OUR STORY
The Fairfield Project was set up by the Kukutaaruhe Education Trust. The Project was established to support and encourage environmental education for all ages, building community resilience, ecological restoration and kaitiakitanga. This is an intergenerational project aiming to connect the community with their environment.
Our history
The Kukutaaruhe Education Trust was formally established in 2016 after two years of work by a local committee. The committee was convened in response to a proposal put to the community by the Ministry of Education to sell the land bounded by the Kukutaaruhe Gully and Fairfield College. The committee put forward an alternative proposal to establish an environmental education centre on the land as a means of restoring the whenua, providing education for all ages and building community resilience, and called this initiative The Fairfield Project.
Our people
The Kukutaaruhe Education Trust
Lillian Pompey (chair), Roger Cox ( deputy chair), Jem Thompson (Treasurer and Secretary), Marina Hape, Eddie Neha, Antanas Procutas and Andrea Soanes.
Project Personnel
The Fairfield Project Team works collaboratively. The team includes the trustees, regular volunteers, two paid part-time staff with many supporters and casual volunteers, all of whom offer a range of relevant skills and experience. Roles are filled as needs arise, and allocation of tasks is based on matching skills with the mahi.
Our vision
Our vision is to be a leading centre of education for our local and wider community; embodying, inspiring, and enabling sustainable practice and living. We are wholly committed to restoring the Kukutaaruhe gully so that future generations can gaze upon it and experience the same landscape seen, utilised and celebrated by their tuupuna.
We are part of a diverse cultural community and are committed to the following underpinning values:
Kaitiakitanga
Manaakitanga
Maatauranga Maaori
Education for all
Community sustainability
Diversity, integrity and respect
Research based practices
10th birthday celebration
On the 25th March 2024 the Kukutaaruhe Education Trust, the working group and some of our key sponsors and volunteers got together to celebrate ten years of the Fairfield Project. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate all that we’ve achieved in that time, and to acknowledge the considerable efforts of the team.
We also celebrated the vision of our founding Chair, Vic Arcus, who planted the seed for the project back in 2014. Vic’s leadership and passion helped establish and grow the project into the taonga we have today.
The gathering was also an opportunity to acknowledge former trustee, Reece Hill, who is stepping down from his role due to work commitments, and to welcome our new trustees, Marina Hape and Andrea Soanes.
The evening was held at The Watershed, in full view of Kukutaaruhe Gully where we could clearly see the fruits of our labours. We’re excited for the next ten years!