Huitānguru / February 22, 2025
Vote for your playground!
Submissions are due on the playground options by 5 pm on Monday 24 February. So if you haven’t voted yet please do!
Option 3 is the design that included ideas from the community. The limitations of budget did restrict what was achievable in the end, but elements we did manage included:
- Houghton Valley School children’s drawing’s etched onto wind-break panels;
- A representation of the buried waterways underneath the playground in the surface matting design;
- More natural timber and less plastic in the playground materials.
Of course we’d love you to vote for Option 3 after all our community effort, but it is up to you (or your children) to decide.
The WCC website has large rendered pictures to show the options, and some background to the process we have been through. The website renders for the third option don’t show the play value inside the central tower with interesting climbing opportunities, so we have shown an image from a slightly earlier version.
To make your choice, go to Let’s Talk Wellington before 5 pm Monday.
Seeds-to-Feeds Haewai Harvest Dinner
Saturday, March 8, 5.30 pm – 8.30 pm
Have you got your tickets yet to our local food dinner at the Community Hall at 80 Houghton Bay Road? The meal will include locally grown and foraged ingredients as well as some from not far away. We have another delicious vegetarian menu with plant based and gluten free options, created by Leone and the Seeds-to-Feeds helpers, including:
- Foraged salad, homemade bread, preserves, dips;
- Roast tomato tarts and green vegetable and pesto pasta;
- Fruit and vegetable-based cakes and desserts;
- Drinks from the wild South Coast.
Please sign up now to secure your place! Bookings are koha based, with a recommended $20 for an adult and $10 for a child if you can afford it. Otherwise you can just pay what you can afford, or if you can’t afford anything we don’t mind, we’d love to see you anyway. Some proceeds go to help the Seeds-to-Feeds team do their magic, the rest goes towards community projects.
Get your tickets here.
Little Library
We finally have another Little Library nearly ready to be installed near the View Road bus stop. The cabinet has been made by local retired builder Barkie and painted by yours truly. It will start with some books from the Southern Landfill Recycle Centre, who we thank for a discount on their already low prices!
So hunt out some books you’d like to donate or swap and keep a look out for when it arrives. There is a focus on children’s books, but there is an upper shelf that can be for older readers. If you decide you want to keep a book, that’s no problem, but have a look out for something that you can put back in its place when you find the right thing. If you haven’t anything at home pick up something next time you are at a recycle centre or Op Shop.
The cabinet has been designed to keep the weather out, the latch is a little tight, but it is important to latch it when you are done: press the door firmly to make it easier to clip in place.
Community Gardens Open Days
Sunday, March 16, 10 am – 2 pm
Both our local community gardens are participating in the WCC Community Gardens Open Sundays as part of the eastern suburbs event. The gardening artists involved are making the day extra special.
Houghton Valley Gardens next to the school has common plots with vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers and you can meet the volunteer gardeners, help out for a bit, or just relax and observe the birds, bees, butterflies and insects. There will be a display of local summer and autumn plant dyes on cloth and you can enter a draw to win a mixed floral/herb/vegetable bouquet.
How to get to the Houghton Valley Gardens
Te Kawakawa Commons has a small vegetable garden, some fruit trees, shady seating spaces and beautiful regenerating bush to wander through. There will be an art trail for kids to explore, with little painted houses for them to view (and parents to purchase, with proceeds to buying more compost).
The entrance is up behind the bus stop near No. 44 Hornsey Road.
Events calendar
There are lots of things happening in the next few months both in Houghton Valley and round about.
- March 1 – 9: Local food Week organised by Wellington City Council. Check out the events on their website. They include our own Haewai Harvest Dinner.
- March 2: The annual Newtown Festival. Check out their programme.
- March 8: Seeds-to-Feeds Haewai Harvest Dinner at the Haewai Houghton Valley Community Hall. See above for details.
- March 9,16 and 30: Community gardens Open Sundays. Check out their programme.
- March 16: Houghton Valley Gardens and Te Kawakawa Commons Open Sunday. See above for details.
- April 5: Koha Coffee at the community hall (Saturday).
- May 3: Koha Coffee at the community hall (Sunday).
- May 25: Haewai Houghton Valley Community Association AGM at the community hall, starting 3pm. We have a speaker as well, save the date.
- June 7: Another Ceilidh at the community hall, save the date!
(170 recipients, 123 opens)