Catherine Stewart Tauranga City Councillor

Last week I attended the opening of ‘Historic Tauranga from Above 1946-2006' at Creative Tauranga.

Alf Rendell has captured Tauranga's history with his amazing photography for more than 70 years.

The exhibition runs to January 5, 2015. Not only is Alf an amazing photographer, but he also volunteers at Te Puna Quarry Park on a regular basis.

I attended the Volunteer of the Year award this week. Volunteer Western Bay of Plenty is located at the Historic Village and run by Theo Ursum and his team. If you want to volunteer or need volunteers, Theo is the person to contact.

All the people who made the finals were worthy of winning and the selection team had a difficult time choosing the winners in each category.

Trustee of the Year was awarded to Peter Simmons, Volunteer of the Year to Sara Hillier-Jones and Youth Volunteer of the Year was Sinead Roach.

More than 2000 people give up their time to help about 90 community organisations in the Western Bay.

A bouquet goes to Penny Jackson, director of Tauranga Art Gallery. Penny has brought many new initiatives to the Tauranga Art Gallery during her time as a director, which created community interest and extra revenue.

Recently I took my grandson along to a 'hands on” creative day. The gallery was packed and children left with their treasured pieces of handicraft. Penny has recently resigned – thanks for doing a great job Penny.

An event coming up this month led by Simone Anderson, from the Incubator, and her volunteers is Village Junktion. Scheduled for Thursday, December 18 beginning at 5pm, there will be a variety of stalls. The Sugar Plum Tree Cafe will be open for evening meals. For further information email Simone at info@theincubator.co.nz

Back in the Chambers, briefings have continued to inform elected members on issues leading up to the Long Term Plan.

Council meetings will be held before Christmas, where elected members will discuss and prioritise projects and funding before a draft Long Term Plan is adopted in March. This will go out for community consultation from March 10-April 11.