KKCN Autumn 2012.pub

LOST A KEY?
A key has been found in the small park on Korokoro Road
(bottom end of Singers Road). If this belongs to you
please call Chris Vannisselroy on 589 0078.
Korokoro Community News
Autumn 2012
BRINGING KOROKORO AND MAUNGARAKI CLOSER TOGETHER
It’s a number of months now since the paved pathway between George Gee
Drive and Barberry Grove was completed and many locals have tried it out especially some of the older children who’ve used it to satisfy their sugar
cravings at the dairy!
It is especially good for kids to ride their scooter, bike or skateboard as it is a
smooth ride the whole way. If you haven’t tried it out—do so. It is a pleasant
walk and only takes about 10 minutes.
Korokoro School playground covered in snow after last
August’s cold snap
If you want a copy of this newsletter in PDF, please go to the Korokoro
Community website www.korokoro.org.nz.
Sarah, Laura and Jack Gullery on their way to lunch at Benedict’s Café in
Maungaraki.
CUT OFF DATE FOR ITEMS IN NEXT NEWSLETTER IS:
Friday 15th July 2012
12
Fiona Gullery
1
KOROKORO SCHOOL
Who Have We Here?
Joan Skinner & Peter Glensor
Joan and Peter, what brought you to Korokoro?
We’d got together as a couple in 1995 and were looking for a place of our own,
with plenty of room for the six children we had between us. Peter was a Hutt
City Councillor and we wanted to live in the Hutt and also close to Wellington.
We were delighted to find this beautiful big house built in 1980 by a Dutch
man, Mr Wenk. We loved the wonderful view, bush, and big section. As soon as
we moved in we took down all the net curtains to give us a clear view over the
valley, hills and harbour. Some pine trees planted for shelter had grown too big
and were shading houses below us, so we removed them and planted a lot of
mahoe and other small natives instead. Peter built steps down to a ledge on
the hillside, and built a “poustina” – a beautiful little hut for meditation. There’s
a seat, for just one person at a time, to look out over the view in peace. Along
the ledge we have five chickens, Brown Shavers, all laying beautifully. We
made bush tracks connecting to Percy Reserve, and a rope swing to soar out
into space over the bush.
To make the house as sustainable as possible, we’ve put in solar panels on the
roof for hot water and have installed a pellet fireplace and insulation. We keep
trying to get a vegetable garden growing but that’s a struggle in the wind. We
don’t miss double glazing because we enjoy the full warmth of the sun through
the whole house.
The Korokoro School Car Boot Sale / Gala Day—held on the 31st March—was a
great success. Bearing in mind that this was the first fundraiser of this nature to
be held at this school for many years, makes the efforts of our Home & School
Committee even more laudable. Ideas already abound for next year’s event.
Quite apart from any fundraising imperative from my point of view, the day was
a very successful community get together and I feel that the school was
presented in a very positive light.
John Wootton
Principal
Car Boot
Bouncy Castle & Slide
Now our six children come and go. Some, like Peter’s daughter, live just up the
road with three of our seven grandchildren, and others are local or living
around the world. One of Joan’s sons, who works for Microsoft in Seattle, and
his Canadian partner are coming to Wellington to be married here. On Sundays
we have a family tea with any of the children or grandchildren who can come.
How did you get to know each other?
We met at the Hutt Union Community Health Service, which Peter had helped
to establish. Joan, who is a midwife by trade, maintaining her practising
certificate for 36 years, had been Charge Midwife at Hutt Hospital as well as
doing home births.
Katie Vannisselroy getting her
face painted by one of the
school mums—Andie Hulse
Tell us more about Joan’s work?
Peter tells us that Joan is “one of the most respected midwives in New
Zealand”. She has worked actively to develop midwifery as a profession.
2
11
Eco Corridor Walk a Great Success
On Sunday 19 February Greater Wellington Regional Council, Forest & Bird,
Friends of Maara Roa, and Korokoro Environmental Group ran a combined trip to
explore the potential bush corridor joining the Korokoro Valley with Maara Roa.
One group started from Stratton Street on the Lower Hutt side, and the other
group came from the Takapu entrance to Belmont Regional Park, and we met on
the Puke Ariki track at Cannon’s Head.
The concept is to develop bush corridors to enable flora and fauna to more easily
travel between the areas of bush around the Greater Wellington area. For more
information on bush corridors in the Hutt Valley see www.forestandbird.org.nz/
what-we-do/branches/lower-hutt/ecological-corridors-lower-hutt-f-b.
During Helen Clark’s term as Prime minister midwives were declared a separate
profession, not merely part of the nursing profession. Joan was one of the first
New Zealanders to gain her PhD in midwifery in 2005, while in her early 50s.
She now works half time as senior lecturer in Victoria University’s Graduate
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, and half as an international consultant,
mainly with United Nations organisations such as the World Health
Organisation. Her work aims to improve maternal and new-born health and
reduce mortality. She has worked recently in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Vietnam,
Nepal and Kiribati and in Geneva with a WHO fellowship to support midwifery
experts to develop their skills. Joan recently returned from Nepal where she
helped prepare the curriculum for midwifery education, working for six weeks
with local nurses in Kathmandu to develop a long term plan to continue
support. In Afghanistan, Joan found it challenging to develop local expertise to
teach the curriculum in the midst of warfare. She worked in different regions as
part of a team assessing centres to train midwives in a wide range of treatment
and health in maternity wards. The work is continuing through new challenges,
possibly next in Bangladesh.
What about Peter’s work?
Peter is a Hutt boy – living in Upper Hutt, Petone, Lower Hutt and now
Korokoro. He was a minister and community development worker, first in
Pomare then in Petone, setting up the Petone Community Health Centre.
Realising the importance of local government in supporting these innovations,
he entered local government, elected onto Hutt City Council in 1995-98. He
served four terms on the Hutt Valley District Health Board, (HVDHB) heading up
national networks of similar health services to the one in Petone. As this
became a model for other regions, Peter worked at a national level in health
policy.
The photo shows Russell Bell from Lower Hutt Forest and Bird talking about the
vision of the bush corridor to the two groups of walkers.
Julie Haggie
As chair of HVDHB for seven years, and chair of the NZ wide DHB national
network for two years, Peter maintained links with other local bodies and was
elected in 2004 as a Greater Wellington Regional Councillor, being re-elected
twice since then. Peter is now Deputy Chair of Greater Wellington Regional
Council and chairs its biggest spending Committee, for Economic Wellbeing,
with responsibility for the region’s public transport and flood protection.
Peter’s also serves as Deputy Chair of Capital and Coast District Health Board, a
move to ensure coordination across boards.
All these local body roles involve Peter in community engagement, which means
endless meetings and reams of paper to be read in preparation for them.
Fortunately, Peter enjoys managing meetings, using his strengths and skills in
helping a group reach consensus and find a way forward.
10
3
Peter supports of reform of regional government to ensure that Wellington
prospers and remains viable. With communities working together, Wellington
could become a more dynamic and vibrant region. Think globally and act
locally is a good motto for Peter; he is always asking the big questions about
what this means for the region.
If you would like more information on this, or would like to go on the volunteer
list, contact Paul Thomas on [email protected].
With their philosophical positions well thought out and put into practice, Joan
in midwifery education and Peter in local government, both are committed to
working for the betterment of local people and ensuring awareness and
involvement in the bigger picture, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Ruth Mansell
KOROKORO SCOUTS
Korokoro Scouts meet every Tuesday in term time from 6.30-8.30pm at the
Cub & Scout hall in Singers Road. It is mostly made up of children who go to
Korokoro school, but children from other schools who live 'on the hill' are also
welcome. Currently we have about 20 scouts. They are a great group of kids
who love Tuesday nights at the hall.
We have a new group of leaders starting in Term 2 as Mandy Bartosh has
stepped down for a well deserved rest. Many thanks to Mandy for her
enthusiasm and dedication over the last several years. The new leadership
team is Tim Fletcher, Shelley Wright and two college students - Holly Bartosh
and Sam Hewson. Holly and Sam are year 13 students who will be joining us
for the next two terms.
We have an exciting programme planned for this term which includes a camp
at Brookfield (back of Wainuiomata), hikes, visiting speakers and teaching new
skills such as cooking! Every night we meet seems to include 'game time.' It
doesn't seem to matter how many times we have 'game time' - the scouts still
seem to want more!
This is a tracking tunnel. It is baited with peanut butter and well marked by
mice. The most recent monitoring showed a 70% increase in the mice
population and no insects (possibly a connection).
If your child is interested in joining Scouts, call Tim Fletcher on 586 7286. You
can also look up the Scouting website http://www.scouts.org.nz/ for more info.
Tim Fletcher
4
9
KOROKORO ENVIRONMENT GROUP
KOROKORO CUBS
Recycling Update
You will have seen a survey in your mailbox from HCC.
Unfortunately the HCC made an incorrect assumption that
“recycling tonnage would be measurable each week for
Korokoro, and that they would therefore be able to tell
whether the extra bins resulted in more being recycled,
less or the status quo.” Transpacific, who collect the
recycling rubbish can’t tell them this. The error is, sadly, an outcome of poor
initial project management. They now have only the survey to find out whether
people are recycling more. Peter Foaese has been talking with residents about
the initiative and has had a range of responses.
Go Outside and Play—Our Playgrounds
A bouquet to Korokoro residents who made submissions on the ‘Go Outside and
Play’ strategy, which threatened several of our suburb’s playgrounds. The officers
made recommendations late last month, but it appears that our submissions have
had a positive impact on protecting our playgrounds.
The Council is also currently considering and consulting on options for the
renovation of the McKenzie Pool. If you want to have a say, look at the Hutt City
Council website.
The Cubs year has started with some new leaders coming onboard—Fran
MacDonald (Chil) is having her final term with the Cubs and will finish up at
the end of the second term. A big thanks to Fran for her contribution! Simon
Annear, Leesa McKendrick and Suzie Bargh will take over the running of the
Cubs group from term 3. I am sure they
have some great things planned!
The Cubs had a great day last term gokarting up at the entrance to Belmont
Regional Park. They used home-made
wooden karts that belong to the group
and had a great time racing down the hill.
Lucy Vannisselroy, Tom Baty
& Tyler Fitz-John
The Cub group, siblings and parents
Do you want to help protect biodiversity in the Korokoro Valley, and
have fun at the same time? If you are fit, read on…
The Greater Wellington Regional Council undertakes pest monitoring along the
hillsides above the Korokoro Stream with the help of volunteers. Korokoro
Environmental Group coordinates the volunteers, and whilst we have had an
enthusiastic bunch, births and changes in jobs have meant that we have a
reduction in the number of volunteers this year.
There is a network of 60 pest tracking tunnels laid out in the Korokoro Valley
bush. The volunteers lay and then collect inked cards in these for one night four
times a year. During last year, only two of the cards put out were marked by rats,
while 30% of them were marked by hedgehogs. One stoat was recorded. GWRC
uses this information to decide what level/type of pest control is needed.
Volunteering involves a 2-3 hour walk along a marked transect line (but off track)
following tree markers, and placing or collecting 10 inked cards. It is not hard to
do, and the cards and instructions are delivered by GWRC staff. The level of
difficulty ranges from medium to hard.
8
5
KOROKORO PLAYCENTRE
We’ve made the most of the sunny weather – making obstacle courses on the
lower deck, riding the trikes in Huggans Hollow, playing with gloop and bubbles,
tipping and pouring water and digging long rivers, building enormous volcanoes
and huge lakes in the sandpit.
Elizabeth gives her
baby doll a bath
Early in the term we went to Harcourt Park and had a fantastic time splashing
about in the paddling pool, swinging and sliding and climbing in the playground
and having a picnic under the trees. We also joined other Lower Hutt
playcentres, as part of Playcentre Awareness Week, for a great day at Avalon
Park filled with fancy playdough, bikes, messy play and a picnic morning tea.
Our Thursday morning session visited the New Entrants class at Korokoro School
and had a great time joining in with ‘Jump Jam’ and creating some very cool
pictures starting with the letter of the week, “g”.
We enjoyed a visit from our local postman, Paul, who told us all about what
happens to the letters we send and the process that sees letters arrive in our
mail boxes everyday. Children’s book author and songwriter, Gerry Paul (uncle to
one of the children on session) came and sang the song that accompanies his
new book,” Hank the Wrestling Shark”. The children loved Gerry’s music, he even
took requests, and the story of Hank is fast becoming a firm favourite.
Korokoro Playcentre took part in the school’s recent Gala; our members baked up
a storm and we had a great Baking Stall. Thank you to everyone who supported
us on the day by buying tasty treats; it was a fantastic opportunity to raise
money for our centre.
Leo and Gerry introduce
everyone to "Hank the
Wrestling Shark"
In Term 2 we will be running a Tuesday afternoon session; this is an opportunity
for the families that have recently completed SPACE (a program developed by
Playcentre for first time parents) to introduce their children to all the activities
and fun that playcentre has to offer – in baby sized bites.
Well done to Shona, who has completed course 2 of the Playcentre training.
Training involves attending workshops and completing assignments; thank you
for your efforts!
Max and James
make the most of
the sandpit
We are looking forward to Term 2; it promises to be full of lots of great
opportunities to learn and heaps of fun. If you would like to find out more about
our centre and the early childhood education it could provide for your 0 – 6 year
old, please contact Fiona Watts on 586 0238 or just call in – sessions run from
9.15 to 11.45am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and 12.15 to 2.45pm
on Tuesdays.
Georgina McPherson
6
7