When: Last Saturday of each month, 11am to 3pm

Where: St Anne’s Church Hall, Emmett Street, Newtown | click for map

A community market for all including fresh fruit and vegetables, crafts and entertainment. All welcome to be involved.

• Affordable fresh fruit and veges
• Bartering and exchange
• Local crafts
• Secondhand goodies
• Community
• Live music (sometimes)

Interested in having a stall? Phone Duncan – 0274578886 or Carly (04) 384 3186.

Buy, sell, swap – support each other and the local economy!

Read the press release on Scoop, 14 July 2009

Wellington Trust, Community Net under threat

The existence of the Wellington Trust and its key service, Wellington Community Net is now under threat from reduced WCC funding because some staff and councillors don’t understand its value.

Wellington Community Net offers a very valuable service.

There are 570 separate websites, not pages in a directory but complete sites. Some host multiple community groups like the Wadestown one.

Facebook is no substitute for a website with full information and the ability for low-skilled users to update them. Blogs are only one way of telling people what you think. With Community Net sites, groups can manage sports draws, plant information, and multi-language support.

Sign the e-petition to continue funding to Wellington Community Net:

Include Wellington Community Net and Community ICT Funding In The Draft LTCCP for 2009-2019

Accessible to many people

Those familiar with setting up websites have little idea how difficult it is for a group without technical knowledge to do this. Wellington Community Net allows groups with few IT skills to

• put up any sort of database
• use email forwarding
• use a free WELLINGTON domain name

WCN is also low-cost, which is vital for groups who are not incorporated and have no funds. Planting groups just want to showcase their work and attract volunteers really easily, not fund raise for a website!  For some groups finding funds for web-hosting would mean other activities are curtailed.

Funding from 2020 Trust

The 2020 Trust was set up in 1996 to provide support for the Information and Communications Technology needs of Wellington people – particularly community groups and disadvantaged people. I was its founding chair and then stayed on as a trustee for a number of years.

It’s now a national organisation running e-Day, Computers in Homes and other projects. There’s also the local Wellington Trust, now known as Wellington ICT. It’s done some terrific projects, several of which I’ve worked on in a voluntary basis such as Whanau Link for giving Internet access to hospice patients and their families.

Funding WCN provides a good platform for the Trust to support future IT requirements for not-for-profit groups such as what Internet plan, what membership software, email trouble shooting and so do on. Some groups have this expertise available within their membership but plenty just don’t – or not at the times its needed! It can be particularly difficult for people with English as a second language.

Groups using WCN say…

Further points that have been emphasised in emails from groups that use WCN:

• Other sites are used by groups who are not incorporated and have no funds.
• Planting groups just want to showcase their work and attract volunteers really easily, not fund raise for a website!
• For some groups finding funds for web-hosting would mean other activities were curtailed.

Websites are not the same as directory pages

Some of the officer/councillor comments seemed to equate web pages in a directory with a full website service including databases, mailing lists and so forth is available.

The existence of Wellington ICT and WCN is a base upon which further services such as e-rider and community networking conferences can be built up on.

Political boundaries don’t match neatly with community interests and regional replication would be a waste of resources.

Most comments I’ve received recommend WCN as a necessary part of an intelligent city’s community service infrastructure that other cities should emulate.

What you can do

Sign the e-petition:

Include Wellington Community Net and Community ICT Funding In The Draft LTCCP for 2009-2019

Links

• 570 community websites under threat – Scoop story
• 2020 Communications Trust

Contact me

celia.wadebrown@greens.org.nz
phone: 04-938 6691
cellphone: 027 483 6691
Celia’s Councillor profile on the Wellington City Council website

Community gardens are public spaces where people are free to plant vegetable and ornamental plants. There’s a great growth of community gardens in Wellington – and the beginnings of some community orchards.

New gardens

I’ve been a supporter of Innermost Gardens for a long time in their quest to find space. A small site in Newtown is happening now and a more substantial Council site is on the cards.

Some groups like Common Ground are working on other spaces such as the grounds of the Home of Compassion.  The Brooklyn Transition Towns movement has matched up willing gardeners with people who have gardens but not time or energy to garden.

The Sustainability Trust supported an online network to be created, the  Wellington Community Gardens Network on Wellington Community Net. Such connections abound in Wellington!

Operation Green Thumb has been successful for several years with public plots,  as have City Housing tenant groups.

Benefits of community gardens

Community gardens help people

• build communities
• save money on food
• get outdoors to soothe mind and body
• become more independent from the global food chain

Community hui

On May 25th 2009, Wellington City Council hosted a great hui of community garden groups – existing gardeners and wanna-bees. There was support from social agencies and Parks & Gardens staff too. If you missed the event or have a piece of Council land in mind, contact Celia to be kept in touch.

Not every spot is suitable – soil, existing ecology, neighbours, hazardous trees etc. all have to be considered.

We are committed to making the process easier and ending up with MORE food grown by the community, for the community!

For more information

Contact Celia Wade-Brown

Email: celia.wadebrown@greens.org.nz
phone: 04-938 6691
cellphone: 027 483 6691
Celia’s Councillor profile on the Wellington City Council website