The 2011 Newtown Festival Street Fair was a week and a half after the devastating Christchurch Earthquake. So on Fairday that year with the help of Fire Service Volunteers we bucket collected donations from the crowd, with Westpac’s help we raffled signed Phoenix Shirts, and we also sold Newtown Festival Calendars.

After much deliberation, and research into Christchurch un-funded needs, the Newtown Festival Committee decided to use the $1520 raised to support Christchurch performance artists and events.

So far in 2011, 2012, and 2013 we have funded 12 Christchurch acts to come up and perform at the Newtown Festival (plus accommodation). Each of those 3 years we have also supported 2 or 3 technical crew members (who have flown in at their own expense) to assist in the Newtown Festival. www.newtownfestival.org.nz  Each year our general Festival funds have been sufficient to pay the acts to perform and those involved insisted on donating the accommodation. The acts, and the tech crew have all suggested we keep hold of the money and use the funds on someone more deserving!

Successfully hosting the first years ‘refugee’ artists and tech crew without spending any of the donated funds the Festival then pledged funding to Gap Filler initiatives to be staged in Christchurch that year. The Gap Filler Trust temporarily activates vacant sites within Christchurch with creative projects. www.gapfiller.org.nz

Gap Filler were delighted with this seed funding, but with them becoming more and more popular  with funding agencies, and with donors who liked their quirky projects they also didn’t need to use our funds, suggesting instead we made the money available for other artists who couldn’t gain funding. Our potential funding continued to underwrite Christchurch creative events in 2012 again without needing to be spent….. so in February 2013 Newtown Festival helped fund the launch performances staged for the fundraising album “Songs for Christchurch“. This launch included 2 Wellington bands who have played past Newtown Festivals.

www.songsforchristchurch.org  This compilation album is by a collective of people from Melbourne, San Francisco, Christchurch and Wellington, with tracks donated by twenty one local and global artists. The album is fundraising for community projects in the rebuild of Christchurch. This way the spend of some of our fundraising is a catalyst, helping to generate further funds.

Newtown Festival intends to maximise the effectiveness of the remaining donated moneys and will continue to underwrite performance initiatives that may or may not draw down on our funds….. Currently we are investigating supporting outdoor circus performance.

The minutes of the April Public meeting of the Assoociation are available here.

At the April meeting History Honours student Jessie Annett-Wood explained the Laura Rosier book archive and showed printed examples of the methods being used as she helps recover the archival material and formats it into a digitally editable form.

Laura Rosier spent the 1980’s and early 1990’s researching and compiling a history of Newtown, collating historical photographic material for a Newtown History book.  Laura had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the dates of photos and the dates of landmark structures that appear in them.

Laura and her husband Vaughan Rosier were active members of the Newtown Residents’ Association. Vaughan was the Newtown Residents’ Association treasurer for many years, and made grant applications for assisting the publishing the Newtown book.

Unfortunately with her book very nearly complete Laura Rosier died suddenly in February 1994

After Vaughan Rosier died in 1996 the book material was bequeathed to Martin Hanley and Anna Kemble Welch, neighbours and friends of Vaughan and Laura.

Preparing the final edits for publishing has been a long protracted process including nearly losing the material with an editor collaborator of Laura’s who suffered from progressively worsening dementia while working with the archive.

The very muddled archive material came back in 2012, and with Jessie and other university students’ help Martin and Anna have re-activated the publishing project.

The intention is to compile a digital copy ‘time capsule’ edition exactly as Laura Rosier intended.  With an additional supplementary digital edition that includes footnotes and annotations highlighting any areas of incompleteness, or where significant changes over the last 20 years make the written descriptions confusing.

FROM LAURA’S ARCHIVE:

November Quiz: What is happening in this 1904 photo

July Quiz: Where is the grand Newtown residence shown in this image from around 1910?  Bonus points if you know who lived there.

The correct answer is: The photo is 320 Mansfield Street, behind  in the background can be seen a house on Russell Terrace. Today this site is part of Newtown Park Flats. The ornate fence is all that remains of the Transport Manager’s House.  [ At the southern end of the Newtown Park Flats  complex,  before the entrance to Newtown Park ]

June Quiz: Guess the location & purpose of this chimney.

Yes I know we told you at the May meeting – but its such an amazing photo, especially when you click on it to enlarge it & see the people up it !

 The correct answer is: The Brick and Tile works at 291 Mansfield Street. Some of the remains of the kilns can still be seen down the  laneway at 291.

May Quiz: The location of this 1965 photo

 The correct answer is: John Street, with the Dairy being the north west corner of Countdown.

Quick Headlines from the March NRA meeting last night.

Alcohol Policy – Do not miss your chance to hear what is going on and have your say.   Public meeting in St Annes Hall on Thursday 21 March starting 7:00pm

John Street Works – At last the work is complete.  The NRA has decided to put together a paper to WCC setting out what it sees as the “lessons to be learnt” from this.

Basin Options – WCC  vote on the Basin Flyover is to take place Thursday.  Do not be shy about contacting councillors and letting them know what you think about this.

Newtown Festival – the meeting passed a vote of thanks to the Festival Committee for what had been a great event.

Community Survey/Vision Exercise – a subgroup was set up to look at options for carrying out a community survey of visioning exercise.

Super City?  – WCC is about to open a round of consultations on options for changes to the structure of local government in the region.

Newtown Ave Liquor Licence Application – this application has been withdrawn.  The meeting passed a vote of thanks to Anna Costley of the NCCC for mobilising local public opinion on this and the earlier Riddiford St application.

The March meeting will be on Monday 18 March at the Newtown Hall Daniell St (opposite the Mediteranean Food Warehouse) starting at 7:30pm

The minutes of the February meeting are available here.  Click on NRA Fed 2013 Minutes

NRA November 2012 Minutes

will be held on Monday 18th February 2013  at Newtown Hall, Daniell St (opposite Mediterranean Warehouse) at 7.30pm

Public Information days will be held on the following dates
22 November 24 and 25 November
4 – 8pm 1 – 5pm
at Mt Cook School at St Joseph’s Church, Brougham Street

This is your opportunity to learn more about the project and fi nd out what these improvements will mean
for you and your community.
Representatives from the NZTA’s project team will be on hand to answer your questions and to provide
information on the next steps in the project as the NZTA intends to lodge Resource Management Act
consents in early 2013.
The Basin Bridge project is part of the Tunnel to Tunnel (T2T) inner city transport improvements.
Further information on the project, and links to the T2T improvements, including details on the National
War Memorial Park and Buckle Street Underpass, can be found online at http://www.nzta.govt.nz/basin-bridge
or by calling 0508 9484 4636.

Minutes of the NRA October 2012 Meeting

Wellington City Council is reviewing management of the Town Belt.  Late last year it approved nine guiding principles for its management. It is now in the second stage of this work and is seeking public views on:

1.   Draft Town Belt Management Plan: This plan will direct our management of the Town Belt for the next 10 years.  Download the Draft Plan 2012-10-townbelt-plan (warning it is a whopper!), Download Summary of the Plan2012-10-townbelt-summary.

2.   Legislative changes: These set out our drafting instructions for a Parliamentary Bill that would strengthen the protection of the Town Belt.  Download Drafting instructions2012-10-townbelt-instructions.

Further information is available at see http://www.wellington.govt.nz/haveyoursay/publicinput/2012-10-townbelt.html and in Council libraries.

There will be a meeting with a presentation and opportunity for questions at Newtown Park Function Room, Roy Street, 7.30pm, Tuesday 13 November.

Comments are due by Monday 10 December 2012.  They can be submittedby completing the Town Belt Legislative and Policy Review submission form found online or by writing down your comments and sending them to WCC  by:

Going online: Wellington.govt.nz

• Email: townbelt@wcc.govt.nz
• Post: Freepost, Parks and Gardens(REPL01), Wellington City Council, PO Box 2199, Wellington 6140
• Fax: 801 3155

You can also make an oral submission supporting your written submission to City Councillors. If you wish to do so please include this is written comments.