New banners fly high for Ngongotaha

Progress Ngongotaha committee members, Rotorua Lakes Council staff and Ngongotaha Primary School pupils gathered for a photo with the banner. Photo/Shauni James

New banners are now flying high above Ngongotaha Village after years of having the poles standing bare.

Progress Ngongotaha's committee of 2017 decided to approach the Ngongotaha Primary School board chairwoman, Rebecca Moore, and deputy principal Dean Henderson to initiate the project.

The committee suggested a banner competition be conducted, with senior pupils participating, and the incentive would be a number of prizes to the value of $200.

Progress Ngongotaha committee chairman Bob Martin says no one particular banner was selected in its entirety, but many of the artwork symbols produced by the pupils were symbolic of Ngongotaha and met the pre-determined criteria the committee hoped for.

He says the banner has eight features which are significant to the village heritage.

The rays of sunshine on the blue sky represent the 'sunnyside of the mountain', the dark outline represents the Mt Ngongotaha silouhette, the green rolling hills portray farmland and the wharenui represents their first people/tanagata whenua.

Also, the sawmill with the smoke stack represents how their first industry was milling, the blue line between the wharenui and the mill is the water of the Ngongotaha Stream.

The colour used in the lettering is gold and the back drop is maroon, as these two colours are representative of the Ngongotaha community and the Ngongotaha Primary School sports uniform.

He says with the help of graphic arts designer Alec Martin, the prototype model was presented to the Rotorua Lakes Council.

With the assistance and support of Marc Spijkerbosch, Portia McKenzie and Mandy Godo from the council, the community banner has evolved into what people can see today.

"This is one of the completed projects that will lead to Ngongotaha Village becoming a destination in its own right."

Bob says it feels nice and positive to have the banners up on the street.

"It's nice to hear people say, 'oh, we have banners!''.

Progress Ngongotaha chief executive Lynn Benfell says Ngongotaha was quite separate from Rotorua in the very early days and the banners were about increasing the sense of community.

She says they asked the children to think about the question 'what does it mean to be a part of Ngongotaha?' when coming up with their designs.

Progress Ngongotaha's committee for 2017 includes Lynn Benfell, Bob Martin, Garryth Hall (deputy chair), Lee Bull, Joanne Smith, Nigel Day and Martyn Evans.