Porirua City Council

The amazing new Toi Rama: Inspiring Tamariki Through Art exhibition at Pātaka showcases the artworks of Year 5 and 6 ākonga from Porirua East School. In the second half of the 2024, ākonga from Porirua East School were invited to engage with different experiences, from interacting with artworks, taonga and exhibitions presented at Pātaka through to guided visits to significant cultural venues and environmental sites across Porirua. Drawing on those experiences, tamariki have produced a series of artworks that are on display at Pātaka's Toi Gallery until 9 February 2025. These artworks are a vehicle for ākonga expressing themselves: who they are, where they live, their relation to the environment, the connections with each other, and they ways in which they understand their own identity. This exhibition is part of a pilot programme delivered by the Pātaka education team, which examines the connections between art, art-making and well-being. https://lnkd.in/eumrYHrd

Our Pacific Language Weeks are a special time for us here in Porirua to reflect, observe and honour what our diverse communities bring to our wonderful city 💚 These weeks often commemorate nations that are far from our shores, but whose people thrive within Porirua and strive to show just what their homeland means to them. As we near the end of our the last Pacific Language Week of 2024, we want to say thank you to all those who work so hard to make sure pacific languages are nurtured and sustained for future generations. This year two new languages were added to the calendar for the first time, as we recognised the language of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. These joined Rotuma, Samoa, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Fiji, Niue and Tokelau. The overarching theme of the language weeks for 2024 was sustainability, aligning with UNESCO’s long-term vision to protect indigenous languages, not just in the Pacific but worldwide.

We want to know what you think about freedom camping in your city. Porirua City Council is reviewing the way freedom camping happens in the city, with consultation opening today. Check out what is proposed, including suggested changes to some freedom camping locations, and ways Council can better enforce freedom camping in Porirua. Consultation is open until 10 February 2025 to allow for engagement and feedback from a variety of groups. Find out more information below, and a link to make your submission https://lnkd.in/g5rG6yMx

A special movie day was held last week for over 300 Road Patrol students to say a huge thank you for their outstanding work this year 💚 👏 The students from 16 Porirua schools enjoyed a movie, treat bags and special spot prizes. It was great to see the students cheer for all their teammates as each school’s group photo was shown on the pre-show PowerPoint. A big thanks to all the tamariki who took part in this programme as well as School Community Officer Steve Wairau (pictured), Constable Andrew Alexander, and Constable Jamie-Leigh Woodhouse for helping and sharing the day with us.

We are excited to be partnering with Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira for the Porirua Assembly on Climate in 2025. The project will see a group of 50 people coming together in 2025 to address the question: Learning to live with Porirua’s changing world together: How do we connect and respond as our climate changes? The Assembly is about harnessing the power of community to drive local change. It is an opportunity for people from all walks of life to be part of shaping the future for our mokopuna. If you are keen to get involved, more information can be found on the Climate Assembly website. https://lnkd.in/gMTj3CxQ

Did you know some Council facilities are now also drop-off locations for used household batteries? Due to some cross-Council mahi, and a partnership with the Phoenix Recycling Group, you can now drop your batteries off for free at: 🔋 Porirua City Centre Library – 17 Parumoana St (pictured) 🔋 Porirua City Council Customer Service Centre – 16 Cobham Court 🔋 Cannons Creek Pool – 170 Bedford St If these facilities are closed, Spicer Landfill and Bunnings Porirua also accept used household batteries for recycling ♻️ Batteries contain harmful chemicals which can leach into soil and waterways if they go in the landfill. That is why it is important to collect and recycle them accordingly. Phoenix Recycling Group offers the country’s first end-to-end battery recycling service, and they already service more than 100 collection points throughout Aotearoa. Check out this webpage for more info on how you can recycle items not accepted in your kerbside bins: https://lnkd.in/gspvfzHz

🎯 TUAKANA TEINA 🎯 How awesome is it to see our kaimahi teach new kaimahi how to use certain tools for the role. Our partnership with Porirua City Council Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities provides a safe and enjoyable environment for our kaimahi to learn, thrive and support those new into the role. A special thanks to Aibne McGrannachan and the team for supporting our kaimahi into furthering their careers 🌱 #plantingandlandscaping #teaching #learning #tuakanateina #champions Roydon Shaw Henzell Estrada Shania Stapp

We're on the lookout for stallholders for our 2025 Waitangi Day celebration, could it be you? The Waitangi Day event in Porirua is always popular, with our 2024 celebration even taking out 'cultural event of the year' from NZ Events Association 🏆 We are looking for Food, Craft, Information, Community Groups and Corporate stallholders from throughout New Zealand who would love to be involved in the Waitangi Day celebration event in Porirua. Interested? Please read through the terms and conditions on our website, and apply now!👇 https://lnkd.in/eAkh4py6

After 31 days and half a tonne of chocolate, Porirua’s ChoctoberFest has come and gone for another year, leaving satisfied customers and a welcome boost to the city’s economy. The festival, now in its third year, partners with much-loved chocolate-maker Whittaker’s. This year 20 cafes, eateries and bars took part, with more than 13,000 baked treats and drinks snapped up by customers over the month of October. Sales of these items alone saw $131,000 being pumped into Porirua’s economy, as well as additional spends at the participating businesses, and others around the city. Customers could choose to rate the products on offer and in all, 4266 ratings were made. Taking top honours with the highest ratings, were Peppermill Café’s JellyTastic Shake in the drink category and Urban Bake House’s The Urban Crookie in the baking section. Coming in second and third for their drink creations were The Karaage Kid and The Regal Shortbread Co, while Peppermill Café and Regal Shortbread Co were silver and bronze on the podium for their baking. All businesses involved in ChoctoberFest reported a significant increase in sales, and foot traffic. Urban Bake House’s Matt Greenham said ChoctoberFest led to an overall spike in sales revenue as new customers came through their doors throughout the month. “Staff engagement was riding high, the bakery was abuzz! We couldn’t be happier with the way it all went,” he said. Georgia Hibbert from the Peppermill Café said the festival had been a huge hit for them. “It was incredible seeing new faces in our cafe, some who had travelled into Porirua, just to try our offerings! We even had a lovely lady choose to spend her 80th birthday here, so she could have a JellyTastic Shake,” she said. Meanwhile, more than 3000 people entered the competition to win a Whittaker’s factory tour. Whittaker’s CEO James Ardern said they were rapt to be part of the month-long chocolate celebration. “This year’s ChoctoberFest has been a great opportunity to support local businesses at a challenging time. Whittaker’s is proud to be part of this community and to continue to support this annual event, and we have loved experiencing all the creative uses of Whittaker’s Chocolate!” Porirua mayor Anita Baker says the now-annual festival highlighted the city’s creativity and constantly expanding roster of places to eat and drink. “We are a thriving destination now for people to come and enjoy hospitality, with so many options available to try. “ChoctoberFest is just one of the ways the city can support local businesses, and it was outstanding to see so many visitors to our city, as well as locals enjoying the venues in their own city.” See all the numbers on our news channel. https://lnkd.in/ge_mXNYn

A lot has changed since Brian started working as a librarian in October of 1989 📚   It was the liveliness of the city which originally drew Brian to work in Porirua as a deputy city librarian, and after 35 years, it’s working with the community that keeps him here.   Throughout his career, Brian has seen lots of changes around the city including the building of North City Plaza and the MegaCentre, and the development of the area around Te Rauparaha Park. Things have changed a lot in our libraries as well, Brian says.   "We have moved from a very temperamental mini mainframe with monochrome text screens to a very sophisticated web-based library system, and we no longer have to stamp books!"   The more recent SMART library collaboration, to link together most of the region as one library service, is a project that Brian is proud to be part of.   Now the Porirua Libraries Manager, he still loves working with library users to help them find a good book to read. You will still see Brian out on the library floor scanning books, make sure to say hello if you see him around 👋