pra annual chairperson's report 2013/14

PLIMMERTON RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION INC ANNUAL REPORT 2013/2014

Tena kotou katoa, nga mihi nui,

Ko Colin Bleasdale Plimmerton au

Welcome, kia ora to everyone and thank you for attending this 2014 PRA AGM.

Your current committee is:

Dave Anderson, Roger Beckett, Colin Bleasdale, Allan Dodson, John Johnston, Roger Johnston, David Lowe, Pip Piper, Alistair Robb, Sandra Werner, Carolyn Williams, David Verrinder, Robin Jones, Allan Reader.

Temporary minutes secretary: Janette Wallace Gedge

Note: David Lowe has resigned because of overseas work commitments and Colin Bleasdale is on a one year leave of absence.

Overview of association activities

2013-2014 has been another very rewarding year with current projects carefully proceeding towards completion and new ideas coming to the surface. A significant amount of time has gone into all of these pursuits as well as keeping the organisation up and running with our current commitments to the community.

www.plimmerton.org has made such an ongoing impact for us that this year we are currently considering offers from Facebook and Twitter having turned down Google last year! Thanks to our stalwart web-meister, Sandy Werner, who spreads us globally and makes sure that our site safely continues with her day-to-day technical and creative support.

Whats on in Plimmerton Our publication continues ever onwards! It has so much local news, varied content and information that everyone looks forward to receiving. How Carolyn manages to keep it bright and sparkly is a journalistic secret and we all appreciate her dedicated work.

Karehana Park our redeveloped park set with bricks and concrete paths with anew stream setting bounded by a pétanque court surrounded by lovely community planting! Roger Johnston and his committee have been totally successful with this

work. They have grappled with many different agencies to gain permission to alter the form of the Karehana Stream. The fish count was a unique event that I’m sure Roger will share with you. We also appreciate and acknowledge the generous Mana Community Grant Foundation funding of $15,000 towards this project.


Project Snapshot Allan Dodson, David Anderson, John Johnson and Roger Johnson are still progressing work to produce videos, photo montages and general displays pertaining to Plimmerton history.

WW100 This project is uncovering remarkable stories. A sobering thought that there

are still commemorations taking place in Belgium and other countries on a weekly basis to mark the horrific happenings in their countries. Allan’s work is greatly appreciated by so many people of all ages who are very interested in this part of our history.

Porirua City Council We are maintaining, further developing and enhancing an open,

frank and friendly relationship with the Porirua City Council over issues confronting and concerning Plimmerton. We appreciate the support made by our current Northern Ward Councillors: Euon Murrell, Tim Shephard, Bronwyn Kropp and Anita

Baker. Great to have Jenny Brash adding the Plimmerton view to the Greater Wellington Regional Council perspective. I wish to acknowledge again this year, as in previous years, the significant contribution made by Porirua City Council’s Village

Programme Manager Ian Barlow. Without Ian we would not be in the position we are today. Tim Shephard is presently our Village planning liaison person. Our close relationship with Porirua City Council that has grown further over the last year, is much valued by the PRA.

We also appreciate and value the input to planning by Linda Kerkmeester, whose

quiet and reflective approach have brought some new perspectives to our urban and natural marine environment.

Thanks also to Bill Inge of Porirua City Council for the work he does towards making Plimmerton an even better place to be, in particular Karehana Park and our regular

maintenance walk abouts. Findings from these are soon to be a regular feature on our web site so we can track remedial work.

Hongoeka Marae The PRA is very supportive of what Hongoeka are trying to achieve through the village planning processand hopefully we will further build on and expand our existing association.

PRA and Linda Kerkmeester have appreciated working with the marae committee and in particular Kahu Ropata and Moana McMillan-Parata on some design aspects of the Taupo Stream bridge balustrade project. It will be a unique entrance point to Plimmerton.

State Highway One. Pip Piper continues to keep an active eye on things here. We are all waiting for the first sod to be turned on Transmission Gully!

Plimmerton Boating Club We acknowledge the generous offer by PBC to have a reciprocal relationship with the PRA enabling members to utilise their clubrooms.


Others During the year PRA has aimed to represent Plimmerton’s interests with regard to many other issues both local and regional, and support local initiatives including:

• PCC Annual Plan

• Interviews with local media

• Ara Harakeke Cycle and Walkway

• Liaising with other Residents’ Associations

• Village planning meetings

• Various visits sponsored by PCC to Plimmerton

• Supporting other organisations such as Keep Porirua Beautiful

• Liaising with various community groups

• Proposed amalgamation of Wellington Councils

• Sub-committee meetings on specials areas like community emergency planning

• PCC walk abouts and village planning

There are so many contributions to be acknowledged here so I’ll simply say thanks to everyone who has so generously contributed their time and efforts over the last year.

Meetings Please note the PRA meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 7.30pm in our local fire station. Residents are welcome to attend. Meetings are advertised in the newsletter. Please contact us on [email protected] to advise of your

attendance. Dates are published on the website for a year ahead. It’s always a pleasure to welcome new people along.

Membership Please renew your membership if you are an existing member of the association or join for only $15! The more members we have the more we are able to achieve. We always welcome wider community participation through renewals and

new members. Thanks to all those who have already paid their subscriptions for the 2014/2015 year.

If you let us know your email address we can communicate with you promptly on current issues by our newsletter and email database.

My thanks to the 2013/2014 committee my admiration, appreciation and amazement goes to the outgoing committee for all of your work completed this year.

To Dave Anderson who has very kindly agreed to act as chair, well done Dave. I personally appreciate you ‘volunteering’ for this job!


Lastly thanks must go to you, our Plimmerton community, for being so supportive of the PRA and for the efforts that we all put in towards making Plimmerton an even better place to live.

Kia ora

Colin Bleasdale

PRA Chairperson, 2013-2014

pra annual chairperson's report 2013/14

Documents