Autumn has been making its way into our lovely summer days and we see the trees turning colour and the nights are definitely cooler.  Weather is more variable and we have received some very welcome rain.

We had a very interesting AGM in February.  Our committee for 2019 is Sue Bye, Jane Norton, Lyn Coulbeck, Noel Collins and Carole Kendall.  We bade goodbye to Guy Field, an original LCRA member, thanking him for his contributions over the years.

We were given a very interesting talk by Annabelle Hasselman, Chair of the Opawaho Heathcote River Network (OHRN).  Annabelle reviewed the establishment of the OHRN by local communities and the subsequent work of the network. This work by the ‘guardians of the river’ is detailed on the Network website.

This year our AGM will be held on Monday Feb 11th, 7-30pm in the Cafeteria at Hohepa, 23 Barrington St.

Our committee is up for re-election each year.  We enjoy being able to improve our jewel of a community.  It is not onerous or too time consuming.  Please consider joining us – you can self nominate at the AGM.

Our guest speaker for the AGM is the Chair of the Opawaho Heathcote River Network.  She will outline for us the setting up of the network and the work it is involved in being the guardian of our river.  Please come to hear this very interesting presentation.

Last year we made great strides with our winter planting.  Thank you to all who participated.  Thanks too, to Mandy Black our Park Ranger and the Parks & Reserves Dept of CCC for supporting our initiative.

We planted ferns, sedges and tree ferns suitable for the environment.  The LCRA team finishing up:

Last year we made great strides with our winter planting.  Thank you to all who participated.  Thanks too, to Mandy Black our Park Ranger and the Parks & Reserves Dept of CCC for supporting our initiative.

We planted ferns, sedges and tree ferns suitable for the environment.  The LCRA team finishing up:

2018 was a busy year for LCRA.  Come to our AGM on Monday Feb 11th, 7-30pm at Hohepa, 23 Barrington St to hear the details.

Annabelle Hasselman,  Chair of the Opawaho Heathcote River Network will review the setting up and role of the Network in the guardianship of our River. 

The Network is now an Incorporated Society and we have been busy with our action plans for 2018.  Please see the Opawaho Heathcote website for details.

The LCRA is again supporting the Mother of all Cleanups being held on May 12th.  We are responsible for the river area from the top end of Ashgrove Tce along the river to Barrington St.  Please meet at the bridge opposite Zeroe’s at 10am.  We will have rubbish bags available.  Please bring gardening gloves and wear sturdy shoes.  Children are welcome to attend if under the watchful eyes of parents.

Let’s see if we find even less rubbish than last year!  The regular clean-ups see to be helping.  Every little bit counts.

2016

Autumn is here with its mixture of rain and sunshine. Time to prepare for winter.

‘Flu shots are mandatory for those who are vulnerable health-wise.  This year’s flu strains are mixed with one very severe strain from the Northern Hemisphere on its way.  Please consider your family and neighbours and vaccinate yourself.  A family could be very vulnerable if one member becomes ill.   it is important to use scrupulous handwashing and to cover faces when sneezing or coughing.  Use tissues to collect sneezes and nose-blowing, dispose straight away then wash your hands.  Keep safe!

SCERT Hub opening

In March, we opened our new emergency hub at St Mark’s, corner of Barrington & Somerfield Streets.  The Hub has been the work of a joint project between the Somerfield & Lower Cashmere Residents’ Associations.

We had received funding through  ACTIS for a shed and the equipment needed to open a hub if required.  The role of the Hub is to provide support for the community in the event of an emergency.  We have alternative power supply for keeping phones & laptops charged.  We can provide cups of tea, we have emergency water and direct contact with the Civil Defence Emergency Centre.  We can provide current information on the emergency.

Our Hub was opened by MPs Ruth Dyson & Nuk Korako.  We were also supported by Community Board members.  Civil Defence & our local Community Patrol attended with displays for us to peruse.  We had a really good response from our communities.  we were all able to enjoy a sausage sizzle and light refreshments.

The best thing was all the chatting that went on – the community getting together.  

We also welcomed members of the Cashmere and Spreydon emergency hub teams.  together, we are providing our area with support in an emergency.

Emma (Civil Defence Emergency Team), Noel (LCRA), Julie (Somerfield RA), Sue (LCRA) , Andrew (Minister St Mark’s), Rik (Cashmere), Diana & Sonya (Spreydon )

Sue & Julie outside our storage shed.

We have certainly had a summer of contrasts, heralded by a spring that was diverting as well.  Hopefully everyone has had a chance to enjoy the wonderful summer and begin the new year feeling refreshed.

Our LCRA AGM will be held on Monday Feb 12th, 7.30 pm in the Cafeteria at Hohepa in Barrington St.  Our guest speaker will be Ann Newman, the CEO of the Christchurch Adventure Park.  Ann will share some of the challenges the adventure park faced after the devastating port Hills fires early last year in order to be operational late last year.  Do come and join us.

We will also be electing a new committee for the year.  We welcome  anyone who would like to join our small group, working to keep our area the jewel that it is.  Also, at the AGM, we will review the achievements of 2017 as well as looking towards 2018.  We welcome your thoughts and ideas.

Our local elected officials will be present- they are very supportive of our endeavours.  Please join us – bring your neighbours.  Light refreshments will be available.  We look forward to meeting you there.

The latest newsletter has been delivered and will be available on this site soon .  We are also planning to include our meeting minutes on the site starting this year.

On October 2nd, a community meeting was held at Silver backs Cafe to gauge support for setting up a Facebook page to promote our ‘Love this Reserve’ initiative in a public arena.

Our meeting was well attended by some of the long-term residents of Ashgrove Tce, Ruth Dyson MP, Karolin Potter of the Community Board, Kevin Smart who’s family planted the reserve and offered it to the CCC in the 1960s as a native reserve. We also welcomed several local residents.

The meeting reviewed some of the history of the reserve and the comments from the long-term residents and Kevin Smart were very interesting.  We also reviewed the steps taken so far to establish links with the local CCC arborist, Park ranger and the Spreydon/ Cashmere Community Board who are very supportive of the LCRA wish to nurture this reserve.

We have also conducted a ‘weeding bee’ in September and managed to remove a large amount of invasive weeds.  Three of the local children had a treasure hunt finding all the bottles and tins left lying around.  Thanks everyone.

The general consensus of the meeting was that LCRA should continue with the adoption of the reserve as a community project.  This means ‘nurturing’ the reserve as a native planting reserve and not merely to ‘maintain’ it.

We also agreed to the establishment of a Facebook Page (Friends of the Ashgrove Reserve), creating a public avenue to promote our ‘love this reserve’ theme  and to provide updates as time goes by.  So, please join us on Facebook and support us in this community project.  The LCRA sees this as a long-term initiative which will take several years.  Join us on the journey and ‘love this reserve.’

Apologies for the delay in updating this page, the editor has been recovering from knee surgery.  However, much has been happening behind the scenes and we are very pleased to be able to report on that.

Ashgrove Reserve

A weeding bee was held on September 16th and a substantial amount of material was carted off to the green waste. Committee members were joined bu locals and we had an extensive clean up.  Those present felt that a regular schedule of an hour’s work would help keep the weeds and debris (bottles, cans etc) down, without a great deal of effort.  three brothers turned up with Dad James, and they were brilliant at finding hte rubbish in hte undergrowth,  Thanks guys!

Pest control in Ashgrove area

While we were weeding, we met several neighbours.  One remarked on the amount of pests especially rats that frequented the whole lower Ashgrove area.  the LCRA  is signed up for the local pest control initiative and can help with this.  Watch this space – we will keep you posted via the newsletters, on this website and through our Ashgrove reserve contacts.

Ashgrove Reserve community meeting

We are having a community meeting on Oct 2nd at 4.30pm at Silverbacks, Cracroft shops.  There is a great deal of interest in the enhancement of the Reserve and the reduction of pests to make it a more conducive environment for the native plants, ferns and hopefully birds.  our Reserve is one of only three established native planting in urban Christchurch.  We want to join with our friends in the Ernle Clark Reserve to preserve these precious areas.       So please join us!

Emergency Planning

We are continuing to develop our emergency planning initiative through SCERT in conjunction with the Somerfield Residents Association.  We have applied for some local funding that became available tor us on this side of town and are currently waiting for confirmation of funding available to finish the planning for our drop-in centre at St Marks on Barrington St.  We will keep you posted.

Emergency Planning is one of our community initiatives this year.  We have also come across an excellent, comprehensive app that will help everyone in planning for and dealing with an emergency.  Each person in the family can load it onto their devices and develop thier family plan.  We urge you to consider this.

The app can be downloaded from your usual app store and is called Hazard App.  It is a NZ developed app and is very relevant for us.  you may see it listed as the Red Cross App.

It covers background, planning, what to do, for a whole range of emergencies: storms, floods, earthquakes, fire, tsunami and others.  Load it and have a look for yourselves.

Liquor Store submission

The LCRA sent in a submission protesting against the opening of a bottle store on the Milton /Barrington corner, with the entrance on Milton St.  This store is being proposed by the Auckland company Bottle-O who have just opened one outlet in the Selwyn St  shops as well as many others throughout Christchurch.   The committee felt that the opening of one on Milton St was totally unnecessary with a Selwyn St store and the off-license place in the mall- both nearby.  Besides that, it is on a major intersection and close to major bus routes. as well as a secondary school.  It is not a good addition to our community!

South Christchurch Community Patrol

This week the police issued a media statement about the success  our patrol had in detecting suspicious behaviour on a local street and following the person while contacting the police.  The person was arrested and is due to appear in court for interfering with motor vehicles.  The Community Patrol is the ‘eyes and ears of the police’ and we can play a major role in preventing crime.  If you are interested in more information please call David Scott on 021 295 2342.  New patrollers are always welcome.

LCRA committee members are continuing to work on behalf of our wonderful community.  don’t forget we have frequent newsletter with the details of our work.  you can find them from the home page under the Newsletters tag.