The entrance to Te Kauwhata Domain has got a little brighter thanks to the handy work of the town’s youth.
The fence around the domain’s dog exercise area is now home to around a dozen brightly-coloured “dogs”.
The initiative has meant a cross-section of the community has been able to come together to work on the project. From Spring Hill Correction Facility, who were on keen to get on board and very supportive, to the College students and the Community Committee, everyone has done their bit to brighten up the well-used community domain.
Whangamarino Councillor Jan Sedgwick says this is a great example of how a connected community works together. “I first saw the dog shapes outside a vet clinic in Auckland and thought it was a great visual for our own park. I raised it with Spring Hill Correction Facility as a concept, then with the Te Kauwhata Community Committee which picked up the project and ran with it, with a lot of input from Te Kauwhata College teachers and students as well. It’s a real life example of a community project done by locals, for locals.
“Its success is a tribute to the tenacity of TKCC member and project leader Tim Hinton, who has stuck with the lengthy process like a dog with a bone.
“We are very fortunate that Te Kauwhata has such an asset with the domain and this is just the start of more projects by the TKCC and Council to improve the domain amenities for this fast growing community.
“The dog park is a favourite meeting spot where old and new residents can get together, and get to know each other while exercising their dogs.
“And apparently the first sight of the dog shapes often gets a very puzzled response from the real life dogs trying to figure out who the interlopers are in ‘their’ park,” Cr Sedgwick says.
The latest set of wooden dogs were painted by the Year 7 and 8 junior art class at Te Kauwhata College and coordinated by senior students Grace Geck and Daniele Guy.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Teresa Hancock
Communications Advisor
Waikato District Council
027 706 5776
communications@waidc.govt.nz
