Hawked and Hurled October 2015

Grabbing a bargain

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.

Portobello School Beach Clean Up

Scouting for trash

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.

Good job guys

From Trash to Treasure

Portobello Domain

Sunday 19th dawned bright but fresh for the Portobello Hawk & Hurl held at Portobello Domain and once again the event was well attended. There were plenty of bargains, a fair bit of cheek and a significant amount material saved from landfill on the day. Many people have things they no longer want or can use and by bringing them to the Hawk & Hurl they can see those things transferred to a new owner for re-use. It’s a great place to pay $10 for a child’s bike, buy recycled building materials, cheap furniture, tools and every other weird thing you can imagine. The other great initiative of the event is the scrap collection. Portobello Inc. will take any scrap metal off people’s hands and use the proceeds for the community group we’re working for. This year our proceeds from the Hawk & Hurl are going to the Portobello Toy Library as they look to relocate to new premises at the Portobello Domain pavilion. The Otago Peninsula have many generous people who support their community and a special thanks goes to Dave Murphy Fencing who  supplied a truck for all the recycled metal. Thanks Dave, that man deserves a beer! To all the residents who donated goods and scrap as well the team from Portobello Community Incorporated for working on the day many thanks for your efforts and we’ll see you again in February 2015. (Click on the pictures to see full size)

Rowing for Rubbish

Peter with his paddle board and some of the rubbish he collected in Latham BayLiving besides the Otago Harbour is one of the great pleasures of our lifestyle in Portobello. So boats and floating devices play a major role in our local lifestyle. So two intrepid Portobello Community Inc. members decided to enjoy a harbour paddle combined with a beach clean up in Latham Bay recently.

Peter in Latham BayPeter Dulgar and Davinia Thornley took their stand up paddle craft around two of  pocket beaches in the bay. Another yacht owner Paul Jennings whose boat is moored in the Bay also contributed by cleaning up a 3rd.

Its great to see people being innovative in the way in which they care for our harbour and community. Combining something you do for fun makes it even better, and what a great way to spend the day. Because as the Water Rat declared in the Wind in the Willows “there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Hawked and Hurled at the Domain

Grabbing a bargainOctober can be a great time of year in Portobello with those balmy warm days that begin to give us hope that summer is just around the corner, and Sunday’s Hawk and Hurl was no exception. With a good number of local people deciding to sell their unwanted items there were plenty of opportunities for visitors to find a bargain Geoof and Richard unloadingor two.

The Portobello Community Inc. team were kept busy helping people with unloading their vehicles, rescuing recyclable items from the bins and collecting scrap metal. This year the team collected around 2-2.5 tons of scrap that will be sold and the proceeds going towards the school pool. The generosity of the community in this type of donation and the support by local farmer  Brendon Cross who supplied the truck for cartage is greatly appreciated.

Many people donated items for sale rather than dumping them in the skips and quite a few people took the opportunity grab a bargain. With desks, outdoor furniture and a range of house-ware its great to see these items get re-used rather than go into the landfill.  The next Hawk and Hurl will be in February so look out for the advertising. Click on the images below to view in full size.

Keeping the Peninsula Beautiful

SONY DSC

With Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week in full swing a few hard-working people turned out to make their mark on the local landscape on Saturday 21st September. Thomas Pope (9) along with big sister Georgia (12) and their father Paul decided to tackle Harington Point Road. In a 2.5 kilometre section from the golf course to Harwood they picked up 8 bags of rubbish, 2 televisions, a truck tyre and some assorted car parts. A special thanks to Cathy Barron and her children Fergus and Ivy who cleaned up Portobello Park. While Melissa Bulger-Patrick and her children Brooke and Elly tackled Portobello Domain, the cemetery and adjacent streets. It was great to see local kids working at keeping their town in tip-top shape. Pupils from Portobello School will be tackling the area around Latham  Bay on Tuesday 24th. It’s little things like this that make a difference to our area and the community and don’t just have to be part of a bigger event. Let’s try to make a difference everyday.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week

Keep Dunedin Beautiful and the Dunedin City Council are asking residents to beautify their favourite part of our city by ridding it of litter. So Portobello Community Incorporated are going to play their part by undertaking a clean up around our area on Saturday 21st September. If you’d like to take part in the clean up then meet at the Portobello Store at 10:00 am, grab a bag, hi-viz, some gloves and make a difference in your community. Get your family, friends or neighbours involved. Rubbish bags will be collected and disposed of appropriately

The amount of time you spend on it is entirely up to you as every little bit counts. See you there.