Volunteer's green thumb transforms Council park
Christchurch City Council Newsline: 29 June 2026
This year is International Volunteer Year, so we are shining a light on some of Christchurch’s most passionate volunteers.
Pania Bain is a resourceful woman, and since moving into a house near Richmond Park, she’s transformed a corner that was used as a dump site into a beautiful garden.
She’s been volunteering her time to make the park more inviting for the community.
“When I moved back to Christchurch from Auckland six years ago, the corner of the park which is near the entrance to my house was a mess,” Pania said.
“People were using it as a site to dump rubbish, and the beautiful old cabbage tree was really struggling.”
She took matters into her own hands, cleaning up the mess and creating a garden in the corner.
Bees circle Pania as she points out the different natives and flowers she’s planted.
“I contacted the Council and they helped by suppling the soil, bark and some plants. I also asked them to tidy up the playground as that was in a bit of a state, it’s been repainted and looks a lot more inviting now.”
Getting out into the garden twice a week, Pania has encouraged her neighbours along on the journey. Now they swap ideas, swap plants and help each other out in the garden. She’s eyeing up another bare patch in the park to create a vegetable garden.
“I love giving back, I’ve had a troubled past and I thought what can I do to pay back, to make amends because I could never repay all the help I’ve had in a financial sense, but I love gardening and so doing this gives me a bit of purpose.
“People stop all the time and say you’re doing a good job which is lovely to hear.”
Council Community Partnership Ranger, Lissie Tanner said what Pania is doing is healing for the land and healing for her community – the manifestation of the whakataukī: Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tangata.
“Caring for the environment is caring for ourselves, and Pania’s corner of Richmond Park is a gentle reminder to us all to do just that – take care and show love wherever we go.
“Pania has transformed a previously neglected, rubbish-strewn area to a beautiful flower garden that her community can be proud of. Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu – though it is small, it is a treasure as precious as greenstone.”
Lissie said over the last few years, Council has created a network of wildflower patches in Community Parks across the city to provide more habitat for pollinators and insects, improve soil structure and reduce the amount of mowing needed. Pania’s garden is a valued addition to this network.
“Volunteers make a huge contribution to our parks across the city – contributing tens of thousands of hours every year. We are so appreciative of this work and are always looking to support more volunteers and communities to get involved in their local parks.”
“There are many pre-existing projects that new volunteers can join, and there are also opportunities for new community and volunteer-led projects to be developed in partnership with Council.”
Projects could be anything from planting and maintaining native plantings, general gardening, picking up litter, tackling pest weeds, trapping pest animals, maintaining tracks and more, she said.
Find out more about volunteering in Christchurch City Council parks.