Movies on the Green

A big thank you to the community for supporting our first “Movies on the Green” night.

Approximately 500 people carried down their bean bags, blow up furniture and in some cases armchairs down to the Village Green to snuggle up and watch some fantastic short films and the surf doco “Stepping Into Liquid”.

Many thanks to all the volunteers involved, but especially to our financial sponsors, Harvest Fresh Ltd, Next Door Productions Ltd and Robbers Dog Films.  Also, Auckland Council and the Rangers Scott and Lynette whose assistance prior to the night made it so much easier for us and the audience on the night as they supplied the portaloos!

Tim Jago, presented the building plans and timeline to the audience and outlined what a fantastic community owned building the new Surf Club at Muriwai will be.  The new building designed by Jasmax, is expected to be completed in July 2012, it will be the new home to many local sports, leisure and interest groups, a purpose designed educational facility, a gathering point for the local community, and the foundation of a strong and prosperous volunteer lifeguard service ongoing.

Movies on the Green was a combined effort from Muriwai Surf Lifesaving, and the Muriwai Beach Progressive Association.  This is a great example of two community based associations working together to bring a fantastic event to the community.  If you would like to be informed about happenings around Muriwai and have the chance to get involved or make your opinions known, please come and contribute at the MBPA meetings held on the third Tuesday of every month, 7.30 at the fire station.

Thanks again,  – Erin, Adam, Malcolm and Jayne

Six Dollar Fifty Man – Film

It was a special opportunity to view some of New Zealand’s wonderful short movies. Remember the days (if you are of an age) when a short was obligatory at the cinema? Now we get an onslaught of adverts and the rustle of popcorn.

Six Dollar Fifty Man directed by Mark Albitson and Louis Sutherland has won many prizes including Sundance, and the Berlin and other international festivals.

The Six Dollar Fifty Man theme as in many short NZ movies is about the underdog – or being different.  The hero lives in a make believe superhero world where his imagination allows him to perform extraordinary physical feats, to deal with playground bullies. But when Andy gets in trouble with the headmaster, he realises that to save himself and  his only friend Mary, he must face up to the real world.

The other shorts shown were: Valley of the Stereos, Two Cars One Night, Poppy, Kitty, and Careful with that Power Tool  – great films -great night!

 

 

 

Surf Life Saving Club

Our National Championships were held in Mount Maunganui over the 12th and 13th of March. They were initially meant to be held in Christchurch, but due to the earthquake they were re-located. Our U21 Women’s surf boat crew had a superb run in the U21 womens boat arena and were the top crew with several medals under their belts in the U21 long course and short course boat races. The crew consisted of : Jamilah Hudson, Alison Craigie, Rebecca Cray and Jessica Parkin, with Ricky Butt as their sweep. The open men’s team also medalled in the Open Men’s division (very tough division with lots of great crews!)

Alison Craigie also took bronze in the Open Women’s Beach flags and Brydhi Stark took bronze in the U19 womens beach flags. Our open men’s canoe crew also medalled (but i can’t remember their placing at this time!)

With many great achievements for Muriwai, not only this summer but over many years, we will be holding a special awards luncheon to celebrate. We will honour 100 people who have made exceptional contributions to the club as well as recognising our top athletes, our six surf lifeguards who circumnavigated the country and celebrating the coming of our new surf club!

In other news, sadly a man has gone missing at Maori Bay. Lifeguards responded to an emergency callout last Thursday night and joined the police and other search and rescue personnel to try and locate the man. It appears he went missing in the water but due to the extremely dangerous conditions the rescuers were unable to enter the water to look for him that night. The search is continuing this week.

– Fiona

 

Surf Club -update

Construction of Muriwai’s new surf club and community centre is increasingly likely to commence this winter with advice the Auckland Council is making provision in its 2011/12 expenditure programme for a $1.5 million contribution toward the project. Whilst the contribution requires a vote of council, indications are it meets with widespread political support.

Last November the NZ Lottery Grants Board announced a grant of $750,000, and in early April the Trusts Community Foundation also granted $250,000. With other funding of $600,000 already in hand, the trust spearheading the development has $3.1 million of the anticipated $4.3 million cost all but secured, and this has enabled it to negotiate bridging finance with its bank pending the outcome of other fundraising initiatives.

Local fundraising has now started in earnest. The north west communities from Massey across to Greenhithe and up to Helensville and Kaukapakapa are being asked to contribute $500,000 over time to the total project cost. The Movies on the Green night in early April was the first in a series of fundraising activities planned for the north-west communities, and an opportunity for the trust to tell its story to the hundreds gathered. The wide cross section of people present has proved that the concept of a multi-use facility has strong support from locals, and is very encouraging for the trust. A big thanks from the trust to Erin, Jayne, Adam and the MPA for coming up with this great community event and getting local fundraising off to a fantastic start.

On 15 May local MP and Prime Minister John Key will join 250 club and community members at a special function celebrating 100 years of life saving in NZ, where he will also announce the name of the construction firm that has won the tender to build the new facilities.   – Tim Jago

Th Hard way around NZ – Andrew Lancaster and Ash Matuschka recount their adventures

6 lifeguards, 5 of whom are Muriwai-based decided to celebrate 100 years of surf lifesaving in New Zealand by circumnavigating  the whole of New Zealand, visiting many surf clubs on the way. They used 2 standard IRBs for the sea journeys but on land they were backed up by 2 crew members and a separate road -based crew (including a physio ‘really important’ for massage relief after long trips). The IRBs averaged 250 kilometres a day, using GPS and marine charts to navigate by. All night time accommodation was prearranged, even for remote spots. Wholesome food was prepared by the roadie crew for morning and lunch consumptiongenerally on a remote beach usually after about 4 hours of motoring; after lunch and a rest they would then carry on for another 2-4 hours to reach their arranged destination. 

A typical day would be up at 4.30am, followed by a cooked breakfast, then the routine gear and engine checks; food and water checks and emergency rations; fuel up (90 litres) then the dress up – socks, bootees, 1st layer icebreaker merino, padded pants, offshore racing jackets plus offshore racing life jackets, then the full face helmet, with blow-up interior padding., (the idea of the blow-up interior to the helmet is to provide very comfortable padding and in case of being thrown overboard  -they weren’t, keeps the head above water.  The crews rotated 4 on, 2 off each day. 

Highlights: the 100s of dolphins sighted in the Fiordland area; the flipping of an IRB at Bridlands Flat while trying to launch; achieving a scheduled 40-day trip in 34 days and endless celebrations at all the surf clubs visited around New Zealand. 

Congratulations to the team 

– well done guys!

Here’s a quick update on what’s going on at the Muriwai Surf Club. We’ve had some great results in the past few weeks with our competition team. 

Anniversary weekend was our annual Northern Region Championships at Mount Maunganui. The weather was terrible on the Saturday due to the cyclone that hit the Bay of Plenty, and this made for massive surf and big winds. Getting through the inital heats was tough but several of our competitors were successful and made it through to semis and finals. Our head guard David Butt was rewarded when he pulled off an excellent wave into the beach and successful finish to gain second in the Open Men’s Board final. Competition is incredibly tough at NRCs with many clubs from around the North Island participating and even some Southern clubs making the journey north. Our womens beach sprinters had some tough competition on the sand but pulled through for fourth in the Open womens and U19 womens beach relays. Our U21 women’s boat crew were strong competitors in their long and short course races and went head to head with Piha for some tight finishes. They were second in the women’s U21 long course. The racing was cancelled on the first day for a time when the surf got too large but after a complete turn around with the weather for Sunday, we were back on the water! 

Next weekend we’ll see the Lion Foundation Surf League, where all the different regions go head to head at the Mount again. Muriwai IRB racing crew David Butt and Brent Matuschka will represent Auckland as the Open IRB crew. The two boys are veterans of Surf League and have represented Auckland in the junior team for several years now, but with the Senior Muriwai crew of Ash Matuschka and Andrew Lancaster circumnavigating the country, the Junior team have had the call up this year. David and Brent are strong IRB competitors and consistetly medal at regional and national levels. Muriwai supporters will head down to the Mount to see them battle it out this weekend – should be very exciting to see!

The 23rd of February was our Northern Region patrol champs at Waipu beach. This competition sees Northern region clubs go head to head in life saving scenarios to test the best all-round patrolling team. Five lifeguards from each club compete in a surf swim, board rescue, tube rescue, theory test, first aid scenario and first aid demonstration to gain points. The best overall club goes home with the trophy! Muriwai did an excellent job – with head lifeguard David Butt taking out the surf swim setting us off to an early lead. They performed highly in all areas of the competition taking out first place! Muriwai have consistently won patrol champs over the past few years, missing out only once to United North Piha. This year’s second place was Whangarei heads with Piha taking third. 

  -Fiona Whyte,Muriwai Volunteer Lifeguard Service PR officer

Surf Life Saving Club—update

  More progress toward our new surf life saving club and community facility. 

The time line for the new surf life saving club and community facility became clearer last month when the Trust steering the project confirmed a programme of works for the next nine months.

Detailed designs and working drawings will be completed by 16 December. A building consent application will be lodged by 16 January. The project will go to tender in February, to identify a head contractor by late March.

New Surf Club Clubhouse

Development of the new surf life saving clubhouse and community centre has taken another major step forward, with the building trust deciding last week to progress with final architectural design work so that a building permit can be uplifted before Christmas. At the same meeting trustees briefed Prime Minister and local MP John Key, who is also the trust’s Patron.   

Tree Planting at Surf Club Ground

 

The trust’s decision to move to the next stage followed receipt of an independent quantity surveyor’s evaluation of the project, which indicates the cost of construction is now $3.8 million.  This is less than when costed in 2009, and is a net price that does not take into account further reductions the trust aims to achieve through donated goods and services. The trust is aiming to get the construction cost down to $3.5 million.