Flower power: Volunteer recognised for hospice work

A lifelong flower enthusiast and volunteer for Harbour Hospice North Shore has this week been recognised for her 15 years of service.

Milford resident Robin Baxter has been arranging flowers for display at the hospice in Takapuna for 15 years. She calls it a “hobby that serves a greater purpose”.

“We can brighten up people’s lives. It has a usefulness about it and everyone needs to feel useful.”

The greenery in the hospice lobby “softens the hard interiors” and makes the space feel more lively, which the staff appreciate, Baxter says.

Harbour Hospice times its annual recognition of volunteers to coincide with National Volunteer Week, which this year runs from 18 to 24 June.

It gave long-service awards to 125 volunteers for periods of service up to 35 years. Many of the recipients attended an event on 22 June at the Milford Cruising Club.

Hospice chief executive Jan Nichols said the awards were an opportunity to thank the volunteers for their “dedication, hard work and loyalty”.

The longest-serving volunteer is accountant Wilf Marley, who lives in the city but for 35 years has been helping the organisation, with budgeting advice.

Baxter says she became involved through the Takapuna Floral Arts Club, when another member was organising helpers. She put her hand up and never looked back.

She says her love of flowers started due to having keen gardeners as parents.

Bright and beautiful... Volunteer Robin Baxter with a display of bird of paradise flowers and an autumn-themed bouquet made for the Takapuna Floral Art Club

Growing up in Edgecumbe, Baxter would arrange the flowers for the church she attended. She maintained her love of flowers through her working years at the National Bank and ANZ.

She and the other hospice volunteers either purchase flowers themselves or try to source them from their own or other gardens.

The flowers are replaced every Monday by Baxter, to ensure the displays are always fresh.

“There’s nothing sadder than dead flowers. I’d rather have an empty vase than a vase full of dead flowers.”

Her love of flowers doesn’t stop when she leaves the hospice. She still makes bouquets for her church, and did the flowers for her granddaughter’s wedding. Her most moving task was doing the casket flowers for a close friend who died.

Baxter said it was good to be able to bring some beauty and life to the sadness of the funeral.

Along with her volunteer work at the hospice on Shea Tce, she plays bridge twice a week and enjoys other creative pastimes that exercise the brain.

Word on buy-outs still a way off

Auckland Council has begun contacting property owners about possible buy-outs of homes in badly flood-prone areas of the city, including the North Shore.

Local board chair Toni van Tonder says some buyouts in Sunnynook-Totaravale and Milford are likely, but the number of properties involved is expected to be relatively limited. Details are still being worked on between council and the government.

Flood relief trickles out

Rates relief was granted this month to 66 of 70 applicants with badly flood-hit homes in the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area.

Auckland Council staff said of city-wide rebates of $1.3 million, 20 per cent went to the north. Rebates cover full third- and fourth-quarter instalments. The fund is now closed, having paid out a total of 806 rebates.

The mayoral emergency relief fund, launched after the January floods and closed in early March, has so far made 69 hardship payouts from 84 applications lodged locally. It has a backlog of applications. City-wide, it has so far paid out $2m of a $3.7m fund.