Festive season opening hours in Parnell
Holiday time in Parnell

As the majority of Parnell's shops and cafes are owner-operated, many business owners choose to take a well-earned break over the Christmas-New Year period.

The majority of Parnell's restaurants and cafes are closed on Christmas Day & Boxing Day; and January 1st & 2nd - see www.parnell.net.nz for opening days for individual businesses.

Retailers: If you'd like to take a lead from Westfield 277 in Newmarket, you can view their Christmas-New Year trading times here.

The cruise ship Dawn Princess will be in Auckland on Christmas Day. The Auckland Explorer Bus company was interested to hear of any Parnell businesses open on Christmas Day. Please contact Mark Gibson on 021 940 432 (or Claire on 021 658 346) if you'd like to let then know if your business will be open!

Johanna leaves Parnell
Farewell to another wonderful intern

Parnell Inc has been very fortunate to have the excellent assistance of German intern, Johanna Wegner for 12 weeks. Johanna has been fabulously helpful and obliging and many members will have come to know her (and see her several times a day even, especially towards the end of the year).

Johanna leaves for a tour of the South Island over Christmas and will be returning to Germany in the new year via Sydney and Tokyo.
Here's Johanna signing off:

Hello everybody,

After three month working for Debbie and Parnell Inc, it's time for me to say Goodbye.

When I first arrived, I was a bit nervous because I didn't exactly know what to expect. But Debbie, and of course all of you, made it very easy for me to settle into Parnell.

As you know, I came into your shops and businesses a lot over the last 12 weeks to tell you about Parnell news, and it was great that you've always been friendly and patient with me. So thank you for all your help and for your support. I really enjoyed my time here and I hope to see you all again someday!

Have a great Christmas and a successful New Year!
Johanna

Would your business like an intern?
Parnell Inc's interns come to us courtesy of Kaplan International College Auckland in Titoki Street. Students work for free in order to improve their English while gaining valued workplace experience. Kate Gomm, in charge of intern placement, is always looking for businesses that would like to take an intern. Contact Kate on 307 6507 or email Auckland.Interns@kaplan.com

Parnell Inc fire hydrant review
Fire Hydrants to be re-painted in 2010

Parnell Inc member, David Nicoll asked us to investigate the visibility of Parnell Road's fire hydrants after noticing that many markings were very faded. Given that the large number of wooden buildings in our area, it's obviously important that the fire service can locate hydrants in a hurry, if needed.

Our intern, Johanna Wegner, did a comprehensive survey of all the hydrants in the Parnell Inc business area and found many, such as the one at left in Titoki Street were almost invisible. Johanna rated all the hydrants on the quality of road, curbstone and hydrant cover markings and her report, together with photographs was sent to the New Zealand Fire Service.

Steve Lakin, Assistant Area Fire Manager, took the report to a meeting with Metrowater and emailed, "The detail you were able to provide was fantastic and helped to describe the provided priority grading system."

Metrowater responded that Parnell's hydrants were last painted in 2008. The provider has organised to have them repainted by March 2010.

Yogi Bear shoot in Parnell
6am - 10pm, January 7 at lower St Georges Bay Road

Scenes from a scene in the Yogi Bear movie are being shot around Auckland in the new year, including one at lower St Georges Bay Road, between Kenwyn Street and Ruskin Street, on January 7 (with a rain day of January 8 or 9) .

There's a big cast and crew (200 - 300 people) and the usual bewildering number of trucks and support vehicles (40) and Council's events team warns that filming will have a major impact on the area for the entire day so the production have been consulting extensively with businesses and residents who may be affected.

They'll be filming various shots of Yogi Bear, Booboo and Ranger Wilson walking and talking along the street. Yogi and Boo talk to a homeless person on the street.

For any queries contact Picnic Basket Productions Ltd - Brett Higginson Phone: 813 1815, Mobile: 027 488 9868, E-mail: bretthig@ihug.co.nz.