Kids flood in for water safety | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

A summer programme which teaches young people water safety and the value of our marine environment has reached capacity and could now be run up to three times a year in Hawke's Bay.

Former Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Trish Giddens is now working as the chairwoman for the Te Tai Timu Trust, which tomorrow begins its sixth wananga, or programme, at Camp Tamumu in Pourerere Rd, near Waipawa.

"We've got 100 children this year, that's as many as we're allowed to have and I've actually had to turn a few away this week," she said.

"It's just getting bigger and bigger and now what we want to do is try to grow the numbers of children so we can manage to run alternative wananga and more regular times, maybe two or three times a year."

The programme was for children aged from 8 to 16 and was unique because it involved workshops with motivational speakers from Water Safety New Zealand, Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, the police, the district health board and the Ministry of Fisheries.

It was set up in 2007 by Flaxmere man Zac Makoare to teach children how to stay safe in the water and the rules and regulations around fishing, particularly when it came to understanding the quota and sizes allowed for paua and crayfish.

In the past, former navy diver Rob Hewitt had headed diving workshops as part of the programme.

In recent years the classes had expanded to teach children about nutrition, healthy eating as well as finance and savings.

The theme of the programme, supported by Water Safety New Zealand, was "our way of life" and encouraged young people to enjoy aquatic activities and environments.

The five-day camp would be based at Tamumu because the programme's usual base, near the Te Angiangi Marine Reserve, had been damaged by the major flood in April last year.

Workshops would also be held at Pandora Pond in Ahuriri and at the marine reserve, as well as at Camp Tamumu, near the Tukituki River.

"I think it's good for children to learn about their heritage, the value of the sea and being able to put that into action.

"They're also learning about traditional Maori games [ki-o-rahi], which are still played overseas in places like France but are so often here in New Zealand," Ms Giddens said.

"We're really hoping parents will come along as well, we want to get them involved and get them interested in what their children are learning about."

Television presenter Pio Terei will be the guest speaker at the prizegiving on Monday afternoon.