Louis Crimp owns a house. He probably owns many houses, but this one has been in the news lately. It was occupied by the Mongrel Mob for many years, but burned down just recently. Louis ran a competition for the public to decide what should happen to the bare section left behind. A 10 year-old girl won the competition by suggesting that an orchard should be established where the gang headquarters once stood. Louis liked her idea but instead donated the land to Habitat for Humanity to build on. That's a fine idea, but we were disappointed that the girl's great idea seemed to fade away, so we sent the following letter to the journalist who wrote the story that appeared in Saturday's paper. I'll post any response that might be forthcoming.
Hi Evan
I read with great interest, your story on the ex-Mongrel Mob house and the competition that was run to decide what to do with the now-bare land. I was happy to see that Habitat for Humanity will be the benefactors of the Mr Crimp's largess but was also very impressed by the idea from the girl who said she would like to see an orchard on the site. Orchards in the city and in towns around Southland are a tremendous idea and Open Orchard would like to donate 10 Southland heritage apple trees to the girl to help her achieve her aim. I know they won't be planted on the site where the gang headquarters once stood, but she might be able to find a space for them at her school or in some other part of her neighbourhood where everyone could share the apples. If you could pass on our offer we would be very grateful, then we could arrange for the apple trees to be delivered and even help plant them if she needs a hand.
Robert Guyton
Chairman
South Coast Environment Society Inc.
Riverton
5 comments:
Great idea Robert.
Fantastic offer to make, Robert. I hope there's a way to make it happen.
Thanks both of you.
I hope there will be a positive response from the newspaper and anyone who might read about the idea. Community orchards in towns and cities are a happening thing. Our own, tucked behind the fire-station at Riverton is going great guns.
I like your idea Robert, all towns should do this somewhere, is there one in Te Anau? Is it true that the apple trees grown from pips on the roadsides are called sports? I am keeping an eagle eye out for these at the moment as I travel round Southlands' backroads.
Hey Nicko - good luck with your sport-spotting - there are a lot of beautiful self-sown apples around the region but only a few will still have apples hanging now. I'm told (thanks Karl!) that the famous 'core-thrown-from-a-train' apples were in fact more likely from the railway workers who 'camped' and worked along the lines in days gone by. Nevertheless, there are a lot of them, especially in the Balfour area.
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