Big thanks especially to the following people:

Jimmi Ngati for the water blaster

John Palmer for the paint sprayer

Alec and Tareka Ratcliffe for all the building tools

Tavake Ngati for the scaffolding

Sonny Tahere, Phyllis Tahere, Mel McKenzie, Chris McKenzie, Nova McKenzie, Carolyn McKenzie, David Thompson, Lorna and Ross Pope, and all the other whanau who came and helped and made it such an enjoyable and productive weekend.

Next working bee to be in March, date to be confirmed with the agenda for the next meeting.

Jobs to do at next working bee:

Fix up the septic system with a grease trap and drainage field

Touch up paint and any minor maintenance

Clean the windows and fix any that need it

We may also start looking at the contents of the storerooms to see what we have that we can use, fix or throw away, but that will depend on time and number of helpers.

Welcome to our first panui for 2009. We have had lots happen during 2008 and it’s all been good stuff!

We have a new website where all our news and information will be kept. The address for the site is:

http://ruapekamarae.wainet.org

(exactly like that, no www in front or it won’t work).

It was created and is hosted by WaiNet, an electronic community network that provides access, content, support and training to community groups and people in the Waikato area. BIG thanks to them!

We had a big working bee back in November which got a lot of cleanup and maintenance work done all around the Marae. THANK YOU to all whanau who worked so hard that weekend

We have had a steady stream of bookings all through the year and it looks like the new year will be the same, which is excellent news.

If you want to add anything to the website, please send all suggestions, information, whakapapa, events and anything you can think of to Louise at ruapekacommittee@yahoo.co.nz

Our next working bee will be over the weekend of 17th and 18th January, bring your whanau, bring your tools and bring some stories for when the work is done!

The old chiller came down with a LOT of effort, and it’s been cleared away; some of the rotten boards on the wharenui have been replaced; the kitchen has had a good clean out, stock take and a lick of paint. More painting and general clean-up is planned for January. I think a list of jobs will be circulated before then.

Big thanks to Chris McKenzie for organising this, and we have another planned for the weekend 17th and 18th January 2009 – keep it free! We’ll also be having our committee meeting on the 18th at 11am, please come along and let your voice be heard!

I’ll be uploading some photos and maybe a video soon, so watch the photo pages.