PAGE 12 Wednesday <strong>September</strong> 9 <strong>2020</strong> BAY HARBOUR Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Your Local Views Funding available for community groups From the board Tori Peden, chair Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū/Banks Peninsula Community Board ONE OF my favourite tasks on the community board, is giving out funding to community groups that are doing amazing things on, and around Banks Peninsula. We have just agreed to grant around $160,000 from our Strengthening Community Fund. This is for a wide range of expenses and projects, a lot was to help cover operational expenses and wages (mostly part-time), but other projects include water safety, youth and pre-school projects, as well as supporting neighbourhood watch, the installation of community notice boards, community newsletters and volunteer recognition events. We have also just found out that there will be further $20,000 for our community as part of the council’s extra $500,000 for community funding. We will find out soon what criteria will be for this funding, either way it is more money for our community. I have been involved with many community groups over the years as a volunteer, or committee member, and I know firsthand how community funding helps support the groups do what they do along with thousands of hours of volunteer time that goes into these projects. At the local body elections last year, we heard how one of the candidates was going to cut community funding, I was truly upset. How good do you feel when you have just been to your neighbourhood barbecue? The Summer with Your Neighbours fund contributes towards street barbecues, community breakfasts, or even neighbourhood SOCIAL: The Summer with Your Neighbours fund contributes towards street barbecues. afternoon teas, it is yet another example of how we can help as a small contribution. I was at my local biannual neighbourhood get-together the BIRDS OF THE ESTUARY Tanya Jenkins is the manager of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust, a non-profit organisation formed in 2002 to protect one of New Zealand’s most important coastal wetlands. Each week she introduces a new bird found in the estuary. Her column aims to raise the understanding of the values and uniqueness of the area. other day, and we all said how great it was to catch up with each other, rather than just a wave or a two-minute chat in the street. One of our neighbours is doing renovations, another is looking for another horse, and they all asked how I was doing post-surgery. We do not live in each other’s pockets, but we do look out for each other. We keep an eye on properties while the owners are away, and we all tend to recognise when a certain dog plays a Houdini and is out on the road again visiting the neighbourhood. Community funding helps with more than just a few sausages, it in many ways helps us be part of a richer community. On that note, this is a huge shout-out to all those that volunteer in our community. For the volunteers the help with washing the dishes at the local rugby club, with pest control, with planting days, those that help run the committees, and everything in-between, these are all important roles in the community and are very often unnoticed. I/we see you and thank you, without those small acts our community would not be the place we all love to be part of. THE SILVER-EYE/tauhou, also known as the wax-eye, is a tiny olive green bird, only weighing a mere 10gm and it has a white ring around its eye. It may be small but what an amazing flyer, having flown from Australia to New Zealand during the mid-80s. It is now one of our most abundant bird species and found anywhere from our coastal wetlands to the foothills of the alps. Because it found its way here by itself, it is classified as a native bird. The male and female look exactly alike and are one of the most common bird species you will attract if you have a bird feeder in your garden. They are most likely to look for feeders during the winter season when the birds flock together looking for food. If you place lard and fruit in them you are very likely to have them hanging around for a few weeks. During the 1990s ornithologists banded the silver-eye in Dunedin and that way learned the distances they will fly to find a food supply as birds were discovered several weeks later as far south as Invercargill and as far north as the Banks Peninsula. Any other season they will find food easily as they eat anything from aphids, grass seeds, spiders, caterpillars, fruit, berries, nectar and seeds making the silver-eye an important seed distributor of the kowhai, kahikatea and native fuchsia. These friendly little birds are the architects of beautiful cup shaped nests filled with spiderweb, thistledown, moss and lichen making for soft and warm homes for up to five chicks at the time and pairs will raise several clutches during spring and summer. If it was not for the fact that it only lives for three to four years our skies would be filled with silver-eyes so shows once again, how nature manages to balance out the populations of each species. We’ve got your next step sorted. Take the next step with one of Hagley’s tertiary pathway programmes or specialist courses. From Engineering and Sport Management to Cooking, Fashion, Pre-Health and Early Childhood, Hagley has a range of courses designed to pathway you to tertiary study or help you gain real skills for work. Visit our website today for more information on your study options for 2021! www.hagley.school.nz | (03) 379 3<strong>09</strong>0
Wednesday <strong>September</strong> 9 <strong>2020</strong> Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz BAY HARBOUR PAGE 13 Don’t miss the boat! With record low interest rates, a deep pool of qualified buyers and demand continuing to outstrip supply it makes sense to take advantage of an active property market right now! Sellers who have sold in recent weeks have enjoyed some outstanding results. If you’re thinking of selling, what are you waiting for? Don’t delay. Book your property appraisal with us today. Ray White Ferrymead Ready When You Are! Phone (03) 3844 179 | Email prier.manson@raywhite.com | rwferrymead.co.nz /RayWhiteFerrymead Prier Manson Ltd. (Licensed REAA 2008) Craig Prier
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