Strickland Street Community Garden

To:  Ross Beaumont, Chair of the Spreydon Community Gardens Trust and your fellow board members; Christine Blance, Manager of the Trust and fellow staff and volunteers; Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:  Greetings, kia ora, kia orana, fakalofa lahi atu, taloha ni (sign ‘good afternoon'). These are the languages of the Realm of New Zealand.

Thank you for allowing me to tour the Strickland Street Community Gardens and to learn of the work of the Spreydon Community Gardens Trust.

These beautiful gardens are the result of 11 years' of community work. The work of an army of volunteers, supported by a small paid workforce, has transformed what was in 1999 a bare Christchurch City Council site into an amazing community facility.

The Strickland Street Community Gardens represent a number of key values.

The first is the value of volunteering.   I am advised that about 4000 volunteer hours per year are invested in these gardens.  That is a truly remarkable contribution.

These gardens are a classic example of how spirit of volunteerism is the glue that holds our society and economy together.

The ongoing development of these gardens shows how voluntary work not only has its own intrinsic benefits-making friends and even offers of employment-but it also adds strength to our wider communities.

The second value is the importance of community collaboration.   I was particularly impressed to learn of the number of organisations that are stakeholders in these gardens, from the city council to a number of schools, hospitals, government departments as well as local residents.

By many people and organisations making contributions, something much bigger than the sum of its individual parts has been created.  I would like to congratulate everyone from the volunteers to the staff to the many supporters for their contribution.

Finally, this project speaks of the value of gardening.  Gardening not only provides key skills, but is a great way to be creative, while also getting valuable exercise.

I suspect gardeners have long realised what New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield meant when she said: "Grow things. Plant. Dig up. Garden. I feel with all the force of my being that 'happiness' is in these things."

Thank you. Tēnā koutou, Tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā kouto katoa.