Friends of Maunu Cemetery in need of more Whangārei volunteers

Friends of Maunu Cemetery volunteers Raewyn Bell (left) and Pat Gavin. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Thousands of colourful plants have gone into the ground at Whangārei’s main cemetery over the past four years thanks to a small group of dedicated volunteers.

Friends of Maunu Cemetery meet each Wednesday morning to help beautify and maintain the spaces between headstones at the award-winning cemetery.

But the group of around eight volunteers are looking for more people to join their crusade to keep Maunu Cemetery looking sharp.

Four years ago, Pat Gavin was flicking through a New Zealand Gardener magazine when she saw an article about a group of volunteers tidying up Te Hunui Cemetery in New Plymouth.

Gavin had noticed some of Maunu Cemetery’s older sections were in need of some TLC.

“I looked at that and thought, ‘what if we could do that here?’” she said.

With the backing of Maunu Cemetery management and the help of friend Raewyn Bell as well as three other volunteers, the first plants were put in the ground in August 2019 under the banner of Friends of Maunu Cemetery.

“We do it because we just love to help others,” Gavin said.

The volunteers truly planted their roots as those first plants were cuttings from their own gardens. In the years since, the flowers have blossomed into colourful hues amid the darkly coloured headstones.

The group sourced flowers not found in the gardens thanks to money secured from Ray White Whangārei’s We Can Help With That fund; donations from Mitre 10 MEGA Whangārei and separate individuals.

“There will often be a whole heap of dahlia bulbs people have left for us to plant. We get daylilies from a woman in Kaiwaka,” Gavin said.

The group currently has around nine volunteers but helping hands “come and go”.

“We could really do with more volunteers.”

Gavin said they spend about three hours at most weeding, cutting back plants, and other carrying out other general garden maintenance in the “peaceful” countryside setting.

All tools are provided by the Whangārei District Council, so people keen to pitch in can just turn up.