Time to pick an olive or two

The call is out for people to help with the Blenheim Returned Services Association’s annual olive harvest. Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology tutor Don Cross has volunteered to be the co-ordinator and says the trees were planted 18 years ago as a memorial to fallen soldiers. Olive oil made with the harvested fruit is sold and proceeds put into the RSA Welfare Fund. The RSA’s ageing membership means helping-hands are required to get olives off the 1200 trees, growing beside the Taylor River near the Burleigh Bridge in Blenheim.