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She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I’m really proud to be working alongside the Mirror and SMA UK on this campaign and launching this petition. She wrote: “As you all know, I’ve been working hard to campaign for SMA to be added to the newborn screening heel-prick test here in the UK. Any support, shares or signatures would mean the world to me and to so many other families”Earlier this week, Nelson told how she no longer has “time” to make music. “They are my whole heart and soul and my main focus, and I want to continue advocating for them and getting this heel-prick test changed and getting them strong, that’s my main focus. That’s my main focus right now.”

A section of the recently-completed Kawarau Villas. The project team behind the Kawarau Villas terrace housing complex, just below Frankton’s Remarkables Park, suspect it’s currently Queenstown’s fastest-selling development. Construction is moving apace with stage one, comprising about 40 homes, having sold out along with 62% in the second stage. Comprising, ultimately, 132 two-level two- and three-bedders, the balance of the second stage are all three-bedders priced from $955,000. Bayleys residential projects GM Gavin Lloyd says Auckland-based Redwood Group’s Tony Gapes — the original developer of Frankton’s Five Mile shopping complex — hasn’t jacked up the prices.

Noa Milburn dominates last Sunday’s men’s final against Jack Hansen Ratter from Christchurch. Oldest brother Kai Milburn, now 19, won in 2024, then, last year, middle brother Dan, now 17, beat youngest brother Noa, now 16, in an epic final. And now Noa has won this year’s final, beating Christchurch’s Jack Hansen Ratter 7-5, 6-0 last Sunday after the latter beat Dan in the semis. Dan and Noa also teamed up for the second year running to take out the men’s doubles, beating Hansen Ratter and Wellington-based former local Justin-Li Moroney in the final. The singles winners took home $1000 each and the doubles winners $300 each, while the runners-up also won prize money.

Stanley St’s Holiday Inn Express & Suites will be converted to ‘voco’ by the end of the year. PICTURE: MARINA MATHEWSThe owner of Queenstown’s Holiday Inn Express & Suites is moving the town centre hotel upmarket. IHG Hotels & Resorts announced this week the 227-room, four-star hotel, which fronts Stanley, Sydney and Melbourne Sts, will be converted to its premium ‘voco’ brand by the end of the year — the rebrand was first reported in Mountain Scene in 2024. The statement says the rebrand’s designed to ‘‘strengthen the property’s commercial mix, broaden its appeal across leisure and corporate segments, and support sustained long-term performance’’. Developed and owned by Australian company Pro-invest Group, it was the company’s first Holiday Inn Express in New Zealand, a brand it operates under a franchise agreement with IHG.

Couple’s ‘alpine retreat’: Longtime property managers for child sex offender, the late Jeffrey Epstein, had this Queenstown house on Alpine Retreat Rd built 20 years agoA Kiwi couple revealed to have run paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s properties also formerly owned a Queenstown section which they built a large house on. In 2003, the Gordons, who aren’t implicated in any criminal activity, bought a 3556 square metre section on Queenstown’s Alpine Retreat Rd, off Moke Lake Rd, for $500,000. In a property information memorandum in ’04, the couple’s address is given as Zorro Ranch. It’s not known if the Gordons ever resided at their Queenstown property, but they had lived in Dunedin in the ’90s after they’d been cheffing in the military, Karen for the navy and Brice for the army. The NZ Herald reports an Epstein trust listed Brice to receive $US2m, ‘‘if he survives me’’, just two days before Epstein committed suicide in 2019 in a federal jail.

NZ Breakers majority owner Marc Mitchell at Queenstown’s Ayrburn last weekQueenstown's clearly on the radar of the New Zealand Breakers basketball franchise’s new majority owner. Kiwi-American businessman and lawyer Marc Mitchell last year bought the Auckland-based franchise along with several Kiwi investors and pledged to enhance its ‘‘NZness’’. Now Auckland-based, ‘‘I’ve been coming to NZ for over 20 years because my wife is a citizen,’’ he says. ‘‘Our family, our kids, we’ve skied here, we’ve been here in wintertime, summertime, every version of everything’’. As to whether he’s bought property here, ‘‘not yet, but we’ll see, we always enjoy our time in this region’’.

A Frankton beneficiary convicted of burglary, theft and receiving charges has been spared prison because of his efforts to turn his life around. Police say Jones and his associate received a Toyota Hilux stolen from near the Wye River bridge, on the Kingston Rd, in late March of 2024. Early on the morning of April 20, they were driving the stolen Hilux near Lake Pukaki when they drove down a farm track, climbed a fence and stole two containers of diesel oil from a shed. Jones and his associate were eventually arrested and charged with two charges of receiving, theft from a car and two charges of burglary. Mountain Scene did not attend Jones’ sentencing in Queenstown’s court on January 13, but applied for a copy of Judge Mark Williams’ sentencing remarks.

For a performance during Munich Jewellery Week, Jessica Winchcombe will wear a cape adorned with jewellery by herself and three other NZ contemporary jewellers who’ll also be on the trip. PICTURE: PAUL GREENRenowned Queenstown contemporary jeweller Jessica Winchcombe’s about to play a major role in Germany’s prestigious Munich Jewellery Week — considered to be as big as Paris Fashion Week is in the world of fashion. ‘‘We’re going to have these beautiful capes dripping in jewellery, and we’re walking through this museum’’ — the Pinakothek der Moderne. Creative NZ’s made a ‘‘substantial’’ contribution towards the ‘Aotearoa Exchange’ performance in Munich. Winchcombe’s also bringing over one of her Level 3 jewellery students, Queenstowner Lucia Guy, ‘‘to see what the world stage looks like’’.

Photo: Sam HendersonSizzling sausages and sunny skies last Thursday marked the start of the social calendar for Enabling Love & Friendship. Members of the Dunedin-based group, dedicated to fostering relationships for people with disabilities, gathered for their first official event of 2026. A weekly coffee club acts as a regular gathering point for about 45 Dunedin members. Topics include friendship skills, sexuality, emotions, communication, participation, drama and meeting others. It has supported connections in regions including Invercargill, Taupō and Palmerston North, alongside the core Dunedin membership.

Photo: Don TownsendHot on the heels of winning the outstanding performance — lead male role award at Monday’s Dunedin Theatre Awards, well-known Dunedin actor/singer Max Beal is embarking on the long journey to London. An Iliad, performed with musician Sam Meikle during Dunedin Fringe Festival, was Beal’s first show for the year. "It stuck with me, so when I decided to try my hand at some [non musical] theatre, it had to be An Iliad," he said. Audiences across the country have also experienced his talents in the lead role of Frankie Valli in Musical Theatre Dunedin’s production of Jersey Boys, which toured New Zealand. "I have been very lucky to have had so many wonderful opportunities to perform in musical theatre shows, dating back to Into the Woods in 2017," he said.

Constructive activities for prisoners at the Otago Corrections Facility in Milton have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Allied MediaCreative and social programmes for prisoners have fallen by two-thirds following the Covid-19 pandemic, sparking concerns for prisoners’ wellbeing and rehabilitation. Documents released under the Official Information Act (OIA) show of about 20 constructive activities offered at the Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) near Milton over the past decade, only six remain active. Opportunities for Otago prisoners to engage in constructive activities such as knitting and drama have dropped sharply in the wake of the outbreak and the withdrawal of external providers. These included offence-focused programmes, educational opportunities, vocational and employment training, health services, mental health and addiction programmes, cultural support services, motivational programmes and intensive residential programmes.

Photo: ODT filesThe second of three may be back on the table. Mountain Scene can reveal the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust and New Ground Capital (NGC) are re-exploring Toru Central, the second of three planned Toru apartment buildings below the Remarkables Park shopping centre. Housing trust boss Julie Scott says they’re working with NGC on opportunities to construct the second, smaller apartment building, which would hopefully comprise another 80 units. In an ‘‘ideal world’’, NGC would retain theirs under a build-to-rent programme, while the housing trust’s would go into a variety of housing programmes. The last six households of the second stage will move in there at the end of this month, with stage three households expected to follow soon after.

It's what you could call a bee-autiful exhibition. Remarkables Park’s Te Atamira this week opened its newest exhibition, ‘Let the Honey Soak Through’, a collaboration between Otago-born artists Taarn Scott and Hana Pere Aoaki (Ngāti Hinerangi, Ngāti Mahuta, Tainui/Waikato, Ngāti Waewae, Tauranga), designed to champion our native bees. Inspired by bee networks and their relationship with the environment, the exhibition examines the patterns bees create to sustain their lives, replicated by human systems, hiveware, keepers and agricultural formations. Much of the work within the exhibition utilises blue tones — the colour which most attracts honeybees — including Te Atamira’s gallery space. ‘Let the Honey Soak Through’ runs till April 27.tracey.roxburgh@scene.co.nz

In the Sacred Heart School community garden are (from left) Hawkdun Patterson, 10, principal Catherine Colvin, teacher aide Lil Hyde, Emerson Patterson, 9, Karis Hoogeveen, 8, Pippa McCall and Henry Bulling, both 9. PHOTO: NINA TAPUWhen tamariki at a Southland primary school tend to their community garden, they do more than learn about how to grow food. Sacred Heart School principal Catherine Colvin said teaching the children how to garden not only gave them practical skills but it also taught them the importance of helping others and how to show kindness. The school’s community garden has been running since 2021 and produce grown by the pupils is donated to groups including St Vincent de Paul. Gardening was the school’s way of showing the students their actions were ‘‘a practical way to live [out] their faith’’.