Site shares history of marine camps
Firstly, let me express my sincere appreciation for being re-elected as the Kā piti Coast councillor to the Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Congratulations to my newly elected colleagues on GWRC, and to the 31 people who have been elected on to the Kā piti Coast District Council and its five community boards.
Of special mention of course is our district's new mayor Janet Holborow. We both started out on our respective community boards 15 years ago, then a term on KCDC together, and we've worked closely over the last six years while I was on GWRC and Janet was deputy mayor.
And I send my best wishes to former mayor K Gurunathan, whom I worked closely alongside as the regional councillor, while he was mayor.
The chair of GWRC will again be Daran Ponter, and deputy chair is again Adrienne Staples.
It's still early days in the new triennial, so our committee structure and roles have not yet been finalised.
It was a pleasure to attend on Sunday the opening of the Camp Paekā kā riki interpretation site in Queen Elizabeth Park.
This wonderful installation is the work of the Kā piti United States Marines Trust. A huge thank you to them for this latest installation that shares the history of the marine camps on QEP.
And thank you to our GWRC staff who have worked with the trust to help make this possible.
You can discover the Interpretation Site for yourself at the southern end of QEP of Wellington Rd in Paekā kā riki.
The opening event had speakers including Karl Farrell (Ngati Haumia, Ngati Toa), chair of the trust Richard Benge, mayor Janet Holborow, acting deputy chief of mission from the US Embassy Chris Allison, historian Anthony Dreaver, and myself on behalf of GWRC.
I close by thanking the Kā piti News for the opportunity to write a weekly column.