| Yippee School Holidays! We have had a lot of very positive feedback on the new colourful planter box seats around town and I thought you might like a little bit of background into how they came about. A bit like the lightbulb moment for the Mahurangi Winter Festival of Lights, as I was walking through town I thought it would be lovely to bring some more colour to the place. Little pops of colour along the street front could give the town a real boost. So I reached out to the Men’s Shed, Guthrie Bowron and Mitre 10 Mega Warkworth who all said they would help, and a couple of phone calls and we had generous sponsors, Harcourts Cooper & Co Rodney, Pete & Mary’s Eatery, Matakana Plumbing, and Stirling Sports Warkworth for each seat! You have to love this community! I mentioned the planter box project to Constable Katie Burton and to the residents’ committee at the Oaks Retirement Village and they all leapt on board and suddenly the installation of the box seats was all happening. Following on from their success, these won’t be the only colourful seats popping up so keep your eyes open for future additions! Walking around town today it was lovely to see so many parents and grandparents in town with their children. Were they all looking relaxed and happy as it was the school holidays or was there just a touch of tension on their faces as they navigated their way through keeping the family occupied over the next two weeks? I can well remember as a single father of two small children trying to organise those two weeks so that I could still work and not just rely on friends, holiday programs and neighbours to look after them both. I was always very grateful when their Grandparents took them for two weeks and I could concentrate on earning a living. We are fortunate here in Warkworth that we have the Information Centre in Baxter Street as a drop-in point should you be short of ideas. Pop in to talk to the friendly volunteers they have a number of free or low-cost ideas of things you can do. You can also visit their website page www.onemahurangi.co.nz/warkworth-info-centre/ for a list of ideas from the last (wet) holiday period. School holidays bring tourists to our town and if you see someone looking a little lost please take the time to stop and ask if you can help in any way. It’s these little acts of friendly interactions that make people remember the gorgeous little town north of Auckland where they were treated with kindness by the locals. Once again, if we all work together we can be successful together. Murray Chapman Manager, One Mahurangi Business Association murray@onemahurangi.co.nz www.onemahurangi.co.nz Support Local, Buy Local, Employ Local, Love Local! |
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