News from the Valley

Crush the Cargill 24-hour Challenge is back with a Woodstock theme as trail runners get the pleasure of running up and down Mt Cargill as many times as possible in a 24-hour period. Last year over $4000 was raised to help fund CreekFest, and this is our focus again this year. It’s easy to see the connection between Crush the Cargill and the Valley Project –— both are about getting people together and reconnecting with our wider environment. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the ground-breaking Woodstock music festival that symbolized a communal desire for love, peace …

The Community Classroom has been busy taking an interesting and diverse range of enquiries from people interested in teaching classes for the inaugural Dunedin Summer School at the beginning of next year. Coordinator Melissa Pronk is putting out the final call for people interested in running a session, class or workshop. Registrations need to be in by Tuesday 5 November for the class to be listed in printed marketing materials. Register here. Registrations can still be taken after this date but will only be marketed online on social media. Community education for everyone The idea of the Summer School …

The Valley Project is teaming up with the Sustainability Project to run a two-week Dunedin Summer School offering community education for everyone at the start of next year. A similar event has been running in Oamaru for the past nine years and now the idea is coming to Dunedin. Summer School facilitator Melissa Pronk expects there will up to 60 different classes on offer. Previously these have ranged from skills such as sewing, knitting and making bread; hobbies and interests such as keeping bees and chickens; health and nutrition such as how to grow food and make fermented food; …

An English conversation group has started up at the Valley Project community rooms The group is an informal gathering where those who are learning to speak English can come along and talk with native English speakers. Group facilitator Carolyn Rogers says it is not a group to provide lessons or tutoring. “It is going to be a relaxed way to practise English and make some new friends.” Carolyn recently returned from teaching in Abudabi, and after trying to learn another language herself she understands how challenging it can be: “I tried to learn Arabic in six years, but it …

The annual great Valley Spring Clean is coming up on Saturday 21 September from 11am-3pm. If you’re in the mood for a clear out but want to ensure you’re being responsible with what you no longer need, then the Spring Clean is for you. This year, with support from Dunedin City Council, we are going bigger and better, especially in avoiding sending items to landfill. We’ll have a team of dedicated volunteers assessing and diverting as much as possible away from the skip. The Te Rōopū Mānaaki class from North East Valley Normal School will be running a clothes …

A $25,000 grant for the Valley Project from the Otago Community Trust will help with many community initiatives such as Kai Share, the HeatSeekers drop-in clinics and CreekFest. Kai Share is a weekly food box programme, which distributes food from KiwiHarvest to local families and people in need. The HeatSeekers: Healthy Homes in the Valley weekly drop-in clinics aim to give people the information and help they need to create a warmer, drier and healthier home. CreekFest is an annual the community festival and educational event that celebrates Lindsay Creek. Valley Project manager Tess Trotter says the funding is …

What has Open VUE (Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary) uncovered about North East Valley wildlife? There may be many different creatures living in your backyard, from birds to mammals, right down to invertebrates and lizards! Working with our Open VUE educator, Clare Cross, local school pupils from North East Valley, Opoho and Pine Hill took on the challenge to find out exactly what was in their own backyards. They used many different tools and techniques, outlined below, and then combined their findings in what was truly a collaborative citizen science project. Here are the results of what they found out …

Want to get warmer in your home? Did you know that 20–30% of your home’s heat can be lost through your windows? Come along to a free workshop on DIY pelmets and go home with a simple solution to help insulate your windows better. Good curtains that fit well and pelmets will help improve heat retention and reduce energy costs. Fitted pelmets reduce heat loss above windows and can be made of any material as long as it creates an air barrier. Pelmets only need to be against the wall and reach to or past the curtain – they …

A diesel leak into Lindsay Creek suspected to be coming from a community-owned workspace has been distressing for community members and the Valley Project executive board as they work to deal with and rectify the situation. The diesel seeping into the creek is assumed to be coming from recently-discovered underground tanks beneath the Valley Community Workspace at 11 Allen Street. The Valley Project, which owns the community workspace building, was first notified about the leak on 9 July. The chairperson, Ian Telfer, reported the leak to the Otago Regional Council pollution hotline and council staff visited the site later …

It takes a certain kind of delirium to come up with an event in which participants get to run up and down Mt Cargill every two hours over and over again on the shortest day of the year. Add to that a level of cruelty to start the event at 8pm on the night before, and you wouldn’t expect people to bother turning up. However, turn up they did! Last month 26 runners lined up at 8pm to start the Crush the Cargill Longest Shortest Day event at Bethunes Gully. As the very long, cold night dragged on the …

After three years on the beat Mary Waymouth is passing the newsletter bundle to a new generation of Valley Voice deliverers. Mary delivered the Valley Voice to over 450 homes in North East Valley at the start of every month. Mary says she will miss doing the deliveries as she always enjoyed it, but life has been busy for her lately. She passed on a little advice to the new crew and says she met many lovely people and animals on her long walks around the neighbourhood. Taking on her round are Iris Gallagher (12) and Marian McMullan (7) …

MEET VALLEY PROJECT BOARD MEMBER NATASHA MURACHVER, A COMMUNICATION DESIGNER FROM OPOHO What do you love about your local community? We're diverse and welcoming to that diversity. What's the best thing about living here? Everything's in walking distance, and the hills, views and green make for lovely walking. What do you love to do in your spare time? Pretty boring stuff when I'm not at work. Favourite book? The answer is almost always whatever I'm currently reading (False River by Paula Morris). What prompted you to join the Valley Project executive board? I'd been a reader and follower of …