Sweet Talks

Friends of the Farm and Foreshore hosted the first of what we hope may become a series of neighbourhood “Sweet Talks” at the Farm last week.  Our vision for the evening was to bring together as many local residents, community leaders, workers, volunteers and business owners as possible, to share what our Friends’ WasteWise group has been doing in the community, and to generate ideas for ongoing waste reduction in Mangere Bridge.

The event was widely advertised through the Harcourts’ Food and Wine Festival flyer, delivered by our Friends group and other wonderful community volunteers, to the 2500 households in the area.  Using our newly created database of around 50 community groups and organisations in Mangere Bridge, we also individually contacted a representative from each group to personally invite them to the meeting and asked them to extend this to interested members.  As is often the case in our community, word of mouth proved to be a powerful advertising tool and many people came along because of a personal connection to one or other of our group members.

On the night, 42 people, with a combined total of 774 years connection with Mangere Bridge, joined in our WasteWise conversation!  Participants were connected with a broad range of local groups, including churches, schools, early childhood centres, sporting groups, interest groups and businesses.  Most lived locally as well.  Our warm up activities gave us time to identify the things we love about Mangere Bridge and to make connections with each other.

Much planning had gone into the evening, with Frances Hancock  (FOFF) and Jenny Chilcott (Auckland Council) using their fantastic facilitation skills and experience to craft an evening of fun, interactive and informative activities designed to keep people’s attention, impart information and encourage maximum participation. Meredith, Caroline and Janine’s teaching and presentation skills were put to good use in their “Show and Tell” demonstrations.  Other members helped create a welcoming, hospitable atmosphere by serving food and drinks and transforming our space into a cosy “café”.  All of us participated in small groups, taking notes and keeping conversations on track.

The evening generated a lot of discussion and ideas about what makes Mangere Bridge a “WasteWise, caring community” and how we can enhance this vision-in-action.   People highlighted the importance of our connections with each other and suggested ways of encouraging these further, with ideas for community events that might create more opportunities for us to meet together (a Mangere Bridge community picnic!).  Our public spaces were the source of much discussion, with participants generating ideas about how these might be better cared for (more bins, with recycling/ composting options, community clean ups).  Some suggested environmental education for residents, children and visitors, including classes (composting, gardening, keeping chickens, preserving/ bottling) and projects (making signs, waste sculptures).  

Participants discussed ways to create an image of ourselves as a “WasteWise, caring community”, such as using signage and media to reinforce this idea to ourselves and others.  Our businesses got a mention as a hub for our community and as a means to further promote the WasteWise, caring image.  Finally, our community resources (horse manure, avocadoes, fruit trees, water, olives, any ‘trash’ that could become someone’s ‘treasure’) were the subject of upcycling, reuse and recycling suggestions (community recycling depot, Community Fruit Harvesting, fruit/ vegetable trade table, water tanks).

Attendees gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the evening.  They told us they enjoyed meeting and interacting with others in the community, sharing and generating ideas, the food and drink, the friendliness and passion of our group, the organisation and facilitation of the evening, and the information they received.   Of the 28 evaluation forms filled in, 27 people would come to Sweet Talks again and would recommend it to others.  25 people said they supported what our Friends group is doing. 

Mangere Bridge resident Damon Shelly took the time to email further feedback after the event. "The biggest thank you for hosting/creating this event. Much, much more fun than I’d imagined, very well run – and I was taken aback at how misinformed I was when it comes to environmental issues and recycling. The knowledge shared is invaluable and will certainly be passed on. I was also tickled to meet a neighbour who I have lived beside for 3 years and never knew. Any one of these good things would have made the evening worthwhile, together it was outstanding. Thanks again, I’m looking forward to being a part of the next ‘Sweet Talks’ "

People suggested that at future “Sweet Talks” we could include other ideas for reducing waste (e.g. composting workshop), practical ways for participants to get involved in what we’re doing, updates on the progress of some of the ideas generated first time around, and more of the same!

Our group was extremely heartened by the turn out and response to our first “Sweet Talks”.   People really engaged with the activities and questions and were genuinely interested and supportive of what our Friends group has been doing.  We feel a real sense of mandate from the gathering to keep doing what we’re doing and spread the net so others can participate. Some fantastic ideas were proposed and we look forward to discussing these further and imagining how they can come to fruition in our wonderful community.