Motutapu Volunteer Day

As per the story in last weeks Bulletin, a team of seven club members recently visited Motutapu.  Below are further comments from IPP Peter B. with more photos of the day available by clicking "Read More" below.

 

An enthusiastic team from St Johns spent a productive Sunday on Motutapu Is., on 5 Aug.  Our focus was helping at the foundation of the restoration effort – at the plant nursery where seedlings are raised to young trees for planting out, from seed collected mainly on the island. 

In previous efforts by Club members led by Miles Cain, the outside of the nursery volunteers’ accommodation (the “school house”) was repainted from its previously dilapidated condition, and the nearby WW2 bunker was made weatherproof.  On Sunday, a Rotary plaque was installed on the schoolhouse, and the team of Gary, Miles, & Peters W & B spent many hours in the bunker tidying and organising decades of accumulated materials to provide substantial new storage space for nursery equipment.  At the same time, engineer Miles built a robust wooden stand for a double sink unit used for washing and recycling planter bags.
 
St Johns is becoming a gender balanced club, but our ”better-half” of Cheri, Michelle, and Penny chose other more refined and precise activities - assisting in the nursery to transfer and repot seedlings.  Future involvement at the nursery will include assisting assembly of the new outdoor irrigation system, purchased with a $3k donation from our Club and District funds.