Western News: August 02, 2016

4
Your Local Views
Hoon Hay Interaction
Programme for
Parents and
Youngsters
co-ordinator Anne
Galloway writes about
empowering parents
and children
Tuesday August 2 2016
I BELIEVE that positive change
can happen when individuals,
families and communities are
empowered to fulfil the
potential each have.
In my current position
as co-ordinator of
the HIPPY programme,
I have seen what an
empowered community
of parents from a variety
of cultures throughout the
Halswell, Addington, Spreydon
and Hoon Hay areas can achieve.
HIPPY is a home-based programme
that empowers parents
to become actively involved
in their three to five-year-old
children’s learning. Parents and
children work together for 15min
a day with story books, puzzles,
and learning games.
Research following families
who have been on the programme
is revealing multiple
benefits; children who are ready
to learn and settle at school, who
score better on measures of literacy
and numeracy and parents
who are more involved in school
activities and often seek further
WESTERN NEWS
Positive change comes through empowerment
education for themselves.
When we as a community
work together to nurture our
young people, to actively demonstrate
to them that we value and
treasure them, we are building
a place where young people
and families all can and will
thrive.
“Ahakoa he iti he pounamu.”
(Even though it is small it is a
treasure.)
GUTTED: Another fire, this time in Woolston, has kept
firefighters and investigators busy. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
Spate of blazes keeps
firefighters busy
• By Mark Thomas – Fire Risk
Management Officer
THERE HAVE been a number of
quite serious fires in the city this
week. And this column is being
written, hurriedly, before I head
off to one of them.
The deliberate fire set in the
empty building on Hereford St
last Friday was another example
of our firefighters being put in
danger by the reckless and criminal
actions of some idiot.
The fire was on an upper floor
and the only way to get to it was
from inside.
This meant climbing stairwells
with charged fire hoses in a
building with structural safety
issues that was already compromised
by earthquake damage
even before the fire damage
occurred.
In this case, the fire crews did a
brilliant job in restricting the fire
to the floor of origin.
It’s just that they should never
have had to.
Last Saturday, we had an incident
where a young woman was
burnt trying to encourage a fire
in a drum at a property in Hoon
Hay that was dying down by
throwing petrol on to it.
These type of incidents are
actually not all that rare.
Even in winter, petrol products
freed into the air invisibly
vaporise, leaving a surrounding
mixture of highly-flammable gas
that is many times larger than a
pool or splash of fuel.
On meeting an ignition source
– in this case the already burning
fire – the vapour cloud ignites.
Sometimes with horrendous
results.
Not a nice way to remember a
party, where alcohol consumption
can overcome normal
common sense and influence a
decision that, in hindsight, might
just be seen as ‘unwise’.
Readers respond to the
article on the Halswell
Skate and Recreation Park
Barbara and Bob Morton:
My husband Bob and I,
would like to endorse the city
council’s preferred location for
the proposed Halswell Skate and
Recreation Park to be sited in
Knights Stream Sports Park, as
we feel this is the ideal place for
it to be.
After reading the front page
article in the latest Western
News that outlined the advantages
of this site for example
co-coordinating a skate park
with other facilities such as
a “learn to ride bike track”
basketball and sports facilities,
we concluded that this site could
become a great place for the
youth of Halswell, without being
contentious to local residents.
J Wilson:
The article Skate park decision
soon in the Western News states
that the nearest residential area
is Whincops Rd. Looking at
the proposed site it seems to
be directly beside and within a
residential area as housing goes
from Whincops Rd right up to
the Knights Stream Sports Park.
It appears to be misleading
readers to say the nearest
residential area is Whincops Rd.
I would think the noise etc from
a skate park would certainly
impact on value of housing
adjacent to the proposed skate
park.
Bowen Hodgson:
Should we have a skate park in
Halswell?
Personally I believe we should
have a skate park in Halswell.
I’m saying this coming from a
teenager’s perspective. Having
grown up in Halswell for the
last 10 years, there really isn’t
much to do from a teenager’s
perspective.
Yes, there is a pool but that is
only open for half the year in
the summer and playgrounds
for younger kids, but for those
who want to skate, there aren’t
a lot of good skate spots. And
the few good spots there are,
you are at risk of being hit by a
car or smashing into somebody
walking by.
I understand that some people
are worried that some teenage
skaters will get cause trouble,
trash the place and just be a
place for “the non-desirables”.
But coming from a skater, to
have a skate park in Halswell
that I can walk or skate would
be awesome. I would look after
it so myself and others can use it
and enjoy it more.
Another reason is Halswell
has lots of sports fields, multiple
playgrounds, a mini ride-able
railway and a new library. It
seems like a place for everybody
but teenagers who want to hang
out with friends and skate.
Shouldn’t Halswell be a place
for everybody? Young kids,
youths, families and elders.
Shouldn’t it be a place for
everybody to enjoy themselves
and have a good time?
Possible locations I think the
skate park could be are Scott
Park, Westlake Reserve and the
best Halswell Domain.
Jeanette and Graham
Anderson:
The skate park should not be
in Knights Stream Sports Park.
This park is too far away from
the centre of Halswell. The
report in the Western News
states that the nearest residential
area is Whincops Rd. Have the
city councillors looked at this
area recently? The residences in
Denali St and Richmond Ave
are adjacent to Knights Stream
Sports Park, not 190m away. We
agree with a “learn to ride”
bicycle track, netball and rugby
facilities as indicated on the
landscape plan we received a few
weeks ago.
Thanks Canterbury
for your continued support