Kia ora whānau,

As winter begins to bite in the deep south we look forward to the arrival of spring and the new life that it brings. After a run of beautiful sunny days, the gardeners among you will notice how confused some of the plants are. Over the last month the we have been involved in a number of hui including the Southland Land and Water Plan hui, Murihiku Mahinga Kai Regional Forum and the Tu Pono hui. We also had an open governance training day which was well received.

Please remember our Ngā Taonga Programme for tamariki. This exciting initiative runs on the same days as the general monthly hui. Tamariki who have attended the first few have really enjoyed the experience. As you can see, there are many current and future opportunities available to whānau, so if you or any of your whānau are interested in becoming more involved in the work of the rūnaka please contact us here at the office for more information.

If you have enjoyed a birthday in the last month or have new additions to your whānau, congratulations and here is wishing you all good health and prosperity for the year ahead.

Ngāi Tahu Fund

We have a number of whānau who wanted to know more about applying to the Ngāi Tahu Fund so we invited the team from the Ngāi Tahu Fund to visit our rūnaka offices to meet and interview whānau. Whānau were encouraged to discuss the ideas and projects that they want to complete and by the end of the workshop they felt more confident about filling out the application forms so they can get their projects off the ground. Whānau were also happy to find out about other funding that is available for ideas not specific to Ngāi Tahu culture.

The ideas our whānau have about sharing our cultural values and knowledge are amazing and we are really excited to see what comes once the next funding round closes on 23 September.

Alan Solomon making the most of the time with Ngāi Tahu Fund.

Alan Solomon making the most of the time with Ngāi Tahu Fund.

Reti and Ranui Bull learning more about the Ngāi Tahu Fund.

Reti and Ranui Bull learning more about the Ngāi Tahu Fund.