Creating a place for the community

Pip Weber stands at the site being prepared for The Green Island Shed. PHOTO: ELLA STOKES
Pip Weber stands at the site being prepared for The Green Island Shed. PHOTO: ELLA STOKES
The Taieri Times is recognising people for the good they do in the community. In a new series called ‘Taieri Top Types’ we will be celebrating these people.  This week reporter Ella Stokes talks to Pip Weber.
 
Abbotsford woman Pip Weber knows the importance of community and works hard to bring people together.

Mrs Weber is an energetic and positive individual, and is so devoted to linking people she is creating a place which does that.
 
A member of the Greater Green Island Community network, Mrs Weber is the founder of the Green Island Shed group which she started in May last year.

Mrs Weber brought a group of interested people together and searched for vacant buildings and land where the shed could go.

They discovered an empty block of land beside the Green Island Community Garden in Shand St. Both are on land owned by the St Peter Chanel church.

"It's the perfect place, as we have the garden, the church, and the hall right next to us,'' she said.

Since then the group has been raising funds and has received various grants to help create the shed.

The location had been landscaped and prepared through the kindness of local businesses, Mrs Weber said.

Her vision for the shed was to make a space where everyone could work together.

She wanted the community to be "like the good old days, where everyone knew each other and shared their skills through generations,'' she said.

"I hope people can come here and enjoy it ... whether they make planter boxes, use produce from the garden to make jam or just have a cup of tea.''

As well as devoting her time to the community, she also worked for Supergrans and had done stints of volunteering overseas.

When asked why she did it, Mrs Weber said she simply liked helping people and was a firm believer in community.

The plan for the shed is to create a "U'' shape, using the plan to build a shed out of three shipping containers and make a roof over the gap in the middle.

She said the group had already purchased its first container and had been given two more, and planned to have the first one there in the next month.

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