ARANZ trustee, Stephen Pattemore was invited to speak at Shore Grace church on Sunday 28 March 2021 to celebrate their joining the journey of becoming an Eco Church. On the Sunday we joined them, they were running one of their informal Café services entitled a ‘Neighbours Day Café’ – community plant swap.

As you go past the unassuming church of St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Titahi Bay, you might notice the neat garden beds that line one side of the walkway to the church. Walking a bit further to the side of the hall, you will find some 20 feijoa trees. This is the Titahi Bay Community Garden @ St Matthew’s (TBCG@SM), a community garden run by the Titahi Bay community hosted at St Matthew’s grounds.

We all know the frustration of not being able to fix something that breaks. Why not let people share their fix-it knowledge and expertise, and run a Repair Café?

In October last year, The Village Presbyterian Church in Ōtautahi-Christchurch decided to tandem up a Repair Café event with our usual monthly Community Market Day. The idea was to have volunteers on hand to help fix broken items that members of the public brought along, thereby stopping stuff going to landfill.