April 29, 2021
Koha Coffee this Sunday
Koha Coffee is on this Sunday, 2 May. Come along to Houghton Valley Community Hall from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. Jimmy, who is a school student at Rongotai College, will be hosting this community event again as part of his Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. It was a great buzz last time. Please bring a plate to share and we will see you there. All welcome!
Talking about a Houghton Valley compost hub
Next week a group of locals are going to talk to Kaicycle about whether setting up a compost hub here in Houghton Valley is feasible for people that don’t compost at home. The discussion will centre around where the set-up should be, and how to keep the system working effectively.
Houghton Valley locals meet the Whaitua Committee
On Wednesday 14 April, a good turn out of locals welcomed the Whaitua te Whanganui-a-Tara and other interested water restoration groups to an evening of shared aspirations and conversations about how to restore the Houghton Valley water catchment.
The evening started at the playground near Hungerford Road and the manuhiri were welcomed with a mihi, karakia and waiata. The guests were then invited to “cross over” the stream beneath. Then after some introductions, there was a quick tour of the local springs and wetland before everyone headed up to the school hall for some kai, presentations and discussions.
The evening was very positive, and yielded several good leads to take as our next steps in raising awareness of the condition of our valley’s water and beginning to heal the damage. You can view the slide show we presented to the Whaitua Committee here.
Tree planting this season on Te Raekaihau
Local conservationist Brian is planning the planting of 1,000 trees on a slope above the Te Awa-awa Track up from Princess Bay. There will be a few sessions to help prepare the site, bring in the trees and of course, plant them. If you are keen to be involved, there will be notices in our local Facebook Group. We are also re-kindling the old Te Raekaihau Restoration Group Facebook Page, so you can join up with that as well. If you don’t do Facebook, please contact the editor. The plantings from last year have survived the dry spells and are doing well.
(153 recipients, 92 opens)