“Something for Nothing”
What a difference a day makes – well also just a few hours
This was New Plymouth Boys’ High – “Something for Nothing” event and what a great event this was for 18 awesome young people and their great teacher Alex Finlayson.
Connections are key to how successful events are – this is a great example of that.
It all started with an email to Volunteering New Plymouth checking to see if we had something for a group of young NPBHS students to do for a few hours. Several calls and messages later and the connection was made with Merryn Broderson of Land Based Training @ Newstart Gardens. – A Seventh- day Adventist Project- which among other things supplies fresh produce to New Plymouth Food Bank.
The groups spent an extremely productive couple of hours getting stuck-in doing various tasks around the site. The shade house area is now clear of debris to allow access to clean the walls and floors properly, thus, allowing the replacement shade cloth to be installed. The ever-growing pile of debris and bricks etc……is now a small mountain, the small LBT tunnel house is taking shape and the cyclone damaged hothouse is more accessible for full demolition with the front growing area being cleared and mown.
Merryn had nothing but praise saying: “What a great bunch of lads, please pass on our heartiest thanks to all for their hard work and fun attitudes. It was great to have them, and they have helped immensely in progressing a lot of the clean-up work required to enable the SDA Church to continue with their plans to get improvements made to the garden infrastructure.”
This went so well that she has invited them back.
This is all possible by the connections in the community and our young people being guided to pay forward / give back from within the school.
Our thanks go to the team of volunteers Gary, Graham & Pastor Tony from Seventh-day Adventist Church, Alex New Plymouth Boys High teacher and of course the awesome young lads and Merryn of Land Based Training for the collaboration of this “Something For Nothing” event. This has also been made possible by the great connections that Volunteering New Plymouth has with the community.
Poll: Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?
An Auckland court has ruled a woman doesn’t have to contribute towards the cost of fixing a driveway she shares with 10 neighbours.
When thinking about fences, driveways or tree felling, for example, do you think all neighbours should have to pay if the improvements directly benefit them?
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83.3% Yes
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14.3% No
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2.4% Other - I'll share below
What's your favourite tomato recipe?
Kia ora neighbours. We know your tomato plants are still growing, but we're looking ahead to the harvest already! If you've got a family recipe for tomatoes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine to share with our readers. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our February 2025 issue.
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we're having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
Share your question below now ⬇️