Hi residents,

HPRS was delighted to bring you Hobsonville Point’s first Winterfest, which ran from June 26 to July 3. Close to 100 of us lined up on a chilly but suitably starry night on June 26 to view planets Saturn and Jupiter through big telescopes brought along by volunteers from the Auckland Astronomical Society. Somewhere between 400-500 came along to our big Sparkle Parade, offering music, food and fun on the evening of the 29th, preceded by Maori weaving and LED light decorating workshops that afternoon. Smaller but no less enthusiastic groups rolled up for a special Matariki Wriggle & Rhyme session for the very young on July 1, presented by Albany Library staffers at the Summerset Retirement Village, and a more grown-up workshop on memoir writing at Little Creatures on July 3.

Click here for a great little video showing highlights from the Sparkle Parade and a gallery of still images (just click on the thumbnails to see pictures at full size). The talents behind the cameras are two local residents, Leanne Silver (still images) and Tanya McQueen (video). Appreciation to both of you and especially to our producer, Christine Glover of Zillionstars, who managed the whole week of events with backup from HPRS committee member Lindsey Dawson.

HPRS also thanks businesses and many others for their help.

Ryman Healthcare sponsored hot drinks and, alongside Hobsonville House of Travel, supplied prizes for sparkled-up attendees, and local cafes were generous in giving us wall and counter space for posters and flyers.

HLC allowed us use of the Catalina Bay foreshore area, Hobby Games sold lights and glow-toys before the event, and Little Creatures/Kittyhawk helped pay for street performers and offered free space for the writing workshop.

Volunteers from Hobsonville Community Trust sold glow goodies and ran fun games for children at The Oval before the parade began, zumba instructor Fleur and her team revved us all up to banish the cold, and many individual helpers assisted in a heap of ways – from distributing raffle tickets to cleaning up afterwards. A big thumbs-up also to Chris Minto, who organised the astronomy evening and to Annie Ah Mu and her helpers who added a beautiful touch of Matariki with their harakeke star-weaving workshop.

AND we had wonderful performances from Hobsonville Point Secondary School’s kapa haka group and the Hobsonville Choir, Everybody Sings.

Please let us know if you enjoyed Winterfest. HPRS created it after hearing at meetings last year that you were hungry for the Society (to which we all pay levies) to put on and support more local events and activities. It’s all to do with fostering community spirit! The people making up our committee may change at October’s AGM of course. So making such events bigger and better next year (and voting for budget to make it happen) will depend on your enthusiasm.

Send your comments and suggestions to [email protected] with Winterfest in the subject line. We’d love to hear from you.

Best wishes,

HPRS Committee