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.
The two sides of the fence - the Nelson Mail reports
The money is flowing in and the birdlife flowing back ... but it's early days yet.
Nelson Mail reporter Naomi Arnold checks progress on the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary in this great article from The Nelson Mail.
The birds are coming down out of the hills and back into our lives. There's been a skinny brown weka poking around the bushes near the Nelson Post Shop during the last couple of weeks, and others spotted running through the gardens of The Wood.
There are more kereru weighing down city branches, more tui on the flaxes, and more bellbirds in Richmond gardens. In fact, there are more birds around here than there have been for years.
Their increasing numbers are due to the pest-trapping programmes in the hills from Richmond to Delaware Bay, which have been wiping out rats, stoats, possums, and more.
But those behind the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary, an ambitious conservation project at the head of Nelson's Brook Valley, want more.
The old water reserve is already a biological haven, a dense pocket of mature beech, podocarp and broadleaf forest, some of which has never been felled. As trapping, tree-planting, weeding and track works progress in the valley - which includes 17,000 pests killed in fewer than six years and 80km of new tracks cut - it's also become full of new life. Pairs of little green rifleman, each weighing less than a $1 coin, have been spotted raising successful clutches. There are more robins, more falcons, and trappers even report hearing kaka at the tops.
Brook Sanctuary general manager Hudson Dodd says all that is excellent news - but only to a point. "It tells the story of a need for a fence."
The trust behind the sanctuary wants to build a pest-proof fence surrounding the valley, capable of blocking predators, from mice to deer.
From Germany to the Sanctuary of Nelson
The Brook Sanctuary intern Julia Teufel at work in the new Campaign Office at Bowater Honda on Rutherford Street whilst the A-Team from The Signman apply new images to Hudson's office space.
Julia has swapped her northern hemisphere spring for a taste of Nelson in the autumn, but couldn't be happier.
She has travelled here to be the new Brook Sanctuary intern, and 3 weeks into it she has already found her feet and integrated into the hard working core Brook Sanctuary team.
Voting is tight, and every vote counts
Atawhai Teaukura casting her vote today at Z Bowater Motors on High Street in Motueka.
As the month of voting rapidly accelerates past us all it is time to check up on the voting for the 4 charities in the Z Bowater Motors. Voting is tight at the top with the votes almost even for the Motueka Victim Support, Whenua Iti Outdoors, and the Motueka Riding for the Disabled. Motueka Toy Library is a little way behind, but with 11 days left it could swing in the favour of any of the charities.
Up for grabs is a share of the $4,000 of funding. The count of the votes will determine the ratio at which the funding will be split.
The Brook Sanctuary Campaign office is open for business
The new campaign office space nestled into the top level of the Bowater Honda showroom is open for business as the team goes about planning the launch of the "Get behind the fence" campaign.
The team behind the new Brook Sanctuary Campaign Office. Hudson Dodd (Sanctuary GM), David Kerr (BWST Business Development Advisor), Dave Butler (BWST Chair) & Chris Bowater (CEO Bowater Honda)
The Brook Sanctuary team has set about making in roads into the total funds needed to be raised to get the Brook Sanctuary's major project, the 14km long Predator Proof Fence, closer to completion. This fence is at the heart of the campaign to bring nature back to the Nelson region, and with an "inland island' established it is predicted that we could soon all hear again birdsong long since departed from the area. The beauty of this project is that it is all happening just minutes away from the city.
The new Campaign Office in the heart of downtown Nelson has certainly lifted the accessibility of this wonderful local project, and as time goes by, hopefully it makes it a little easier to organise the funds and donations rolling in.
There will of course be an exciting event in the near future to "officially" launch both the new campaign space and also the launch the drive for donations to "Get behind the fence".
More Articles ...
- Bowater Hyundai announces Spirit of Adventure Trust scholarship
- The Brook Sanctuary moves into town.
- Play is the Way during Toy Library Awareness week.
- Voting is easy, and every vote counts when it comes to being Good in the Hood.
- Z Bowater Motors is Good in the Hood again, and giving away $5,000 to the locals
- Making a silk purse and going hammer and tongs in time for Christmas
- The end to Movember '12 - how did the BMG moustaches stack up?
- BMG Grizzlies - a wild bunch of committed players
- Le Vent du Nord performs "Elise"
- Introducing Le Vent du Nord, our sponsored act at this years Arts Festival
