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Published as Issue No. 133

August 4, 2015

Down the Hall on a Friday night: Thanks/apologies to Peter Cape.

Event 1: Banner painting for the community hall walls is well underway with some interesting designs reflecting life in Houghton Valley emerging. See photo below.  The banners are the start of a fresh new look for the lovely old hall. Check out our Facebook Page (also called Friends of Houghton Valley) for more photos.

Event 2: Friday Potluck get-together 14 August 7 pm. Are you a cat person? A bird person? Interested in conservation issues? Two locals Peter Reese and Kate Pickard will share their expertise with us – Pete with an overview of the importance of bird banding in Wellington and Houghton Valley, while Kate will reveal the very interesting results of her domestic cat tracking project. It promises to be a great night. All welcome.

Friends of Houghton Valley fundraising event: Coral reminds us of a ‘Fab quality music and dance show’ at the Pines this Sunday 9 August, 3 – 5 pm. Afternoon tea is included in the $20 entry fee. Tickets are limited but some door sales will be available. Concessions for young families. Featuring:

• VIVO STRING QUARTET
• CLASSICAL HARP Carolyn Mills, Principal Harpist, NZSO
• FLAMENCO GUITAR Jacob De Ruiter and Mike Kingston
• BELLY DANCING Felina and Mirian Caberlon

Be great to see you there. Coral Hyam, Chair – Friends of Houghton Valley

A day in our history: August 10 is an important date in our community; in 1929 the Houghton Valley Community Hall opened; in 2010 the Community garden started and in 2013 the website www.houghtonvalley.org.nz was launched. As there is a very important event already happening on Sunday the 9 August (a fund raiser for the Friends of Houghton Valley – see reminder), a celebration will be held at the Community garden on Sunday August 16 at 3 pm. There will drinks and nibbles, all welcome.

Houghton Valley Progressive Association AGM: Minutes of the recent AGM, are below. Ken also reports; keep your eye on the newsletter for coming activities at the hall and if you want to support the Association by becoming a member, you can do this on-line. Membership for a family is a bargain at $10 a year. Pay on-line through the HVPA account 02 0520 0143013 000. Please make sure you include your family name and SUB2015 in the reference fields. If you need a receipt then you can let us know by email. Members at the AGM enjoyed a talk from Norman on his work on a range of community energy projects in Northland. He was standing in for Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright who was prevented from attending by illness.

[The minutes have been extracted from the body of the newsletter and turned into an attachment.]

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 132

July 14, 2015

Fund-raising event: Friends of Houghton Valley advise “we are having a fab quality music and dance show at the Pines on Sunday 9th August from 3 pm to 5 pm. Afternoon tea is included in the $20 entry fee. Tickets are limited. Concessions for young families are also available.

Featuring: VIVO STRING QUARTET, CLASSICAL HARP – Carolyn Mills, Principal Harpist, NZSO; FLAMENCO GUITAR – Jacob De Ruiter and Mike Kingston; BELLY DANCING; Felina and Mirian Caberlon. Be great to see you there.”

Bird Banding: Peter of Hornsey Rd reports “We had a very successful session at the School (two Sundays ago) catching 97 birds of 5 species. There were 65 new and 32 recaptures, as expected the catch was dominated by silvereyes, also blackbird, dunnock, greenfinch and house sparrow. The oldest caught was banded at Hornsey Rd in Aug 2010, just  short of 5 years. Afterwards the banders joined the community gardeners for afternoon tea.”

More data and photos can be found on their blog post of Monday, 6 July 2015.

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 131 STOP PRESS

July 7, 2015

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, will give a talk at the Progressive Association AGM at the hall this Sunday, 12 July at 4 pm.

To keep this talk of local interest (noting that Jan lives about 50 metres from the Hall) it would be great to have some thoughts on the environment of the valley to send her as focus points.  Please send any ideas to Ken as soon as possible.

We will have Jan’s address followed by a cuppa and then the formal part of the meeting for those who can stay. An RSVP would be useful to help the catering (first dibs on biscuits goes to those who RSVP!!)

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 130

June 30, 2015

HVPA AGM: The Annual General Meeting of the Houghton Valley Progressive Association will be held on Sunday, July 12, at 4 pm at the Community Hall. Officers will be elected and this will begin another year of activities in and around the hall.  If you are interested in contributing to the agenda for the meeting, contact Ken Munro.

Peter and the Bird Banders: Peter advises the next bird banding session is this Sunday afternoon (July 5) at Houghton Valley School. It will start about 1 – 1.30 pm and go to around 4 pm. The area is next to the community garden with the gardeners inviting the banders to join them around 3.15 pm.

There have been sessions with children from the school over the last two weeks with lots of Silvereyes, which seems to be a feature of this winter. More data and photos can be found on their blog post of Wednesday, 17 June 2015 and Friday, 26 June.

Off to the Dance: On her way to the recent Medieval dance held in the community hall, Meredith stopped by at the community garden to show her outfit to Nick from View Rd, and others. [No attachment]

Stolen Trailer: Jos of Houghton Bay Rd (adjacent to Sinclair Park) advises their caged trailer – the one they make available to other members of the community at no cost – was stolen on June 24.

Deck the Hall: One of the first activities to brighten up the community hall is this Friday July 3, from 7pm. Rather than paint the beautiful old (but dark) woodwork in the hall, the plan is to have colourful banners hanging from the walls. Everyone is invited to help paint them and you don’t have to be an artist! It will be a fun collaborative effort. Please email Miranda for more details if you are interested in coming along.

Reminder: As featured in the last issue of the newsletter, Founders Day at the Alice Krebs Lodge on Te Raekaihau Point will be held this year on Saturday, July 11th at 2 pm.

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 129

June 16, 2015

This issue looks more like a calendar with a surprising number of forthcoming events for a community with only a few hundred households.

Dancing without the Stars: Never done Medieval dance before? Who has, but here’s your chance, this Sunday at the Houghton Valley Community Hall, 80 Houghton Bay Rd. 3.30 – 6 pm.

“Come one, come all” invites Coral on behalf of the Friends of Houghton Valley “and celebrate the shortest day of the year. Best costume prizes for girls and boys and ladies and gentlemen, entry $5 or family $10. Fun for all the family!”

Janet Boutel will introduce the Early Dances. She is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music, London who studied Early Dance in Europe and attended many dance workshops, notably in Belgium, France and Switzerland and has taught Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque dance at such places as Cambridge University UK, Yale University USA, the Early Music Centre London. As a ballet teacher she is familiar with our hall. This is a Friends of Houghton Valley fundraising event.

Potluck Friday: On June 26, at 7 pm the first Potluck Fridays at the Community Hall gets underway with a talk by two local artists recently returned from overseas adventures. Grant Corbishley will share his experiences of making art with Chinese students, while Andrea Selwood will talk about her time as Artist in Residence at Bamboo Curtain Studios, Taipei and how she sees the link between art and building community. Bring some food to share. Tea and coffee provided, the hall will be warm and cosy.

Founders Day: Founders Day at the Alice Krebs Lodge on Te Raekaihau Point will be held this year on Saturday, July 11th at 2 pm. This event has been held for a number of years with increasing numbers of locals taking the ten minute walk up the hill from the end of View Rd extension to join members of the Kae Miller Trust for afternoon tea and see progress on the planting/restoration work carried out by TRiG. Kae’s vision for the retreat and peace and conservation was featured in a January 1982 article in the “Evening Post”. [Attachment missing]

School Fair: Saturday, 31 October is set for the school fair. Organiser Karen advises that prior to that they host monthly craft evenings where parents gather in the school library with refreshments and have a social, productive time crafting items to sell. They are always on the lookout for people able to pass on skills in making easy, saleable items, and also people to come and craft with the group. The next evening will be on June 19, where they will make hair accessories. If you feel you could run a session, or wish to come along for a fun evening, please contact Karen. “We would love to hear from you as we look to make the Fair more of a community-focused event.”

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 128

June 2, 2015

It’s about us: a talk about the Houghton Valley environs by Grant Corbishley of Hungerford Rd will take place at the Roxy Theatre, Miramar on Thursday 11 June at 7 pm. For the past 5 years Grant has been listening to his neighbours; their stories, their knowledge of the local past and their ideas for the future. From these encounters, 30 local projects have been initiated. The talk outlines how these projects have bought about social change and greater cohesiveness amongst locals.

Friends of Houghton Valley: Four hundred dollars raised and 20 new members (now 200) was the result of a recent fund raising and awareness book sale at Lyall Bay held by this Group, created to oppose the size of a 13-house development at 215 Houghton Bay Rd. The next event is a garage sale starting at 9 am on Saturday June 13 at 8 Cave Rd. See the Garage Sale Poster.

Here from the USA: Nine days ago HV School hosted 16 students and their tutors from the University of Minnesota, Crookston USA. The visit, organised by omnipresent Dave from Houghton Bay Rd, began with a presentation putting the school’s coastal forest project into context so they might know where it fitted into the big scheme of things since Gondwanaland and why our valley is so special.

Then everyone volunteered over three hours of vigorous work clearing blackberry, gorse, cape ivy and other invasive species using grubbers and loppers. They departed leaving behind a large area between the Haunted Hut Track and Fantail Guide Track cleared ready for school students to plant with native trees.

Requiem for a Grey Warbler: Its not often we get an insight into the life and times of creatures that share our lives in Houghton Valley and which in turn might be a ground breaking development – involving lice!  Earlier this month bird enthusiast Rob and Janine of Houghton Bay Rd advised our very own bird-man Peter of Hornsey Rd they had found a dead grey warbler.

From the metal tag Peter advises the bird was banded at the little stream across the field from the kids playground in Houghton Bay on 7 June 2014. It was aged then as a first year bird so probably fledged in the Spring/summer of 13/14 and would have most likely have produced offspring last year. This is probably about an average age for a Grey Warbler; the oldest on record is just over 4 years. They are a bit like Fantails, breed very rapidly when they can but don’t live very long.

He further commented, “I coordinate a group that band birds in this area (sometimes local children are involved – see attached) and have been doing it for about 20 years. We get very few Grey Warbler recoveries, they are so small and bodies are rarely found.

“The body is now at Te Papa where it might go into the collection, but may have been dead a bit long. Otherwise Ricardo Palma the Te Papa (and world) louse expert will try and find lice, he has a female of an unknown species from a Grey Warbler but needs a male to positively ID the species which might possible be new to science. We have been trying to find one for ages without any success.”

[Watch this space for a world scoop]

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 127

May 19, 2015

Coral of Houghton Bay Rd writes: Since our first public meeting on 19 February membership of Friends of Houghton Valley Inc. has been growing steadily. We now have around 65 members and growing strong. Many people care about the character and environment of Houghton Valley.

During February and March our statement of claim for a Judicial Review of Council’s non-notified decision, consenting to the subdivision of 215 Houghton Bay Rd for the construction of 13 houses, was being considered and finalised by our legal team led by barrister Graham Taylor. This process was completed by mid-April when our claim was filed in the High Court. We are now embarking on some serious fundraising initiatives outlined in the attached flyer. Thanks for your continued support and valuable time.” Coral Hyam, Chair, Friends of Houghton Valley Inc.

Friends of Houghton Valley Fundraising Events-2

Tree Planting: Te Raekaihau Restoration Group (TRiG) invites you to their tree planting afternoon on Saturday, May 23, 2 – 5 pm at Te Raekaihau Park. Come and enjoy the first Houghton Valley planting for the season and help fill an empty forest under-storey with living green!  Please see attached flyer for more details.

Who let the cats out?: Kate, a Wellington East Girls College student from View Rd writes: “As part of a science fair test for a school project I am observing some cats’ hunting behaviour. To do this, I am putting some cameras and GPS trackers on cats from our neighbourhood, and seeing if they are hunting or not. Because of this you may see some cats walking around with harnesses on. If you are interested in the results of my study, completing one of my surveys, or getting your cat involved, please email me.”

All items of local interest welcome.

Norman and contributors

Published as issue No. 126

May 5, 2015

Book Swap: Lucy of Houghton Bay Rd followed up the suggestion of a book swap – “… sounds good, bus shelter [may be] too damp and access too free, how about a garage or somewhere at the school, under cover or a shed … just my thoughts, also what would you do when there are too many books etc?”

But wait, there’s more: Jessica from Houghton Bay Rd, the artist of the mural at the community hall, and others have been talking about the idea of painting a bus stop to look like a book shop – to host the book exchange! If you are interested in planning and taking part in these activities come down to the community garden this Sunday at 3.15 pm to discuss over a cup of tea.

Also (Lucy adds): “you might like to include in the newsletter, organic raw milk, available at collection sites near you, www.windriverorganics.co.nz for more info. Not tried it yet but intend to make cheese. I think you order online and pick up from Newtown.”

All the News: Houghton Valley Progressive Association president Ken from Hornsey Rd installs a new noticeboard adjacent to the bus stop at the Community Hall in Houghton Bay Rd. It will complement the newsletter to keep passers-by informed about forthcoming events at the hall and other community activities. Thanks to French Door Factory in Rongotai for their support.

Rivers and Coast Users Survey: Houghton Valley residents may be more interested than most in completing a Wellington Regional Council survey on issues which encourage, or discourage, people to use harbours, coasts and rivers. There’s also a prize for completing the survey. [Survey link not current]

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 125

April 21, 2015

Book Swap?: on our Facebook Group Rachel asks: “Is anyone keen on a book swap box or similar being installed somewhere in the area? I was thinking perhaps in or near a bus stop or possibly even the community garden?? What does everyone think to the idea please? Any suggestions on where to install if keen?”

Weed bashing: TRiG had another great weed-bashing session up on Te Raekaihau last weekend.  With local help we raked up a huge amount of tradescantia (wandering willy) into a pile high enough to see the sea above the bush!  We also have been cutting some steps in the steep parts of Ruru Track, although still more are needed.

They are only dirt steps, so please still take care when walking the track.  We are planning a tree planting session on May 23 (dependent on the delivery of trees) so keep this afternoon free. If you’d like to help more regularly (we make the weeding every bit as fun as the tree planting!) please contact Jenny.

Happy ending: A very happy Brian of View Rd reports his missing dog Whī was found and thanks everyone for their help.

Also Found: Work-persons last Friday rediscover and uncover the drain at the Houghton Valley stream mouth buried by last week’s storms.

Norman and contributors

Published as Issue No. 124

April 7, 2015

School Fair: Karen advises the date for this year’s Houghton Valley School Fair has been spookily set for Saturday October 31, 10 am to 2 pm, and comments “We hope local residents will put the date in their diaries and come along. We would also like to request donations of any surplus fruit or veggies so we can make chutneys/jams/etc. As the Fair approaches donations of items we can sell will also be very gratefully received. Thank you in advance.”

Houghton Valley Progressive Association: The next meeting is this Sunday, 12 April at the Community Hall at 4.30 pm.

Lifting the creek: A conversation at the community garden on Sunday discussed what progress has been made by Council people we have been working with, to get the project into the Long Term Plan.

Whether anything more happens or not, locals appreciate what has been achieved so far; the creation by consulting engineers, Cardno Consultants, of a detailed plan to Lift the Creek. This is a big step forward as it will continue to evoke discussions and used as a basis for in-house (community) consultation about what is wanted in the way of finer detail – and have some fun designing the creek within the park, and possibly creating some related art events.

In a follow-up conversation today Councillor Sarah Free advised of the possibility for on-going clean-up work using the Council’s annual budget for landfill remediation.

Working Bee: TRiG will be having another working bee on 18 April 2 – 4 pm to work on the Ruru Track on Te Raekaihau. We will be doing weed control, track upgrading and maybe some selective logging of karo to create light wells for tree planting, which is coming up in May. If you think you would like to come and want a reminder closer to the time (or more information), please email Jenny.

Norman and contributors