Wow, what a great turnout for the Mormon Helping Hands project on Saturday 2 April.  Our school looked like an ant’s nest. The school teemed with people busy doing allsorts of jobs. There was a team of builders busy replacing the steps leading up to the hall. They kept working even after most people went home. Another team built new seating. Check out the new seats outside the Intermediates. They arranged for some seating outside Rooms 3 and 4 to be readied; this has still to be installed.
Kowhai Syndicate are very pleased with their new planter boxes and the grouting around their decorative tiles which will be on display along their decks soon.  We had some hard-working helpers doing waterblasting; others got rid of old concrete including the big old pipe outside Room 11.  What a difference to have it gone, the whole area looks more spacious and the students can now sit comfortably on the seating without their knees knocking on the pipe.
There was a huge team of people levelling the ground under the playground and laying new thick underlay and placing pretty blue matting on top.  It was a big job and quite tricky to lay it in just the right place.  The job’s not quite finished but already it looks spectacular.  We need to finish laying the mat, cut pieces to fit round poles etc, and then edge the area. There’s some tidy-up work still to be done in the ground around about, too.
The gardening crew worked really hard.  Gardens all over the school received a facelift, with weeding, pruning, transplanting, planting the new, and compost added.  Thanks to the Proctor family who donated 8 bags of compost.  We had a team of people clearing the back of Totara Syndicate and distributing mulch over the Native Garden and setting up for future planting in this area.  A keen group put in a new garden around the welcome sign at the front which looks lovely.  What super people who managed to do such a fabulous job even though they looked like drowned rats at the end.

Some wonderful people from the Church painted all the cupboards in three blocks.  The ruby red looked spectacular when finished.  Two rooms accidentally were missed out but we will make sure they are finished off.  The painters were still working on the job long after other people had gone home and the whole time they were so cheerful and patient.  They are wonderful ambassadors for their Church.
In the midst of all this frenetic activity, there was a small group of lucky people who were able to miss the rain because they were working on a giant mural.  Watch out for this.  When it’s finished it will be going up outside the office.  This group may have missed the weather but they will be putting in some evenings to get the job finished.  We can’t miss out a mention for those who organised the Bouncy Castle in the hall.
And, last but by no means least, a big thank you to the team of people who made us all such a delicious lunch.  To the Church of the Latter Day Saints who organised and participated in Helping Hands Day, and to all our own families who came to help them, a very big thank you!  You are warm-hearted, kind, generous and hard-working people.  You’ve done a wonderful job for our school.  There are generations of children who will thank you.

Jude Black