Cashmere News Diary: 05 April 2013 - we hope you had a Happy Easter.
* 6 April, Saturday 3-4pm, Ernle Clark Reserve working bee. Please meet at
the Studholme Street bridge. Wear sturdy footwear and gardening gloves,
and bring a spade or trowel. The Department of Conservation nursery handed
over their surplus native rush plants so we'll plant them out on the
riverbank this Saturday.
 |
At the last working bee a small plant of
the giant hogweed was spotted, which has the alarming botanical name of
Heracleum mantegazzianuma, and equally alarming poisonous
sap. Giant hogweed sap on skin reacts with sunlight to cause burn-like
blisters and swelling. It is the plant equivalent of a dangerous wild
animal and it is best to hire a experienced exterminator to kill it. These
specialists are completely covered - coveralls, gloves, goggles and even a
respirator - to avoid any contact with the sap. It is best to get in
an experienced operator and in this case the City Council arranged to have
it removed. The City Council botanist suspects that seed is
spreading out of the neglected gardens in the Red-Zone, where people may
have grown it for its immense size as a prize plant, not realising how
toxic it is to animals and humans.. |
* 8 April, Monday 3pm onwards, next Cashmere Residents' Association (CRA) Newsletter is available with a delivery map from Leona's porch as usual. Thank you to those who have already let us know they can help: a little more is sought; please respond if you can offer an hour or so walking near home.
* 9 & 10 April, Tuesday night and Wednesday daytime, fund-raising effort with CRA and Different Light Theatre Trust to provide extras for the TV drama series "Hope & Wire" on the Christchurch community during the earthquake disaster. If you want to attend please let me know. Dress code: "Tuesday night we are reproducing the night of the September 4th Earthquake at 4.35 am. On that night many residents came out onto the streets wrapped in warm coats, jackets and blankets. Wednesday, for scenes set at the Art Gallery, we need officials, Civil Defence workers and business men; also remand prisoners if you have some great characters." If you can duck out from work on Wednesday for any of these roles, introduce yourself as with Cashmere Residents' Assn. See series promo attached below. Thank you :-)
* 16 April, Tuesday night
7pm, wine & cheese then 7.30pm speakers on the draft Christchurch City
Council 3-year and Environment Canterbury annual plans. This is to inform
and help decide any submissions we may wish to make before these close in
the days ahead. Also we will have an update from Neighbourhood Support and
Civil Defence on what safety and resilience measures we may need to be
taking locally.
Updates:
* The Keep Our Assets resolution put to us has been carried by CRA, thus far. Committee votes added to member responses gave a majority of four in support with two against and two abstentions. Please keep the opinions coming. As it stands we have a majority of support behind the Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board statement backing Council retention of its saleable assets.
* On the matter of CRA Newsletters we have a hurdle before us. With great thanks to Christchurch City Council for reproducing CRA Newsletter, they are currently against us distributing them in Bowenvale Valley, lower Cashmere, even though we have new members there and no other residents' association is operating. At 2,500 houses we are already around ten times the size of several other associations, so special rules may need to be innovated for our post-quake work here. If you have a view on the benefit of CRA providing residents in the Bowenvale Ave / Landsdowne Tce area with supportive representation, please send it in. This issue is strongly reminiscent of 105 years ago, when Cashmere Residents' Association was active and resistant to amalgamation into Christchurch City Council, over CCC's new-found reach into "Fisherton" (Beckenham settlement north of Bowen's Valley, Cashmere) - see Christchurch Extension - a most interesting history (read more on our Updates page)!
* CRA Subscriptions 2012/13 - Association membership and renewals, at the household rate of $5 per year, can be made via our Kiwibank a/c 389005.0688810.02 ~ Please notify deposit by email for confirmation by our Treasurer, and a receipt will be issued if requested: info@cashmere.org.nz ~ Thank you very much for your support of CRA.
Until next time, enjoy the weather - wet or fine.
Here to assist.
Kind regards
Rik Tindall
CRA Chair, 332-1069
____________________________________
Cashmere Residents Association
info@cashmere.org.nz
http://www.cashmere.org.nz
facebook.com/pages/Cashmere-Residents-Association/
~ CRA need Likes please :)