Sea Week 2019 - Celebrating our Ocean
Seaweek/ Kaupapa Moana is New Zealand’s annual national week celebrating the sea, hosted by the NZ Association for Environmental Education. It’s a time for all of us to get to know our ocean, its habitats, characteristics and inhabitants better.
This year Hauraki DOC chose to celebrate our oceans by working with local schools to support cleaning up Tikapa Moana and acknowledging others doing great work in caring for our marine environment.
Helena Myers, a Thames High school student, organised a morning of cleaning up the mangroves near the bird hide in Thames. Helena organised her first clean up in this area two years ago after seeing all the rubbish and realising that she wanted to make a difference. She asked friends and family if they wanted to help her and they were keen to get involved.
Helena said she is amazed how much support you get when you put it out there. This year over 30 people turned up and 27 bags of rubbish were removed from this special environment. Helena said “it’s great to see the amount of waste reducing since I started. Regular action and possibly the reduction in the use of plastic bags is making a real difference.”Thames High school outdoor education senior class chose to celebrate Sea Week by visiting Te Whanganui A Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve for their first ocean snorkel. Having already developed their skills in the swimming pool and Hoffmans
pool in the Kauaeranga river, Sea Week provided the perfect opportunity to do an extended trip to a special protected area of water and get up close to underwater wildlife.
DOC staff worked with two schools to do beach clean ups. The Natural High outdoor class of Thames High School got into the thick of it wading through the mud of the mangroves at the head of the firth to remove rubbish. Old burley bags and other fishing debris were common finds but there were also a number of drink cans, old car tires, plastic bags and a hubcap. 16 Thames South School children from Ngaa Kahui Whetuu class (NKW2) did a great job picking up all rubbish they could find at Kuranui Bay. This beach is regularly cleaned by members of the public however the children still managed to remove one large bag of rubbish. During their time they also learnt about some of our marine wildlife and gathered materials for creating art projects back at school.
commemoration of WWI Memorial Arch at Thames Museum Te Whare Taonga o te Kauaeranga
The Memorial Arch on the corner of Pollen and Cochrane Streets was inaugurated on ANZAC Day 1924. The keystone plaque honours the fallen of WWI. Join us at Thames Museum Te Whare Taonga o te Kauaeranga as we remember the Waiokaraka and Central School pupils who served in both World Wars.
You can help grow the Waikato Community Rugby Fund
Waikato Rugby celebrated 100 years of service to the community in 2021, but due to the pandemic the long-planned celebrations were not held until late 2022.
A highlight was a black-tie event at GloBox Arena at Claudelands where over 300 people enjoyed a wonderful night of reminiscence, remembrance, reconnection and reflection on what our national game means to the Waikato.
Many people put a lot of work into making the evening a massive success by all sorts of measures. One was fundraising $21,000 for the good of the game through auctions and donations, which has recently been transferred to the Waikato Community Rugby Fund at Momentum Waikato.
The Fund grows in perpetuity, with distributed returns only used for the benefit of the amateur community rugby, forever.
Donations to the Waikato Community Rugby Fund are always most welcome, to find out more and donate click the button below.
Potted colour
Express yourself with this artistic dip-dye paint effect using Resene paints. Find out how to create your own with these easy step by step instructions.
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