Author: grant corbishley

October 4, 2018

School Fair Update

Tuesday October 16: the school will be holding a craft night on in the school library from 6.30 pm, if anyone is keen to come along and help make some handicrafts for the fair.

Friday October 19: from 7.30 pm the school will be displaying and selling the better quality clothing donated for the fair. This will be held at the community hall. Koha donation for refreshments and browsing the clothes.

Both events should be lots of fun and a good way to meet some local people.

Saturday October 27: the fair is on 10 am – 2 pm, rain or shine. Donations of clothes, toys, books, crafts, preserves, plants or silent auction items still gratefully accepted.

More Events at the Hall

Koha Coffee Saturday October 6: this is the first Saturday of the month again for our usual community coffee, tea and munchies in the community hall from 10.30 am – 12.30 pm. Come and share your news and ideas with other locals, or have a game of table tennis.

Houghton Valley Progressive Association Meeting Sunday 14 October: HVPA will be having their next meeting on Sunday 14 October at the hall at 4 pm. If you have any ideas or anything to report, come along and share them. You can also sit on the new cushions made by Jess, the first HVPA sponsored project for revitalising or using our hall.

E-bikes in Houghton Bay

Local Dave McArthur is interviewing families around Houghton Bay who have embraced using electric bikes rather than cars as a mode of transport. Dave reports in the first of an occasional series:

This past decade we have seen a new electrical phenomenon in Houghton Valley. Suddenly local people are biking up our steep hills and into our high winds with the speed and ease of a top athlete. And, unlike our streamlined, lycra-clad athletes, they often are transporting their children and luggage with them.

The new electrical phenomenon is battery-boosted bicycles or “electrical bikes”. These come in a range of shapes and an early adopter was Andrew Williams. Over the past few years he and his daughter, Meredith, have become a familiar sight as they whizz down the valley to work in the Houghton Valley Community Garden by the school. From an early age, Meredith could be seen relaxing back in her buggy engrossed in a book or nonchalantly chewing a treat, such as a fresh carrot from the garden.

When asked what two words he most associates with “e-bikes”, Andrew says with relish, “Freedom…! Freedom…!”

Recently Meredith has outgrown her buggy a bit and can now contribute more to propulsion using an ingenious extension to the bike.

When asked what two words she most associates with “e-bikes”, Meredith says with great enthusiasm, “ Always exciting! Always!”

Little Sprouts Charity Art Auction

Three Houghton Valley artists, Grant Corbishley, Miranda Munro and Andrea Selwood have donated artworks to an art auction and sale to raise funds for the Little Sprouts Charity.

An exhibition will be held from October 12 to 28 at Bottle Creek Gallery at Pātaka, with the auction taking place on October 27. During the exhibition you can view all of the pieces that will be auctioned AND you can also explore, and buy, artwork from over 50 other amazing artists from across Wellington.

The Exhibition is free and open daily – see littlesproutscharityartevent.com/exhibition/ (link not current)

Grand Auction Evening – Enjoy a fantastic evening of food, drink and art at the Little Sprouts Grand Auction Evening. This event is being held in The Spine of Pātaka Art and Museum at 6.30 pm on Saturday, 27th October 2018. Tickets are $40 and are strictly limited – they will sell out fast. The ticket price includes canapes and drinks plus the unique opportunity to bid on 15 special pieces of art. Artists whose works will be for sale at the auction event include Heimler & Proc, Rohan Wealleans, and Micheline Robinson, plus an artwork created by Jacinda Ardern. Bidding reserves range from $250 to $2,000.

All proceeds from ticket sales and artworks sold will go to the Little Sprouts Charitable Trust to help change babies’ lives.

(123 recipients, 79 opens)

September 20, 2018

Houghton Valley School fair

Saturday October 27, 10 am -2 pm

The school fair is fast approaching, and the school would love to see lots of people from the Houghton Valley Community sharing the day with them. There will be entertainment, great food, games and activities including pony rides, petting zoo, bouncy castle and all the usual favourites: craft stall, silent auction, toys, books and clothes, cakes, tea shop… the list goes on.

As well as being he school’s annual community event, the fair is also its biggest fundraiser, and this year the money raised will go towards the playground, and updating the school’s technology.

If you are able to donate second hand clothes, books or toys in excellent condition, or to make some craft items, jams or chutneys for the fair, it would be much appreciated. Items can be dropped at school, or be picked up – please contact the school or Karen.

They are also planning a pre-fair social get together at the community hall, where there will be some of the best clothes for sale – the date is likely to be the evening of Friday October 19th – please let Karen know if you might be interested and the date will be confirmed.

Plants for the school fair

The local community has contributed to the school fair for several years now, by running the plant stall and supplying plants for the stall.

The time is right now if you want to plant some vegetable seeds or make herb cuttings. That will give them about six weeks to grow enough but not too big. Also if you have some seedlings in your garden, potting them up now will mean they are reasonably settled. If you have some plants in pots already, give them a weed or prune to make them look attractive. Plants are usually delivered on the day, it is good to give them a decent water the night before.

Building work at the school

Dear Neighbours of Houghton Valley School,

From 7 September Construct Wellington Ltd will be building a new classroom extension near the gates to Houghton Valley School. This work is expected to be completed by the end of January 2019 at the latest.

• Vehicle parking and traffic: Most traffic around the main gate will be between 7 am and 8.30 am. Contractors will aim to park in the bottom car park;
• Noise: There may be noise during the hours allowed by Council: 7.30 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and some Saturdays, particularly the week of Sept 15  – 21 as the piles are put in.

We know there has been a lot of building work at school over the last year or two, and we thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the school, or Shane of Construct.

New shed celebration at Te Kawakawa Commons

Te Kawakawa Commons is having its Grand New Shed Opening Sunday 7 October at 1 pm.  Bring a picnic lunch or enjoy the snacks on offer, check out the new fruit trees and vegie garden layout and explore the numerous bush tracks. The shed is sponsored by the Houghton Valley Progressive Association and the Council “Stone Soup” funding for community gardens. The new shed is beautiful but really just a great excuse for a spring community get-together (maybe in the sunshine!) See you there! Ring Ken for more information.

Events around Wellington

September 19: Celebrate 10 years of the Taputeranga Marine Reserve at the PechaKucha Taputeranga evening, 7.30 pm. Twelve speakers will present their views on the South Coast and the Reserve.
September 22: Check out the Otari-Wilton Bush open day  from 10 am – 2 pm. There will be plants for sale, guided walks, kids’ activities, and food and handmade gifts for sale.
September 22 – 30:  Enjoy activities and colourful and fragrant puāwai – including thousands of tulips – at the Botanic Gardens Spring Festival.
September 21 – 30: Join New Zealand’s biggest citizen science project to gather information on the abundance and distribution of the New Zealand pigeon, also known as kererū, kūkū or kūkupa. You can log your observations at The Great Kereru Count. (link not current)

(list cleaned of paradise.net and clear.net defunct addresses??)

(mailing list clean-up, 123 recipients, 86 opens)

August 28, 2018

It’s tui time again in Houghton Valley

Those of you who live in the lower part of Houghton Valley will be once again surrounded by the continuous sounds of tui as they call to attract mates or fight off competitors. The Council may not approve of our abundance of karo trees, but the birds are certainly happy with their sweet flowers. Play the recording below for to experience their sounds near Hungerford Road.

Photo above is by our ex-local bird man, Peter Reese.

Are you going to our iconic event: The Great Debate?

This Thursday Houghton Valley Playcentre is holding its 21st  annual “The Great Debate”, a comedy debate between central and local government politicians, and TV and local personalities. This year’s moot is that “It is easier running the country than being a stay-at-home-parent”.  The fantastic line up of speakers are:

• JO RANDERSON (writer, actor)
• TAMATI COFFEY (TV presentor, Labour MP)
• ANAHILA KANONGATA’A-SUISUIKI (Labour MP)
• BRIAN DAWSON (Wellington City Councillor)
• FLEUR FITZSIMONS (Wellington City Councillor)
• DAVE TOWNSEND (local personality)
• NICOLA YOUNG (Wellington City Councillor)
• all led by our charming host and MC MP for Rongotai PAUL EAGLE

There will be nibbles provided, drinks available for purchase at the bar and raffles on the night. Local band The Wooden Box will be playing live music.

This is one of the Playcentre’s big fundraisers for the year, all proceeds go towards our fabulous volunteer-run Playcentre in Houghton Valley. The details are below:

• The Great Debate
• Thursday 30 August @ The Pines
• Doors open 6.45 pm, debate starts 7.30 pm
• Tickets $25

Milk delivery update

Eketahuna Country Milk have been really pleased with the response to glass bottle milk deliveries. They are looking to start the market supply in about 6 weeks. Some details:

• The milk will be pasteurized;
• The milk will be full cream (the old silver top);
• It won’t be skimmed initially;
• They will look to develop the range in the medium term;
• The milk isn’t registered organic but is free from hormones and antibiotics;
• The cows are all grass fed and free range;
• The herd that the milk comes from is a jersey X herd. They haven’t tested for A2 milk but approximately 80% of the herd are A2.

There is enough demand for them to develop a home delivery system. There will be a delivery charge, yet to be determined but as low as possible, and hopefully as the number of customers increase they will revisit this charge.

They deliver meat as well at the same time as the milk and they plan to deliver in the early hours of the morning, so you will wake up with your meat and milk at the door.

Timber for the community gardens

The old telephone pole jarrah timber planks have been delivered and carted in to the community gardens near the school for rebuilding the beds on the lower site (pictured). The new beds will be constructed collaboratively, organically, and in true vernacular style. Come along on Sunday afternoons about 2 – 5 pm if you want to be involved, or just come to look, chat or help weed the the other beds.

Koha coffee – Saturday September 1

Koha Coffee will be held in the community hall from 10.30 am til about 12.30 pm this Saturday. Come and share your news and ideas with other locals and enjoy good food and coffee.

(171 recipients, 95 opens)

August 16, 2018

Do you want to get your milk in glass bottles?

A couple of Eketahuna farmers (Steve and Pip Olds) are setting up a dairy processing plant to produce milk in glass bottles for possible delivery to households in Wellington. They will initially sell their full cream milk at weekend local markets in Lower Hutt and Central Wellington, run as a refilling station.

They are also gauging interest to see if a home-delivery service will also be viable, and if so in which suburbs. If you are interested in home delivery (and/or the bottle refill option at the markets) you can read more about it and register your interest here. (link not current) You can also listen to their RadioNZ Interview.

Kae Miller Trust founder’s day planting

Founder’s Day for the Kae Miller trust was celebrated on July 21. Twenty four plants donated by the Forest and Bird Nursery were planted in the nearby Peace Grove to infill between the flax plants. Afternoon tea was held at the lodge including some of the Trustees and two of Kae’s grandchildren, with a surprise visit from two Maori women, one of whom had stayed in the lodge just after her baby was born at the Tapu te Ranga Marae in Island Bay.

They had come to bury the whenua of her son who is now 17 months old. They planted a small manuka near the blue seat, and sang a haunting waiata into the beautiful blue horizon.

The headland is special to many people, and over the years there have been plantings for whenua, memorials and dedications to International Peace. Not all are strictly ecological plantings, so please be aware that they have meaning to someone and treat them with respect.

Guardians of the Bays

The Guardians of the Bays group had their AGM on August 1. This resident’s group is opposing the airport runway extension proposal on social, cultural and environmental grounds. An extension would also have a visual impact on a reasonable number of our local people.

The minutes report that they have had a quiet year while the resource consent is on hold, but have still been working on the case.

Fruit Tree Plantings

Three Fruit Tree Guardian groups turned up at Innermost Gardens on August 12 for a fruit tree planting workshop organised by The Sustainability Trust, and to collect their fruit trees to plant on public land in and around Houghton Valley.

The fruit tree sites near the school welcomed a new apple and a replacement feijoa for one that had died.

Three feijoa trees made their way to Te Kawakawa Commons. Also two fruit trees were planted near the top of Sinclair Park, no pictures as yet.

Forest restoration in Australia

One of our dedicated tree planters was recently on holiday in Northern New South Wales when he stumbled upon a very successful community led coastal reforestation project. He was making his way down to the beach at Fingal Head and couldn’t help but notice the beautiful bush on the track. It was around dawn and there was a noisy chorus of Australian birds. He discovered that the place had been extensively sand mined in the 1960s and was left as a wasteland. A community led planting initiative started in the 1980s and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.

He bumped into a couple of blokes who were involved in the project and spoke at length with them about it. He found it heartening to see such a successful community led initiative. Planting trees is a simple but positive action that we can all take to help mitigate the damage we are doing to our planet.

(170 recipients, 98 opens)

August 2, 2018

A Boost for our Community Gardens

Our two local community gardens have received grants from the Wellington City Council for improvements to their infrastructure: about $3,000 in total. The garden next to the school will get some new raised beds using more permanent material. Some old jarrah telephone pole timber has been sourced as a durable, non-treated option. Te Kawakawa commons has funding to install a water tank next to its new shed and to build a herb garden.

Amy Bird, WCC Community Resilience Advisor, who manages the Wellington City Council “Stone Soup” pool of funding for community gardening, visited the valley garden last Sunday and met with six of the garden regulars. As usual many more ideas about resilient communities than just community gardens were discussed!

WCC sees community gardens as small-scale, low-investment neighbourhood communal gardening ventures, where the primary purpose is growing vegetables or fruit. They support community gardens through:

• Creating partnerships with organisations like the Sustainability Trust, Mokai Kainga and Enviroschools;
• Supporting the development of a local community gardens network with funding from their general grants pool;
• Providing public land for gardens;
• Recruiting volunteers and linking them with projects;
• Providing subsidised compost and free mulch.

And while we are on the subject of local food, next year’s Neighbours’ Day is planned to be held from March 22 – 31 2019. Ten days to celebrate ten years! A good time for a harvest festival, or any other neighbourly type activities, have a think about what you could do.

Call for Proposals to use our Hall

At the HV Progressive Association AGM the committee decided to invite proposals for attracting more community use of the hall, or engagement with the Association. If you have an idea, they can help fund it from a total pool of $3,000. The pool may be for one or several proposals so even if yours is just a small cost still get the idea in. Ideas floating around are:

• improving the seating with new cushions;
• better heating;
• a new coffee machine;
• registering with TimeBank;
• a mini-beer festival.

You can discuss any ideas at Koha Koffee if you want a sounding board, otherwise email your proposals to Ken.

Koha coffee – Saturday August 4

Koha Coffee will be held in the community hall from 10.30 til about 12.30 this Saturday. We are hoping to make it a regular event now on the first Saturday of each month.

Come and share your news and ideas with other locals and enjoy good food and coffee.

Houghton Valley Progressive Association Subscriptions

With a new year starting, the HVPA is asking for you to renew your membership or to support the organisation by joining up. Membership is $10 for a single or family (and with your membership you get a free set of 6 hall cards!)

You can pay online to Houghton Valley Progressive Association at BNZ Kilbirnie, 020 520 0143013 00. Please make sure you provide your name and Sub2018 in the payment details.

To receive your cards please email Ken with your address details or come to Koha Coffee to pick them up.

(169 recipients, 98 opens)

July 18, 2018

Back to straight newsletters again!

Kae Miller Trust Founder’s Day

The Kae Miller Trust is celebrating its Founder’s Day this Saturday 21st July at 1pm. This is held at the Alice Krebs Lodge (the little building up on Te Raekaihau headland). The lodge will be open for visitors from 1pm, if you would like to come and see inside and find out about its heritage and the remarkable woman who built the lodge. Afternoon tea will be provided. A little earlier (11am) there will be a small number of native shrubs planted in the nearby Peace Grove created by Kae in the 1980s.

Little Blue Penguins

The Kororā or Little Blue penguin is the smallest of all penguins. It is recognised by its plain steely blue coat above, with satiny white below. Whilst younger birds are much less settled, fully mature birds tend to be sedentary and return to the same site every year. Colonies are only visited at night for breeding.

Houghton Bay has a resident population of Kororā with many recorded sightings on Naturewatch. Our beach is an off-leash dog exercise area, and it is well known that dogs are one of their biggest threats, with a number of dog attacks recorded in the media over time. If we can protect our resident population of Kororā, it’s likely that we will see increased numbers of them.

A local dog owner has succeeded in training his dog to avoid Kororā, by using a found penguin carcass and a training collar on a low setting as a deterrent. If you are interested in training your dog please contact Brian. Timing for the training will depend on the availability of another dead penguin!

Report of the Houghton Valley Progressive Association AGM

About twenty people braved the weather on Sunday 8 July to attend the AGM of the Houghton Valley Progressive Association. It was gratifying to see such a response to the organisation’s appeal for support.

The meeting began with a mihi and waiata for the guest speaker, Luana Carroll, the principal of Houghton Valley School. Luana then introduced herself and spoke of her focus over her first two terms at the school; getting to know the children and grappling with the issues of the National Education Review, the new School Charter and the school as a Civil Defence Centre. She welcomed community input into developing the School Charter, the intention of which is to make us consider what we want for our children. She also expressed her gratitude for the community help at the school fairs, and said she would like to find ways for the school to give as well as receive.

The group then discussed the issues facing the HVPA, each taking a minute or two to express their thoughts. The general feeling was that both the Association and the hall were necessary for the community. Thoughts and ideas canvassed at the meeting included:

• HVPA has a strong influence when lobbying local government. The old title of “progressive” comes from this lobbying role to get the best for the community. The Council needs a community group to interact with;
• If the hall and the HVPA go, they would be hard to get back. The hall is the only facility in the valley that can be hired out;
• Next year a new act will require HVPA to come up with a new constitution. Two people have offered to investigate alternative structures, including a marae;
• Let the hall serve the school and Playcentre and vice-versa. The school is bursting at the seams while the hall is often empty. Playcentre has used the hall for rainy day dancing. It is a great opportunity for the school and play centre to work together with the HVPA on community and environment issues. Could we build some of these ideas into the curriculum?
• The school has the Fair, the Playcentre has The Great Debate, what can the HVPA do?
• It is hard to get involved as parents, parents will go where their children go. Include children focussed activities in the hall;
• There’s enthusiasm in the community to get involved. The committee needs to let people know how they can assist, and what activities are suitable for the hall;
• A calendar of current hall use would be useful to see where the gaps are. A flyer with the calendar asking for suggestions and community needs to go out to reach new residents not yet on the newsletter list;
• A second table tennis table has been offered, as well as an offer to re-cover the cushions;
• The HVPA doesn’t turn down any reasonable suggestions and can offer koha and rent-free sessions, and even some funding to get projects started. Anyone with an idea needs to be the champion of the event.
• Suggestions so far: register hall on TimeBank, mid-winter dinner, craft beer festivals, pre-fair storage, clothes auction for school fair, dance for adults, yoga and art classes, fruit and vegetable swaps, theatre groups, fix it workshops, bring back the bird banding.

So all in all the event was positive and should result in some renewed vigour. We will keep you updated as the ideas, research and and planning unfolds.

(170 recipients, 98 opens)

Published as Issue No. 98

April 9, 2014

As advised in last night’s regular newsletter all the information for this special issue has been provided by the group formed in response to the proposal to build 13 houses on land on the eastern side of Houghton Bay Rd near the beach.

Norman

Many of us know that a Resource Consent Application for an intensive housing development consisting of 13 double level, three and four bedroom houses for 215 Houghton Bay Rd is currently being considered by Wellington City Council. In fact our community has had a couple of meetings with the developer to let them know our reservations with this scheme, some of which are:

• The density of housing is out of character with the area. Is there any other part of Houghton Valley that is the same size as the site at 215 Houghton Bay Rd with 13 houses on it?
• Overflowing drains are already an issue at the bottom of Houghton Bay Rd. Will the sewage and storm-water systems cope with all the extra run-off once most of the vegetation is removed from the steep site which is then re-covered in hard surfaces, like concrete and other non-porous building materials?
• The community wants to reduce run-off into Houghton Bay by lifting the stream. Will the extra run-off from the intensively built subdivision end up on the beach and in the Marine Reserve anyway?
• Parking is an issue because of all the traffic, including buses, that use Houghton Bay Rd from the round-about through to Hungerford Rd. Will leaseholders, tradesmen and visitors to the 13 lot subdivision park on the on the eastern side of the road causing traffic hazards complicated by a bus stop?
• The proposed landscape plan is not realistic. How can introduced plants grow to 10 metres when the present vegetation, which has taken 30 years to grow, doesn’t achieve that height in this harsh environment?

Our main concern is that we, as a community, have not been notified by WCC about this proposal. Why is the community being left out of the resource consent process? Our exclusion means we have no real input into the Council processes deciding whether or not to grant this Resource Consent.

If the applicants can satisfy the formal requirements for this Resource Consent, then Council has the power to approve the application without notifying anyone. Many of us have already made informal submissions to Council and the application has been on hold for more than 12 weeks with no deadline for the applicants to conform to. If we can further show that the applicants’ management of the formal requirements is not adequate, we can inform and influence Council’s decision to publicly notify the application which will give us the opportunity to be part of the resource consent process.

After serious consideration we decided to get a legal assessment of the proposal and our lawyer will soon make a submission to Council disclosing major issues and problems with the Resource Consent Application.

If Council chooses to ignore these legitimate matters and the Resource Consent Application is approved without notification, we can then ask for a Judicial Review of their decision. It is likely Council’s decision would be overturned and the Resource Consent Application would then be notified. The community can then be included in the notified resource consent process.

To proceed to the Judicial Review stage we first need to form an Incorporated Society. You don’t need to be a home owner or live in the direct area, but if you care about the environment here and if you support the steps we are taking and would like to discuss being part of this Incorporated Society please contact us.

Your involvement is important. If we work together as a community we can get this RCA notified.

Published as Issue No. 97

April 8, 2014

News from the Creek: The first practical steps have been taken to lift the Houghton Valley creek, after 70 years of coexisting with leachate pollution from the old tip.

• On Saturday ten people began clearing away rubbish and foliage to follow the streamlet flows from nine separate clear water springs from the western side of the valley.
• An unexpected bonus was the discovery of koura, native freshwater crayfish, a sign the water is clean and has enough food for them.

Transport Plan: The Greater Wellington Regional Council is further consulting Residents’ Associations on the draft regional public transport plan. The president of the Houghton Valley Progressive Association, Christine Fowler, will attend a meeting in Kilbirnie tomorrow night. Over the last two years locals have been active in shaping this plan as it affects the future of our bus services.

Why 13?: The number of houses proposed for a Houghton Valley Rd development created considerable concern at the end of last year and resulted in public meetings, one with the developer. Jacob, a member of the local group created as a result, commented:

“Our main concern is that we, as a community, have not been notified by WCC about this proposal. Why is the community being left out of the resource consent process? Our exclusion means we have no real input into the Council processes deciding whether or not to grant this Resource Consent.”

Tomorrow a full statement from Jacob and the group will be distributed as a special issue of the Newsletter. Earlier debate is on the website at http://houghtonvalley.org.nz/forum/discussion/217/proposed-sub-division-for-13-houses-at-215-houghton-bay-rd- [Link not current].

Norman

Published as Issue No. 96

March 26, 2014

Word Famous: In Houghton Valley that is. Last Friday was the culmination of weeks of work and months of planning by local people who participated in an international, five day on-line symposium about … water. Their contribution was a multi-media presentation about Lifting the Creek. Links to this will be provided in the next newsletter, for starters see http://blog.water-wheel.net/ [Link not current].

The Winners?: “Senior public transport planner Alex Campbell said big winners would include residents in low-demand areas such as Owhiro Bay, Kowhai Park and Houghton Bay” – excerpt from Dominion Post article on March 15 about the bus review – http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9830785/The-lines-are-coming-down

Norman

Published as Issue No. 95

March 12, 2014

Population growth: Freda Alexandra of Hornsey Rd was born on February 19, weighing in at 3.39 kg. Her bigger sisters, and parents are over the moon. [No photo attached] Last month the community gardeners received a visit from Lorna (b. January 24) of Houghton Bay Rd, Kerry and Philip’s first.

Lifting the Creek Project: Jan and Ella of Hungerford Rd advise the Waterwheel mailbox positioned opposite the Houghton Bay Road playground for around two weeks received 50+ postcards, written and drawn personal responses. Main themes included enthusiasm about the idea of lifting the creek, remembering its past health, the importance of a clean environment, and imaginaries of the future clean creek and thriving wildlife.

More water: Hornsey Rd residents have been meeting with the Council to discuss new water tanks on the Mt Albert ridge and associated landscaping and discharge. Council will provide a copy of the design proposals for distribution to the wider neighbourhood for feedback. Advised benefits include a more stable water supply and landscape improvements; issues involve discharge of 440,000 litres into the Te Kawakawa Commons garden basin.

Neighbours Day: (March 29/30) is about taking time to engage in small and local acts of neighbourliness to make New Zealand safe, fun and friendly places to live. [Link not current]. Anything planned in your neck of the woods?

Norman