Houghton Valley Email Newsletter
03 November 2011
HV Community Garden: more locals are discovering the garden. Some took advantage of the fine weather on Sunday afternoon to visit – see photo.
EVENTS CALENDAR
November 12, Houghton Valley School Fair: Message from the school: Our fabulous Fair is just over 1 week away! Thank you so much to everyone who has volunteered so far – your help is really appreciated. HVS is a Decile 9 school, which means that the school gets less funding per child than Decile 1-8 schools and so we are more dependent on fund raising to do things like buy computers and pay for extra teaching resources.
We still have some jobs that need filling, so if you don’t have a job yet, please help out. It is always lots of fun being on a stall, so don’t miss out! We need:
- 1 person for china smash
- 2 people for the bouncy castles
- 1 person for face painting
- 2 people for the henna stall
- 1 person for the treasure hunt (in the sandpit)
- 2 people for the spin art stall
- 1 person for the lolly lei stall
If you can help with any of these, contact Jane. We also need 4 – 5 people for a couple of hours to give people on stalls a break so that they can get food, go to the toilet etc. Please contact Sarah if you can help with this. Or you can:
- Make a large salad for the salad stall – a potato salad, chickpea salad, pasta salad or roast veggie salad would be fantastic. You could do this instead of donating a cake;
- Make delicious little sandwiches or savouries for the Tea Room – these are really popular and sell well;
- Make a large pot of dal or veggie curry;
- Donate books, clothes and toys;
- Give us lots of clean plastic shopping bags.
We still urgently need donations for the Silent Auction. Things that sold well last year were: artworks, furniture, ornaments, retro objects, quirky things (like an old fire extinguisher!), vouchers for things such as hotel stays, coffee, dining out etc. – anything considered.
We urgently need donations of lemons to supply the homemade lemonade stall at the School Fair. If you have a tree at home, know someone who does, or would like to donate some bought lemons for the cause, please contact Claire . Alternatively, if you would like to make some of the cordial and donate that, here is the recipe:
- Juice of 12 lemons (6 with rind on, 6 with the rind taken off)
- 8 cups of water
- 1 tbsp citric acid
- 1 tbsp tartaric acid
- 3 cups sugar (may need to add more if the lemons are tart) –
In a nice bottle, the cordial also makes a great Christmas gift!
Sweets, cakes and biscuits sell out fast so we need lots of baking done. Now is the perfect time to whip up some biscuit, slices, cakes, fudge or coconut ice. Store it in an airtight container and it’ll be fresh for the fair.
A wonderful single quilt is being raffled as part of the school fair. The quilt is available for viewing in the school office. Raffle tickets can be purchased from the school office $2 per ticket or 3 tickets for $5.
A fabulous wool knee rug/blanket (1 metre x 1 metre) made by some parents and Sandra (ex HVS parent) is being raffled for the fair as part of the craft stall. Raffle tickets and blanket are on sale in the school office ($2 per ticket or 3 tickets for $5).
Questions, suggestions, donations? Contact Sarah.
November 12 Te Raekaihau Restoration Group (TRIG): We had another working bee again on Saturday 29th and finished the Peace Grove Loop Track. Dr Maggy Wassilieff also came and gave some good advice about what trees to plant in the open or under a tree canopy, which we can plant lots of and which only a few, and when we can make use of the karo and when it is better to chop it out, so we are now in the process of developing a Restoration Plan for the bushy area around the Alice Krebs House to turn it into something more resembling a South Coast Forest. We shall work on weed control and site preparation over the summer and plan to plant 500 – 700 trees next winter. We have another working bee on November 12, so come on up after the School Fair to the seat just beyond the cottage and the beacon (2 – 5 pm) and help us with a bit more planting which we are fitting in seeing as there has been so much rain. For more information or to join our newsletter list email Jenny.
December 1, Urban Agriculture Workshop 6 – 8 pm: Focusing on food distribution. Bring along all your ideas, including thoughts on People’s Markets, produce swaps, preserve-making workshops. Mezzanine Community Room, Central Library.
Neighbourhood watch: A car was broken into on Houghton Bay Rd. This time last year there was a mini crime wave, so everyone keep a watch out.
Regards, Grant