renowned outdoor challenges. The programme builds resilience, confidence and teamwork, skills students bring back to their schools, whānau and wider community. Acorn Foundation CEO Lori Luke thanked donors for investing in young people's futures and acknowledged the ongoing partnership with Outward Bound New Zealand, which selects candidates in consultation with local schools. Acorn Scholarship Specialist, Jo Wilson, says 'Receiving opportunities to build confidence is such a gift for young people. This course really puts them on a pathway to success, having the confidence to put themselves forward and seize future opportunities. We are so fortunate to be able to provide this opportunity to so many students via Roy and Mary's foresight and generosity' Congratulations to the following schools with scholarship winners: Katikati College – Jazmin Cameron, Dion Davis Ōtūmoetai College – Jackson Jane Papamoa College – Cyan John, Arwen Christian Tauranga Boys' College – Trace Taikato-Smith, Caleb Dix Tauranga Girls' College – Jade Lee-Kerkhof, Casey Ockwell Te Puke High School – Georgia Stapleton, Sebastian Rollinson Whakatāne High School – Jay McKane, Reagan Farmer About Acorn Foundation: The Acorn Foundation, the local community foundation in the Western Bay of Plenty, enables generous people to make a bigger impact in their communities, by investing the funds and distributing the returns to causes that matter – forever. The Acorn Foundation is the community foundation for the Western Bay of Plenty. Since 2003, our 700-plus donors have enabled us to distribute more than $20 million, including $3.2 million in 2024, to charities, scholarships and community initiatives that make our region stronger—today and forever.
STV News
10-07-2025
- Business
- STV News
Building new gas-fired power plant is vital for energy security, according to firm
The boss of the firm behind a new power plant in the north of Scotland has said its development is vital for the country's energy security. Plans have been submitted to create a new gas-fired power plant to the northeast of Peterhead. The facility would be built next to the existing one and use carbon capture to reduce its emissions. Climate campaigners have questioned the need for a new fossil fuel-powered plant and argue that the focus should be on publicly owned renewable energy instead. The current owner of Peterhead Power Station, SSE Thermal, says it is coming to the end of its engineering life and needs to be replaced. Finlay McCutcheon, managing director of SSE Thermal, said: 'They do have an ultimate economic, technical life and they will need to be replaced. 'That's why we at SSE want to build new, replacement power stations that are either abated and decarbonised from day one, which is what we want to do at Peterhead or on a clear pathway to decarbonisation in the future.' The current power plant is one of the biggest polluters in Scotland but those behind plans for the new site say using carbon capture technology could reduce emissions by more than 90%. Carbon dioxide (CO2) created at the plant would be captured, transported to nearby St Fergus at the Acorn project, before the CO2 is pumped out to the North Sea by pipes and stored around 2.5km under the seabed, in a process known as CCUS. However, the delay in the advancement of CCUS means a closure date for the current plant has changed from 2030 until the middle of the next decade. The two sites could also operate side-by-side until 2040, in a 'worst case scenario', according to SSE Thermal. The plans are currently with the Scottish Government, and it will be for ministers to decide if they get the go-ahead. Climate campaigners have urged the Government to reject the proposals. Rosie Hampton, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: 'What gives us real energy security is publicly owned renewable energy that isn't tied to the volatile international prices of gas and can bring down bills for people whilst also making the necessary energy transition that we need. 'When we think about what delivers for people in the North East of Scotland and the rest of the country, we're looking at things like wind, solar, direct electrification, we're not looking at power stations.' However, SSE Thermal argues that gas-fired power stations will still be needed even during the transition, when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine. The current plant has been in operation for more than 40 years. Although its role has changed, when it first started working in the early 1980s, it operated at near full capacity for most of the year. Now, because of the increased use of renewables there can be several days at a time when it isn't generating power. A recent updated environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the new power plant says estimated emissions over its lifespan have increased by around threefold from the original estimates. SSE Thermal said the direct pollution from the proposed plant hasn't increased. The firm's MD said: 'We've updated that to take into account the upstream emissions from the gas that we will use for the new power station. 'What hasn't changed is our assessment of the direct emissions from the power station, that remains exactly the same.' Friends of the Earth Scotland said more than 1,600 people and 30 organisations objected to the plans in a consultation on the updated EIA that closed this week. The current plant employs around 80 full-time staff, and it's estimated that the new site will employ around 240. Jennifer Hemmings has worked at the power plant for four years and believes a new station is vital for the area. 'I think it's very important for me in terms of things like job security and as well for myself moving into a more greener kind of job,' she told STV News. 'I think it would mean job growth, especially in the development phase, when it's getting built, lots of local work.' The Scottish Government said it would not be 'appropriate' to comment on a live application. 'A decision will be taken by ministers in due course, following consideration of the application information, consultation responses and representations made by members of the public,' a spokesperson said. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Liverpool Welsh Streets £300 rent hike plan scrapped
People living in a famous set of Liverpool streets have been spared a rent hike that would have cost them an extra £300 a month. Tenants in The Welsh Streets, where Beatle Ringo Starr was born, have agreed a deal with landlord Placefirst. Up to 300 residents were set to be affected by the change, but the rent rise will now be capped at £60. Placefirst said it was "pleased" to reach a resolution that "represents a balanced and sustainable outcome for all parties". The Welsh Streets are named after the Welsh workers who built them and lived there in the late 19th Century. Properties were derelict until regeneration plans by Placefirst were approved by Liverpool City Council in 2017. But residents - some of whom feared they would have to move - discovered they were in line for the now-shelved rent rises in March. Community union Acorn, which represented the residents said it has agreed a 6% cap on rent increases with Placefirst. The cap covers the period to 31 December and is back-dated to 1 said Placefirst had also agreed to address failings around disrepair, communication and treatment of tenants, and have agreed to formally recognise a new residents Brady, a Welsh Street resident who started the campaign, said the fight was "all about keeping people in their homes, supporting key workers, and preserving a vibrant Liverpool community".Acorn Liverpool branch secretary, Martin Mawdsley, said it was a "historic win" not just for the union or the Welsh Streets, but for all renters in the country, adding it showed "ordinary people can fight back and win". 'Listened carefully' Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said the outcome was a "victory for people power, adding: "[This is] a testament to what can be achieved when tenants stand together. "The unity shown by the Welsh Streets community, and the tireless campaigning of Acorn members, has forced Placefirst to the table and delivered a better deal for residents."Placefirst said it had "listened carefully" to concerns raised by residents and capped all rent increases for individual households at 6%, meaning an average rise of about £57 per month with no household seeing an increase of more than £80 per month."We fully understand the impact rent increases can have on residents and their communities and have apologised for our initial handling of this matter," it said."Since then, we have maintained ongoing and constructive dialogue with the affected residents to discuss their concerns, including through one-to-one, face-to-face meetings." It said it was "pleased" to reach a resolution that "represents a balanced and sustainable outcome for all parties".Placefirst added that the proposed rent increases were in line with average regional increases of 9% but there were "a small handful of cases", where residents were "paying well below market value" when the proposed increases were said it had also proposed a rent cap for 2026 of 8%. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
