The Coronation Hall in Portobello has had a major spruce up by the Dunedin City Council Contractors. The painting has now been completed along with some additional outside lighting. The contractors have just completed pulling down the scaffold and tidying up the hall site. What a great job!
We’re a hardy bunch on the Otago Peninsula and Sunday’s market was a good test of that resolve. The blustery weather and squally showers were a reminder that we are well into winter. Despite the weather the market was very successful and well attended by around 600 people. Once again Jonathon Usher and Pippity Pop proved very popular with children and adults alike and there were plenty of bargains to be had. The support we receive from Cadbury’s really helps the market day, and has become a popular event in Portobello. We look forward to hosting it again next year.
Strong winds, torrential rain and the All Blacks playing France in the Rugby World Cup did not bode well for Hawk & Hurl on Sunday October 18th. However, the weather quickly improved and the All Blacks won handsomely, so the Hawk & Hurl brightened considerably. There was a brisk trade in donated and reused items, and a few people managed some real bargains. Once again the Portobello Community Incorporated team put in the effort helping people unload and salvaging scrap and other items from refuse.
It was great to have Michelle Ritchie in Portobello giving people on composting, bokashi and worm farms as a way to reduce material going to landfill. Another new group at the Hawk & Hurl was the Otago Peninsula Food Network who were running a seed swap event and giving people information about the group.
This was the first DCC Rural Skip Day that had a designated vegetation rubbish skip. There are substantial savings to locals in refuse fees in using this service, but we still need to get some information out there about how we can keep this material compostable and un-contaminated. Overall, we had a pretty successful day, look forward to seeing people at the next one in February.
It was a beautiful day in Portobello on the 25th of September and this was Portobello School’s chance to do their bit for Clean Up NZ week. Although just out of the official week our local weather has meant the school have been delayed in getting started. The Year Six children from room five with teacher Sarah Luke did a great job cleaning up the beach area around Latham Bay in Portobello. They also went and fossicked out that hard to get rubbish in the bush behind the local playground. Well done Portobello School, and many thanks for your hard work in keeping our area tidy.
It was a crisp frosty start for the Portobello Market day on Sunday 12th of July, but the sun did its best to warm people up, and Portobello put on a great day. With over 900 visitors to the market stall holders were kept busy and there was plenty of goods for people to browse through. Once again balloon artist Pippity Pop and magician Jonathon Usher kept the crowds enthralled with their skills. With free Cadbury to give away chocolate visitors were kept happy with plenty of sweet treats. Overall, the 2015 market day was a great success and continues to grow as one of those “must do” events on the Dunedin calendar.
It was a fine warm autumn morning for the ANZAC Day service at the Otago Peninsula Museum at Portobello. The significance of ANZAC Day was given even more meaning with the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli, and a good crowd of local people and visitors attended. The service had a strong local flavour with Mrs Wilma Beck reading excerpts from her Great Uncle’s Gallipoli diary and pupils from Portobello School reading poems they had written to mark the day. In a final fitting tribute a totara was planted in the grounds as a living memorial to the ANZAC spirit. Once again many thanks to the hard-working volunteers from Portobello Community Incorporated and the Otago Peninsula Museum for their organisation and hard-work. (Click on pictures to view in full size).
ANZAC Day is not the glorification of war, but a reminder that lasting peace is a fragile gift, that as the guardians of ANZAC Day we must cherish and protect for the future. Today we live in uncertain times and we face an uncertain future driven by global events that threaten the security and peace that we have known and enjoyed for over 100 years. If we are to conquer that uncertainty we must draw strength from our ANZAC traditions and learn from their courage and commitment to a lasting legacy of peace. Because in 100 years of New Zealand service our servicemen and women have shown the world that the real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war.
Lest we forget.
(Click on pictures to view in full size).
Once again the Hawk & Hurl went without a hitch on Sunday with the local community cleaning up their yards and taking the time to find a bargain or two. The scrap collection went well and a truck load of scrap kept out of the landfill and sold. Many thanks to John Clearwater for supplying the truck and driver. With all the proceeds going to the recently relocated Peninsula Toy Library this event has grown steadily as a great chance to recycle, grab a bargain and meet up with your neighbours and friends.
