Community News

We’re proud to be part of our community. Over the past 150 years we’ve been giving grassroots support to hundreds of organisations who care for the region like we do.

On this page you’ll find news about the wonderful initiatives and organisations we support, as well as interesting updates from our team.

WBS maintains strong credit rating

WBS maintains strong credit rating

The credit rating agency Fitch has once again given WBS a stable BB+ rating, a score that the Masterton-based lending and investment provider has now held for more than 15 years.

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Making a difference to hockey in Wairarapa

Making a difference to hockey in Wairarapa

Another local group that received support from the WBS Charitable Trust back in April was Wairarapa Hockey. Their Operations Manager, Sharon Gates, was in touch recently to let us know how their grant made a difference.

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More community funding success

More community funding success

We recently closed our October funding round. We’ll soon let applicants know the results of their submissions. In the meantime, good news stories keep coming in from applicants in our April funding round. The latest of these stories was from the Wairarapa Spitfires Baseball Club.

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Honouring Wairarapa’s best businesses

Honouring Wairarapa’s best businesses

What a pleasure it was to attend the WBS Wairarapa Awards Gala Dinner on Tuesday night. So many amazing individuals, businesses and organisations that are putting in the mahi on their own, or with a team, to have a positive impact in our community.

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Our October grant funding round is open

Our October grant funding round is open

WBS turned 150 this year. As part of the WBS Charitable Trust’s celebration of this milestone, the Trust committed an investment of $150,000, to be shared through four grant funding rounds across this year and next.

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WBS grants continue to help community groups to prosper

WBS grants continue to help community groups to prosper

WBS is very proud to support local initiatives, fulfilling our purpose in ‘Helping our community prosper’. This month we continue to showcase some fabulous local organisations who were successful in their applications for our WBS community funding round back in April 2023.

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Tirama Matariki Light Glow

Tirama Matariki Light Glow

We’re super proud to be supporting the 2023 Tīrama Matariki Light Glow at Masterton’s Queen Elizabeth Park this weekend, Friday 28 and Saturday 29 July. Tīrama Matariki means ‘the sparkling Matariki’ and it’s our region’s most prominent indigenous festival, promoting Māori artists and culture.

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