This building has sentimental value to the community. There are Memorial Plaques displayed of our Veteran’s names that served for our country, and it was built especially in remembrance of them.
The Wairoa District Council wanted to demolish this building, until the Wairoa Services Club’s hall came to its rescue.

The Wairoa Service Club’s Hall consists of the Wairoa Lions Club Inc, Wairoa Rotary Club Inc, and the Wairoa Light House Lions Club Inc.
They put a lot in to our community so it was so awesome and fulfilling to finally be able to give back to them.

We had such a fun filled day, and our help was appreciated immensely.

The organisation rescues cats and kittens that are unwanted, abandoned, or abused. The cats are brought back to good health to go on to being adopted. Yvonne has also rescued a few very large ducks who wandered around the yard whilst we worked.

We cleaned cages, litter boxes, cat runs, water bowls and got the cages ready for the cats for night time. We also assisted with gardening.

It was seriously hard work and we were quite sore from our efforts, yet Yvonne Brown, the Trustee does much of this work on her own. Volunteers to assist, particularly in the evenings and weekends are always welcomed and Yvonne was delighted to participate in the BNZ Closed for Good initiative.

Whilst it was difficult to see so many cats in need of a permanent home, these are the lucky ones; they have a great temporary home with plenty of care.

Closed for Good was a fantastic way of making a small difference to an organisation that helps so many animals.

Their nature trail is a fantastic way for kids to learn about New Zealand flora in their own backyard and will eventually encourage native birds and insects back into the area. But after months of neglect, the trail needed re-gravelling and its natives had been swallowed up by a mob of weeds.

After a long day of pulling out the intruders, hauling wheelbarrows and digging up some monster flax bushes, we had made significant progress on the trail, but there was still unfinished business. Satisfied at our start, our sweat-drenched bodies retreated home, knowing that we’ll be back another day to finish the job.

We were four BNZers did a great job at shampooing carpets and cleaning the woodwork of the Church in Balmoral.

We had fun getting to know each other and we had some fantastic feedback from Church and the general public about what a great thing BNZ was doing for the community.

Sheila Malone, Balmoral Church Treasurer, said: “Our Church looks so fresh and clean now, in fact one of our members, when he saw the result said “ I didn’t think we were expecting the Queen to visit us.“

The weather was against us at the beginning of the day so we started on the kitchen as it was a dream of theirs to have a fresh coat of paint on their kitchen cupboards. We ended the day (after the weather improved) with all rubbish collected, a fresh coat of paint on their kitchen cupboards, a fresh coat of paint on the exterior walls (where we could reach) and their badminton courts all mopped ready for a match by those staff game enough to give it a go.

We were presented with a plaque for our wall, showing their appreciation for the work we have done.

We helped Lynda and Clare from GAP run a hotdog stand in central Auckland as well as doing the rounds with the charity bucket. We had two lovely mascots with us (Ivan and Pauley) who showed what lovely placid and friendly dogs greyhounds are.

In total we raised $723 ($20 of which was from the Mayor of Auckland!)!! This was much more than was expected and GAP were absolutely rapped!

A total team effort led to this pretty back breaking task being completed and with this a highly rewarding sense of satisfaction.

The Community Group coordinator said of the team’s great efforts: “What a great day we had yesterday!Thanks so much to you and the group for the work you did towards the Project Twin Streams vision.”

A 1 ½ year old cat named ‘Angelina’ (named after ‘Angelina Jolie’) took a shining to the boys like her name sake. Watching grown men talk to cats is just as funny as watching them talk to babies.

The complex is used daily for dance and drama teaching and rehearsals, plus it doubles up as the gym / hall for Western Springs College which is just next door – it’s a busy place.
Our main task was cleaning the drum. Ha! You think cleaning a drum, how hard can that be? Well, harder than it sounds as the main core of the complex and the part housing the theatre, is one huge circular corrugated coloursteel construction – which they call the drum!

That’s it in the picture below, the big white thing behind the trees on the left. And we had to clean it! Or at least the bit indoors which is visible to the public. So it was up ladders and out with the sugar-soap, and after 3-4 hours it was gleaming like a new pin. Or like a new drum.

After that the BNZ trio repaired to the pub for some light restoratives (we needed it), and in the afternoon we scrubbed the walls of the theatre’s backstage walkways (remember how you used to climb passage walls when you were a kid, by bracing your feet on one wall and your bum on the other? Well, kids still do it, and it don’t half make a mess of the paintwork) and a spot of painting to freshen up one particularly scruffy entrance area.

By 5.45 we were all done, and the smiles on the faces of the TAPAC people there was confirmation of appreciation of a job well done.

They made it clear that for them the exercise was a huge success, and invited us to enjoy the next performance at TAPAC. Plus if Closed For Good makes it back next year, they’ll be waiting with their ladders and more sugarsoap…but we beat the drum.