It is that time of the year where we all start thinking about… the Annual General Meeting at which we wonder where the year has gone, what has been achieved and how we are going to get new committee members, and what are the plans for the next twelve months. We have the Williams Corp doing a presentation at St Faiths on the 27th at 7.15pm (see below for details) but they will not solve the questions posed above, but talk about their New Brighton developments, intensification (not so much an issue in the Coastal ward), and insight into the apartments they are building on three developments. There will be question opportunities from the audience. Back to the AGM, good news is the New Brighton Residents Association with its great web page and two Facebook pages keeps people informed, but we need new members and new directions. We lost our previous Chair Celeste Donovan to Council, and Covid and other commitments has reduced our team. NBRA did manage a few wins in the past year, appearing in front of Council on behalf of residents, and lobbying and liaising with Star Media City to Surf organisers to get this event back to where it belongs. It also facilitated and arranged ‘the chapel’ to be moved back onto a prominent foreshore position and organised for the tiny hut ‘Art-o-mat’ to be donated to the New Brighton Community Gardens to be turned into a seed dispensary. We worked with the North Brighton Residents Association initiative to get better controls and education around dogs on beaches. Continued to support the work of local groups and business like the Lions, St Faiths, Carnaby Collective, He Puna Taimoana and many more to keep the creative juices going in our area. We achieved a fair bit but need new ideas and drive and all it entails is a about 6 meetings of about an hour in a year, plus whatever else you want to contribute with from an admin or project point of view. Our Community Board liaison was Councillor Celeste Donovan who did a great job with keeping the group in tune with events and followed up on residents’ enquiries.