'Inspired by the work Cockle Bay Beach resident Barry Wood had already accomplished in caring for our local beach and surrounds and the efforts in planting and restoring Cockle Bay Domain by Matthew Brajkovich and a tireless band of community volunteers, we at CBRRA felt encouraged to undertake further planting and restoration at the Cockle Bay Beach Reserve and the Pah Road and Windross tracks that lead to it. So, when the opportunity arose to make an application to the Howick Local Board under the recent community grant process, we jumped at the chance. This is quite an involved process in that a considerable amount of reading, research and discussion was required to determine the best procedure to deal with removal of weed matter and pest plants, the best plants to use in restoration planting, the best time to do this and so on and so on. Then the sourcing of plants and landscaping materials, obtaining quotes, calculating costs and verifying other information required by the Local Board that also must be included with an application under the Local Grant funding process. All this took some time and effort. We are delighted, very pleased and grateful that our application met with approval in September 2022. And so it begins. Before new planting, there is a massive amount of preparation to see to; including the removal of unwanted weeds, pest plants, mulching, etc. This has already been started and we were thrilled to discover several large Nikau Palms that had been hidden and smothered by privet along the Windross track. In this case, neglect has a positive as if a regular spray maintenance program had been adopted, these gems would not exist! Look for the positive……it’s there somewhere! The Nikau now exposed to sunlight have opened their “wings” as if to say 'Thanks guys !!!''