As councillors, we are often invited to attend events across the district and the past few weeks have been busy, with many different events covering the political, cultural and business spectrum – and all a pleasure to be at.

Much of our Council business is conducted in chambers in a more formal setting, often with a lot of accompanying paperwork, so it is always great talk in person with people about their lives, work and achievements.

It helps us gauge how our different communities are going and how Council might be able to help.

On Saturday I attended the FMG Young Farmer of the Year grand final held down in Timaru and I must congratulate all those finalists who are doing our agricultural sector proud.

The level of knowledge and enthusiasm was outstanding, and farming’s future is in good hands … especially locally.

It was a historic night at the Grand Final with Emma Poole becoming the first female winner in the history of the Young Farmer awards.

Our own Peter O’Connor, from the Pendarves club, came a very close second place.

It was fascinating to witness the quiz live and to also see our local Agrikids Charlie Clark, Flynn Wallace and Georgia Heaven from the Mt Somers Springburn School’s “Legendairy” team on stage and winning the title of AgrikidsNZ Grand Champions.

Jack Foster and James Clark, from Mount Hutt College Methven, also starred, coming in third place in the FMG Junior Young Farmers of the Year competition.

Other events I have attended over the past few weeks include the Eid Al-Adha celebration organised by our Afghan community. The evening was a family affair and there were lots of games played. The men were in charge of the cooking and serving of a delicious meal.

The Matariki market at the Marae was another great event organised by the marae komiti and it featured an array of stallholders, food and some great live music. It was a crisp, cold night but the atmosphere was warm and toasty.

The Ashburton Society of Arts held the opening night of their annual exhibition last Monday at the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum. This exhibition always attracts a lot of visitors and is a chance to see the talent of our local artists – the work is quite stunning and there is something for everyone’s taste, so get along and have a look before the exhibition ends on 28 July.

While you are there make sure you go downstairs to the two exhibitions – Puaka and the Colossal Squid.

One event I am really looking forward to is Mt Hutt’s 50th celebrations in August. There are some great events planned and the big birthday weekend kicks off on Thursday 24 August with stalls, a street parade and performance by the legendary band Dragon.

The skifield is an important part of our tourism sector and deserves to be centre of attention that weekend.