With every passing season, new faces and new whānau arrive in Martinborough. Some come from over the hill, like myself, and others from further afield; all with different reasons for why we were drawn here.
Every new person and family brings something unique and valuable to the town – from new skills to new ideas – but if we never feel a part of the community, the community doesn’t benefit.
Settling into a new community, even one as beautiful as this, can be challenging. I know for myself, when I moved into the area nearly five years ago, I felt isolated at first. It wasn’t until I swapped long days commuting into the city for wandering around the streets with my newborn that I actually started to feel like I belonged here.
The South Wairarapa District Council has recently received central government funding to roll out the Welcoming Communities programme, which is a three year programme used in many parts of the country to help newcomers and locals connect for the betterment of the whole community. We want our district to be a warm, friendly place where people from all walks of life feel safe to connect, have fun and belong. Recent events, like Cyclone Gabrielle, have reminded a lot of us that connected communities are resilient communities, so we’re glad to be addressing this over the next couple of years.
Hearing from some of Martinborough’s newer residents, it can be quite isolating for some; especially if you don’t have friends or family here, or you spend most of your time elsewhere for work. Locals are usually friendly, but making actual friends can be hard for us adults.
What does seem to make a big difference is having welcoming neighbours. If neighbours introduce themselves, share local knowledge (what’s on, what we should try, where we should go etc.) and invite us along to things, people are much more likely to feel at home and connected with their community.
Even just saying “good morning” or “how are you settling in?” can mean a lot to new people in our community. These simple pleasantries are quite characteristic of small towns and, even though it seems like a small thing, it can go a long way.
Right now, the Council is listening to people’s experiences and ideas to see what we can do to help people thrive here. I am leading the programme for South Wairarapa, so if you’ve moved here in recent years, or you have ideas for how to support those that have, I’d love to hear from you!
We’ll take these experiences and stories and work out how we can help newcomers connect with our communities, and how communities can reach to them.
If you’ve moved here in recent years, we’d appreciate it if you share your experiences in our survey here: https://bit.ly/welcoming-communities-survey. Or you can share your feedback by emailing welcomingcommunities@swdc.govt.nz or calling (06) 306 9611.
If you’re a local resident that has ideas and enthusiasm for bringing people together, I’d love to hear from you. You can contact me, Michaela, using the email address or phone number above.
To find out more information about Welcoming Communities visit our website: https://swdc.govt.nz/welcoming-communities/.
