2012

So a New Year has begun. I thought I shoild start this year's blogging off with a saying -
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." (Anne Frank).

There are several reasons I started with this saying, one is because like lots of sayings it's quite simple yet quite profound. I also thpguht it appropriate because the Southland Museum and Art Gallery has an exhibition on at the moment called Anne Frank A History for Today - I haven't seen it yet but plan to go for a look before Sunday when it closes.

Of course there is another reason I think this saying is a good one to start the year with - and that's because there are many people in Glengarry who are doing exactly what Anne suggests and the start of a new year seems like a good time to remind people what's happening in Glengarry and how you can get in involved.

So here is a summary of what's happening - the Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale starts again for the year on Sat 28 Jan - new stallholders are always welcome. The Market is developing into a real community asset - it has a fantastic atmosphere, great people and a wide range of stalls including arts, crafts, Jewellery, plants as well as secondhand goods. It's well worth a visit if you haven't already been for a look. The Market also provides an opportunity for groups to fundraise, perform or Busk.

The Church also has a number of exciting initiatives happening including soup n toast every Wed lunchtime. As part of this a representative from Jubilee Budget is there to help people out as required. The church also has a Community garden on Lithgow St where people can learn how to grow veges and reap the rewards of doing this.

Ree Richards is another valuable member of the Glengarry community, she has a real heart for the people and as well as being one of the main organisers of the Market she also runs a Weigh Club for locals. They meet at 10.30am at the Stadium/Velodrome and with thw support of Sport Southland learn about healthy eating and exercise and go walking together.

Another local resident is Caroline Holmes. Thanks to Peter Sh and at the Laundry in Glengarry who has made some space available to her to use, Caroline has developed an art space where people can come and create art works, watch art happening and contribute to beautifying the area through art. I encourage people to check out what's happening in the space next to the laundry and look out for opportunities to get involved.

The Glengarry area is also now home to the Invercargill Environment Centre - previously located in the SIT arcade in town. This new centre has a lot to offer the community in terms of knowledge about environmental issues as well as information about things like gardening, wormfarms and mch more. As they settle into the area they will be looking at other ways to contribute to the area such as painting fish on drains.

Of course Glengarry has a number of well established businesses who continue to make valuable contributions to the area including Habitat's Restore which brings lots of people to the area and the Eastern suburbs Tavern which provides great lunch time meals as well as supporting things like the Community BBQ held last year. We look forward to working with both these organisations in 2012.

And finally - at least I think finally - we have a small group of people who have been working with Landscape Architect Nigel Cowburn to redesign the Yarrow St car park of the shopping centre to make it more appealing to locals, tourists and visitors to the area. This has been identified as one of the highest priorities by the community and we hope that the proposed improvements will allow the community to have greater pride in their community!

So there are lots of things happening already and we hope to develop these this year. We would love to get more people involved and more projects started so would encoourahe anyone keen to get involved t contact me through this blog or the Glengarry community Action Facebook page. Here's to another exciting year in Glengarry - isn't it wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to start making the world a better place.