Graffiti battlers, cemetery guardians and heritage promoters get cash boost

Groups that remove graffiti from Kaitaia buildings, maintain a Towai cemetery and manage a Mangonui heritage trail are the big winners in the latest allocation of grants by community boards.

The Te Hiku and Bay of Islands/Whangaroa Community Boards gave out grants totalling $10,295 to four groups at their meetings this month.

The Far North Safer Community Council was the biggest winner receiving a $5000 grant from the Te Hiku Board for its Street Maytz programme.

The council will use the money to document tagging on buildings in Kaitaia’s central business area for crime detection purposes.

Youths and adults serving community service sentences will then remove or paint over the graffiti.
The board also gave $1200 to the Mangonui Heritage Trail Management Committee which is updating and reprinting 5,000 copies of a guide to the trail at a cost of $1700.

The trail links historic sites in Mangonui and is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide to New Zealand.
The committee plans to seek the remaining $500 from Mangonui businesses.

The Floral Art Society of Northland received $300 from the board towards $1736 costs of holding a Designer of the Year show at the Christian Centre in Mangonui.

The Bay of Islands/Whangaroa Community Board approved a $3,795 grant application from the Towai Cemetery Committee. The committee will use the grant to fund a 12-month mowing programme at the cemetery.