June 2024

Hockey-mad Lads' 24-hr Fundraiser

n April next year, these five Coatesville boys will head to Europe along with 23 other boys from Westlake Boys High School's Hockey Programme, for a once-ina-lifetime experience in some of the biggest hockey nations in the world. The boys will play games against local club teams, get coaching in each country, and compete against teams from around the world in the prestigious JIPHT International Youth Hockey Easter Tournament in The Hague. They will also experience some amazing educational and cultural experiences throughout the tour. Over the next few months, the boys are going to work extremely

hard to raise funds for their tour with three big events already in the diary, including a Beats by Bingo Event on 14 September and a Ladies Long Lunch in the pipeline for March 2025

Kicking off the fundraising efforts is an event very much in keeping with their love of their sport! Starting at 10am on Friday, 28 June (Matariki), the Coatesville crew, along with the rest of the tour group, will embark on a 24-hour ‘Hockeyathon’; pushing themselves by playing hockey for a staggering 24 hours! While that’s quite a challenge in itself they are opening this up to as many people as possible to ‘join them on the turf’ at North Harbour Hockey #5. It’s going to be a

fun, family-friendly event encouraging people in our local community to get engaged in ‘all things hockey’.

During the day there will be games against invited teams, a chance to have-a-go at hockey, skills clinics for players and goalies and some specialist skills clinics with our Junior and Ex-Blacksticks. Off the turf, there’s activities for the littlies, a sausage sizzle, cake stall, cold drinks and hot coffee. Eftpos will be available, but feel free to bring your gold coins and get amongst the fun!

If competition is your thing then sign up a team for the Fast 5’s tournament running from 5.30pm-10pm or grab your glow sticks and your mates and register for the 7 a-side Glow-in-thedark games from 10.15pm-11.15pm.

You’ll need to register and pay before 23 June to lock in your spot in some of the coaching and game sessions but you can just rock up on the day to get involved in the fun skills challenges.

For full event details and to register for clinics and team events, go to: hockey-tour.mypagecloud.com

By Sarah Hoban (Hockey-mad parent)

From left, Westlake Boys' High School students (front row) Thomas Sentch, Christopher Hickey & Cooper Cruikshank, (back) Theo Hoban & Andrew Lucas – all from Coatesville.

rime affects our whole society and recent posts on community Facebook pages suggest criminal activity is on the rise. I asked the Waitemata Police what they've seen lately in our area, and here's what a Police spokesman said: Police in the Coatesville area have responded to one incident of reported theft within the last two weeks, a burglary at an address on Sunnyside Road. This was reported to us on Thursday 23 May. We encourage homeowners and occupiers to protect their homes and valuables from would-be thieves with some basic methods of prevention. Make sure all property and vehicles are securely locked and where appropriate, working alarms are installed and CCTV cameras are in use. We would encourage victims of theft to contact Police as soon as possible.

So, while Coatesville isn't exactly the badlands, as a community we need to think about security and do what we can to prevent becoming a target. There's great information about how to do this on the Police website. Go to: Police.govt.nz and click on Personal and Community Safety then select Advice and Services. There are lots of helpful suggestions, including some basics like separate your car and house keys. And don’t provide places for burglars to hide - keep bushes and trees trimmed. Given that stolen goods are unlikely to be found and returned to you, preventing a theft from happening in the first place is your best course of action.

Your editor, Vanessa Johnson

Email: coatesvillechronicle@gmail.com,

Phone: 021 724 001

The Coatesville Chronicle is distributed free to homes in the RD3 postal area. Deadline for content is 20th of the month prior to publication. The opinions published herein are not necessarily those of the publisher, Cradle Publications Limited. © 2024 All rights reserved.

SUBDIVIDING?

Diary Dates

∞ 17 June, Monday, Feedback closes today in the RLTP (Regional Land Transport Plan). Make sure you have your say. Google RLTP for the link.

∞ 19 June, Wednesday, 6pm The CRRA meets at the Settlers Hall. All welcome!

∞ 20 June, Thursday, Bayleys Coatesville Hosts a Community evening from 5-7pm (details on page 8).

∞ 28 June, Friday, Matariki This annual event marks the appearance of the Pleiades star cluster and holds significant cultural and astronomical importance in New Zealand. Happy Matariki in te reo - Ngā mihi o Matariki, te tau hou Māori.

∞ 28 June, Friday, Westlake Boys' High School 24-hour Hockyathon. Help the Coatesville hockey players on the cover to fund their overseas trip next year by supporting this family-friendly event. For full event details, go to hockey-tour.mypagecloud.com

∞ 5 July, Friday, Term two ends today at Coatesville School. Two weeks holiday!

∞ 22 July, Monday Term 3 kicks off today at Coatesville School. Not long till Ag Day!

Helpful Hints from the CRRA

Civil Defence

Is your fireplace ready for those cold nights ahead with a clean chimney and up-to-date insurance coverage?

Plus, have you changed your smoke detector batteries? Make sure your home is fire-safe this winter.

Clean & Green

The winter chill means a rise in unwanted pests. Are your bait stations ready?

09 451 9044

PFC Volunteers Recognised

The first half of 2024 has been eventful for the Pest Free Coatesville group and their annual Volunteer Day held at Mincher Garden in March was a celebration of their hard work. At the event, a number of people were recognised for their contributions, however, the Volunteer of the Year Award went to Geoff Spong. Geoff's dedication to help Coatesville become Pest Free has continued despite the fact his family were forced to move out of Coatesville when their home was damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle.

More recently, the whole PFC group received recognition for service to the community. GJ Gardner Homes has shown its support by allowing the volunteers to hold their regular meetings in the lounge of GJ Gardner's award-winning display home on Wake Road (shown above). The homes recently won the International Display Home of the Year against some illustrious opposition from the USA, Australia, and New Zealand.

Gary Langridge, the PFC group's leader, says "It will give our volunteer group a lovely outlook and provide a very cosy spot to meet. We're lucky to have such a prestigious location to meet and we're appreciative of the support GJ Gardner has shown us."

As well as giving the group access to the stylish lounge inside the showhome, GJ Gardner have also given them permission to park their promotional caravan on site at the property.

"We recently bought the caravan and will be refurbishing it and painting it so we can take it to venues and promote our conservation message," says Gary.

New members continue to join the PFC. Recently, Ryan Kiddell from Good Dog Training became the group's Kiwi Aversion dog trainer. "Ryan is using his exceptional skills to make key changes to the current process that will make the training programme a lot gentler for the dog," says Gary. "The new process will provide an effective solution to general behaviour that will greatly assist the dog to behave more appropriately when in public areas. This will be available to all members of PFC."

Local Board member Louise Johnston is keen to start up a Pest Free Dairy Flat group. Anyone interested in leading the project should contact Gary Langridge at: Langridgegary@gmail.com

Coatesville Motors

GJ Gardner's display home where PFC volunteer meetings will take place.

Local Board News

Auckland's supercity is sprawling, extending from Drury to Wellsford. Each area has its unique challenges, but one thing that we Aucklanders have in common is that we all have firm opinions about Auckland Transport (AT), be it the lack of road maintenance, how long it takes to get things fixed, or the general congestion. AT have limited funding and they cannot afford to fund all the projects that are needed to ‘fix Auckland‘. We must continue to advocate for our area, and it is the case of the ‘squeaky wheel’ which is why your feedback on the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) is crucial.

The RLTP, is essentially a 10-year budget for Auckland Transport (AT), that is updated every three years. In the draft 2024 RLTP, there is a definite focus on maintaining and enhancing our existing road assets. This is a significant win for residents on unsealed roads, with $126M allocated to the unsealed road improvement program. However, the funding is not evenly distributed over the 10-year period. Your feedback can help ensure a more balanced allocation. For our area, one project that is no longer on the RLTP is the widening of Dairy Flat Highway (DFH) from Stevensons Cres to Gills Road into 4 lanes. In 2018, this was deemed a strategic corridor and funded in the RLTP. However, in 2021, the project was on the RLTP but unfunded; however, following strong community feedback, the Avenue and DFH safety improvements were included in the final plan for 2021. Fast forward to 2024 and this project has been completely dropped from the RLTP. I personally believe that this project should be put back on the RLTP. It is not sustainable to do nothing, and congestion and safety is only going to get worse especially given that thousands of houses are still to be built at Milldale and congestion at the Silverdale interchange is resulting in more and more residents using Dairy Flat Highway to get into Albany and the city and this is only going to get worse.

Please make sure you have your say on the RLTP. It is quick to do, and the last question asks if there are any projects that have been missed from RLTP. Feedback closes on the

By Louise Johnston

17 June and just google 'RLTP’ for the link.

Lastly, if your property was impacted by the Anniversary weekend flooding and there is an intolerable risk to life from future weather events, then you only have until 30 September 2024 to opt into Council’s voluntary buyout scheme. Following is a quick summary of the Council's voluntary buyout scheme.

Auckland Council is offering significant financial support for owners of homes where there is an intolerable risk to life from future severe weather events. This is a riskbased program, and the funding available to homeowners depends on the Council's assessment of their property risk. The main risk categories are detailed below:

∞ Where there is an intolerable risk to life from future severe weather events and nothing can be done to mitigate the risks feasibly, then Auckland council are offering a voluntary buyout and these homes are classified as a Category 3 risk.

∞ Grant funding is available to do work on a property to reduce the risk to an acceptable level, such as raising homes. These homes are classified as Category 2P.

∞ Homes that are at an acceptable level of risk to life from future severe storm events are considered Category 1 and no direct financial assistance is available.

Property owners can opt into the voluntary categorisation programme via the online registration form at property.flooded.co.nz, or email propertycategory@ aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Many residents across Auckland in areas that have been identified as high risk have chosen not to opt into this process. Auckland Council is very concerned if there is another weather event, people are living in high-risk homes with an intolerable risk to life. This process is independent of the red and yellow placards that were placed on property following the floods. Council have identified 7389 impacted properties however only 2865 have opted into the process. In Coatesville, to date only one property has been assessed at Category 3, however in Dairy Flat, six properties have been assessed as Category 3 and in Riverhead there are three. Council will be contacting high risk property owners directly, but this is much easier to do in an urban setting. I am very concerned that property owners in our area are not taking advantage of this opportunity as going forward, managed retreat will be driven by the insurance industry. Please get in contact if you have any questions about this. Louise Johnston (Rodney Local Board) louise.johnston@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Scout Camp Adventures

Term one ended with our Summer Camp at Wenderholm Regional Park. We set up camp on Friday evening after a fish & chip dinner collected on the trip up and we made use of a comfortable area for our campsite as the campground was sparsely occupied.

The theme for this camp was kayaking and exploring so we had several hours kayaking on the estuary of the lower Puhoi River on both Saturday and Sunday mornings to make best use of the high tides. Unfortunately, the tide times were wrong for us to kayak up to or down from Puhoi.

Sat also saw the group undertake a couple of pioneering challenges to build a gateway and flagpole and a pair of catapults out of bamboo poles. The afternoon saw the orienteering and exploration hike and two groups set off in nice fine weather but soon got caught up in a localised downpour. This ultimately ended the session slightly early as everyone returned to camp as instructed, but without completing the courses…. wet through but still in high spirits.

After a slightly longer kayak session

on Sunday we packed down the camp and returned to Coatesville by mid-afternoon.

Term two always starts with the Waikato Adventure Camp over Mother’s Day weekend. Scouts must be 12 ½ years old to attend and need a day off school as we travel down, to Piopio, on the Friday to be able to set up camp in daylight. This year Darren was in charge of our four Scouts and the trip down was quite eventful.

Unfortunately, a tyre blew out on our camping trailer and shredded itself just before Te Kuiti. Once the spare on they arrived at camp only to discover another tyre was ready to blow, so Darren had to arrange a callout from Te Kuiti with a tyre repair company to come and replace two tyres so they could get home. The campsite is very remote, over five kilometres down a farm driveway from the road, but luckily the tyre company was used to rural emergencies, and everything was sorted very efficiently.

As for the camp itself the scouts had a fantastic time with activities including Archery, Caving, Quadbike Riding, Grass Skiing, Abseiling, Flying

Asset Protection. Considering Everything Together.

The protection of assets that we have worked so hard to acquire is an important consideration for most people. Trusts provide protection of those invaluable assets, which allow a person to hold property and assets on behalf of another - for the good of the beneficiaries.

It is just as important to ensure that other forms of asset structuring are up to date and considered in relation to your trusts structure. These include your will and enduring powers of attorney.

Contact our Trusts and Wealth Protection Team for specialist asset structuring and planning advice.

Fox and 4-Wheel Drive Trips. The camp involves very early starts and long days to cram in all the activities with a fair bit of walking between activity sites and all the Scouts now understand what a “cold camp” means.

The 4-wheel drive trips were a highlight of the weekend for most scouts, but the camp had so many memorable moments everyone is keen to go again. The activities finished at lunch time on Sunday and our four weary scouts slowly packed the site down before heading home with a dinner stop on the way. The Scouts wish to thank Darren for his efforts sorting out the problems with the tyres and for getting them to and from camp safely and everyone agreed that this is one of the best camps we attend.

Term two’s theme of Experiments has seen all sections have been having fun with some scientific and practical experiments and looking forward to some more before the term ends.

The scouts will be holding their annual Reserve Clean-up Camp in late June and we still have plenty of space for children in Cubs (8 to 10 years) and Scouts (11 to 14 years) if anyone would like to have fun and join our adventurous Scout Group….. Coatesville@group.scouts.nz

By Phil Smith. Scout Leader

Autumn Colours Ignite in Cambridge

An early start and a luxury coach ride allowed Coatesville's garden club to view a triptych of Cambridge gardens in a single day.

Tony and Deborah Graham were our first hosts. The couple grew over 300 maples which were grouped along their drive, along a diverted stream and followed the contours of their property.

The rolling countryside was lit up as the shafts of sunlight caught the maple leaves of all the colours of the rainbow; reds, yellows, deep maroon, patchy green, orange and variations of all that. Underplanting of ferns,

clivia, flax clumps, bergenia, athuga and cyclamen were dappled in the sunlight, making interesting patterns.

Next we visited Margaretta and Mike McBeath who have 22 acres on the outskirts of Cambridge with 8 acres of garden. Entering the property through farm gates, the drive wound around uphill to the house site on the crest of the hill, with 180-degree views of the Waikato River and Lake Karapiro. Originally a dairy farm, the garden is now 25 years old and boasts 7000-plus trees and just as many spring bulbs down the drive. Under the maples, liquid ambers and flowering cherries showing off their

autumn colours, were swathes of agapanthus (Margaretta had global rites on 2 varieties), hydrangeas (mainly cone-shaped flowers,) dotted among terraced areas of azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias.

Lastly we visited Eric and Jan Todd whose property is a double section in a suburban location. Their flower beds skirted along the fence lines with roses, rhododendrons, camellias, perris and magnolias, underplanted by helibores, irises and other perennials making a carpet of foliage. The vegetable gardens in 4 sleeper edged squares, were positioned for sun and open to the rain. One garden was planted with herbs; another planted in lupins for a winter green crop, another of winter fodder, and lastly a raspberry cage to ensure the owners got some fruit

As you rounded the end of the house, two maples showed off their fabulous yellow colour augmented by the late afternoon sun. A bird tray with parcels of lard and seeds mixed together, attracts sparrows and other small birds. Screening the front door from the road, were carefully espalliared white camellias in flower. We had a wonderful day in the Waikato. Thank you Tony Peek and Pat Hosking for your management.

By Jenny Hunter

Amazing foliage at Mainly Maples near Cambridge

Broken driveways graded and rebuilt with triple layer construction system.

Water tabling, side drains, culverts, french drains in gabion rock and driveway dust suppression treatments. House hard stands, car parks and horse arenas. Call for an on-site chat and a quote.

or text

021 538 539

AUTO GATES LTD

Classified Advertising

Agricultural contractor mulching/ gorse clearing, mowing (& lawns), rotary hoeing/seeding, stump grinding, Graeme 027 533 3114

Born To Build Ltd - Outdoor building specialists - We are here to help you create your outdoor vision, call Leon with all your deck, fence, retaining, pergola and horse & yard works! We are a small local quality business, been in the area for 10 years, helping our customers create their outdoor living dreams! Leon 022 0431443 borntobuild@hotmail.co.nz

Clean Queen I'll have your house looking like a castle. References supplied. Ph Angela 021 0832 9352 Coatesville Mulch Mowing 1 to 50 acres, local contractor, affordable rates. Phone Warren and Brenda Mills on 415 6503 or 022 315 1953

Connect Electrics For all your electrical solutions, Phone Kris 022 332 6663 or 412 6066 GET IN SHAPE Local private gym for oneon-one training or small group sessions, specialising in weight loss, general fitness and rehabilitation. Call Debbie 027 441 8769.

Gardener Are you looking for a gardener who will nurture and take care of your garden on a regular basis; someone who is conscientious, diligent & creative? If this sounds interesting, please don’t hesitate to email, call or text me for a no-obligation chat. Phill M: 021 928 469

E: phillpriestley1@ gmail.com

Design Local Shearer, Kevin Abel, 021 223 5033

Odd Job Company For building & landscaping projects, call Peter 027 453 0570

Pilates in Coatesville Hall, Thursday @ 6pm. Special – 2 free lessons for new clients. $12 school term, $15 concession card and $20 casual class. Contact Abraham on 021 122 1530 or abrahampardo@gmail.com

Scout Marquee for hire, 6m x 8m, $250 per day. Call Garth 447 1863

The Blooming Beekeeper fully maintained beehive service. The ideal eco-friendly gift. Bee packages; beekeeping lessons; artisan bee products; swarm catching. Coatesville based. Call Val 021 755 833. Who’s your caterer? Beautifully presented, great tasting food, at competitive prices. Phone Helen Cato 415 7771 or 021 211 8223.

Making an Entrance

Today, the number of properties on the market is high, so the extra touches vendors make are critical! Your entrance way is like a business card for your home. It expresses your personality the instant people arrive, so have some fun with it! Be brave — Rock a coloured front door or add a door feature i.e. knocker. Don’t forget the floor — People are looking down to remove their shoes so add impact with statement flooring. It turns your entrance way into a real focal point. Polish the wood, or enhance it with a colourful rug or runner. Light it up — If you have a large space, go luxe with a statement chandelier, feature pendant, or a standing floor lamp beside your console and accent lighting over art. While candles will give smaller spaces lovely layers of lighting. Meet needs — Console tables create storage, plus they add visual wow factor. Add a tray or bowl for keys, a lamp for soft light, and baskets for shoes underneath. Be wary of too much clutter, though – your entrance way doesn’t need to be a dumping ground. Embrace art — Art creates a focal point for the eye to rest when entering your home. Create a wall display that reflects who you are, whether it’s a large-scale painting or woven wall hanging, Get reflective — Mirrors are an interior designer’s best friend, because they reflect light, cleverly creating the illusion of space. They’re also gorgeous and come in a range of designs to suit your style. Consider using a mirror instead of art if you have a small space. Pop in a plant — Potted plants look right at home in an entrance way because they link the space to the outdoors. Choose a single statement potted plant or a group of three varying in height, texture and size.

Do join me at our Bayleys Coatesville office on 20 June and learn about where our real estate market is heading and how the banks are helping now and in the future.