NICK.BROOK@cluthaleader.co.nz
Kaitangata Promotions was ‘‘blown away’’ by the local volunteers at a working bee earlier this month at the town’s new War Memorial Garden.
‘‘We have a tight group of very reliable helpers,’’ KP coordinator Joyce Beck said.
‘‘But last Saturday (August
12) a lot of new arrivals showed up out of the blue to help their mates or family members muck in for the community.’’
The busy team helped position dozens of rocks donated and transported by Murray Bichan into a landscaped circuit to complement new benches and historical information boards donated by local families and organisations.
Lots of trees, shrubs and grasses were planted and Mrs Beck said an expected day’s work that had started at 10am was finished around lunchtime ‘‘before the rain’’.
The garden is on the site of Kaitangata’s War Memorial Hall, which was built in 1955 and demolished in 2021.
As well as volunteer townspeople, the gardens have benefitted from local contractors helping freely or on generous terms.
‘‘We’ve been fortunate with some grants and funding but for the most part the work has been done at no cost to the community.
‘‘We are grateful for helpers like Dwayne Thompson volunteering his time and digger — which was a huge help in positioning the rocks and digging holes for the larger plants and it was really inspiring to see the new faces. I think everybody enjoyed seeing where they could help, pitching in at their own pace and seeing what they could achieve together.
‘‘We really appreciate that and I think the positivity it generates is something that’s catching on,’’ Mrs Beck said.
The Memorial Gardens have a few more details to be added, including garden woodchips and a locomotive to lead the nearby coal wagons before an official opening later in the year.
