Friday, February 28, 2014

Churton Park Community Centre - What's On until 09 March

Hi Everyone

The KCA Book Fair is coming this weekend! This is a great opportunity to grab a stack of books for yourself and help out Kiwi Community Assistance at the same time. For more information on Kiwi Community Assistance, follow them on Facebook. This Book Fair has been almost exclusively organised by local ChurtonPark people, so please show your support on both Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 5pm.

For what’s coming up next week, please click here.

ON NEXT WEEK
  • ** Gardening Club ** - Tuesday 4th March 2014 @ 7.30 – 9.00. This month’s topic: Planning for winter planting. In the first half hour Thérèse will give a short talk on the best things to be growing now. What, when and how much to grow. Then over a cup of tea an informal chat between the group members sharing gardening experiences. New members are welcome – contact Thérèse info@homeharvest.co.nz to register. $10pp.
  • ** Churton Park Ukulele Ensemble ** - if you have been thinking about taking up an instrument this year, why not the Ukulele? Our wonderful tutor Carole will help you get started. Tuesdays 1-2pm. Bring your own uke - $2pp.
  • ** Yoga with Romina ** - Vinyasa Flow Yoga – strengthen, tone, relax on Thursdays from 6.00-6.55pm, starting 6th March. Register your interest by emailing rominaroncatoyoga@gmail.com or text/call Romina on 027 253 2534. Vinyasa flow is one of the most popular styles of yoga as it offers so much diversity. The poses are linked together so that you burn calories as well as strengthen, tone, and increase mobility. Vinyasa flow is appropriate to most levels, including beginners, and modifications are available to suit your abilities. Romina Roncato is a qualified professional yoga teacher. See www.rominaroncato.com for more. Classes cost: $12.00 per class or $10.00 per class for students and community card holders. Please bring cash to class. Sorry no EFTPOS facilities available.  All prices include GST.
  • ** Activities for babies and toddlers ** - we have Playsense Early Learning Playgroups on Tuesday mornings 10 – 11am for 18 months and under. Register with Poornima: play@playsense.co.nz. For all under 5’s we have Music & Movement on Fridays 10 – 11.30am. Come along and join in for fun, learning and friendship.
  • ** Evening Walking Group ** - make the most of the long summer nights (while they are still here!) and join our Thursday evening walking group. Departs from CPCC at 7pm sharp. Contact Vicky for more information: vickymg@facmail.com.
  • ** Churton Park Festival ** - don’t forget to mark Saturday 8th March in your calendar and come down to the Village from 4pm onwards to enjoy all sorts of fun activities, prizes, rides and entertainment all put on for you by your local community. I’ll have more information in next week’s newsletter about the awesome Scavenger Hunt that will be running – fantastic prizes are up for grabs!

COMING SOON – MARK YOUR CALENDARS
  • ** Quest 4 Wellness March Seminar ** - Tuesday March 11th at 7.30pm. See the attached flyer for more details on this month’s event.
  • ** Free CPR Sessions ** - places are still available on the two free CPR/Automated External Defibrillator courses being run on 10th March. One session is at 10.30am and the other is at 7.00pm. Both run for 90 minutes. Let me know if you’d like to attend.
  • ** Little Sprouts ** - Churton Park Community Centre is now a drop off location for a great Wellington based charity – Little Sprouts! Little Sprouts are a registered charitable trust that gives away FOR FREE comprehensive and life changing packs of baby items to babies in real need. You can bring in baby items to donate to Little Sprouts during our opening hours. They pretty much accept donations of all items suitable for babies up to 1 year old, so long as they are in NEW or EXCELLENT CONDITION and aren’t too large (as we won’t have space to store them).  If you have lots to donate email them at littleproutsnz@gmail.com and they might be able to pick up from you!

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
  • ** Golf ** - a reminder that the Golf Group will be starting up on Thursday 13th March. Get in touch with me if you’d like to be part of this.
  • ** Young Mothers Group ** - are there any young mums out there (under 25) who are interested in meeting with other young mums here at CPCC. Please get in touch if this sounds like something you would be interested in and if I get enough interest, we’ll start a group.

COMMUNITY NOTICES
  • Look out for the latest issue of the Churton Park Community Association Gazette in your letterbox, with all you need to know about the upcoming AGM.
  • Great news for those of you needing postal services in Churton Park – New World have just installed a small scale NZ Post/Courier set-up. You’ll be able to buy postal and courier product and send from New World. Easy!

FROM NEWLANDS COMMUNITY CENTRE
A new yoga class is starting at Newlands Community Centre. Vinyasa Flow Yoga – strengthen, tone, relax. Tuesdays 9.15 -10.15am -starts 4 March, Saturdays 9.15 -10.15am 8 March. Text or call Romina 027 253 2534 or emailrominaroncatoyoga@gmail.com  $12.00 per class, $10.00 per class for students and community card holders.

To keep up to date with what’s on at CPCC throughout the week, you can follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ChurtonParkCommunityCentre). It’s publically available, so you can view it even if you don’t belong to Facebook.

Have a great weekend!

Beckie Duffy Community Centre Advocate
Churton Park Community Centre| 
P 04 830 4802 M 021 247 8741
E beckie.duffy@wcc.govt.nz | W 
Wellington.govt.nz 











A message from Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor of Wellington “Walking for Peace”

Kia Ora,

I very much hope that you are free and can join us for what should be a memorable evening with speeches to provide food for thought and entertainment to lift the spirits.

On International Women's Day we should celebrate Women and our journey so far. There is much progress but there is still so much to do.

·         we need to ensure the right of the girl child to education
·         we have to stamp out sexual violence against women especially in conflict zones where 
      rape is used as a weapon of war
·         and improve female representation on boards and in professions where women are 
      under-represented.

I do hope you can join me, to add your voice and support to these causes on International Women's Day, Saturday 8 March, at Shed 6 from 6 pm to 8pm.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Nga mihinui ki a Koe


Na

Celia Wade-Brown

Mayor of Wellington

Thursday, February 27, 2014

IMPORTANT: Measles Outbreaks

We have received advice from Dr Darren Hunt, Director of Public Health, regarding recent measles outbreaks.  A copy of this letter can be read at the following website:


Between late December 2013 and 24 February 2014, there have been 47 confirmed measles cases reported in New Zealand: 29 in Auckland, 15 in Bay of Plenty/ Lakes, and three in Wellington. Some of these cases have been in pre-school aged children. A total of eight cases have required hospitalisation to date. 

Most cases have occurred in unimmunised people, and immunisation remains the best way to prevent infection and spread within the community.

There are ongoing measles outbreaks in places like the Philippines, Australia, Europe, UK, Africa, Asia, India and North America. So international students, families travelling to these areas over the holidays, or with visitors from these countries should be aware of the symptoms.

Measles symptoms:
Measles is a highly infectious disease that affects both adults and children. Measles is more serious than many people realise. Symptoms include fever, cough, red eyes and a runny nose, followed by a rash which tends to start on the face, before moving over the head and down the body.  The rash develops about 3 days after the other symptoms start.
Complications can include middle ear infections, pneumonia, and, more rarely, encephalitis or brain inflammation.

The best protection against measles is the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine which is free for all children. MMR vaccinations are scheduled at 15 months and 4 years.

MMR vaccination is also free for susceptible adults born after 1 January 1969 who have not received two doses of a measles containing vaccine.
Measles at your school:

Separate unwell children
If a child becomes unwell with possible measles, separate any unwell child from other children while waiting to be taken home. This helps minimise the risk of measles spreading.

People with measles must stay home
Students and teachers with measles are infectious from 5 days before to 5 days after the onset of rash and must stay away from school and follow the advice of the local medical officer of health. Those students that have not been fully immunised (two doses of MMR) or those with no immunity to measles, who have been in close contact with a measles case during the infectious stages must stay away from school for 14 days from their last contact.  It is recommended that teachers should also follow this practice. These requirements are under the Health (Infectious and Notifiable Diseases) Regulations 1966 (Regulation 14). These exclusions also apply to staff and students taking part in interschool sporting and other events.  

More information:
For further health information on measles and measles immunisation please visit the Ministry of Health website http://www.moh.govt.nz/measles or the Immunisation Advisory Centre website http://www.immune.org.nz.  You can also call the Immunisation Advisory Centre toll-free on 0800 IMMUNE (0800 466 863) for advice.


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Bikes at School

With the fantastic help of Jonny, our wheels man at school, we have now planned out a potential bike track around the grounds of Amesbury School.
Students who are able to ride a two wheeled bike with reasonable confidence can now ride their bike at school around the track each day if they choose to, as long as they are wearing their helmet. Students can use the bike track at morning tea and lunch time, but we are asking students not to ride their bikes around the grounds before school, as it is often crowded with people coming and going, including very young children, which could make it unsafe.
The track runs around the perimeter of the school and is mainly on grass. There are a few bumps along the way, so the track is more suited to a sturdy bike. It is not suitable for very small bikes or cyclists who are quite wobbly and unsure.
We will use the bike track for a couple of weeks and monitor it carefully to ensure it is working safely for everyone. If the track is working well we will mark it out to make it clear and easy to see. If there are any problems with the track we'll send Jonny back out there to plot another trail!
This timing fits perfectly with our Pedal Ready training in Harakeke Hub, where Year 4-6 students have the option to learn safe cycling skills. Here are some pictures from our first session today.






Sunday, February 23, 2014

Emergency Evacuation Practice Feedback and Action Points

Thanks to all the parents and caregivers who participated in our school evacuation and pick up practice last Friday.
The main focus for this practice was to refine our procedures for having all students safely picked up by emergency contacts after an emergency situation. We appreciate that this was an inconvenience for many people, so thank you for your support and patience.
Below are the main points from the practice, including action points for staff and parents to ensure smooth and efficient procedures in the case of a real emergency.
We are keen to get your feedback on the evacuation, too. Please read the points we have identified below and if you have any further points or comments not included below we would love to hear them. Please email Urs (urs@amesbury.school.nz) with your feedback.

Overview:
* All students and staff followed the evacuation procedures quickly and effectively. Students were all quickly accounted for and evacuated to initial evacuation points (central courtyard for Harakeke, netball courts for Koru hub). Once accounted for, students and staff then all gathered on our netball courts.

*Once all students were accounted for, Gail sent out a bulk text to all families informing them of the evacuation and asking them to pick their child/ren up.

*All students were safely picked up by 3pm, with many students being picked up by 2:30pm. Kelly Club and Kelly Sports students were safely signed over to their instructors at 3pm.


Action points for staff:
1) It was a slow procedure to sign out students, as all records were kept in one folder that only one person at a time could access. Action to take: We will split student records into three folders according to surname (A-H, I-O, P-Z) and have three lines running simultaneously. Angela, Urs and Gail will run this, with other teachers acting as runners collecting students once they have been signed out.

2) It can be hard for younger students or students who are upset to see their parents and not be able to go to them straight away. Action to take: We will identify students we feel may need extra support and have systems in place to fast track them through the procedure (if possible) or have teachers able to provide additional support, allowing 'runners' to continue collecting other students efficiently.

How you can help:
1) Be patient and wait in the line/s to sign out your child/ren. We appreciate that signing out all students is a slow procedure, but it is also a very necessary one. We need to ensure students are only collected by nominated emergency contacts, and in the case of a real emergency we need to record who picks up each student. This will mean that if parents cannot communicate with each other (if communication systems are affected by the emergency) multiple people may come to pick up one student - we need to be able to tell you exactly who picked up your child/ren. We will do all we can to refine our procedures so that this process goes as quickly and smoothly as possible.

2) Check the emergency contacts we have on file for you. If you did not receive the text after our evacuation on Friday please let us know so that we can check we have updated contact numbers for you. We cannot send this emergency text to all emergency contacts. Our student management system sends messages to the first two contacts in our system - they are usually the two main caregivers for each student. You will then be responsible for contacting your other emergency contacts if you are unable to pick up your child/ren. Wherever possible, ensure that your nominated emergency contacts are people who live close by and do not rely on transport to get to school in an emergency. In the case of an earthquake, for example, many roads may be blocked and public transport will be affected. Having neighbours, family or friends in the area who can walk down and pick up your child/ren will make it easier for you to ensure the safe and quick pick up of your child/ren. If you would like to change or add any emergency contacts, please contact Gail Greenslade in the school office.

3) Please clearly state your child's name when you are signing out your child/ren or when you talk with a staff member in a high-visibility vest. Although we know who you all are, in a pressured situation it can be difficult to recall everyone quickly and we want to ensure that we do not make any mistakes. It can also be a bit embarrassing asking people we know who their children are! Bear with us in the case of a real emergency and make it easy and clear for everyone.

If you have any further feedback or comments about the evacuation, please email Urs and let her know.
Thanks again for all of your support.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Churton Park Community Centre - What's On to 2nd March

Hi Everyone

We're proud that our very own Tai Chi Teacher, Janet Chew, is one of the stars of the 2014 Neighbours Day Campaign. This year, Neighbours Day is focusing on celebrating the ethnic diversity of our neighbourhoods and Chinese was one of six languages that the posters were produced in. See the poster attached!
Don’t forget our Dog Walking Group starts up this Sunday (23rd). Meet at 10am at the grassed area behind CPCC/in front of New World. Contact Vicky for more information on 022 351 7008.

For what’s coming up next week, please click here

ON NEXT WEEK
  • ** Creative Expressions ** starts on Monday from 1.30pm in our large meeting room. Join the group for quilting skills and from 3rd March, beginners knitting. $2 per session.

  • ** Wednesday Walkers ** Churton Park’s famous Wednesday Walking group will be publishing details of their walk on the Churton Park Community Centre Facebook page every Tuesday –if you’re not on the walking group database, check in to see the route maps. If you’d like to join the database email Bart:bart.jones@xtra.co.nz

COMING SOON – MARK YOUR CALENDARS
  • ** Yoga with Romina ** - Vinyasa Flow Yoga – strengthen, tone, relax on Thursdays from 6.00-6.55pm, starting 6th March. Register your interest by emailing rominaroncatoyoga@gmail.com or text/call Romina on 027 253 2534. Vinyasa flow is one of the most popular styles of yoga as it offers so much diversity. The poses are linked together so that you burn calories as well as strengthen, tone, and increase mobility. Vinyasa flow is appropriate to most levels, including beginners, and modifications are available to suit your abilities. Romina Roncato is a qualified professional yoga teacher. Seewww.rominaroncato.com for more. Classes cost: $12.00 per class or $10.00 per class for students and community card holders. Please bring cash to class. Sorry no EFTPOS facilities available.  All prices include GST.

  • ** Book Sale ** - Saturdays 1st and Sunday 2nd March from 1 – 5pm. Come along and check out the amazing books that the Churton Park Book Club have collected to raise funds for KCA. I hear (and have seen) many of the wonderful items that have been donated, so you’ll probably want to get in quick!

  • **AED Training** - Now that our AED (Automated External Defibrillator) has been installed, Wellington Free Ambulance will be running free AED & CPR sessions on Monday 10th March from 10.30 – 12pm and again in the evening from 7-8.30pm. Register with me at cpcc@wcc.govt.nz. Look out for the Welly Free team at the Churton Park Festival as well…they’ll be there with the ambulance and available to answer any questions you might have.  

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
  • Have you (or someone you know) been thinking about starting up classes at Churton Park Community Centre? Thanks to some recent changes, we have a great opportunity for someone to take a good sized block of space on a Wednesday afternoon between 12 - 6pm. This might suit someone looking to run pre-school and after school classes consecutively, or you may be interested in just an hour of this space. I do know this space won’t last for long, so get in touch to discuss your ideas - I'd love to hear from you! Email beckie.duffy@wcc.govt.nz or call on 830 4802.

  • ** Evening Pottery Classes ** - Thanks so those who expressed interest in an evening pottery class. We still need 2 – 3 more to make this viable, so please let me know if you are keen.

COMMUNITY NOTICES
  • ** Churton Park Community Association Wants You ** - The CPCA is looking for new members, particularly a Treasurer and a Secretary. If you would like the opportunity to influence the direction of your community or if you have a particular project you would like to see happen, please get in touch with the President, Richard Taylor for more details (rh_mjtaylor@xtra.co.nz or 478 5188)

  • ** Old Phones for Kids ** - Don't forget to drop off any old mobile phones to here at the centre.  Wellington North Parent Centre is raising funds for their centre.  You can come and drop off any phones to the box provided just inside the front door.  This of course will only be able to be done during the centre hours of 9am-1pm, so please contact me if you need any help with this.  It is running until the 3rd of March. 


FROM NEWLANDS COMMUNITY CENTRE
Triple One Care are running a first aid course at Newlands CC on Tues Feb 25, 8.30am-5pm.  To register contact Dean at dean@tripleonecare.co.nz, or 0273344417.

FROM TAWA COMMUNITY CENTRE
Interested in meeting like-minded people concerned about the Tawa motorway widening?  There is a support group being formed to enable a united voice against the proposal.  They are meeting here at the centre on Thursday the 27th of February from 7.30pm.  For any more information please contactstopmotorwaywidening@gmail.com or call 2323234 with your name and landline number.    

To keep up to date with what’s on at CPCC throughout the week, you can follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ChurtonParkCommunityCentre). It’s publically available, so you can view it even if you don’t belong to Facebook.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Beckie Duffy Community Centre Advocate
Churton Park Community Centre| 
P 04 830 4802 M 021 247 8741
E beckie.duffy@wcc.govt.nz | W 
Wellington.govt.nz |

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Anne Hare Challenge Relay

Hi all,

The Anne Hare Challenge relay will be run again this year. This challenge is a continuous relay where the teams try to beat the 2000m New Zealand record time of local and New Zealand Representative runner, Anne Hare.

The teams consist of 10 runners, either 10 boys, 10 girls or a mix of 5 boys and 5 girls and is open to Year 4-6 students.

The relay is a little complicated and takes a huge amount of concentration to ensure that students run the right number of laps. I think our Amesbury team ran an extra lap last year. Each team consists of ten runners. One runner is to be the nominated captain and will run the first leg of 100 metres. The other nine members of the team will continue to run in sequence over sections of 50 metres, passing the baton to the next team member at the take-over points. The captain will complete the relay running the final leg of 100 metres. The captain will run 2 legs of 100m and the other nine runners 4 legs of 50m. It makes more sense when you have seen it run. However, it does mean thatbBaton changes are hugely important, and as we have the time, it would be good to have lunch time practices a couple of times a week.

The relay will be held on Monday 17 March (Postponement Date - Wednesday 19 March) from 4:30pm-6:00pm. The briefing will be at 4:45pm, so we will probably want to leave school at about 3:30pm. Students will need a good warm up, so they don't pull any muscles. The event will be held at Newtown Park.

If you think you are a Year 4-6 student and you think would like to pit your running skills against other schools in the Wellington Area, then please pop along to our try outs at lunch time on Thursday and Friday of Week 4 (27 & 28 February).

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Term 1 Chromebook Order

Hi Team,

We're gearing up to put in another order of the popular Acer C720 Chromebook. If you would like to purchase a Chromebook for your child, please let Matt know by the end of the week.



For more information on Chromebooks and in particular the Acer model, please see this previous blog post.

Thanks, Matt (matt@amesbury.school.nz)

Monday, February 17, 2014

Amesbury School Emergency Evacuation Procedures


Emergency Procedure Information for Parents
At the start of each school year it is always good to recap our school procedures for earthquakes and emergency evacuations.

Please find our updated procedures and information for parents outlined below:

Procedures
● In the event of an earthquake requiring a ‘drop, cover, hold’ reaction, students will be evacuated outside when it is assessed as safe to do so.
● Standard school evacuation procedures will be followed to ensure all students gather outside and are all accounted for safely and quickly. Once all students are accounted for, the whole school will gather and remain (if possible) in our central evacuation location (on school netball courts).
● Once we are sure all students are accounted for, our school office will send out a bulk text to all families to inform you of the evacuation and that all students are safe. This process may take some time, especially if groups of students are off-site, as we will need to confirm the situation of all students before communicating with families.
● In the case of an emergency, parents must not phone the school or staff, because this will only hold up the process of accounting for all children. See Communication below.
● In the bulk text, parents and caregivers will be asked to pick students up from school, where possible. Any students not able to be picked up will be kept with teachers at school until picked up.
● Parents or emergency contacts arriving at school to pick up students will be directed by designated teachers to a parent meeting point (generally by the scooter racks). One teacher will briefly explain what is happening whilst another teacher collects your child. Parents must not collect their children themselves, as each child will need to be signed out by the whanau teacher. Once this is done, students will then be brought to you.
● We can only release children to their parents or designated emergency contacts, even if the people attempting to pick them up are known to the children. If you need to change your designated emergency contacts please contact Gail Greenslade in the office. If, on the day, your child needs to be released to someone else, please text a message. See Communication below.
● If the event has caused disruption (such as the city centre being closed down or major traffic disruptions), or there are ongoing aftershocks, we will require all students to be picked up by a parent or designated emergency contact, to ensure that students will be safe and supervised when they get home. Older students who live very close to school and normally walk home alone will need to be picked up from school. If you would still like your child to walk home please text your child’s hub teachers once you have been informed of an evacuation and let them know that your child/ren can walk home. If, given the information we have, we still do not believe it is safe or advisable for your child to walk home, we will continue to hold your child.
● Please note: in terms of the above bullet point, we will be take a “better safe than sorry” approach. There may be occasions when we require children to stay at school and it turns out it was not really necessary. We will make the best judgement call we can based on whatever information we have.

Communication
● In an emergency evacuation, parents or caregivers must not ring the school office or staff, as this can severely congest our school lines and impact our ability to contact emergency services should it be necessary. It can also compromise the safety of children by distracting staff who are carrying out essential emergency procedures. The first priority of staff is to ensure the safety of all students. In the event that teachers need to be contacted, only text or email them. All school mobile numbers for hub staff are below but must not be used for phoning in an emergency. Staff have been directed not to answer phone calls but to check texts and emails from parents only when all students are safe and accounted for.
● Please be aware that in the event of an earthquake communications can be disrupted. If you do not hear from us, it may mean that we have been unable to text or email families. In this event we will keep all students safely at school with teachers until they can be picked up. We have supplies of food, water and emergency items to enable us do this.
● Communicating with staff: again, only communicate with staff using text or email and only if it is absolutely necessary to do so. We will not respond to communications seeking information about a particular child unless there are medical or other essential reasons to do so. Our focus needs to be on ensuring the safety of all students and sending out bulk communication to families at the appropriate time. Keep texts or emails as brief and concise as possible, making it easier for us to read and digest in an emergency. We will try to acknowledge necessary texts and emails, but replies will likely be extremely brief, due to time constraints.
● If you have an essential message to communicate, we recommend that you text or email several or all teachers in your child’s hub, as some teachers may not be able to access their phones or may not be on site. We recommend that all parents set up a group text for the teachers in their child’s hub for quick access in an emergency. At the very least, all school staff mobile numbers should be entered into your contacts for easy access wherever you are.
● Be patient: It may take teachers some time to reply to texts or emails, as the main priority of teachers will be to attend to the safety and needs of students.

Staff School Phone Numbers
Angela - 021865527
Demelza - 021865519
Mike - 0212337671
Urs - 021480526
Amaria - 0278997869
Andrea - 021848531
Matt - 0276975353
Helene - 02111914643
Erica - 0279365660

Developing a Participatory Approach to Fostering Creativity Through Education.

Link to article.

Friday, February 14, 2014

What's on at Churton Park Community Centre to February 23rd

Hi Everyone
I hope you’ve had a great week. For what’s coming up next week, please click here.

ON NEXT WEEK
  • **Finally Friday Card Making Class**: Rachael's back to kick off the Finally Friday card-making nights for 2014.  Friday 21st February, 7.30pm, $10 for two projects. Feel free to bring any projects you'd like to work on as well.  Sweet treats to share for supper are also welcome! Register with me at CPCC or direct to Rachael on rachael@stuvr.com.
  • **Churton Park Photo Club** - the inaugural meeting of the Churton Park Photo Club is on Tuesday 18th from 7.30 – 9.30pm. Contact me on cpcc@wcc.govt.nz if you’d like to join.
  • **Planning a Garden Class** - A structured and in-depth weekly gardening class here at CPCC. It will run for 6 weeks from Thursday 20th February and will be focussed on Planning for Autumn and Winter. Thursday evenings, 7.00 – 9.00pm. $125 per person – max 10 per class. Contact Therese to register: info@homeharvest.co.nz
  • **SPCA Adopt-a-Pet** - the team from the SPCA will be back on Saturday 22nd from 12 – 3. Come down and see the lovely fur babies looking for a new home!
  • **Playsense Early Learning Playgroup** - our under 18-month playgroup is back on Tuesday from 10 – 11am and this week, Plunket will be attending to provide check and safely install car seats.  
  • **Monthly Dog Meet ups** - thanks to Vicky who has organised our first monthly dog walking meet up. Meet at the grassed area behind CPCC alongside Lakewood Ave on Sunday 23 February at 10am. For further information, contact Vicky on 022 351 7008.
  • **Porse Music & Movement for Under 5’s** - Join us every Friday during term time for Music and Movement with your Under 5, run by Porse. Session starts at 10am. Free.

COMING SOON – MARK YOUR CALENDARS
  • **AED Training** - Now that our AED (Automated External Defibrillator) has been installed, Wellington Free Ambulance will be running free AED & CPR sessions on Monday 10th March from 10.30 – 12pm and again in the evening from 7-8.30pm. Register with me atcpcc@wcc.govt.nz. Look out for the Welly Free team at the Churton Park Festival as well…they’ll be there with the ambulance and available to answer any questions you might have.  
  • **Creative Expressions** - The lovely ladies from Creative Expressions are back for 2014 with plenty of exciting activities. Quilting will continue this year, with both beginners and a more advanced group - so if you're keen to learn, come along! Rosie, an experienced textile artist, will also start teaching knitting (aimed at beginners, but all are welcome) from 3rd March. Creative Expressions are now on Monday afternoons from 1.30 - 3.30 in our big room, so plenty of room to spread out and get creative! $2 per session. Register with me at cpcc@wcc.govt.nz. If you are interested in knitting with the group, please contact me for information on what you will need to bring.
  • **Community Music Junction/Sing for Your Life** - Sing for your Life has moved to Newlands Community Centre with a change of day & time to Thursdays 1.30 – 2.45pm. As you know, the acoustics in the large meeting room weren’t suitable for the group to really flourish, so the difficult decision was made to move the session. Simon will be taking the Newlands session. For further information, please contact my colleague Raph at Newlands on 477 3724.
  • **Churton Park Festival** - coming on 8th March! We have so many different parts of our community actively involved in delivering this afternoon and evening of fun! The organising team has just had the poster confirmed and I have attached it to this message. If you are able to share it around your social media networks or even better print it out and pop it up, that would be great!

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
  • **Evening Pottery Class** - let me know if you would be interested in learning pottery in an evening class.
  • **Golf Group** - a reminder that the Golf Group starts up on Thursday 13th March for a weekly morning round of golf. Let me know if you are keen on further information.

COMMUNITY NOTICES
  • Churton Park Community Association Wants You! The CPCA is looking for new members, particularly a Treasurer and a Secretary. If you would like to opportunity to influence the direction of the community or if you have a particular project you would like to see happen, please get in touch with the President, Richard Taylor  (rh_mjtaylor@xtra.co.nz or 495 6099) for more details.  
  • Churton Park Community Association AGM – 19th March, 7.30pm atChurton Park School.

FROM NEWLANDS COMMUNITY CENTRE
The Sustainability Trust is coming to Newlands Community Centre to run another great workshop.  This one is on Ethical Shopping on Thurs March 6 1-2.30pm.  They'll show you how to have fun, eat well, and stick to your budget - all without trashing the planet! For more info emailjanet@sustaintrust.org.nz 3850500.  To register ring 4773724.

FROM TAWA COMMUNITY CENTRE
With all the talk around roading options for Transmission Gully, the NZTA are hosting an information Day for the public.  It is an opportunity to visually see where the road(s) will go and what impact/benefits it will have on the local and wider communities.  This will take place on Wednesday the 26th of February at the Linden Social Centre, 10 Linden Ave from 3-8pm.  Come along anytime during this time period.

To keep up to date with what’s on at CPCC throughout the week, you can follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ChurtonParkCommunityCentre). It’s publically available, so you can view it even if you don’t belong to Facebook.

Have a lovely weekend!

Beckie