Pegasus Post: June 18, 2019

PEGASUS POST Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Tuesday June 18 2019 9
News
Retired ‘musketeers’ still working
• By Jess Gibson
A TRIO of retired friends –
dubbed “the three musketeers”
– were recognised for their
services to Ronald McDonald
House on Monday.
Gus Gale, David Chappie
and Neil Fleming, all former
teachers, received an award
from Volunteering Canter bury
for their work over the past five
years.
They meet every Wednesday
morning to help with a range
of tasks at Ronald McDonald
House on Cashel St, such as
keeping the grounds tidy,
fixing toys, washing waste bins,
plumbing and electrical repairs.
Said Mr Chappie: “I was
surprised because we certainly
don’t come here to look for any
accolade, we come here because
it’s a worthwhile organisation
that we have heard about that we
could help at ground level.”
“The people here are so
accommodating and making
everyone feel so welcome. The
families are going through a
tough patch in their lives but
there’s a joy all the way from
the staff to the mums and dads
and the kids being picked up
and cuddled. There’s a quality
here I don’t think you would
find in many other institutions.
• By Matt Slaughter
HAEATA Community Campus
students will take part in a
restoration project in Bexley.
More than 10 students will take
part in the project and this number
is expected to grow.
The team of students will travel
to the wetlands behind Bexley
Park every Wednesday starting
tomorrow to plant vegetation suitable
for the area, install houses for
lizards, complete pest control and
animal tracking.
Haeata Community Campus
teacher Dallas Matoe, who will
travel with the students every
week, said the project would be a
It’s a quality based on love
and concern for one’s human
beings.”
Ronald McDonald
House offers support and
accommodation to families with
children in hospital.
valuable learning experience and
benefit Bexley’s environment.
“It’s involving them in their
community, they’re learning about
biodiversity and habitat restoration,
which I suppose on a global
scale helps to offset all of the stuff
to do with climate change.
“We’re hoping to change the
environment to bring in more
biodiversity.”
Mr Matoe said the wetlands
were opposite a red-zoned area of
Wetlands Grove.
The project would also involve
generally beautifying this area.
“We want to sort of tie in some
The three musketeers’ shared
background in education adds
up to a total of more than 120
years at primary, secondary and
university level.
Said Mr Fleming: “In those
years we have accumulated
of the history of the farm that
used to be there and the previous
residents.’’
Haeata will play a joint roll in
the restoration project alongside
the city council and the Avon-
Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust.
Mr Matoe said he estimated
the project would take two years
to completed and hoped Haeata
would stay involved for its
duration.
GREEN FINGERS: O’Sheana
Ashby is one of more than 10
Haeata Community Campus
students who will take part
in a restoration project at the
wetlands behind Bexley Park. ​
VOLUNTEERS: Friends
and former teachers David
Chappie, Neil Fleming
and Gus Gale meet every
Wednesday to undertake
odd jobs at Ronald
McDonald House.
some useful skills that Ronald
McDonald House finds helpful.”
Mr Fleming started
volunteering to use up his excess
energy.
Mr Chappie and Mr Gale
agreed to help “on one
condition” – after each
morning’s work they go out for
lunch and a beer.
“We decided to set a pseudochallenge
by limiting our choice
of lunch place to new or recently
changed venues. We range
widely with a requirement that
the selected venue has to serve
beer and it has to be new to us,”
Mr Fleming said.
He said each lunch is spiced
with recollections from their
friendship, which has lasted at
least 10 years.
“Some (stories) stray from
the truth but have greater
entertainment value,” he said.
Local
News
Now
Brighton Gallery
helps students
get to Europe
• By Matt Slaughter
Fire rages, homes at risk
THE BRIGHTON Gallery is
helping three Burnside High
School students fund an art trip to
Europe.
The gallery held a fundraiser
last month, in which artists sold
paintings for $50 and donated the
profits to year 12 photography and
painting students, Myffy Roberts,
Keira Jonkers and Ryan Bell, to go
towards their trip next month.
All three students have roots
in the east, with Keira being
a former student at Brighton
Gallery and Myffy and Ryan
starting their education at
the North Beach Community
Childcare Centre.
The amount raised will be
revealed on Sunday.
The students plan to visit famous
art sights in Europe including
the Louvre in Paris and the
Biennale in Venice.
Brighton Gallery secretary
Jayne Cummins said its artists
had enjoyed donating their time
and skills to such a worthy cause.
“These kids have done
amazingly well. They’ve just got to
fund all of it, I think . . . so they’re
absolutely thrilled that the people
have been interested enough to
want to help.”
Haeata to take part in restoration project
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