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The Mokihi Community Garden is a place for neighbours to come together and get to know each other better.

And last year the Christchurch City Council’s Summer with your Neighbours funding helped them reach further into the Hillmorton community to meet new people.  

The Mokihi community has four large beds with around a dozen people regularly tending the gardens on a Wednesday and Saturday each week.  

“The whole idea of it was to get to know the neighbours, we’ve got a relatively new subdivision and thought it would be a nice to have a meeting place,” group member Sue Mather said.  

“We’ve been tracking along nicely. We’ve got a sharing shed as well, where people leave seedlings or excess produce like feijoas, we’re ticking away – it offers a connection with the community.”  

In 2024 the group received funding from the Council’s Summer with your Neighbours scheme, which aims to bring people closer together and celebrate the unique and diverse mix of each neighbourhood in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.  

“It was lovely, we put a letter out inviting people to come down for a barbecue and about 30 people turned up. We’d met some people we’d never met before,” Sue said.  

“Meeting and having a connection with your neighbours is great, it just makes you feel safer in your community.”  

If you live in the Hillmorton neighbourhood, the group is always keen for new members.  

“We’ve got people of all ages, older or younger. Just come down on a Wednesday at 1pm or Saturday at 3pm and join in on our working bees for weeding and maintenance,” she said.  

The group also has a meeting once a month on the last Sunday of the month at 3 pm.  

“All welcome to come along to meet us, if you’ve got children bring them along too, and find out about what we’re about.”  

Neighbourhood Week was the brainchild of the Shirley-Papanui Community Board back in 1998. 

It was extended for the whole season in 2018 and is now known as Summer with Your Neighbours. 

Anyone can apply to their Community Board for a bit of funding to help host a local gathering. This year events can be held from 25 October 2025 to 30 March 2026 with small subsidies available to help cover costs. 

Find out more and apply for funding for your Summer with your Neighbours gathering before 10 August 2025 here.

If you live in Hillmorton and want to find out more about Mokihi Gardens, get in touch via mokihicommunitygardens@gmail.com.