Moturoa Primary School in New Plymouth has made gardening part of its curriculum.
In 1994 the school re-introduced the annual planting of school gardens by the children, marking Arbor Day. Every year since, they have created and planted out a new garden.
Moturoa School was the first Trees for Survival school in Taranaki, opening its propagation unit in December 1996 with funding from Westgate Transport Ltd, Port Taranaki. New Plymouth Rotary West assembled the unit and supplied many man hours and additional funding.
Winter picnic: Fish and chips are the order of the day as Talen Blake, 11, Meadow Smith, 7 and James Rouse enjoy a winter picnic at the newly upgraded Ngamotu Beach facilities. Photo: By Sharyn Smart
A $310,000 upgrade of facilities at Ngamotu Beach is winning favour with regulars and visitors at the New Plymouth reserve.
New Plymouth man James Rouse says the new picnic tables are great.
“The picnic tables are a great place to eat lunch on a perfect sunny day,” he said, as he ate fish and chips with and Talen Blake, 11, Meadow Smith, 7.
“In my teenage years I visited the beach regularly and have enjoyed coming back, from many years away, to see all the new facilities now available.”
A year-long upgrade has recently been completed thanks to a partnership between Port Taranaki and the New Plymouth District Council.
NPDC manager parks Mark Bruhn said council had contributed $276,500 towards the park’s upgrade.
In the past the toilet block had quite a reputation of being one of the worst toilet blocks in New Plymouth – but not any more.
The council have enlarged and upgraded the toilet block. The major addition being two new cubicles added to the women’s section.
The toilet block is now wheelchair friendly and a designated handicap parking bay nearby has been created.
The beach’s picnic tables have all been replaced which this time around have been built on concrete pads.
Port Taranaki spokeswoman Bronwyn Clement said the company had contributed about $33,000 towards the upgrade.
It had replaced three wooden access ramps with concrete ramps and steel handrails making access to Ngamotu Beach easier for the public.
All the seats at the beach have been refurbished or replaced and a beach shower installed at the eastern end of the reserve. A kayak wash area has also been built with some of the cost being covered by Canoe and Kayak.
Moturoa Primary School in New Plymouth has made gardening part of its curriculum.