INLET CLEAN UP VOLUNTEERS TURN OUT DESPITE THE CONDITIONS
Despite northwesterly gales, and drizzle that turned to soaking rain, fifty volunteers turned out on Sunday October 7 for the 2007 annual clean up of the foreshore around Pauatahanui Inlet.
At the Browns Bay base, even in advance of the advertised start time, the organisers Tony Shaw and Janet Ryan of the Guardians Committee were despatching workers to their zones already marked out right around the Inlet.
There was an especially warm welcome to the team from the Australian High Commission, which included family units with young children eager to take part, and they took responsibility in particular for Iveagh Bay.
The most unusual flotsam on the day was a folding deck chair, retrieved from a pohutukawa tree, the most bulky an empty 44 gallon drum. The most prevalent rubbish consisted once again of plastic caps and bottles and equally indestructible cellophane wrap
At the end of the day the Porirua Council truck, part of the organisation of back up facilities by John Poppleton of Keep Porirua Beautiful, made a circuit of the Inlet and departed piled high with one hundred-plus sacks. The volunteers prepared to stay on in the worsening conditions were rewarded with a barbecue at Brown's Bay Reserve, courtesy of New World Mana and Plimmerton Rotary Club.
'The wonderful support for this venture,' said John Wells, Chair of the Guardians, 'bodes well for our next major community effort, the Sixth Triennial Cockle Count which is scheduled for Sunday 11 November.'
'The rendez-vous is Stout Cottage, in the Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve at 3pm. Please diary it now.'
'You will be out on the mudflats - so old clothes, gumboots and a jersey are advisable. Team leaders will explain the simple jobs to be done by each team. At 6pm you will be welcomed back at the Cottage for a barbecue, GOPI's thanks for a vital task well done.'
The cockle count series gives a valuable ongoing record of the health of the Inlet, as a vital nursery for marine life. It is accordingly funded by Greater Wellington and by NIWA. Its success depends on 100+ volunteers joining in on 11 November.
For further information, residents and family groups can phone Guardians Chair John Wells 234-1788 or co-ordinator Alastair Harray 2336488 or visit the GOPI website www.gopi.wellington.net.
