The fire kitchen display was popular with the crowd. Photo / Alyssa Smith
A South Taranaki event mixed entertainment with learning.
The Community Family Fun Day, organised by South Taranaki Neighbourhood Support, is an annual event with the aim to provide a fun day for the South Taranaki community, build connections and raise awareness about different emergency services.
With 30 stallholders and demonstrations from Police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz), there was plenty to be entertained by.
St John Hāwera staff were at the event to provide learning opportunities with staff teaching people how to successfully deliver CPR.
Hāwera area chairperson Heather Bickenshire says she was pleased St John staff and volunteers were at the event to spread awareness.
“We had a vehicle from Palmerston North and the major incident support team from New Plymouth. Both of these were on standby to head for Auckland if they were needed.”
It wasn’t all just about learning, she says, with St John Hāwera setting up a fun area for children with sumo suits, golf, and other activities to keep tamariki entertained.
St John cadets Ethan Finer, 12, and Cameron McKenzie, 11, were in charge of the fun area, with their work contributing to their community service badge.
Ethan says he enjoys being a cadet.
“You learn a lot of life skills. It’s not just medicine it’s also home technology and safety to name a few.”
The Hāwera Mount View Lions Club were also at the event with entertaining activities.
Ciaran McNamara, 7, took part in the throwing challenge.
“I had a lot of fun trying to throw golf balls into the buckets. I even won some lollies, which I was pretty happy about.”
Lions member Joyce Muschamp says the club is about serving the community and providing entertainment is one way they could do that.
“This is a great event for the community and we’re happy to be involved.”
South Taranaki Neighbourhood Support development co-ordinator Wendy Foreman says the highlight of the day was the adults challenge.
“We had four teams, they were Paula’s Recruits from the Defence Force, South Taranaki Police, the Taranaki Cancer Society under the name That C Word, and South Taranaki Neighbourhood Support.”
The teams had to navigate challenges from crafting and modelling an outfit using recycled materials, a relay, Chinese whispers, and a water challenge.
“All of the teams had fun and it was great for the community to see some of our organisations and emergency services taking part in this challenge. The whole day was quite special.”
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