November 15, 2019
November 16: Pre Fair Clothes Sale
Houghton Valley School are trying the successful pre-fair clothes sale again this year. It will be taking place at the community hall on Saturday November 16 (tomorrow!), from 1 pm to 4 pm. Refreshments will be available while people browse. There have been some great clothes donated, so come along for some good deals.
November 23: Houghton Valley School Fair
Our community Fair is nearly here! Saturday November 23, from 10 am – 2 pm. As always, we can promise you delicious food, great entertainment, activities for all the family including pony rides, a petting zoo, kids’ sumo and heaps more games on the school field. We will have books, crafts, plants, toys and clothes for sale, and you can get yourselves a bargain in our silent auction with items worth thousands of dollars. Check out our Facebook page for more information.
Bring your own bags, coffee cup, plate, etc to help support us in our aim to be waste free. If you would like to donate books, toys or clothes, chutneys, lemons or crafts to the Fair please drop off at the school office during school hours, or contact Karen and we will come and pick up.
You can also bring plants for the gardening stall run by the local community. If you are potting up seedlings, do them now so that they are reasonably established before the fair. If they are already potted, make sure they are weeded and watered so they look their best.
All money raised at the Fair goes towards supporting our children’s learning.
November 30: Thanksgiving Dinner at the Hall
While people of the Northern Hemisphere prepare to give thanks before settling into winter, why not take the time to celebrate Thanksgiving at the onset of Summer? Join us for a community wide Thanksgiving potluck dinner on November 30, 4 pm at the Community Hall. Bring a plate to share. If you are feeling daring, have a go at a preparing a traditional dish such as Candied Yams or Pumpkin Pie. Roast Turkey will be provided as a main course. Bring family and friends to come celebrate what an amazing community we have here in Houghton Bay.
RSVP to Jessica. Please let her know what dish you are bringing and if you would like to carpool with someone.
Earthquake Preparedness
Dave McArthur reports on the earthquake preparedness meeting held recently:
“On September 24, Te Kura o Haewai (Houghton Valley School) hosted Ana Faatoia from WREMO for a second session on disaster preparedness. This time Ana had us enact our community response two days after an earthquake of 8.2 magnitude off Kapiti cut off all services to the valley for an extended period. The school buildings remained intact in this scenario. Our task was to establish recognizance, communication and social support systems using the school facilities and WREMO equipment.
The corporatization of Wellingtons City’s ‘Civil Defence’ in the early 1990’s resulted in the number of Houghton Valley residents formally involved in the system dropping from about 45 to zero. This WCC reform, combined with the advent of Tomorrow’s Schools in the late 1980s, meant the use of the school has involved very fraught decisions ever since. The situation has been clarified somewhat now and select local residents have been given access rights at times of an emergency.”
(136 recipients, 98 opens)