Coastal Walkway Gets Cash For Repairs

Hospice equipment, streetlights and repairs to a popular coastal walkway were among the items to get funds from the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board this month.

Grants and funds allocated by the board at its meeting in Russell on May 16 included:

• $9,797.50 to Hospice Mid-Northland Society to buy beds and other equipment

• $5,476 to a budget it established last year to pay for extra lights to improve safety in Russell and Paihia’s central business districts

• $5,300 to repair the Opua-Paihia coastal walkway

• $4,250 to the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Trust towards costs of staging the Puff N Pull Festival earlier this month

• $3,478.26 to Towai Cemetery Committee for mowing

• $2,895 to Business Paihia towards costs of holding the two-day Catch It seafood tournament in the Bay of Islands last October

• $1,500 to install extra lighting to improve security in Kawakawa’s main street.

Te Hiku Community Board members voted to buy a mural of Mangonui by artist Greg Mace from Home Comfort Antiques, Kaitaia, for $1000.

The mural will be displayed in a case at Te Ahu Centre where a large mural painted by Greg and carved by Kevin Randle and Ross Gregory has been displayed in the lobby of the community centre since 1985.

The Kaikohe-Hokianga Community Board did not allocate any community grants at its meeting this month.