Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Trust progress and first AGM

We now have an IRD number and a Trust bank account, with nothing in it!! We have applied for some funding from Trust Waikato and should know by August whether we have been successful. We will be applying for funding from other funding organisations as well.


The deed for “MANGAITI GULLY RESTORATION TRUST” is available to view on the company’s office website www.business.govt.nz/companies our trust number is 2548109.

We are in the process of applying for charity status.

We will be having our first AGM on Wednesday July 6th at 7pm. It will be held at 7 Carisbrook Place (off Cate Rd) Rototuna. If you would be interested in becoming a trustee you need to be at this meeting or contact the secretary, Malcolm Watkins 854-3243 to express your interest. We have the minimum of three trustees at the moment. There can be a maximum of seven so there is room for others who are interested in becoming involved. Please become familiar with the trust deed particularly Clause 2 to 4
The present Trustees are:
Rex Bushell (Chairman / co-ordinator)
Tim Reardon (Treasurer)
Rod Lugton
Non Trustee office:
Malcolm Watkins (Secretary)

Planting on Saturday

We had a very successful day’s planting on Saturday. There were 15 planters and we had over 1000 plants in by 2.20pm. That is really good. The weather cleared in the afternoon just long enough to get the job done. All those that gave a hand will be able to see the result of their handy work and feel proud when they walk over the foot bridge as the years go by.
Universal Treez, 027-274-0089, are donating several truck loads of mulch so that we can mulch the top area that will be prone to drying out over summer. The mulch will also help keep the weeds down.

Trapping Rats

We have six rat traps out, four around the foot bridge and two at the back of Sexton Road. We caught four rats at the foot bridge in the first week then nothing.
Carpet Court went to some trouble to source a length of plastic pipe that carpet used to be rolled on for us so that we can make another 10 trap covers. If you are in the market for carpet please ensure you get a quote from them and tell Karen McGill you are part of the Mangaiti Gully Restoration Group.

Track attracting visitors

Now that we have a track down beside the bridge there has been a number of visitors walking down under the willow canopy to see what we are doing. It is particularly pleasing to see the children spending time down there and using it as an adventure playground. There are plans to extend the track but, with the wetland conditions down there, this is not without its challengers.
Another thing on the drawing board is to design and build an eel feeding station to go into the creek by the track. Children can put their left over lunch in it on the way home from school!!