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Where's the buzz

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Joining together

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Reflection time

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Place to pause

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Memories

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Tranquility

Southend Business Group | Promoting a vibrant High Street

The first Annual General Meeting of the Southend Business Group, originally planned for Thursday 10th June 2021, was adjourned and will be resumed on Tuesday 13th July, starting at 6:00pm in the Pasifika Hub, which is located at 2 Dudley Street.

All members and supporters are welcome to attend.  There will be light refreshments served prior to the meeting.

We look forward to seeing averyone there.

A number of local business owners and supporters of the Southend Business Group met on Sunday 2nd May to paint the old bollard and adjacent footpath with colour as designed by the Massey Design School students Jess and Natalie last December.

The names of the participating local businesses will be added to the colour stripes on the bollard, and the colourful paths leading to each business, will be decorated with vinyl footpath stickers to finish the presentation.

Although this project is not yet complete, it is already making the corner of High Street and Laings Road much brighter and more colurful.  We encourage everyone to make an opportunity to go and have a look.

We have decided to push out the start date of this project – there is still a chance of rain for Monday and we want to give Michael Gray and opportunity to get back into the swing of business once returning from Australia for a family matter.

The extended weather is looking great for next Sunday so we are pushing forward to start the project on Sunday 2 May starting at 10AM to get the bollard and footpath painted.

This should only take a short amount of time. We are and will be looking for volunteers to help, as this will reduce the amount of money spent on contractors by SEBG, which will reduce the amount of projects they can complete to make the Southend a vibrant place. So please consider giving of some time to help paint, maybe encouraging staff and or customers to stop down to help. There will be a celebration street party after to thank everyone for their part in creating this project.

Andrews Ave is a focus of Anzac Day commemoration in the Southend this year with a number of soldiers standing beside poles and the lawns sprouting remembrance poppies.

The annual Lower Hutt Dawn Service and parade will occur on the morning of Anzac Day at the nearby garden and war memorial in front of the Library.

The Southend Business Group has agreed to supply each business in the Southend with a free window decal to increase awareness of the Southend brand and to advertise to the public that the business is in the Southend.

This is part of a programme of building awareness of the Southend among the public and creating the idea of the Southend as a distinct and important community within the Hutt City.

There are four different designs of window decal which differ in colour and promotional phrase.  All designs are the same size, which is half an A4 page cut length-wise.  Please chose a design that suits the colour scheme of your business, but please note that there are limited supplies of each colour, so we apologise if the colour of your choice is no longer available.

Southend Street Community Working Bee and Street Party

April 26th corner of High Street and Laings Road 10am-4pm

The Southend Business Group is hosting a community working bee / street party on Monday April 26th to create a fun and colourful project on High Street. We invite you to join us to ‘Paint the Town’ and help to make the Southend of High Street the creative entrance to Lower Hutt.

Our way finding project changes the use of an old concrete bollard from a disused poster billboard space into a colourful and functional way finding signage for some of our locally owned businesses.

The first of the Soundbites 2021 services of lunchtime concerts kicked of today in Andrews Ave after the one scheduled for last Friday was cancelled because of bad weather.  The concert today, featuring Aaron Andis was held in bright sunshine and attracted a festive crowd who came to listen and dance to the music.  Aaron played a number of popular songs that pleased the assembled crowd.

These free music events will happen each Friday from 12 noon - 2pm in Andrews Ave until the 26th March.  Refer here for the schedule of events.

The popular lunchtime music is coming back to Andrews Ave for 2021.  Every Friday from 12th February until 26th March, a local musician will be performing in Andrews Ave between 12 noon and 2pm.

Grab your lunch from a local cafe and come along to enjoy the outdoor environment and listen to the music. Performers are:

  • Feb 12: Ainslie Allen
  • Feb 19: Aaron Andis
  • Feb 26: Sam Play it again
  • Mar 5: Carl Webley
  • Mar 19: Aaron Andis
  • Mar 26: Andy Gatrell

Sound bites is also coming to Dowse Square from 4 - 6pm on Fridays between Feb 19th and Mar 26th.

 

A selection of Christmas trees from windows in the Southend.

Win prizes by piecing together a secret Christmas code in a hunt across the streets of central Lower Hutt.  The map and list will help find these festive windows located around Central Hutt.

For more info check out facebook.com/discoverhuttcentral

Download a copy of the map here