September Newsletter
2 ER (Engineer Regiment) Project Sandilands.
This year we were fortunate again to have representatives from 2 ER giving their time to assist us with an ongoing project to increase the appeal of the complex.
The work started in tidying the edging and the garden areas across the whole site will be continued this year. The fencing that was not painted last year in the Coulter/Nicholas St area will receive a coat of paint and the gardens will be edged where necessary. The rubbish that has a habit of accumulating around the site will be cleared away and more bark will be laid. It is hoped to carryout some remedial work in the carpark areas as well.
The soldiers will be under the command of Syaz Salim this year as Lt Whitcombe is away overseas.
We look forward to supporting them with the traditional end of work barbeque in the BBQ area they have created for the tenants over the last two years.
Sandilands
The Project that has been running for the last three years to investigate the potential replacement of the Sandilands buildings with newly constructed units has just about drawn to a close. The underlying ground that the site is built on at this point does not appear to be suitable for the project. We are therefore engaging with other community housing providers to ascertain if they would be interested in assisting us to upgrade the facilities.
We have recently engaged a security firm who will be providing a modern security system to monitor the periphery of the site to provide our tenants with some added sense of security.
We will be undertaking a review of the state of the units in the near future to see what work urgently needs to be attended to so we can develop a plan to rectify some of the most urgent problems.
Support
We are fortunate to have the services of Suzi Radford as one of our Support Team.
Suzi was a telecommunications operator and signalman in the Royal New Zealand Navy and worked in the areas of operations, security, and intelligence for the United Nations in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Suzi has a Master’s Degree in Social Work, a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, a diploma in Social Work with Children and Families, a diploma in Psychotherapy and a diploma in Counselling.
Suzi has 20 years’ experience working as a Counsellor, Clinical Supervisor and Clinical Social Work Practitioner. She has worked with children, adolescents and adults in various roles including Specialist Foster Care; Medical Social Work; Women’s Health Counselling; Corrections and Community Agencies including The Salvation Army. She currently works in private practice as a counselling therapist.
Suzi has been phoning our former service members and conducting checks on their health and wellbeing. It appears many of our members have changed their phone numbers without advising us and consequently nearly 50% numbers for our members are out of date. The other significant issue Suzi has encountered is that many of the people she has called think that she is a scammer and hang up on her. Suzi will identify herself as representing the RSA and if you are concerned about the call, hang up and contact the office the next day so we can check. While it it paramount that you are aware that scammers are about the calls from Suzi are genuine. Part of the task in contacting our former service members is to obtain where possible an email address where we can send newsletters and other vital information. It maybe that you have a family member that has an email address who would be happy to receive email correspondence from us on your behalf. Those members that Suzi has contacted have been happy to receive her calls and have been comfortable enough to discuss a wide range of issues with her. Suzi can be contacted on 02102027000
Below are alternatives you may wish to pursue in times of crisis:
National helplines
Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor.
Lifeline – 0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP).
Youthline – 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat.
Samaritans – 0800 726 666
Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO).
Healthline – 0800 611 116
Plaques
We have now recovered a small number of plaques from the stonemasons who removed them from the Memorial Wall at 74 Armagh St, and while on the topic of the Armagh St premise, if you are driving past have a look at the Eastern Wall resplendent in it’s new Poppy Mural.
We have plaques for the following people:
Pte J Bidwell (WWI), F/Sgt F J Bidwell (WWII)
2 Lt F H C Batchelor (WWII), LS J K Mehlhopt (Borneo), Sgt J F Stewart (J Force), Maj A ( Bud) Obst US Infantry (West Germany), TEL E G Mosely (WWII), Capt B S Frances (Sinai/Israel/Solomon Islands), Sgt L E Frances (WWII), L/Cpl L D Chick (WWII), LAC M C A Khouri (WWII), Pte A E Sutton (WWII), Cpl W R Mills (J Force), Sgt W J Mitchell (WWII), Pte P T Tau (Malaya), L/Cpl H W Tonkings (Malaya), Sgt R W Cleverly (Malaya/Borneo/Vietnam/Thailand), L/Cpl C S Moore (WWII)(Twin), Sgt M J Moore (WWII) (Twin), Pte J A Matheison (WWII), Pte S Wilson (WWI), AB J H McNaughton (WWII), F/Sgt M W Randall (WWII), Sgt N B Thompson DCM (WWII), Pte W Polaschek (WWI).
If a plaque listed above was paid for by your family, please contact the office on 03 379 9724 to arrange pickup.
That is about all the news for the moment, we will keep you updated as things unfold.
Dennis
P.S. Our regular editor has been off duty for health reasons of late but should be back on deck soon.