Our AGM

I would like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who managed to attend our AGM. It was a great turnout and a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get a better understanding of what is happening in our community. For those who were unable to attend in person, the relevant documents such as the President’s and Treasurer’s reports are available on our website www.waiatarua.org.nz. In the meantime, here are the main presentations from the night:

Sandra Coney about Rose Hellaby House about the current situation and plans for the future;

from Shalema Wanden-Hannay about how the resilience plan for Karekare worked and helped to save lives;

from Samantha Peters and the Storm Recovery team, about what help is available for people who are still dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle; and

to Tony Bacon for all his incredible work for the community.

For me personally the key theme of the night was the impact that individual people can make. I know Waiatarua is a small place with only about 800 homes and 2,234 individuals and it is easy to believe that being small is a disadvantage. However, on the night, we spoke about how being small can be an advantage because it means a single person can make a difference, whether it’s the numerous volunteers who hand deliver this newsletter to your mailbox, Kelly Creaghan organising the Community Day, Marq Holibar, Naomi Hosted and Chris Fowlie delivering in-person submissions to save the future of our Community Hall and Library or someone like Tony Bacon who can only be described as having a life-long commitment to making our community a better place. Each and every one of us can make a difference.

We are also pleased to let you know that your Executive Committee has retained the following members:

Mark Wager, President

Marq Holibar, Vice President

Chris Fowlie, Treasurer

Lyn Chappell, Secretary

Cathie Wells, Website & Social Media

Ram Vijapurapu, IT

Erin Kingsleigh-Smith, Newsletter Editor

Matt Smith, Hall Hire

Grant Longley, Library

Maria Wager, General Committee    Member

Even though the Committee has been voted in we are still looking for any volunteers that can help put together more events for the community. If you have a few spare hours a month then please get in touch.

Community Dinner – Saturday 23 March at 7pm

Keep the above date free in your diary — we will be holding the first of this year’s Community Dinners, similar to the successful event we held last year. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet your neighbours and catch up with what’s happening in our area. It’s a pot-luck dinner, so bring along a plate, but there is some more good news in that we’ve been successful with obtaining some funding to provide some additional food. We are currently working on what this will look like and are trying to organise a spit roast company, but it is challenging to get something within our budget. Please keep updated through our website www.waiatarua.org.nz or on the Waiatarua Facebook page. Whatever happens, it’s sure to be a great night so I will see you there. See our ad on page 3 of this issue.

Our little Library is 50 years old

What do Tom Clancy, Jack Carr and John Le Carré have in common? They are all best selling authors whose work among many others can be found at our very own Waiatarua library, which is 50 years old this year.

We will be working on how we can celebrate this milestone and announcing more details shortly. The library can be easily overlooked as it’s under the Community Hall but it’s a great resource that’s available to all of us, membership is free and new books are arriving on a regular basis. If you haven’t been to our library recently or even at all then don’t wait for our celebrations, make time to check out what great reading is waiting for you there. Library hours are listed below.

Get your photos ready!

Our second annual Waiatarua Photographer of the Year competition will be taking place in April. Last year it was a strongly contested competition which highlighted not only the talent within our community but also just cute our local pets are. The full competition details including categories and selection criteria will be available in our next newsletter. So get your cameras (or phones) ready and start taking photos of our wonderful Waiatarua!