This weekend is going to be a huge celebration of Glengarry!
The Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale will be celebrating its first birthday! The market has been going for a year and is growing month by month. We are grateful to everyone who has been supporting it. So come along this Sat morning 9.30-12.30 to enjoy the atmosphere and do some shopping and join in the fun.
Also on this Saturday is the Eastside Baptist Church Celebrate Living in Glengarry Gala Day. This starts in the morning and is another way to support the community.
And also the Surrey Park Early Learning Centre has a Gala and open day on Saturday from 11am-2pm with lots of goodies and activities as well as an opportunity to see the new centre.
It would be great if you could spread the word about these fun activities and encourage friends and family to come along too.
Glengarry is a great place to live and work so lets support the community by coming along to these events.
Cheers
Becs
Showing posts with label Glengarry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glengarry. Show all posts
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Glengarry Update
The weeks are whizzing by and we are now half way through another month!
We have our first major event happening on Sat 25 Feb - this will be a joint Community Market & Celebrate Glengarry Gala Day an annual event organised by Eastside Baptist Church). This will be on from about 9.30am. It should be a wonderful day of fun activities, stalls and food. Do come along and enjoy Celebrating Glengarry as a great place to live (and work). Please also let your friends and family know about this event and encourage them to come along too. If you have a work place where we could put up a Market poster please let me know and I will arrange to get one to you - also keen forposters to go up at schools, kindys and so forth.
You can also keep informed about things happening in Glengarry through our Facebook page. The link to it is http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/188113074607799/?bookmark_t=group You can add yourself to this group and add your friends and family too.
You will see this email is coming from a new email address that I have setup called glengarryactin@gmail.com
The Glengarry Community Art Project is in full swing for 2012 also. On Wednesdays from 1-3pm Caroline will be at the Art space (next to the laundry) and people are welcome to come along for a look, to work on a project or get involved with whatever projects Caroline is working on. Then from 4-6pm Caroline will be there for kids to come along and do art activities.
We are also working on Mural Projects with Aurora College and the Murihiku Young Parents Learning Centre. Art activities are going to feature in the market each month and you will start to see art poping up all over the centre. The latest was the Hand Up for Glengarry hand print project where peole were invited to give us a hand print in support of the Glengarry projects. These prints are now leaves on a tree in the window of one of the empty shops in the shopping centre. Keep an eye out for more trees!!
We are also putting together the first community newsletter for 2012. It should be printed this week. If anyone can help with delivering them before Sat 25 Feb in the Glengarry area help would be appreciated, even if it was just a few blocks. I can drop them off to you if you give me your address.
We are also working on a large map of Southland for the laundry along with tourist brochures so there is something for the tourists that frequent the shopping centre. And we are looking to get new signage at the front of the centre along with an initiative for the businesses to help promote each other.
As always we welcome ideas and suggestions for the area. We are keen to hear from people who have a skill or knowledge that they would like to share with the community. We are also keen to meet with organisations, groups and businesses in the area to talk about how we can work together. Just drop me a line!
Cheers for now - and see you on the 25th!
We have our first major event happening on Sat 25 Feb - this will be a joint Community Market & Celebrate Glengarry Gala Day an annual event organised by Eastside Baptist Church). This will be on from about 9.30am. It should be a wonderful day of fun activities, stalls and food. Do come along and enjoy Celebrating Glengarry as a great place to live (and work). Please also let your friends and family know about this event and encourage them to come along too. If you have a work place where we could put up a Market poster please let me know and I will arrange to get one to you - also keen forposters to go up at schools, kindys and so forth.
You can also keep informed about things happening in Glengarry through our Facebook page. The link to it is http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/188113074607799/?bookmark_t=group You can add yourself to this group and add your friends and family too.
You will see this email is coming from a new email address that I have setup called glengarryactin@gmail.com
The Glengarry Community Art Project is in full swing for 2012 also. On Wednesdays from 1-3pm Caroline will be at the Art space (next to the laundry) and people are welcome to come along for a look, to work on a project or get involved with whatever projects Caroline is working on. Then from 4-6pm Caroline will be there for kids to come along and do art activities.
We are also working on Mural Projects with Aurora College and the Murihiku Young Parents Learning Centre. Art activities are going to feature in the market each month and you will start to see art poping up all over the centre. The latest was the Hand Up for Glengarry hand print project where peole were invited to give us a hand print in support of the Glengarry projects. These prints are now leaves on a tree in the window of one of the empty shops in the shopping centre. Keep an eye out for more trees!!
We are also putting together the first community newsletter for 2012. It should be printed this week. If anyone can help with delivering them before Sat 25 Feb in the Glengarry area help would be appreciated, even if it was just a few blocks. I can drop them off to you if you give me your address.
We are also working on a large map of Southland for the laundry along with tourist brochures so there is something for the tourists that frequent the shopping centre. And we are looking to get new signage at the front of the centre along with an initiative for the businesses to help promote each other.
As always we welcome ideas and suggestions for the area. We are keen to hear from people who have a skill or knowledge that they would like to share with the community. We are also keen to meet with organisations, groups and businesses in the area to talk about how we can work together. Just drop me a line!
Cheers for now - and see you on the 25th!
Monday, January 16, 2012
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.
"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.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
James Hargest school Zone
Here is a link to an article in The Eye yesterday, drawing attention to the fact that Glengarry is excluded from the JHC school zone.
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/iphone/homepage.aspx#_title185220111215000000000010015/watitle185220111215000000000010015/1852/18522011121500000000001001/5/true
I am interested on feedback on this issue, many people I have spoken to are very surprised at the exclusion. During our community consultation this issue was identified as our fourth highest priority. It seems clear that this is discrimination and it reinforces the negative stigma that Glengarry has in the wider community.
Last week I was speaking with one of the BCL contractors who is currently working in the Glengarry area. She said to me that she was surprised at how nice the area was and how safe their gear was, she had always thought Glengarry was a bit of a rough area but now doesn't know why people think that, it's a great community.
This is just one example of the stigma that Glengarry has to deal with. It's reinforced by a number of things and the James Hargest School zne exclusion is one of them. If people want to see for themselves what a great community we have they should come along to our Community Market. The last one for the year is on tomorrow, Sat 17th Dec 9.30-12.30 in the Yarrow St car park of the shopping centre or Eastside Baptist if it's wet.
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/iphone/homepage.aspx#_title185220111215000000000010015/watitle185220111215000000000010015/1852/18522011121500000000001001/5/true
I am interested on feedback on this issue, many people I have spoken to are very surprised at the exclusion. During our community consultation this issue was identified as our fourth highest priority. It seems clear that this is discrimination and it reinforces the negative stigma that Glengarry has in the wider community.
Last week I was speaking with one of the BCL contractors who is currently working in the Glengarry area. She said to me that she was surprised at how nice the area was and how safe their gear was, she had always thought Glengarry was a bit of a rough area but now doesn't know why people think that, it's a great community.
This is just one example of the stigma that Glengarry has to deal with. It's reinforced by a number of things and the James Hargest School zne exclusion is one of them. If people want to see for themselves what a great community we have they should come along to our Community Market. The last one for the year is on tomorrow, Sat 17th Dec 9.30-12.30 in the Yarrow St car park of the shopping centre or Eastside Baptist if it's wet.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Community consultaion
Below is the email sent out to our Glengarry community following community consultation on Sat 29 Oct at the Community Market. Get in touch if you would like to be involved in any of the projects underway.
Hi Everyone Welcome to those of you who have just joined our email list. This email has a bit in it including some exciting developments so please have a good look.
We are happy for you to pass this information on to anyone who might be interested in being informed about what's happening. If people would like to join this email list they can contact me on phil.becs@xtra.co.nz - also if you would like to be removed from the mailing list.
We have had some great media coverage this week following our consultation at the Market on Saturday including an article in the Times on Monday and articles in The Eye and Southland Express today (Thursday).
So this email includes: 1. the results of our consultation with the community at the Market on Sat 29 Oct; 2. updates on some developments around the first impression concept; 3. update on the meetings & discussions we have had with council 4. details about the mural to go up on the Yarrow St bus shelter; 5. community garden update 6. development of a temporary art space in the shopping centre 7. a draft vision for what the group is trying to achieve
Community market consultaion On Sat 29 Oct 2911 at the Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale we had a display of information we had gathered from our previous meetings about what we wanted Glengarry to look like, feel like and be like in two years time. Throughout the morning we asked people to take three stickers and identify the things that they thought should be priorities..
We had a great response from the public and surveyed about 100 people to get the results below. We had publicised this with an article in the Express as well as delivering 1000 flyers to homes in the Glengarry area.
I have listed the suggestions in order with the number of stickers next to it.
Destination shopping centre, more shops, new business (all 3 listed separately but all mean the same thing I think) 44
First impression concept 30
Fruit trees and more trees 27
Build up the market & Try to do something ab the Hargest school zone 16
Murals, sculptures and art in the area 15
Skate ramp 13
Speed bumps along some of the roads 12
More fun events for families 8
community page in the paper, decent grocery shop, tidy St competition, better signage about what's in the shopping centre, more rubbish bins, business loyalty card - 7
build a relationship with schools, kindly and sports groups & identify skills in the community 6
welcome pack for new residents 5
more tourist things, more neighbourhood support groups, promote the pub as a community gathering place, 4
These results seem to reinforce the outcomes from our previous two meetings which make filling up the shopping centre and improving the first impression of the area as the priorities.
First impression The team working on this has meet again this week with a landscape architect and will hopefully finalise some of the ideas and suggestions that have been put forward. There was great support for the idea of improving the first impression of the shopping centre from our consultation.
Council Last week we viisted council to talk with Neil Boniface about our first impression plans and other ideas for Glengarry. He was enthusiastic about our ideas which is great. We have been invited to present the plans to the council on 6 March 2012. We also had Tim Shadbolt along to the Market on Saturday and he saw the consultation work we were doing. He has asked us to come along to the next full council meeting on 22 Nov to introduce what we are doing and give the council a taste of what we will present in March.
Bus shelter mural: We visited council last week and have been alloctaed some funds to redo the mural on the Yarrow St bus shelter. Initially we approached Ascot School to see if they would be inetrested in working on this but after somediscussion with them have decided to now approach Aurora College as older students may benefit more from thiis project. Stay tuned for further details and let us know if you would like to help out with any of this - the bus shelter will need water blasted & prepared for painting and we will need helpers to get the mural done also.
Community garden: Eastside Baptist Church has started planting at their new community garden in Lithgow St - this is a great use for an empty section and it is also a great opportunity for people from the community to learn about gardening. If anyone is interested in participating in this or helping out please contact Chris at Eastside Baptist Church.
Temporary art space: Peter at the laundry has some vacant space while he waits to get his redevlopement done. In the mean time he has agreed to make this space available to artists who might wish to do their work in a different enviroment. This will help build up the vibrance in the shopping centre and provide something interesting for people to look at while they visit the shopping centre. Thanks Peter. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in this.
Draft vision: From the consultaion we have been doing I have put together the following draft vision for what we are undertaking. I am interested in feedback and suggestions about this.
The Glengarry community has a heart. Our vision is to support the people, businesses and wider community to: 1. build on the pride that people have 2. promote and highlight the vibrant and positive community that exists 3. encourage development and make it sustainable in the long term 4. meet the needs of the diverse range of people that live and work in the area.
We will do this by: 1. seeking opportunities for growth and development 2. encouraging the community to work together 3. doing things that build up pride 4. involving the people - from all walks of life 5.. seeking opportunities to build resilience 6. preserving and enhancing the dynamics and features that make Glengarry special.
What will this look like??? Green, people talking to each other and helping each other, lots of shops -uniqe, art and artists, tidy, community focused, fun, ecclectic ........ This is where we need vivid images of what we want to see...
Glengarry has a heart that beats loud and proud.
Hi Everyone Welcome to those of you who have just joined our email list. This email has a bit in it including some exciting developments so please have a good look.
We are happy for you to pass this information on to anyone who might be interested in being informed about what's happening. If people would like to join this email list they can contact me on phil.becs@xtra.co.nz - also if you would like to be removed from the mailing list.
We have had some great media coverage this week following our consultation at the Market on Saturday including an article in the Times on Monday and articles in The Eye and Southland Express today (Thursday).
So this email includes: 1. the results of our consultation with the community at the Market on Sat 29 Oct; 2. updates on some developments around the first impression concept; 3. update on the meetings & discussions we have had with council 4. details about the mural to go up on the Yarrow St bus shelter; 5. community garden update 6. development of a temporary art space in the shopping centre 7. a draft vision for what the group is trying to achieve
Community market consultaion On Sat 29 Oct 2911 at the Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale we had a display of information we had gathered from our previous meetings about what we wanted Glengarry to look like, feel like and be like in two years time. Throughout the morning we asked people to take three stickers and identify the things that they thought should be priorities..
We had a great response from the public and surveyed about 100 people to get the results below. We had publicised this with an article in the Express as well as delivering 1000 flyers to homes in the Glengarry area.
I have listed the suggestions in order with the number of stickers next to it.
Destination shopping centre, more shops, new business (all 3 listed separately but all mean the same thing I think) 44
First impression concept 30
Fruit trees and more trees 27
Build up the market & Try to do something ab the Hargest school zone 16
Murals, sculptures and art in the area 15
Skate ramp 13
Speed bumps along some of the roads 12
More fun events for families 8
community page in the paper, decent grocery shop, tidy St competition, better signage about what's in the shopping centre, more rubbish bins, business loyalty card - 7
build a relationship with schools, kindly and sports groups & identify skills in the community 6
welcome pack for new residents 5
more tourist things, more neighbourhood support groups, promote the pub as a community gathering place, 4
These results seem to reinforce the outcomes from our previous two meetings which make filling up the shopping centre and improving the first impression of the area as the priorities.
First impression The team working on this has meet again this week with a landscape architect and will hopefully finalise some of the ideas and suggestions that have been put forward. There was great support for the idea of improving the first impression of the shopping centre from our consultation.
Council Last week we viisted council to talk with Neil Boniface about our first impression plans and other ideas for Glengarry. He was enthusiastic about our ideas which is great. We have been invited to present the plans to the council on 6 March 2012. We also had Tim Shadbolt along to the Market on Saturday and he saw the consultation work we were doing. He has asked us to come along to the next full council meeting on 22 Nov to introduce what we are doing and give the council a taste of what we will present in March.
Bus shelter mural: We visited council last week and have been alloctaed some funds to redo the mural on the Yarrow St bus shelter. Initially we approached Ascot School to see if they would be inetrested in working on this but after somediscussion with them have decided to now approach Aurora College as older students may benefit more from thiis project. Stay tuned for further details and let us know if you would like to help out with any of this - the bus shelter will need water blasted & prepared for painting and we will need helpers to get the mural done also.
Community garden: Eastside Baptist Church has started planting at their new community garden in Lithgow St - this is a great use for an empty section and it is also a great opportunity for people from the community to learn about gardening. If anyone is interested in participating in this or helping out please contact Chris at Eastside Baptist Church.
Temporary art space: Peter at the laundry has some vacant space while he waits to get his redevlopement done. In the mean time he has agreed to make this space available to artists who might wish to do their work in a different enviroment. This will help build up the vibrance in the shopping centre and provide something interesting for people to look at while they visit the shopping centre. Thanks Peter. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in this.
Draft vision: From the consultaion we have been doing I have put together the following draft vision for what we are undertaking. I am interested in feedback and suggestions about this.
The Glengarry community has a heart. Our vision is to support the people, businesses and wider community to: 1. build on the pride that people have 2. promote and highlight the vibrant and positive community that exists 3. encourage development and make it sustainable in the long term 4. meet the needs of the diverse range of people that live and work in the area.
We will do this by: 1. seeking opportunities for growth and development 2. encouraging the community to work together 3. doing things that build up pride 4. involving the people - from all walks of life 5.. seeking opportunities to build resilience 6. preserving and enhancing the dynamics and features that make Glengarry special.
What will this look like??? Green, people talking to each other and helping each other, lots of shops -uniqe, art and artists, tidy, community focused, fun, ecclectic ........ This is where we need vivid images of what we want to see...
Glengarry has a heart that beats loud and proud.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Glengarry - First Impression
A team of passionate Glengarry folk have been working on some ideas to redevelop the first view of the Glengarry area when you come down Yarrow Street. Below is the first draft of a redesign for the car park area to make it look nicer - it includes new plantings, doing up the bus shelter, putting in more rubbish bins and creating some green areas. Ideally we would love to get businesses into the empty shops as well, and are confident that will happen in time.
We are also looking at including art in the area such as murals on the buildings, painted lamp posts and sculptures.
We are gathering feedback and ideas from the community, including business owners and residents so if you would like to get involved please do. You could post to this blog or our Facebook page (Ree's Gifts & The Book Stop), call into Ree's Gifts & The Book Stop or come along to the next Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale on Sat 29 Oct where we will be kicking off some fundraising with a sausage sizzle.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Glengarry - Market, School zones & other interesting stuff
The Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale is on again this Saturday 24th Sept - another great lot of stallholders including candles, mussel patties, secondhand goods, crads, plants, sausage sizzle and if you are really lucky BBQed Bananas with cream and marshmallows - YUMMY!!!
Following the session with Peter Kenyon on Wed 7 Sept the First Impression group has been busy working on a revised plan for the Yarrow St car park area - if anyone is interested in being part of this great team please get in touch.
One issue that a has been raised in the course of the community discussions is the exclusion of the Glengarry area from the James Hargest school zone. This means high school aged kids cannot go to James Hargest which is only a few blocks away and instead have to travel across town to Aurora for co-ed education. This has also been raised recently in the media as children from other parts of the city - eg Wallacetown - also cannot attend Hargest. I think this is an issue that should be highlighted more because in the case of the Glengarry community, this exclusion only helps to reinforce the false bad image of the area. I am interested in gathering information about Glengarry people's experiences with high school education so please get in touch or call into The Book Stop for a chat.
Finally we have a big list of great ideas for Glengarry on the wall at Ree's Gifts & The Book Stop, come in and check them out, see if there's anything that takes your fancy and get involved :-) And of course while you are there check out the great coffee, the fantastic gifts, Himalayan salt lamps and the finest books in town including competitively priced new NZ books!
Following the session with Peter Kenyon on Wed 7 Sept the First Impression group has been busy working on a revised plan for the Yarrow St car park area - if anyone is interested in being part of this great team please get in touch.
One issue that a has been raised in the course of the community discussions is the exclusion of the Glengarry area from the James Hargest school zone. This means high school aged kids cannot go to James Hargest which is only a few blocks away and instead have to travel across town to Aurora for co-ed education. This has also been raised recently in the media as children from other parts of the city - eg Wallacetown - also cannot attend Hargest. I think this is an issue that should be highlighted more because in the case of the Glengarry community, this exclusion only helps to reinforce the false bad image of the area. I am interested in gathering information about Glengarry people's experiences with high school education so please get in touch or call into The Book Stop for a chat.
Finally we have a big list of great ideas for Glengarry on the wall at Ree's Gifts & The Book Stop, come in and check them out, see if there's anything that takes your fancy and get involved :-) And of course while you are there check out the great coffee, the fantastic gifts, Himalayan salt lamps and the finest books in town including competitively priced new NZ books!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Community Market
Today we had market number 7!
It was a great morning with a ton of stallholders including some folks who have been regular stallholders since the start of our market and new people who just came along today. The great thing about our market is the variety - we have everything from home made arts and crafts to secondhand goods, sausage sizzle (thanks ATC who used it to raise money today) and other home made baking (all fully compliant with ICC).
This all helps create a cool atmosphere and we are pretty proud of how the Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale is developing. If you haven't already checked out our market I would encourage you to come next month (Sat 24 Sept). As we get closer to summer we will have even more on offer including a community stall to sell excess produce from the garden and a car wash.To give you an idea of what we have at the market we have plants including vege, knitting, cheeserolls, salt lamps, insence, hand made clothes, fingerless gloves, wooden chopping boards, candles, artwork, Donut Dude and so much more.
We want to support the community too so if you belong to a group that needs an option for fundraising perhaps our market could be the place where you could have a group jumble sale, do a sausage sizzle or car wash, busk or sell raffle tickets. And this means that people who come along to the Market and buy stuff are helping the community too.
The Market is held on the last Saturday of each month in the Yarrow St car park of the Glengarry shopping centre or Eastside Baptist if it's wet. The Market is on from 9.30-1pm. Next month we will have mussel patties for sale -yum! So consider coming along for lunch.
Finally I have challenged myself to do my Christmas shopping from the Market this year - so far I have bought a wooden truck for a nephew, cleaning clothes done up like cupcakes for the grandparents and a beautiful wooden chopping board for my parents.
Glengarry is a great community - perhaps next month you might like to see that for yourself :-)
It was a great morning with a ton of stallholders including some folks who have been regular stallholders since the start of our market and new people who just came along today. The great thing about our market is the variety - we have everything from home made arts and crafts to secondhand goods, sausage sizzle (thanks ATC who used it to raise money today) and other home made baking (all fully compliant with ICC).
This all helps create a cool atmosphere and we are pretty proud of how the Glengarry Community Market & Car Boot Sale is developing. If you haven't already checked out our market I would encourage you to come next month (Sat 24 Sept). As we get closer to summer we will have even more on offer including a community stall to sell excess produce from the garden and a car wash.To give you an idea of what we have at the market we have plants including vege, knitting, cheeserolls, salt lamps, insence, hand made clothes, fingerless gloves, wooden chopping boards, candles, artwork, Donut Dude and so much more.
We want to support the community too so if you belong to a group that needs an option for fundraising perhaps our market could be the place where you could have a group jumble sale, do a sausage sizzle or car wash, busk or sell raffle tickets. And this means that people who come along to the Market and buy stuff are helping the community too.
The Market is held on the last Saturday of each month in the Yarrow St car park of the Glengarry shopping centre or Eastside Baptist if it's wet. The Market is on from 9.30-1pm. Next month we will have mussel patties for sale -yum! So consider coming along for lunch.
Finally I have challenged myself to do my Christmas shopping from the Market this year - so far I have bought a wooden truck for a nephew, cleaning clothes done up like cupcakes for the grandparents and a beautiful wooden chopping board for my parents.
Glengarry is a great community - perhaps next month you might like to see that for yourself :-)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Glengarry Newsletter
We started the Good News Glengarry newsletter in order to highlight the positive things happening in the community and to promote the businesses in the area too. The latest newsletter - number four first this year - is hot off the press. I am really stoked with the support we have received for the newsletter - this issue has some new and old advertisers in it. It also has some infomartion about the recent community meeting and upcoming market.
The newsletters are delivered around Glengarry but also in some other areas. They are also available from some of the shops in the shopping centre like the Chemist, the fish n chip shop and of course Ree's Gifts & The Book Stop. So if you don't get a copy in your mailbox call in to collect one.
Optimism generate hope.... hope releases dreams..... dreams set goals.... enthusiasm follows. Martin Seligmon.
The newsletters are delivered around Glengarry but also in some other areas. They are also available from some of the shops in the shopping centre like the Chemist, the fish n chip shop and of course Ree's Gifts & The Book Stop. So if you don't get a copy in your mailbox call in to collect one.
Optimism generate hope.... hope releases dreams..... dreams set goals.... enthusiasm follows. Martin Seligmon.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Making it Happen
Sometimes I find people spend a lot of time complaining about the way things are. Blogs seem to be a popular avenue for this type of complaint. I can't help but think that if we spent more time trying to make things change for the better and less time complaining things might be a little different.
Some of us down in the Glengarry community have been trying to do just that - make things happen that is. Over the last few months we have had some positive things happening in Glengarry - things that have been neglected for some time. For example the council's road sweeper now does all the streets in the shopping centre and the council has cleared all the rubbish from the service area for the shops. It's made a big difference to the appearance of the area.
Don't get me wrong there are more things we would like to see done, especially getting a rubbish bin next to the new public toilet and getting the bus shelter tidied up. We are confident that one of these days the Glengarry shopping centre will be just as full as it used to be, it's already starting to happen.......
Glengarry is a great place to I've and work :-)
Some of us down in the Glengarry community have been trying to do just that - make things happen that is. Over the last few months we have had some positive things happening in Glengarry - things that have been neglected for some time. For example the council's road sweeper now does all the streets in the shopping centre and the council has cleared all the rubbish from the service area for the shops. It's made a big difference to the appearance of the area.
Don't get me wrong there are more things we would like to see done, especially getting a rubbish bin next to the new public toilet and getting the bus shelter tidied up. We are confident that one of these days the Glengarry shopping centre will be just as full as it used to be, it's already starting to happen.......
Glengarry is a great place to I've and work :-)
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Glengarry Community Update
On Wed 27 July some folks from the Glengarry community got together to talk about the good things happening in the community and to discuss what could be done to raise the profile of the community and make it an even better place to live and work.
We had a great facilitator for this (thanks Diana Z) and everyone participated in a positive way.
People identified heaps of great things about Glengarry including a huge range of services provided in the shopping centre and wider area such as atm, best fiah n chips in town, great chemist, garage, doctor, the only laundry in town adn Habitat's Restore to name just a few. The area also a good bus service, new public toilet and a great monthly market.
People also identified the Glengarry community spirit as one of the great things about the area - for example it has a village atmosphere, people are very loyal to the area, there are very supportive churches, some great events happening and so on.
And the other great thing identified in the area were the people - people who are keen to get stuck in and help people, people who are prepared to get involved in the community, a diverse people and people who are willing to help each other.
We also talked about things to do to make the area even better. The main ideas from this were to promote the positive things in the area to change the negative stigma, improve the south side car park area to make a better first impression, provide a map to show people what is available in the area and to make a welcome pack to for people who come to the area.
We are planning another community meeting and would love to have lots more people along. So if you are keen please get in touch. Add your comments to this page or email thebookstop@xtra.co.nz
We also talked about things to do to make the area even better. The main ideas from this were to promote the positive things in the area to change the negative stigma, improve the south side car park area to make a better first impression, provide a map to show people what is available in the area and to make a welcome pack to for people who come to the area.
We are planning another community meeting and would love to have lots more people along. So if you are keen please get in touch. Add your comments to this page or email thebookstop@xtra.co.nz
You can also check out our Facebook page for a full copy of the notes from the meeting or email thebookstop@xtra.co.nz
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