LandSAR delivers on community auction bid
Liam Solly (front right) and his friends John Laws and Harry Fleming supervise members of their Search and Rescue work force, Graham Pomeroy, top left, Hobie Mercer top right, and Mik Symmons. Photo: Maria Polglase.
Last Sunday Golden Bay Land Search and Rescue volunteers fronted up for a new challenge on unfamiliar terrain: a day of team labouring on Kris and Julie Solly’s Pohara property.
The day’s work was the fulfilment of the lot that Kris and Julie bid for and won at the last Harcourts fundraising auction, though there had been some premeditation at work, admitted Kris.
“We had a vision of what we wanted them to do before we bid, because we’re just so busy and don’t have a lot of time to do major projects. We wanted them to modify the kids’ play hut, but that was a building job; put a roof on the outside spa pool and do some planting on the banks and some pruning.” There was also a big pile of gravel beside the house destined for landscaping. Linda O’Connor, Elly de Lange and Corina Ward tackled the gardening, while Dave Egan, Ricky Ward, Jim Mackie, Blue Horton, Paul Heimel, Graham Pomeroy, Hobie Mercer and Mik Symmons got stuck into the rest.
“It’s magic really,” said Julie. “We could have had 10 people up here every weekend. And they’ve been so organised. Blue came earlier and asked us what we wanted to do, and a couple popped in during the week to see what we needed. They all came totally prepared at 8am and haven’t sat still all day. We’re incredibly grateful to Lifestyle Hire – half of Lifestyle Hire is here in terms of gear.
“It needs to be said that these guys volunteer their time for their rescue work and then they volunteer their time again to raise money. It doesn’t feel right for them to have to volunteer to make money for basic equipment. Some of them have had their own issues with floods on their properties, some have been down to help with the earthquake, and they were telling me they’ve had a particularly busy year. It’s been huge for them to find the time to do this.”
Nevertheless, much was done and in good cheer. “It’s been a good thing for us to be able to work together in a non-search environment,” commented Hobie.
From the roof of the play hut, branch president Graham Pomeroy said he wanted to thank the Sollys and the whole community for getting behind the Harcourts auction.
This had been a great thing for the community, he said, “and we’ll be doing similar things in future.”
Maria Polglase
