Published as Issue No. 152 – and the last?
June 6, 2016
One way and another Grant from Hungerford Rd and Norman from View Rd have been involved with this newsletter for quite a while; Grant was the catalyst for it being established and Norman has served an extended stint as ‘editor.’ They agree it may have run its course but have different ideas about ‘what’s next’’, here are their respective perspectives.
Grant writes: There is a season turn, turn, turn: a time to gain, a time to lose; the time has come for our beloved email newsletter to enter into its winter hibernation. It may awaken in the spring, if that’s what the community decrees – but in a different form.
Maybe we do not need the newsletter, because Facebook does it all, or perhaps someone will awaken it and run it in a completely new way, or maybe it is activated only when needed.
Anyway, the newsletter needs to go byebyes now, so … stay warm, and if you would like to kiss this toad and transform it into a prince, then pucker-up to Norman to awaken the newsletter from its slumber.
Norman writes: The end of the line. One hundred and fifty one issues at an average of 25 a year add up to something like six years of Houghton Valley Community Newsletters, which currently goes out to around 200 households in the neighbourhood.
Alongside the website page it sought to be all things to all people but, as the person who has coordinated its compilation since 2013 (always with support from Grant from Hungerford Rd) it seems like it’s time to stop.
Now we have the increasingly used Facebook page which provides both immediate communications and a record of activities; then there is the fantastic website, and Neighbourly, not to mention the school newsletter and other local e-networks such as those created by the local Playcentre and action groups Friends of Houghton Valley and Guardians of the Bays.
The photographs [link not current] show one railway track ending but others going on – perhaps as good a metaphor as any for the closure of the newsletter while the journey of creating a healthy and connected community can continue using other means, should people wish.
I’d urge everyone join up the local Facebook page and also take a look at Neighbourly, and think about getting involved with all the other community activities such as the south coast time bank, and … the plan is to put out one more issue where people can comment on, well anything. Deadline, one week for contributions.
Ma whero ma pango ka oti ai te mahi – With red and black the work will be complete This refers to co-operation where if everyone does their part, the work will be complete. The colours refer to the traditional kowhaiwhai patterns on the inside of the meeting houses.
Ka kite ano, Norman and Grant