Martin Cooper
For services to youth leadership and community support through his unwavering dedication to Eastbourne’s youth group, “The Loft,” providing a safe and welcoming space for local youth.
Martin Cooper has been the unwavering leader of Eastbourne’s youth group, “The Loft,” since stepping into the role in 2020 after a heartfelt community call for help. The Loft, established in 1996 by local families, serves as a crucial space for youth in Years 7 to 10. In 2019, the group was on the brink of dissolution when its previous leader, Eddie Jansen, put out a request for someone to take over. Martin’s daughter, Izzy, then in Year 8, urged her father to take on the challenge—and with 20 years of teaching experience across all levels of education, Martin was the perfect fit.
Despite his busy professional life, Martin dedicates his Friday evenings to the youth group. He has not missed a single session since officially taking the reins at the start of Term 1 in 2020, running The Loft for 36 to 38 Friday nights a year for the past five years. Alongside a teenage assistant—currently his son, Bodhi—Martin opens the space in the Eastbourne Rec Centre every week without fail. He not only manages the supervision of the group but also handles weekly shopping, banking, and cleaning duties, including a thorough “pre-sweep and post-sweep” to ensure the space is safe and welcoming. Whether it’s picking up broken glass or cleaning messy bathrooms, Martin takes pride in making sure the space is ready for the kids. He is meticulous in ensuring that every child is accounted for at the end of the night, balancing their growing independence with a keen awareness of their safety and well-being.
Martin’s presence has established The Loft as a safe, welcoming environment for Eastbourne youth. Regardless of how many attendees show up, he provides a consistent and friendly space where youth can check in, use the phone to get home, or just hang out. His firm but fair approach to the rules creates an atmosphere of trust, and his steady leadership has helped many young people navigate their teenage years.
In addition to maintaining The Loft’s physical space, Martin leveraged the strong relationships he built with the council to secure a temporary storage container for the group’s equipment during a major upgrade to the facility, which included stripping and repainting the walls and upgrading the floors. Martin personally coordinated the move, with the help of several local families, including his own, to ensure everything was safely stored during the renovations. Thanks to his resourcefulness and dedication, The Loft continued to function smoothly throughout this period. Under Martin’s leadership, the group has used grants and donations to acquire popular recreational items like an air-hockey table, pool table, and indoor basketball hoops, and they even received a donated X-box. These additions have made The Loft an even more engaging and enjoyable space for local youth, despite a necessary increase in fees from $3 to $4 to manage rising overheads.
Martin is not alone in his efforts; he is supported by a group of dedicated trustees who assist in managing the financial aspects of the group. Eddie Jansen, who originally put out the call for help, continues to support The Loft by managing the annual accounts. This teamwork ensures the group remains financially viable and able to provide valuable experiences for Eastbourne’s youth.
Beyond his work inside The Loft, Martin is deeply connected to the broader Eastbourne community. He has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening with the local youth, often acting as a bridge between them, their families, and the wider community. When activity around the Rec Centre became concerning, Martin worked with local authorities, encouraging the police to maintain a presence on Friday nights to curb problematic behavior. His ability to work gently but effectively with both youth and adults has prevented many small issues from escalating into bigger problems.
Martin’s leadership goes beyond providing a space for youth to socialize—he has become a vital support system for the community, always willing to listen, offer help, and act when needed. His dedication to Eastbourne’s young people and his tireless efforts in keeping The Loft a safe, welcoming environment make him truly deserving of recognition for his service.
Sinead Diederich
For services to community engagement and local fundraising, including founding the Facebook Eastbourne Community Notice Board and spearheading numerous local initiatives.
Sinead Diederich has been a beacon of community spirit in Eastbourne since she moved here with her family in 2009. Sinead, originally from Ireland, was living in Brussels, working as a policy expert for the European Commission on Mad Cow Disease. A trained veterinarian, she and her husband Matt chose Wellington as their new home due to its proximity to policy jobs with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Yet, it was Eastbourne that truly captured their hearts, offering a dog-friendly environment and a slower pace of life, far removed from the hectic commutes of their past.
From her early days in Eastbourne, Sinead has shown an incredible knack for mobilising the community’s generosity. In 2011, she hosted a Pink Ribbon Breakfast at the Days Bay Pavilion, which became a standout success thanks to her natural fundraising abilities. This event caught the attention of local realtor Mary Greig Clayton, who saw in Sinead the potential to connect people on a larger scale. Encouraged by this, Sinead eventually transitioned into a real estate career, where her business quickly became a central hub for community events.
Sinead’s true legacy, however, lies in her innovative use of social media to foster community connections. In 2013, she founded the Eastbourne Community Notice Board on Facebook, a pioneering effort at the time. Under her stewardship, the group has grown to nearly 5,000 members, becoming a vital platform for residents to connect, share, and support one another. Sinead’s careful moderation ensures that the group remains a positive space, free from advertising clutter and focused on genuine community interaction.
Her commitment to Eastbourne extends far beyond the digital realm. Sinead has consistently thrown herself into local fundraising efforts, from supporting Muritai School discos to organising events for Te Omanga Hospice and the Nourish at Christmas hampers. This year alone, she’s spearheading a $10,000 fundraising push and planning a home tour event for November, demonstrating her relentless dedication to making Eastbourne a better place for everyone.
One of Sinead’s most significant contributions has been her role in the Eastbourne skate ramp project. Alongside Matt Hayes, she fundraised, consulted, and helped design the ramp, engaging the community in a constructive dialogue and navigating the complexities of local government to see the project through to completion.
Sinead’s work is guided by core values that emphasise honesty, integrity, and the importance of community. Living and working in Eastbourne, she believes in building relationships year upon year, grounded in a deep love for the place she now calls home. Her tireless efforts have not only enhanced the lives of her fellow residents but have also cemented her role as a pillar of the Eastbourne community.
For these reasons, Sinead Diederich is a deserving recipient of the “Eastbournes” Award, a testament to her unwavering commitment to the community she so passionately serves.
Sarah Pettus
For caring for our coastline, our environment, and our immigrant and refugee community.
Sarah first joined in beach clean-ups run by the East Harbour Environmental Association about 12 years ago when she arrived in Eastbourne, and soon volunteered to take on responsibility for organising them. Under her watch these have expanded from a small group endeavour to a community-wide project. Every 6 months all generations of Eastbourne residents spread out along our southern coastline from Burdan’s Gate to the Pencarrow lighthouses to collect the rubbish that’s thrown up by storms and left by visitors.
The exercise is social, environmental and educational, with changes in types of debris reflecting the changes in our societal behaviour. Sarah has noticed over the years that plastic parking tickets, grocery store bags and drinking straws have given way to laundry pegs, polystyrene and zip-ties. She says that while most of the rubbish is accidental, far too much is intentionally left and even hidden in the harakeke and ngaio bushes along the beach.
Sarah is also one of several community members who manage a trap line in our hills and residential areas to keep pests under control and support our environmental diversity and native wildlife. The ERAT project (Educating Residents About Trapping) is organised by MIRO with support from the Hutt City Council and has been operating since 2017. While she doesn’t love handling dead rodents, Sarah does feel rewarded every spring when the tūī converge on the kōwhai trees in Eastbourne.
Sarah’s other passion is in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and she currently works for English Language Partners in the Hutt. After many years of working mostly with international students, she’s found her true calling teaching English to new immigrants, especially our refugee community. This is a hugely important step for them as they continue their journey to join and enrich our diverse population, and Sarah speaks of the myriad challenges our new arrivals face, with language being just one of the barriers they must overcome. She highlights the importance of creating a sense of belonging in her classroom and the role of laughter in breaking down these barriers – a universal and non-threatening language of sorts.
The community celebrates Sarah’s efforts on our behalf in raising awareness of environmental issues, activating our community, and working to help new arrivals in Aotearoa adapt to their new country.
Jo Greenman
For her tireless dedication to the role of Park Ranger for Greater Wellington Regional Council in East Harbour Regional Park.
Eastbourne has usually been lucky in the lottery of who is appointed ranger here by GWRC, but with Jo, this is especially so. Jo lives and breathes conservation and has gone beyond her job description in advocating for, and involvement in, the restoration of the Pencarrow Lakes Block and Baring Head, as well as management of the Northern Forest.
Jo is a science teacher by training, but having moved with her family to the Isles of Scilly, some 90km off the west coast of Cornwall in England at the age of 12, somehow seemed destined to end up working in the outdoors. Fitting, then, that her second job with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, was on another island, Matiu Somes. Jo and her partner emigrated to New Zealand in 2002 and, after a couple of years of teaching, Jo began working for DOC. And just prior to taking up the role of the Island’s ranger, she had the job of welcoming back a group of dedicated volunteers from Forest and Bird who had, over the previous 25 years, completed the re-vegetation of Matiu Somes, transforming it from a sparse wasteland into a verdant paradise for native fauna. This event had a profound and lasting effect on Jo.
And asked what has been her most satisfying achievement over her last 5 years as ranger for Greater Wellington Regional Council, Jo says it is the restoration of the Parangarahu Lakes including removing, finally, the last sheep from the conservation area and a continuation of the planting begun by MIRO volunteers 12 years earlier.
Jo modestly describes herself as a “jack of all trades and master of none”, but anyone who has seen her wield one, knows she is at least a 7th Dan on a chainsaw. What Jo means is that the role is incredibly varied, from cleaning toilets to managing $300,000 roading contracts. All of which Jo does with dedication and skill. Her least favourite part of the job is “compliance”; in other words, telling people off. But if you ever witness this first-hand, you will see this is also something Jo is extremely good at. A skill no doubt honed in her years as a secondary school teacher.
Jo says she would like to be able to give more time to the Northern Forest, but there are only so many hours in a day, and she counts herself lucky to have the support of local groups like MIRO, who devote so much volunteer time to assisting with growing its biodiversity. These groups are, in turn, grateful to Jo who, not only goes far above and beyond her job description, but does it all with a smile.
We are not sure how much longer we will have Jo for, but everyone who we have spoken to about her, hopes that we will have the pleasure of her company for many years to come.
So thank you Jo.
Janet Andrews and Simon Hoyle
Visual storytellers, geologists and wonderful members of our community.
Janet and Simon have quietly and generously impacted Eastbourne and its environment over many years. They moved to Days Bay 30 years ago and purchased the building and site that now houses their Southlight Studio and the Chocolate Dayz Cafe.
One of the first things they created was the cafe space, which, as we know, has become a focal point and destination for Eastbourne and Eastern Bays residents and visitors. Cafes are commercial ventures but can also be important community hubs that bring residents together informally for meetings and events. This is what Janet and Simon have achieved for Days Bay.
When Janet and Simon moved to Days Bay, the area opposite the studio between the beach and the road was bare and susceptible to wind erosion, and the road edge was full of rubbish. As geologists, they saw an opportunity to improve the beach environment and the health of the stream that runs down to the beach. They started the Days Bay Beach Planters Group, and with support from Council, which provided plants, the group has turned bare land into an attractive, healthy space between the beach and road and the stream is healthier and safer.
We owe a lot to Janet and Simon for their visual storytelling about Eastbourne and the Bays, including its history, the rebuilding of the Days Bay Wharf, the construction of the Ika Rere electric ferry, and the production of the 2023 film about Kathrine Mansfield that marked the centenary of her death. They have generously shared these stories with the community. They have also helped to digitise and preserve images for the Eastbourne Historical Society.
Their influence on coastal spaces extends far beyond the Days Bay beach. Janet and Simon have produced an extensive series of videos for Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand to help us understand how to restore and protect estuaries, beaches and coastal features throughout the motu.
Janet and Simon’s blend of science and art is an asset to Days Bay and Eastbourne; we are fortunate they live here.