Kia ora koutou! Ngaa mihi nui o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa.

(Greetings to you all, and happy new year!)

Over the Summer, for two weeks before Christmas, and three weeks after New Year’s (five weeks all together). I worked alongside Toni Boynton, the new paid co-ordinator at the Eastbay TimeBank in Whakatane. It was inspiring to see how well-organised and well-established they are (from the perspective of someone helping to set up a brand new TimeBank in Duendin) and I had many fascinating conversations with members and co-ordinators that will further inform my research, including 6 recorded interviews.

During the five weeks, I gave two presentations about my research, one at an Eastbay TimeBank shared lunch, and the other at a Green Screening (a community film night showing films on environmental issues, we watched ‘Growthbusters’). In addition to talking about my research I also gave an update from the National Time Banking Hui and promoted the TBANZ website (www.timebank.org.nz). I also attended three BNI (Business Network International) meetings with Toni, she has joined the Whakatane chapter as a representative of the TimeBank and this is proving to be a fantastic way to start having conversations and building relationships between the TimeBank and local business. We also headed over to Tauranga on a fabulous sunny day (the drive between Whakatane and Tauranga is stunning in that kind of weather) and met up with Kerri Tilby-Price, founder and Co-ordinator of the Tauranga TimeBank, and Linley Carpenter and Lauren Cowgill, founders and Co-ordinators of the new Waihi TimeBank. This was perhaps the first regional meeting for TimeBank Co-ordinators in the Bay of Plenty. It was wonderful to have so much time at the Eastbay TimeBank, can’t wait for the 2012 National Time Banking Hui this November, which will be held at a marae in Whakatane.