Tai Whakarara - Sparkling Tides
WHOMP
The
Welcome Bay, Hairini, Ohauiti, Maungatapu, Poike, Pyes Pa and Oropi Community News
www.whomp.nz
Issue 1 - OCT-DEC 2015
Welcome Bay Family Movie Night
New expressway to ease traffic woes
Page 32
Page 24
LOCAL Music Festival planning begins! Page 42
Great Leaders Inspire Greatness in Others “They asked me to help out for six months and I’ve been here for six years!” chuckles Mary Dillon QSM, Chair of the Welcome Bay Community Centre, as we contemplate the duration of her leadership. Mary joined the committee in 2009 and has been at the helm for most of the time since then. With a lifetime of experience from her early employment days, family business, and 21 years in Council, including six years as Deputy Mayor, not to mention raising six kids, Mary is the ideal person to lead an organisation such as the Community Centre. Over the years she has held the role of Chair for a number of varied organisations, many of which reflect the interests nearest to her heart:
the environment, art and history, and community. Her Queen’s Service Medal, awarded in 2004, is a reflection of her dedication to her community. It was this passion for the community that motivated Perry Keyte, QSM, founding member and former Chair of the Centre’s Committee, to seek Mary’s support at a time when the Centre was reaching a new level of development and greater governance capacity was required. “Mary’s been a friend for years and I thought she would be a great asset to the Committee”, he says. “And she has been – the contacts she brought to the centre helped us really get ahead,” Perry adds. Her political reputation engenders respect from the community and Perry felt that the community would trust
her. He was also impressed with her stamina – “she’s been on loads of boards and committees and always does a great job – 100% commitment!” Mary doesn’t blow a loud trumpet – unless something really gets her goat in the City Council Chambers and then she is a sight to behold – rather, she quietly has a word here and there and things happen. The breadth and depth of her knowledge of the not-forprofit sector is mind-boggling, and as a founding member of SmartGrowth (the spatial plan for Western Bay of Plenty), Mary has the vision and encyclopaedic understanding of what makes a successful community. (article continues on page 5)
Special Christmas and 100 Year Birthday Celebrations at
Te Whetu- o Te Rangi Marae Te Whetū o Te Rangi Marae in Welcome Bay, will be celebrating their 100th Anniversary on 25 December 2015; Te Whetū o Te Rangi Centennial. We will publish more stories about the background to this very special occasion and the schedule of the accompanying
three-day celebratory event (Dec 24-26) in the next issue of Tai Whakarara - The WHOMP, due to be in your letterbox in December, before Christmas. For any enquiries about the Centenary celebrations, contact Kipouaka Pukekura kipouakapukenga6@xtra.co.nz.
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