Community rallies behind rowing club
The recent vandalism at the Horowhenua Rowing Club has united our community and shown people at their best.
I was proud to be one of 200 volunteers at the working bee held a few weeks ago at Lake Horowhenua. Many offers of support have come from around the country with the Porirua Rowing Club loaning some boats for our rowers to use while repair work is done.
I’ve arranged for Olympic medal-winning rowers Joseph Sullivan and Peter Taylor to come to Levin on Friday November 30 to run a training session for our local rowers, and then attend a fundraising event that evening.
It’s great that these two are making this trip to show their support and inspire the next generation. This will be a special opportunity for our young rowers to get coaching tips from two of the best in the world.
Joseph Sullivan won a Gold medal at the London Olympics in the double sculls with his partner Nathan Cohen, while Peter Taylor won bronze in the lightweight double sculls with Storm Uru.
The fundraising event will include speeches from the Olympic rowers and an auction full of great donated prizes.
The event starts at 6pm on Friday 30 November at the Horowhenua District Chambers. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased from my office in Levin, the Horowhenua District Council, Te Takere or the Foxton Information Centre.
Rowing is on a high right now, following the spectacular medal success at the London Olympics this year. As well as Horowhenua, it is also popular at Paraparaumu College.
What this incident has shown is that there is clearly strong support in the community to get Lake Horowhenua cleaned up and restored.
The Manawatu River Accord has resulted in Government funding to help with the cleanup. I'm hopeful a similar accord for Lake Horowhenua can be replicated to keep up the positive momentum and make the Lake something we can all be proud of.