Plans aim to revitalise Mangawhai Domain

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JULIA WADE

One of Mangawhai’s valuable community-owned jewels has been treated to a makeover and is now sporting a brand-new look.

The Mangawhai Domain hall has received a lick of paint both inside and out, with outer walls and roof, kitchen and internal hallway all spruced up and new blinds installed. The surrounding grounds are also getting a revamp, with the children’s playground given a tidy up, extra parking spaces added, unusable fields being replenished, and planned new board and batten sheds set to match the hall’s colour scheme for a less industrial look.

Overseen by Mangawhai Domain Society (MDS) chair Robert de Koning and facility manager/booking administrator Renee Hanley, the improvements were made possible by funds raised from the annual summer gala, with the work done mainly by local companies.

“The Domain is such a valuable community asset, so it’s important to maintain and upgrade, and it makes for a fresh, clean space especially for hiring out,” Hanley says, whose main role is managing the operation of the Domain.

“The hall is being used a lot more now by larger organisations like councils and government bodies as well as community groups looking for more space so that’s really encouraging. Keeping up with the maintenance schedule, whether its monthly, every six months, yearly or over ten years, also means we can work towards grants and find funding.”

The Domain’s 18,000sqm back fields are also being overhauled, with free topsoil from Mangawhai Central carted in and the area fertilised and resown. Koning says they are expecting the new grass fields will be available for summer cricket and football next year.

“Once it is all done it will be a nice surface for a cricket oval in summer and two football fields next winter, allowing for the football club to hold tournaments which they haven’t been able to do… and we can still have parking for the gala.”

With enthusiasm building for a cricket club to start in the coming summer, a pitch has already been created with plans to also add a state-of-the-art cricket training net and storage shed for the sports equipment, built by volunteers and funded by a grant from Kaipara District Council.

“There was cricket here before and the new pitch is where the old one used to lie, but for whatever reason was taken out. There is a feeling in the community that people are keen to have cricket back at the Domain.”

De Koning says the MDS are also open to hear requests from other sports groups who can ‘kick start’ their ideas and present a reasonable plan of how they would like to use the facility.

While the Domain’s grounds are open for all locals to enjoy, the community representation of paid members is low – about 2 per cent – and having regular

commitment from volunteers for events or on the committee is becoming increasingly harder Renee Hanley says.

“We have a lot of wonderful volunteers, however with the demographic of the area changing with more young families coming here, and people’s busy lives with working and families, we understand the commitment to spend time here is pretty big,” she says.

“We would like to see more families involved though and become members of the Domain Society, which allows them to have a say in what happens here.”

MDS membership extends to residents living within the Mangawhai Beach School catchment area, however people dwelling outside this frame can still join as a ‘Friend of the Domain’, although the affiliation does not extend to voting at meetings. With an annual charge of only $10, which goes towards maintenance costs, Koning says the fee however, is not the most important part of being part of the MDS.

“By being a member or Friend of the Domain, people are showing their support for the facility, as well as some respect to the people who started this place a very long time ago, who gifted this land and put a lot of labour into establishing the grounds,” he says.

“The Domain is a community facility, we may get support from the council but it is fully owned and run by the community. However, if we want to keep it that way, we need more of the community to be involved.”

 

n Interested in becoming a member, a Friend of the Domain? Email MDS secretary Bart Peters, mangawhaidomainsecretary@gmail.com or come along to the Mangawhai Domain Society’s AGM on June 27 at 2pm. n To book at the Domain please email mangawhaidomainbookings.co.nz. n Donations are always appreciated.

Showcasing the Domain hall’s new paint, along with recently water-blasted deck and freshly cleaned windows, all done by local professionals, Mangawhai Domain Society chair Robert de Koning and facility manager Renee Hanley want to encourage more people to support the community-owned facility and have a say in its future. PHOTO/JULIA WADE

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