Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust

By Scott Willis

BRCT is supporting the launch of the Blueskin Low Oil Commuting Group
this month (Sunday 10 October) and the Blueskin 101010: Climate Change
Hikoi, led by passionate community volunteers, facilitated by Waitati
School, and supported by Waitati, Warrington and Purakaunui Schools.
There's a growing sense of collective Blueskin identity, and greater
power in integrated actions that are expressed well by the 'Climate
Change Hikoi' – a metaphorical as well as literal journey. And what a
fantastically successful "Get the Train" on 22 September. Big
congratulations are due to all the hardworking volunteer team who made
the event possible, and who continue to work towards establishing
commuter rail for our communities. BRCT is proud to support such
passion and dynamism.
One of BRCT's objectives is to stimulate local sustainable economic
activity and the Trust is right behind an initiative launched by Jenny
Haydon to co-ordinate a Blueskin Working Breakfast (8.30, Friday 15
October) at the Blueskin Bay Café. RSVP to Jenny on 482 1409. In
parallel, and in order to become more effective in delivering strong
community outcomes, BRCT is working on an Angel Volunteer programme,
aiming, among other things, to put value on all the volunteer activity
within (and eventually beyond) the BRCT sphere.
WEP is BRCT's main project (see below), however the Trust also
supports the Waitati Edible Gardens group in two of their initiatives,
Waitati Open Orchards and Blueskin Bay Area School Edible Gardens.
The BRCT office is housed in the Old Waitati Store, thanks to the
generosity of Mark and Rayna Dickson, and provides umbrella support
for community initiatives seeking to build stronger, more sustainable
Blueskin communities (as above).
Since the inception of BRCT in 2008 a number of very successful
projects have been completed in Blueskin Bay, most notably perhaps the
Waitati Energy Project Retrofit Programme in 2009. That was thanks to
the considerable time and enthusiasm put in by 2008 – 2010 trustees
(Mark Dickson, Geraldine Tait, Chris Young – and myself at that point)
and officer Antony Deaker. BRCT has now entered a new phase, working
directly to support Blueskin Power, the Waitati Energy Project
renewable generation initiative. I am now solely concerned with
management, while governance is assured by the new trustees and
officer. The BRCT office will continue to work productively with other
groups and initiatives while maintaining its focus on the Waitati
Energy Project.
More information on the Trust's vision, mission, objectives and
activities is available on the Transition Waitati webpage:
www.transitiontowns.org.nz/waitati or by contacting me on 03 482
2048.