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Trampoline access
by Sandy & Frances Ross 16 Jul '21

16 Jul '21

Hi everyone, The trampoline has been getting heaps of use in the school holidays (thank you to the Tim and Pip Ross family) and with the heavy rain of 2 nights ago, the grass was suffering and a pool forming at the base of the steps. We have therefore changed the orientation a little and put stepping stones from the path across the garden to the trampoline entrance with a wider base and a place for shoes to be left. We will keep a close eye on this and add stones if need be. Please encourage all trampoline users to use the stepping stones and not go on the grass until it dries out a bit. Frances

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Fwd: For tomorrow's meeting
by Jessica Shields 16 Jul '21

16 Jul '21

Kia ora everyone, In order to present our best selves to our guests over the opening weekend we need help from the cohousing community with the following tasks. Unless specifically stated these tasks can be done at any point leading up to the opening weekend, and we would be delighted, if people feel that they can take up a specific task, to put their name beside it in an email to the Outreach Group (Anthony, Anne, Kristin, Gay, Claire, Rosemarie and Jess). Personnel - We ask for volunteers to drop invites into the neighbours’ letterboxes on the streets surrounding Toiora. Rosemarie will deliver some to people she knows personally. - This may be obvious but we would love anyone who is free and willing to come along to the formal opening at 2pm on the Friday – a strong cohousing presence would be fantastic - Anne is going to put up a roster in the commonhouse for people to sign themselves on for an hour of mingling and chatting with the neighbours on the Saturday afternoon. This would be committing you to spend an hour (or more if you choose!) in the commonhouse during the afternoon to strike up conversations with guests and help them feel welcome. - We think providing sticky labels as an option for people to write their name and wear during the neighbours' afternoon might be helpful/ welcoming. These will need to be bought and provided alongside pens - The waiata will be sent as a separate email and we ask that cohousers commit to learning it for the formal opening. This will be sung in response to the greeting and blessing from the Runaka and is one way we can show them how grateful we are to their gift of the name Toiora to us, and their continued willingness to be involved with us. After the shared meals there will be practices of this waiata so that we can all sing with confidence at the opening. Catering - We ask the Kitchen Group to clean and stack the cups and plates and have them ready for the Friday afternoon. After the event they will once more need to be cleaned and stacked for the neighbours afternoon the following day - We ask for any big-sized coffee plungers for use over the Friday and Saturday. Jess has been lent three from her church to get us started. They have also lent us an urn. - On the Friday the Outreach Group will purchase 2x savoury packs and 2x slab cakes from Frozen Direct for the Friday afternoon, with anything left over for use on the Saturday. - We ask cohousers to each provide a small plate of finger food/baking for the neighbours afternoon on the Saturday. - We ask that cohousers help with the tidying up/ transition between the neighbours afternoon and the shared meal Presentation of the commonhouse - There will be a working bee the morning of the Friday to do a general tidy up - We ask the Commonhouse Group to please remove all unwanted items from the commonhouse - If someone knows about where the wooden 3D model of the development is and how to access it, we thought it would be great to have on display. Along these lines also, if the posters that were on the walls of the old meeting space of the development plans are still available we would love those too - We ask the Heritage Fence Group to see if they can create a poster/ information sheet about what progress has been made on the heritage fence, what the next steps are and how the neighbourhood can help out if they so wish - We ask the Signs Group to see if they can have the entrance signs ready (we realise this may not be possible, but would be interested in seeing if it could be) - We would like to see if we can display the old ‘High Street School’ filigree sign and the ‘nau mai haere mai’ signs nicely. If anyone has any ideas about how best to do this, please let the Outreach Group know. - We would like to have some posters on the wall about what cohousing is, and if anyone who has a summary they have used in a presentation feels happy to share what they have, please pass this on to the Outreach Group. Information will need to be printed and displayed around the room. - Anne is going to look for some of the historical information/ documents we have about the school and grounds, but if anyone has anything of this nature they can share please let her know/ offer your help to organise and display it - Gay has lots of pots that can be displayed nicely at the commonhouse Montpellier entrance to brighten up that space. If you have a spare moment when you’re walking around, these just need to be moved from Gay’s space to the common entrance - Sander: we would love to have the projector up and ready to use and have a slideshow of photos/ information. What do you need to get the projector up on the wall and working? Many thanks to everyone for your help with this! Anthony, Anne, Gay, Claire, Kristin, Rosemarie and Jess >

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Laundry power
by Anthony Doesburg 16 Jul '21

16 Jul '21

Hi All, The news on the container power problem is that Aotea will be here on Monday morning to replace the circuit breaker in the main electricity cabinet. They’re not certain that will fix it, but the next place to look if that’s not the solution is at the cable. Monday’s visit will require the power to the whole site being turned off for 20 minutes or so. If for some reason you can absolutely not do without power at 10am on Monday, please let me know as soon as possible and I’ll arrange an alternative time with Aotea. Anna and I have a washing machine that anyone is welcome to use in the meantime, along with the others people have already offered. Let’s hope this fix will be an end to the laundry—not to mention sauna—power woes. Anthony

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The end is nigh!!
by Rosemarie Smith 15 Jul '21

15 Jul '21

Hi folks You will have noticed signs that our family home (Jane, John and Eva Reynolds with the red door and Maurice and I with the green) is finally approaching completion. We figure Sam will be highly motivated to finish now his clubhouse container has gone. Then providing the building inspector is happy on Monday week, we will start moving in the following day. As soon as the boxing is up for the paths and driveway we want to start tidying that shared strip between the house and the Toiora driveway, and propose putting down some bark chip for starters so it looks ok in the meantime and for the open day. Really building up the soil and planting can wait. John is on leave at the moment, so we might start bringing in and spreading bark this weekend if that’s ok with everyone. Obviously he will have to come up the driveway but will try not to block it for longer than necessary to offload. A lot of you know Jane and John from earlier UCOL days (tho Eva has grown a bit since then) but those who don’t feel free to introduce yourselves if you see John with the bark. (Feel free to bring a rake.) Subject to discussion with the garden group, we hope that strip will be planted mostly with natives. Cheers Rosemarie, Maurice, Jane, John and Eva

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after dinner concerts
by Jeffrey Robinson 13 Jul '21

13 Jul '21

Hi everyone I have booked 3 after-dinner concerts and have a fourth musician lined up for October but the date isn't settled. They are on Gather. Saturday 24th July ~7.30 - Classical guitar with Braden SoutheeSunday 8th August ~7.30 - Folk duo 'Sweet Hurricane' - Imogen Coxhead and Denis GordonFriday 24th of September ~7.30 - local acoustic blues legend Terry Ebeling October - the sometime house painter around Toiroa, Miguel on the pan pipes No money involved, we just have the musicians and partners for dinner they will play for about 30 minutes. CheersJeffrey

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Painting beams in workshop
by Frances Ross 10 Jul '21

10 Jul '21

Hi, I got most of the pergola beams painted in the workshop today but they need to be turned over and the underside and both ends painted. We leave for Timaru in the morning so I cannot complete. If anyone is free I would suggest: 1. Turn the heater on early and wait 2 hours. It needs to be 10 degrees to paint. Take brushes out of water and dry them off. 2. Get someone to help you turn the beams over (they are very heavy). Painting would only take 20-30 minutes. 3. Leave heater on while paint dries (2 hours or so). Beams would then be ready in the afternoon if the construction team wanted to put any more up. Regards, Sandy Sent from my iPhone

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Official opening events
by Anne Thomson 10 Jul '21

10 Jul '21

Hi all, Having read the notes from Thursday's meeting, which I was unfortunately unable to be at, I want to explain a bit further the intention around the events planned for our 'opening weekend'. *Friday 30 July 2pm* is the "official opening ceremony". People are invited to gather outside at 7 Montpellier St , where Ngai Tahu will complete the karakia process started at the ground-breaking ceremony. (This is the way the runaka describe it.) There may or may not be a ribbon to cut! We will move into the common house for a couple of brief speeches, and afternoon tea. Guests will be invited to view the shared areas. This is a formal occasion, reasonably brief (1.5 hours max). Invited guests are DCC, MPs, the contractors and other professionals who have been part of the project and who have worked with us to achieve completion. *Saturday 31 July 2.30-5.00pm* is an 'at home' afternoon - an invitation for neighbours and supporters and friends to drop in for a visit during the afternoon, to have something to eat, a chance to sit and chat, a look around the shared areas. This is the occasion when we want to invite the neighbours (and we will do a letterbox drop for that), people who have been part of the Toiora journey (investors, people who were part of the group for a time) and our friends. There will be a 'rolling' afternoon tea during this time, and we will ask Toiorans to spend some time in the common house to act as hosts during the afternoon. (We'll sort out a roster) Food will be what is purchased from the budget allocated (any leftovers from Friday if they are safely stored overnight) and we also ask for contributions from the residents: "bring a plate". We wanted to invite the neighbours to this event because it is more informal and will give us an opportunity to meet them, talk with them, introduce ourselves, hopefully begin to build some relationships. That is not likely to happen at the formal event on Friday afternoon. We also suggest that we have a Toiora shared meal at 5.30pm on Saturday, and let those who come in the afternoon know that if they wish to join us for that, they would be welcome to share in the meal. How they deal with the timing of that is theirs to deal with. We do not expect people to spend all afternoon here and then stay on for dinner - this is a 'drop-in' event. I hope that has helped to clear up some of the confusion that apparently arose when this was being discussed on Thursday. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns about this plan. Invitations to the official opening on Friday are being sent out now. (I attach the invitation) We will produce an invitation for the Saturday afternoon (later this week, maybe) and circulate it so that people can use it to invite people they know. I will also get a spreadsheet on to Gather or somewhere suitable so that we can keep a list of who is invited. Go well, Anne

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hoping this works: Draft notes from last night's meeting
by mariannequinn＠xtra.co.nz 09 Jul '21

09 Jul '21

Hi all: see ( hopefully) attached draft notes from UCOL meeting 8th July. Best wishes for a chilly night - Marianne Marianne Quinn Level 3, 115 Stuart Street, Dunedin P.O. Box 20, Dunedin 9054 ph +6434773115 or 0211612050

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Rainer's Finnish Sauna
by Rainer Beneke 09 Jul '21

09 Jul '21

Hi all As promised attached a PDF with the chapter from the sauna design book I used, explaining basics about a sauna bath. Also attached the page on Totora’s Sauna rules and instructions, which I will also laminate and leave in the laundry. If you are interested in booking the Sauna, please get in touch with me and I’ll explain the instruction sheet. warm regards Rainer Please call me if you need an urgent reply. Rainer Beneke +64 21 144 7700 rainer.ucol(a)gmail.com

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roller and long handle for painting kitchen
by Jeffrey Robinson 08 Jul '21

08 Jul '21

Does anyone have roller with a long handle I can borrow for painting the kitchen ceiling? Don't need a sleeve, just the roller, water based paint so washes off. Thank you Jeffrey

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