Alexandra / Clyde

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KEEP ALEXANDRA CLYDE BEAUTIFUL

REPORT FROM THE CHAIR 2009

This is the 4th. year that I have presented this report from the Chair and as usual I will try to abbreviate it as much as possible. However the vast amount of work done by this small and hardworking group makes a shortened report difficult to achieve.

In April new member Sue O'Brien joined the group and in fact it was almost as if the whole O'Brien family had joined, as Sue's husband Roger and their children subsequently turned up to help out with working bees.

2008 had been a stellar year with the Rail Trail opening, our 20th. Anniversary, the national conference in Dunedin and other significant events. 2009 has been a quieter year where I feel we have just got on with the work in hand. Sadly we did not receive funding to support two delegates to attend the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Conference held in Rotorua. Next years conference is to be held in Gisborne and I do hope to attend as I will be in the North Island at the time.

The year started with the exciting news that KACB had received $2670.75 from the James and Edgar Hazlett Trust and this money combined with a $750 grant from Contact Energy, was used to install an automatic watering system for the cherry trees in Clyde. Geoff King from Fulton Hogan organised the replacement pipes, drippers and timers and the work was completed at the beginning of March. This has been a great relief to Rory and Christine Butler who had spent a good deal of time monitoring and servicing the drippers in the past, for which they deserve our thanks.

At this time it was also planned to have a dedication for Graeme Wilson, a past member of the group. Graeme had represented the Earnscleugh Manuherikia Ward (now defunct), at our meeting. He loved Clyde and had been the inspired initiator of the Sunderland Street Cherry Avenue. Rory attached a small sign under each of the two KACB signs already erected, I gave a short talk about Graeme's contribution to Clyde and KACB and this was followed by a sumptuous afternoon tea at Butlers.

In February we again were involved with the Best Street competition with the Alexandra Horticultural Society who carried out the judging and awarded the Best Street to Pines Road with Orchard Drive highly commended. The Best Cul de Sac was Athenry Road with Fir Close highly commended. This competition has continued for 13 years with 7 streets and 9 cul de sacs winning the distinction of having a "Best Street" sign on their roads. Sadly the Horticultural Society felt that it had too many other commitments to continue with future judging, so we shall be doing it on our own from now on. Christine Butler and friend will carry out the judging this year and it will be good to find out if they have any new ideas about the competition.

Karin Bowen got us organised with our Rail Trail project early in the year with plans to plant zones 2a and 2b and also to work with Alexandra Rotary for their Trees for Babies plantings. The Rail Trail working group decided that a heritage orchard would be planted where an orchard once existed and the other area would be planted to complement stage 1. To cover the cost of further irrigation, trees, mulch and two picnic tables for Rail Trail site 1 we were delighted to receive a grant from Central Lakes Trust for $11,148. There was a bit of a hassle getting Keep NZ Beautiful to pay the accounts using the grant money so that we didn't have to pay GST. However this was done in the end and we have to thank our treasurer Bryan and Karin for a job well done.

Throughout the year there were numerous planting days starting with Stage 1, which

was replanted with trees provided by DoC. Anita Middlmiss and Mike Tubbs of DoC have been a great support and Anita often turns out for working bees. The Terrace Primary School children were also a great help mulching the beds at Stage I. In early August the heritage orchard was completed and later in August, in conjunction with Rotary, 20 families were able to plant trees for their babies born that year.

In early September to celebrate Conservation Week we completed the planting of 60 trees along Dunstan Road. This was followed by a magnificent afternoon tea provided by Amanda Ware and DoC.

Karin and her small working committee must be congratulated for their organisational skills, and I am grateful to all others in the group, including those who may not come to meetings but who come on the day when most needed. It is exciting to see the whole project now coming together. I am really pleased that the Alexandra Lions intend to place a replica of the Alexandra railway station on its original site, this will further enhance the project. We wish them well in their endeavours and hope to see some construction soon.

At the beginning of the year we were somewhat surprised that Contact Energy was to place a large amount of fill over the wildflower site at the Linger and Die. Resource consent means that Contact have to maintain mean river bed levels by excavating gravel from the Manuherikia River. Most of the actions required within the Linger and Die implementation plan have been completed and the area while a dry landscape is looking tidy. The river bank trees need to be limbed up for shade and we reminded Contact about this when we met with Daniel Druce recently. There is to be planting of trees, both native and exotic in autumn. Daniel could not assure us that this would be the last gravel to go on this site, so I would suggest we do not spend time or money here. (Please read minutes of meeting with Contact, LINZ and the CODC for further information). In August we were contacted by Anne Kinnaird of First National. As a promotional exercise the firm sold supermarket bags in support of the "stop using plastic bags movement" and the funds $1405.00 were donated to KACB with the thought that we might place seats by the river at the Linger and Die area. These could be removed in the event of more dredging. Thanks to Karin and Denis who have been monitoring the changes occurring at this site.

The lower end of the Kamaka walkway was sprayed, weed matted, covered with schist and finally a large number of our members planted the area with drought tolerant plants. Later a smaller group installed a sculpture by the late Gordon Aimers which is called "the horse". My thanks especially to Sue Mort, who with her landscaping expertise, designed and planned this work. We are now in the process of applying to the CODC to see if we can get a supply of water to the top area, which is being watered at the moment by local resident Matthew Brenssell.

Throughout the year Bryan, myself, Michael Rooney (on behalf of the museum) and Rory Butler all had input into the development of the James Rivers plaque. This was finally completed and erected at the abandoned water tank on the hill overlooking Alexandra. We are grateful to the Community Board for a donation of a $1000 to cover costs. It is looking good and will now inform those interested about the historical significance of this 100 year old reservoir.

We have managed to get through another summer without too much damage to the Summer Hanging Baskets. These are supplied by a nursery in Invercargill and it is interesting to see that to counteract the heat in this region they have also used sphagnum liners this year. Our Spring Baskets, on the other hand took a hammering from vandals and I would like to suggest if we continue in future, these baskets are not put up until after the Blossom Festival weekend. It is so disappointing to see many ripped down after they have just been put up. Our thanks to the students at the Cromwell Polytechnic and tutor Jo Wakelin, for planting and caring for the pansy baskets and especially to Allan Johnstone for trouble shooting the baskets over the spring and summer seasons.

Allan has also kept us informed about Wastebusters, which has had to cope with the down turn in the economy and consequently with lower returns for recyclable material. Brian Fitzgerald has been appointed as the new manager of Wastebusters and we hope that some of our queries about the care of the flower bed KACB had planted, with damage to the irrigation system will now be rectified. Denis Cronin has been active in making sure this is done and for all his work in this place we are very grateful.

Early in September we were again involved in KNZB Clean up Week, which this year ran from the 4th.-11th. September. This time it was great to have Sue O'Brien on board to do the organisation and liaise with both the council and KNZB. There were new plans sent out by the national body which were difficult to implement and we hope that they have got the message and the whole system will be simplified next year. Our own clean up took place on a Saturday morning along Earnscleugh Road. We picked up 58 bags of rubbish. A job well done.

We do care for four small gardens at the cemetery and I want to thank Marion and Keith Bennetts for their on going watch over this area. It does have an irrigation system that has to be turned on and it is important that this is monitored or the trees will die.

So as you will see we have been busy on all our projects. There are a few objectives that we didn't manage to deal with, however I feel we have done very well indeed and it has been a great team effort. Behind the scenes we have talked to Grahame Smail (Parks and Recreation) re watering in Alexandra and Clyde, I have represented the group at the town entranceway meetings and hasn't that caused a furore!! I have also been involved with the Make a Difference to Central Otago committee and displayed some of our achievements at the Thyme Festival. This was repeated at the Omakau show on the 13th. February. Ann and Allan have been involved with the Public Art Commission. A sculpture was unveiled at the end of the Thyme festival. There has also been World Environment Day on our calendar with Earth Hour. I would also like to feel that it was our approach to the Community Board that caused the signs to be erected in town for the Rail Trail and the Millennium Track.

Last year we would have probably carried out about 700 hours of work and we hope to keep more accurate records in 2010.

At this point I would on your behalf like to thank Ann Wills for her great service as Secretary. We do hope she will still be involved with the group and wish her well with the Rhododendron Conference. Bryan Davies and Rob Roy have managed our finances with accuracy and it is good to know that our balance is still healthy.

This is to be my penultimate report from the Chair and I do hope we can find someone to take up the challenge for 2011. Thank you all for your support, I should now like to move the adoption of this report.

Maureen Davies

Chair KACB