Friday, 3 June 2011

Youth Development Unit serves community through maintenance initiative at Harcourt Park.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 03 JUNE 2011—Trainees from the NZ Defence Force’s Youth Development Unit (YDU), were tasked with conducting a community based activity in Upper Hutt.

The initiative was organised in conjunction with the Upper Hutt City Council to help give the trainees a sense of serving the community, and to increase the community profile of the YDU.

On Saturday 14 May, 90 trainees, sent in three waves, and in their respective platoon groups set out to help improve Harcourt Park walking tracks and tree areas as directed by Conrad King, Parks and Reserves Officer for the Upper Hutt City Council. A number of large piles of gravel were dumped on one of the tracks in Harcourt Park and the trainees used shovels, spades, rakes and wheel barrows to spread the gravel to make an even covering of 50 mm along its length, ready for compacting. There were also a large number of bark mulch piles that were spread around trees in the park.

Mr King inspected the site on Monday morning and was surprised with the amount of work completed. “It was beyond what we were expecting and the quality of finish was close to perfect. The appearance of that area of the park has certainly been improved and the tracks are now more accessible to the public.” he said.

The trainees from all over the lower North Island, who are job seekers with Work and Income, certainly lived up to the values the course aims to instill. Team work, initiative, motivation, and a sense of community pride were all evident in the effort they put into the task.

Wayne Guppy, Mayor of Upper Hutt said, “They did an outstanding job! It was absolutely phenomenal, the amount of work they did in just one day. Initiatives like this help to improve our city that much faster, and this is just one benefit derived from the wider involvement of the Defence Force in our community.”

About Upper Hutt City Council
Upper Hutt City Council is the steward and custodian of Upper Hutt City, providing governance, infrastructure, and community services and resources, and promoting opportunity in the city for business, recreation, lifestyle, and leisure. Upper Hutt City is located 30 km north-east of Wellington City (41°07'34" S, 175°04'06" E) and boasts 70% of the region’s parks and reserves, along with state-of-the-art entertainment and leisure facilities.

ENDS