Last Saturday morning a group of young men on a special home detention rehabilitation scheme and their supervisor formed a volunteer working party and came to clear away weeds from our club's grove of native planting on the riverbank at Taita. They cleared weeds from the edge of the planted area facing the river trail and it looks so much tidier now. The original grove of trees was planted in 2018 under the leadership of the late David Comparini who was a member of our club.
Naenae College was also involved with the original planting. There is a seat with a memorial to David beside the grove. Since then, another planting has taken place resulting in a large grove which requires ongoing weeding. It was great to have the young men's help. Paul Giles and my partner Ian also assisted with the tidying up of the grove. I took morning tea for everyone, so it had a great social atmosphere as well.