Community Groups
WHO’S WHO IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Panmure-Ellerslie Citizens Advice Bureau
The Panmure office of the Citizens Advice Bureau opened in 1978, and since then Bureau staff have provided a free, confidential information and advice service to the people of Panmure and surrounding suburbs. Our trained interviewers are dedicated volunteers hailing from many different ethnic communities. Some have been with us for a few months, and others up to 20 years. We welcome new members and give extensive training and ongoing support.
In addition to our information and advice service, we also have a Justice of the Peace available three sessions/week; counselling, and legal advice by appointment; and we are an agent for the local Foodbank. Career Services also provides advice to job seekers one morning/week, by appointment.
We are open Monday-Friday from 9.00am - 12.45pm. Drop in and see us in the Panmure Community Centre, Pilkington Rd; or phone 573 5707. No problem is too big or too small.
Island Child Charitable Trust is a small local organisation. The Trust’s programmes improve educational and life outcomes, in particular with Maori/Pacific whanau.
‘Riding for Youth’ is an animal assisted learning programme mentoring local youth and assists them to identify and reach their goals. The programme is designed to prevent youth offending in our community and improve educational outcomes. We encourage community partnership by having parents/whanau involved along-side their youth.
Instant Finance recently gave $1000 donation to help the Trust purchase a pony truck. With improved transport the youth are now able to attend ribbon days and pony events around Auckland.
Competing involves many hours of preparation including riding tuition, cleaning horse and tack. The youth show great pride in winning ribbons and learn that with hard work, their goals can be achieved.
Some other skills learnt are confidence, teamwork, communication, time management, responsibility and improved concentration.
To help fund ICCT ‘Riding for youth’ programme, our annual fundraiser is ‘Fresh Christmas Tree sales’ held from December 1st at Trust premises, 3/59 Pt England Road, Pt England. Known locally as ‘Xmas Tree Gals’ and ‘Tree Wise Men. 0800 TREEWISE.
The Trust also offers emergency housing to families in need. We are proud to be part of Panmure community and wish to thank Progressive Panmure and Instant Finance for their support.
For enquiries please call Danielle and Wendy ICCT 09 574 5530
The Panmure Community Action Group, formed eight years ago to give Panmure people a strong voice on local planning issues, is still going strong and still fighting on behalf of our town and its residents.
Things have moved on a bit since those early days of fighting high-rise, high-density rezoning plans but issues that matter to our town continue to crop up and gain our attention.
Traffic congestion - particularly on the Panmure Roundabout and Jellicoe Road - is currently high on the list of the PCAG’s priorities, and we are lobbying the Auckland City Council for an urgent resolution to these problems in light of the fact that the huge Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative appears to have hit a funding road-block and had its projected completion date pushed out beyond 2030.
Panmure can’t wait that long, so the PCAG is calling for a new link road on the Western side of the railway line to take the heavy industrial traffic off Jellicoe and the Roundabout.
We’re also fighting any attempts to remove or restrict parking spaces in the Panmure shopping centre and we certainly don’t want to see parking meters introduced, as some Council planners have mooted.
But traffic congestion and parking problems are just two of the many issues that the PCAG has taken up on Panmure’s behalf over the years. We’ve also made strong representations on the Auckland Governance Commission, the Panmure Town Centre Upgrade, Housing Intensification, the protection of Volcanic sightlines, the attempts to preserve the old Loombs Hotel building and many other issues that matter to local people.
It has long been the PCAG’s view that Panmure has suffered 20 years of neglect under Auckland City Council “management” and deserves a better deal than it has had so far. This town is, after all, one of the senior settlements in Auckland, celebrat-ing its 160th birthday in November.
People who remember the town from the Mount Wellington Borough Council days will tell you what a vibrant and prosperous place it was, with a huge range of high-quality shops and businesses.
We firmly believe that Panmure can be that way again, if not better. But it’s up to the people who live here to make their voices heard on all issues from town planning to crime prevention and vandalism.
The PCAG will keeping fighting for Panmure on behalf of its residents and we are always open to new ideas and fresh members.
If you want to know more about the Panmure Community Action Group, write to us at PO Box 14079, Panmure or email keith.sharp@xtra.co.nz.
Keith Sharp, Secretary.
Mountainside FM
Back in 2004, Robert Houison, the driving force behind Mountainside Fm saw there was a lack of public information getting to the local community.
At that time reliance was on local papers and other news media but nothing was really said about local issues. The decision was made to start a local community radio station providing information and good decent music. This was originally organized as a hobby but over the past four years has become something of an obsession due to the popularity of Mountainside Fm.
In October 2004 Paul Clapshaw came on board as Programme Producer. The music is basically from the 1940’s through to the early eighties with specialized programmes such as Children’s Hour, Nostalgia, Country, Comedy, Big Band Swing Time and stories on major artists amongst others. Mountainside Fm have a library of some 68,000 musical tracks most of which have been directly taken from original vinyl records or tapes.
Both semi-retired, the hosts play an important role in keeping the community informed.
As needs arise meetings are also held with other authorities in an endeavour to sort out community problems and concerns.
Mountainside Fm can be heard on either 88.3fm or 107.3fm. The station also offers free advertising to Community Groups and organizations. Please contact Paul on 5277623 or Robert on 5704556. P.O. Box 14220 Panmure 1741
Maungarei Cadets
Maungarei Cadets based at 21A Te Koa Rd, Panmure is a unit specialising in youth leadership development. This 3 year, nationally cordinated training programme is run by trained Cadet Officers and aims to teach the youth aged 13 - 18 years, communication and presentation skills, leadership, team building, outdoor skills, first aid and goal setting. The unit was established in 2006 and currently has 30 - 40 youth, both men and women and a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds. Parade night every Wednesday night between 5.30pm to 9pm.
For further information please phone Ian Anderson - 570 729
