I just finished reading the article on the cover of the latest Heads News about the proposed project to build a boardwalk here - by the way, doesn’t Anne-Louise do a great job with the community newsletter?

I had to chuckle because my wife and I went for a stroll the other day and we were musing on whether a scheme will ever be proposed to provide some work for the unemployed that meant visitors and locals (especially those in  wheelchairs) would have better access to the beach. We reckoned it would compliment the plans to demolish the old cottages and build the new tourist & residential accommodation development on McIntosh St.

We even had the planned route almost right - south of the surfclub down to the ‘entrance’. To have one that extends all the way down to Wharf Rd as well will be a great way to get some exercise instead of walking around the streets.

It reminded me of the rebuilding project of an old historic wharf in the area of Auckland where I was living in the late nineties. It was funded by contributions from the local community as well as the local government and they had a novel way to get the locals involved. They sold the planks!

The scheme involved locals buying a wharf plank and they had plaques made up that were set into them that had the names of all the families and local businesses who had contributed to the rebuilding fund (see photo to the right).

It was a great idea but the only problem was that the odd person (often a tourist) used to accidentally fall into the sea while reading the plaques instead of watching where they were walking. The scheme organisers had put them on the side of the wharf  that didn’t have a guard rail on the side…

Maybe we could set up a ‘Buy a boardwalk plank’ fund here at the ‘Heads - what do you think?