If you drive a small car, or are thinking about downsizing to a lower fuel use, more efficient smaller car for around town use, then you need to see the Hyundai Accent. This zippy little hot hatch has it all! Small on size but massive on features across the model range. We have a wide range of quality used vehicles like this one in our central Nelson Yard. Click here to find out more.
Ever since our humble beginnings in downtown Nelson in 1945 the Bowater Motor Group has been very focused on community involvement. We believe that you are only ever as successful as the support that you can give back. It is with this philosophy that we continue to be as involved as we can be in the wider Nelson / Tasman community.
This section of the website houses stories, links and content from a collective of organisations and events that we are involved with or support through sponsorship or partnerships.
The menu to the right has got comprehensive articles from those events, organisations and charities that we regularly involved with, click on the menu items to read more, or scroll down this page to keep up with events as they unfold.
If you think you have an event, organisation or group that would benefit from our community interest feel free to contact us.
This year Bowater Toyota are proud to be joining forces with Creative NZ to bring to the 20th Annual Nelson Arts Festival this acclaimed show by celebrated New Zealand musician Tim Finn.
This unique show has been crafted by Finn with award-winning playwright Ken Duncum and filmmaker Sue Healey. A performance event where the alchemy of observation, photographs and journals, story, and song deliver a potent celebration of family, ancestors and what it means to be Pākehā.
Touching on themes of cultural dislocation, relocation and reconnection, White Cloud is a reflection on the life of Tim's Anglo-Saxon family growing up in New Zealand, missing the UK, being immersed in Māori culture and how that shaped his family.
[Tim Finn’s songs] tell amazing stories and are refreshingly direct in what he has to say and what he asks us to question. Duncum takes family stories and brings them alive, with enough nostalgia to make us all reflect on growing up in a younger more innocent New Zealand but not enough to feel sugar coated. They make for a powerful creative combination.
- LYNN FREEMAN, CAPITAL TIMES
Fico Finance Nelson Giants legend Phill Jones alongside our Bowater Toyota Parts Express Van which has been promoting his achievements this season.
This year saw the passing of the huge milestone for Nelson's favourite basketballer, the legendary, and very humble, Phill Jones. He broke the previous record by achieving 350 games in the National Basketball League mid way through the season, and remarkably most of them have been for the Nelson Giants. In the end he finished up with 369 games, a feat certainly worth celebrating, and a feat that also saw the emergence of another rather large announcement - his retirement from the sport he loves.
Phill began first playing way back in 1993, and he has only missed a couple of local seasons during this whole time, playing both in New Zealand and in Europe and Australia. Both of the times he missed out were due to the rules and regulations surrounding the requirements of athletes to return from "overseas duties" within certain timeframes. For the most part of it he has played for the Nelson Giants as a component of his busy international basketball schedule and has quickly established himself as a cornerstone not only of the entire Fico Finance Nelson Giant's Franchise but also NZ Basketball in general, and the local Nelson sports community as a whole.
He has also played extensively overseas during this time as well on a professional scale, which not only provided an income, but also enabled him to play year round for close to 14 years. He has had a great journey, playing basketball professionally, and raising a family on the basketball circuit. But as with all things, there comes a point where change is inevitable and Phill has chosen to make the move to the next stage of his basketball journey on his own terms, stepping down from a key players role in the Nelson Giants to take on a more managerial one within the franchise.
We recently sat down with Phill and talked about being a professional athlete in Nelson, playing your heart out for the local team, what it means to give back to the community, and how corporate sponsors shape the landscape of sports in this age of professionalism.
If you are aged between 15 - 18 years old, and consider yourself to be talented in your respected field, and a New Zealander or permanent New Zealand resident, you can put in an application to join the Pinnacle Programme.
If you are under 17 years of age you will need parental consent forms signed.
Firstly, you should register on the website.
http://www.pinnacleprogramme.co.nz
Tell us a bit about yourself and why you think you should be one of the lucky young Kiwis to make the grade.
Play other young Kiwis in an online game in real time to demonstrate your general knowledge. Based on what you say and how you play, the selection panel will decide whether to take you through to the next stage.
Pinnacle Programme mentor, actress and presenter Toni Street has some words of advice.
Keep on reading to go through the steps to be a part of this exciting programme, and start the journey!
Alison McAlpine, chair of Cancer Society Nelson and Linda Lucre (Centre Manager) receiving the cheque from the sale of the BMG Mini Trailer from Tony Bowater.
We recently had the pleasure of presenting a cheque for $1590 to the Cancer Society Nelson as the final stage of the BMG Mini for Nelson Cancer.
This cheque arose from the selling of the custom built trailer that the BMG Mini was carted around on in the promotional phase of the project.
This bought the massive project to an end for us as major sponsors of what has to be regarded as a wonderfully successful fund raising campaign. Overall the very hard working Caffeine Crew team from Wakefield, led by ex-mechanic Bob Croy, has raised over $110,000 for the region.
The Bowater Motor Group has been an instrumental part of this entire project, supplying free of charge all of the parts needed to completely rebuild the 1975 Mini from the ground up. The Parts Department of Bowater Toyota, led by Kieron Reilly, had quite a task sourcing some of these parts, but came through each and every time sourcing sometimes hard to find parts through their extensive network of contacts and associates.
After close to 2 years of hard work, and alot of blood, sweat and tears by all involved with this very ambitious project, the Bowater's team were proud to round off the project with the final donation handover to the representatives of Cancer Society Nelson.
