It’s been a hectic August and September 2026, with the LBRA board back on deck, plenty of events and amazing community driven results, particularly our Community Planting Day. Be sure to attend our AGM on Wednesday 14 October, 7pm at Long Bay College Staffroom. More below…
Major Activities/Initiatives:
Vaughans Stream Team Update – Community Planting Day
What can happen when we take a moment to slow down, in this case over a cup of coffee, and begin to imagine what might be possible when a community connects around a place and the work needed to restore and regenerate it?
In Awaruaika, Long Bay, that conversation helped spark something pretty special: around 140 volunteers, 1,847 native trees and shrubs planted, plenty of shared food, and a community coming together to care for a place that means a lot to Long Bay.
But the planting day is only part of the story. This short video shares how a simple conversation grew into a much wider community effort — and where it could lead next. 🌱💚
Read the longer story here.
Keen to join? Our Vaughans Stream Team is on WhatsApp, visit: https://longbay.nz/vst
Let’s keep the momentum growing! 🌳
Photography: Keerti Siag Photography
Videography: Bowden Visual
Long Bay Feedback Survey 2026
Participate in our 2026 Survey, and help shape our community! You could win one of three $50 New World Gift Cards, generously provided by New World Long Bay.
Survey link: https://longbay.nz/survey
Survey deadline: Sunday, 11th October at 5pm
It only takes a few minutes, and your voice truly matters!
Feel free to forward this email to friends and neighbours living in Long Bay so everyone can have their say. Your feedback gives the Residents’ Association Board direction to connect the community, improving Long Bay for everyone.
Important details about the prize draw:
- Gift cards are exclusively for LBRA members who complete the survey. Not a member? If you live in Long Bay, join at longbay.nz/member.
- Be sure to leave your contact details to enter the draw!
- Two winners will be randomly selected to receive a $50 gift card each. One special winner will be chosen based on answers about volunteering efforts.
- Winners will be announced at the LBRA AGM on Wednesday, 14th October at 7pm in the Long Bay College Staffroom. If you plan to attend the AGM, please RSVP by replying to this email with attendees’ names or simply click “Going” on the LBRA AGM Facebook Event.
Thank you for being part of what makes Long Bay such a special place!
Coffee Workshops – Kinfolk x LBRA
☕ A Beginners and Advanced Barista Workshop were held Kinfolk Cafe in August. Participants feedback was they were Informative, engaging and very enjoyable – really well-run workshops and great value too. A big thank you to the Kinfolk team – Gloria and Mindy for sharing their skills and making them such fun sessions.
Long Bay Community Garden Survey and Design
Our Long Bay Community Garden design is progressing, although we are awaiting confirmation of our preferred location, so watch this space! We’re preparing to have a stall for feedback at the next Long Bay Village Market.
During early September LBRA members Gareth and Nick attended the Rangitoto Kindergarten Pātaka Kai – Community Food Pantry launch – a delightful event and a great way to make new connections with another successful community garden, further guiding our initiative in Long Bay.
Rangitoto Pātaka Kai: Gregg Walden and a student cut the ribbon to launch the community pantry.
It’s not too late to complete our survey which will shape the vision for the community garden. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts.
Survey Link: longbay.nz/surveygarden
Long Bay Halo – Predator Free Update
The publicised improvements to Piripiri Point Drive were completed by Auckland Transport and is an excellent improvement to curb undesirable activities in the areas.
Great news and more action on our predator free project! We’re rolling out more automatic traps in bush areas in Long Bay, and are seeing many possums and rats trapped – this will have a significant positive impact on the flora and fauna in Long Bay, particularly helping the native plants and birds flourish.
Additionally LBRA has been awarded more equipment over the last 2 months, with:
- 2x Flipping Timmy traps, targeting possums in bush close to properties, thanks to Give a Trap.
- 1x BT200 which we’ll use to target stoats and rats, thanks to Give a Trap.
- 2x trail cameras we’ll setup to monitor predators in hot spots, thanks to Predator Free NZ
We still have tunnels/T-Rex traps available for private residents, so please reach out if you are keen to host one.
Congratulations to our spot prize winner for August – Marie – who wins a voucher for 5 Reformer Pilates Classes, thanks to Power Pilates Long Bay!
You can find our project information sheet with handy hints and tips here: longbay.nz/predator-halo
Your efforts are making a real difference. Every trap checked and every predator caught brings us closer to a safer home for our native wildlife. We’re registered on Forest and Bird’s Give a Trap – donate to Long Bay Residents’ Association, we’d love more AT220’s!
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Quarterly Community Clean Up
We held a successful cleanup in September. Thanks to all those volunteers who joined us and made new connections with locals, and a special thanks to the Torbay residents! We cleaned up around Streamview Way and adjacent to the shops in the village. Join us for the next Long Bay Community Clean Up Saturday 19th December, a great way to improve our beautiful surroundings, meet neighbours, and care for our environment
Want to stay in the loop? Join our WhatsApp group here: https://longbay.nz/cleanup.
Community Yoga
Ground Practice is a new local initiative exploring outdoor yoga, meditation and community-based practices in and around Long Bay. In combination with Long Bay Residents’ Association we’re looking to understand what the community would actually like before we finalise the programme.
If you are interested, please complete this short survey. Your feedback will help shape when, where and what we offer.
Yoga Survey: https://longbay.nz/yogasurvey
You can find out more about Ground Practice on their website: https://www.groundpractice.nz
Vaughans Stream Team – Working Bee: September
On the 20th of September our core team was bolstered by a number of new crew following the planting day. In strong winds we took out the remainder of the more visible pampas grass in the Vaughans Stream Corridor, plus gorse, broom and woolly nightshade. It was tough going and, for now, no easy-to-spot pampas grass there is a major achievement – well done volunteers!
LBRA AGM 2026
We’re holding our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday the 14th of October at 7pm, at Long Bay College staff room. All residents are invited to attend and connect with the community. With lots of amazing things happening, developments progressing and further community activities ramping up, these are exciting times for Long Bay!
We have confirmed speakers: Hibiscus and Bays Local Board Chair Alexis Poppelbaum presenting the local board plan, and our Featured Speaker: Maeva Ord (LBRA) presenting her Master’s research on “How trust and place-based practices are driving real-world transformative change” in Long Bay. The event will be followed by time to mix and mingle with residents over tea/coffee and refreshments.
RSVP by email with the names of the people who will be attending.
We look forward to seeing you there and appreciate your involvement in making Long Bay a better place!
LBRA Sponsorship Update
A huge thanks to the following businesses who have renewed as Standard Sponsors of LBRA;
Their continued support helps us to keep on making a difference in Long Bay!
LBRA Board Activities
- Board and Governance
- Board Meetings: Meetings were held each month.
- Treasurer’s Reports: Finances move in a positive direction, particularly with receipt of grants payments & regular board ratification of expenses.
- Board Members: We farewelled Lara, thanking her for all her amazing efforts! We welcomed new board members: Mark Faraj and Logan Parker.
- Treasurer transition: Mark Faraj has taken over the role of Treasurer from Sam Corbeau, with Sam continuing to assist during the handover and going forward.
- AGM planning: The AGM is confirmed for Wednesday 14 October at Long Bay College’s staff room, with planning underway.
- Social Media: Youtube channel created and first LinkedIn article published
- Community Engagement and Events
- Badminton: Social community badminton is continuing, lots of fun!
- Community Planting Day: The Awaruaika / Vaughan’s Stream Planting Day on Sunday 16 August was a major success.
- Coffee Workshops: Beginner workshop (15 August): Sold out with a waitlist. Advanced workshop (29 August): Seven lucky participants attended.
- Long Bay Market: Presence with flags and flyers.
- Community Football: New equipment (balls and cones) thanks to our Hibiscus and Bays Local Board grant
- Community Clean Up: The latest community clean-up took place on Saturday 19 September. Volunteers cleaned up Streamview Way and the area around the shops, with a good turnout and great conversations and connections made.
- Vaughans Stream Team Working Bee: A stream working bee was held Sunday 20 September with a large contingent following our planting day signups taking down Woolly Nightshades and Pampas Grass, plus checking our planting.
- Yoga Sessions: Communications and assistance to Ground Practice in preparation for a community yoga initiative.
- Community Safety & Issues
- LBRA CCTV Initiative: The LBRA CCTV initiative is now underway, with the official start date of 1 September. The board is working with Police and seeking technical support and land/power approvals at preferred locations.
- Piripiri Point: Residents reported cars racing and people sleeping overnight in vehicles. The board advises calling 111 for in progress racing/burnouts and the Auckland Council contact centre for overnight sleepers.
- E-scooters & E-bikes: Board discussed further accidents and near-misses; further actions in planning around these issues.
- Communication with Auckland Council and Auckland Transport: A number of incidents and requests around parking, illegal dumping and compliance raised with local authorities.
- Graffiti Issue: Received communications with regards to further graffiti in Long Bay
- Environmental Initiatives
- Long Bay Halo – Predator Free NZ plus support for Restore Hibiscus and Bays projects continues. Door-knocking for consents at Ridgelea Road progressed well, with most targeted properties now providing consent. Assistance with RHB to set up additional trap lines. Awarded 2x Flipping Timmy’s, 1x BT200, 2x Trail Cameras
- Vaughans Stream Corridor: Working Bees held each in July to prepare for Planting Day. The 16 August planting day was a key milestone, with ongoing work planned through the Vaughans Stream Team. Plans in play following a request for a corporate volunteer day through Bayleys Real Estate.
- Water testing: Restore Hibiscus and Bays conducted water testing in Vaughan’s Stream with volunteers from the Vaughans Stream Team.
- Long Bay Okura Great Park Society (LBOGPS): Contact regarding potential impacts from the Dairy Flat surf park/data centre development, and promotion of their sediment control social media campaign.
- Community Garden: design work continuing for the community garden / EnviroHub in Long Bay. If you’d like to be involved in managing/running a community garden, please email us and/or respond to the survey.
- Partnerships & Local Engagement
- Auckland Council: Albany Ward Councillor Victoria Short spoke at the Community Planting Day.
- Hibiscus and Bays Local Board (HBLB): Alexis Poppelbaum spoke at the Community Planting Day and is confirmed as a speaker at the LBRA AGM, speaking about the Local Board Plan. Communications have begun with Gregg Walden and team in relation to Resilience and Emergency Preparedness planning for the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board area, and a Community Emergency Hub (CEH) in Long Bay. Thanks to Nick Jones for
- Restore Hibiscus and Bays: Ongoing collaboration on predator control and stream restoration, planting days, and more!
- Long Bay College: LBRA provided a letter of support for hockey turf funding and discussed after-school tutoring for Māori and Pasifika students. The college was also confirmed as LBRA’s AGM venue.
- Long Bay Primary: Communications relating to volunteer pest-plant control at adjacent Glenvar Ridge Road properties and discussions around yoga venue options.
- Ongoing collaboration Long Bay Primary, North Shore Neighbourhood Support, Te Hōnonga a Iwi Restoring Rosedale Park, Mountains to Sea, Trash Free Taiaotea, Viranda/Long Bay Village, Long Bay Village Market, and other local groups.
- Village & Business Engagement: Ongoing communication with sponsors, businesses and village management.
- Sponsorship & Fundraising
- Sponsorship packages for the 2026/27 financial year are still open. Benefits are premium exposure to local residents through exclusive promotion via multiple channels; online, print and in-person. Email longbayra@gmail.com for more details.
- Kinfolk, Little Local, and Pinnacle Southern Alps Retirement Living renewed their standard sponsorships, thank you!
- Further funding opportunities have been identified. Reach out if you’d like to assist on applications.
- Infrastructure & Advocacy
- Vaughans Road Closure: Further information related to the Glenvar/East Coast Road and Okura River Road upgrades, that impact Vaughans Road has been published. Pending further advocacy and advice. A new gate has been installed at the Vaughans Road Closure.
- Communication and advocacy Preparations for an alcohol ban in Long Bay public areas remain in progress.
- Resident Support and Advocacy: Assisted a resident with communication to central government in relation to student learning support.
Upcoming Events:
- Village Market Sunday 27nd September
- Vaughans Stream Team Working Bee Sunday 18th October 10am – 12noon meet outside Dynamic Physio
- Halloween Event Saturday 31st October …. watch this space.
- Monthly LBRA Board meetings – please contact us to arrange attendance.
Community Activities
There are community activities on the calendar and we’re looking at adding more into the mix! Currently we promote:
- Walking Group: Saturdays at 7.15am meet in front of Long Bay Surf Club.
- Football: Mondays at 6pm – meet at Ashley Turf, all skills/ages welcome.
- Badminton: Sundays at 8pm – Long Bay College Gym.
- Run the Bays Club: Mondays at 5.50pm – meet at Long Bay Surf Club.
- Mums & Dads Meetup: Fridays 10am at November Eatery/Cafe.
- Vaughans Stream Team Working Bees: 3rd Sunday of each month 10 – 12 noon meet opposite Dynamic Physio.
- Community Cleanups: 19th December.
- Cooking Classes: we’re actively looking for volunteers – reach out if you’re keen.
- English Conversation Sessions: Mondays 10 – 11:30am at Long Bay Baptist Church.
- Weekly Ladies coffee group: Thursdays 10.15 to 12 noon at Long Bay Baptist Church.
- Wider Horizons Lunch Club: Monthly on the last Friday – Long Bay Baptist Church. Open to anyone over 65 years.
Please let us know if there are any other activities that we can add to our calendar, see our website home page for the calendar. If you’d like to help out with anything you’re passionate about, please get in touch via email longbayra@gmail.com.
Please Support LBRA!
Thanks to those people who have provided Donations! Please continue to support us by clicking the Donate button on our website or by paying into our bank account 12-3059-0030830-000 Long Bay Residents Association. We appreciate your generosity! This covers operational and event costs. We accept payments via credit card and other methods. Please reply to this email if you would prefer to donate directly to our bank account. Please note that we currently don’t charge any membership or subscription fees, so all donations are greatly appreciated. We’re also seeking additional sponsors for LBRA. If you’re interested, please reach out or spread the word to businesses.