The Oak Development Trust Summer Camp was held at Waitangi weekend at Waipara with 80 being in camp either in cabins or tents.  Such a  beautiful place to spend a weekend sharing lots of fun, conversation, activities, and also at times just to be. Camp started with a scavenger hunt that was judging on creativity, team work and keeping connected to nature. A  mushroom found on the field got a greater regard than one found in the kitchen chiller. The annual raft race was held with the 'Girl Power' fighting well to display their strength and courage to come from behind and nearly win. The water slide gifts loads of fun. and he pond became a go to place in the heat for both swimming and canoeing/kayaking. High ropes and tree climbing were new activities. The joy and blessing of camp is in the connections made, the conversations had and the experience of being in a nurturing environment that looks out for one another. The great food also was a treat. Thank you for the team in the kitchen and to the Riccarton West Community Garden for its generous donation of vegetables.

Draft Standard Operating Procedures and Guidelines have been compiled for the Riccarton-West Community Garden. We would like to know what you think about them

We are inviting comments until 9 April.

You can get the draft document as well as consultation forms from;

• Oak Development Trust office
• Downloading from Oak Development Trust website (www.odt.org.nz)
• Emailing: or

There will be two drop in sessions where you are able to come along, find out more, get the documents, and leave your comments or forms.

Friday 18 March at the Common Ground Café, 80 Rattray St

1-3pm

Wednesday 23 March at 80 Rattray Street

5.30 - 7pm

Downloads:

Community Garden Consultation Response Form ...

Riccarton West Community Garden Guidelines ...

Riccarton West Community Garden SOPS Information Proposal document download version ...

It was a great day at Harrington park again this year. The weather could have been kinder to us but despite the wind and it being a bit cold there was a lot of fun. A variety of food was enjoyed including Filipino, Chinese and Korean, fresh cut up fruit with marshmallows and biscuits that children could decorate themselves. There were some great designs. The Cheapskates were a hit again as was the Police Obstacle course and the car being demolished. Pony parties were new this year and there were a constant line up of children for waiting for a pony ride. The clown was enjoyed as was Ronnie from 'What now'. Children enjoyed throwing sponges at Steve the local police officer. When it comes to the tug of war, the girls are the 2015 champions until we meet again on 15th October 2016 for the next Riccarton community tug of war, boys vs girls!

July 22nd.

Those who gathered were treated to Patrick O'Connor's lovely deep voice singing a selection of songs, a Korean dance followed by Angela who works as the diversional therapist at the Maples bringing us songs from the 1940 and 50's. A musical quiz was enjoyed.

What a fun filled, action packed, memory making 2 days 50-60 people shared in over Queens Birthday weekend at Hanmer Springs. We challenged each other through various activities: kite making (sadly no wind to test our skills), treasure hunt, Sams scavenger hunt, a quiz extraordinaire and a newspaper fashion parade. The 'tea of the nations' was a treat with delicious food from various countries. A great soak in the hot pools on Queens Birthday Monday sent us on our way home.

This ODT summer camp 2015 was special to me as for the first time I was a member of the organising team for the camp. I was very surprised by how much efforts the camp staffs put into this camp. I hadn't known this when I merely attended previous camps.

The summer camp this year was great and so amazing. There were so many different nationalities but we celebrated this diversity altogether as if we were just like family. Having enjoyable chats, singing, laughing, and sometimes touching deeply our hearts while sharing our lives and disappointments together. People didn't have time to be bored as they did so many activities with excitement and fun. All people were very passionate and active in those activities to win which gained points for their team.

Now all the people that came to the camp are looking forward to the camp next year camp. So I strongly recommend anyone who missed this wonderful time to come along next year and experience this! We also have a winter camp at Hamner Springs from 30 May to 1 June. Bless you with love!