In celebration of the reopening of Triangle Park’s playground (which now features a 40m flying fox and spider frame), more than 700 Massey residents flocked to Triangle Park on a hot, sunny 30 November 2008 for a family fun day - a collaborative effort by Massey Community House and Waitakere City Council Parks and Leisure.

But the day’s success was due to the participation and involvement of many more groups - from the local businesses in Don Buck Road who had provided superb prizes, to the EcoMatters Trust launching a ‘green streets’ initiative (sustainable households) project, and the stallholders from the regular Sunday Massey Market providing refreshments, arts and entertainment to the crowds.

There were also interactive family games, neighbourhood support promotion and an open day at the adjoining community house.

"It felt like our event too, not just the Council’s” said Jane Livingston, Massey Community House Coordinator. “It’s helped our community house think about new things we could be doing to connect with our local community – from hosting more events in the park to helping initiate a local business association.”

What is Massey Matters??

'Massey Matters' began in mid 2006 and is a 10 year project to improve quality of life in Massey.  Although the project was initiated by Waitakere City Council, it's about local residents, community groups and businesses and government joining together with Council to make Massey an even better place to live.  Massey Matters isn't an organisation or a building - it's really a brand under which a diverse range of innovative collaborative community-led action has begun happening in Massey.

How we got started?

The project began by interviewing 50 community leaders (the Massey Community Inquiry) who identified Massey's strengths and assets.  They also highlighted local issues and areas they felt a community building project should initially focus on - see achievements against five year targets in page 3.  Recommendations from the research and an initial community meeting gave Council a mandate to initiate Massey Matters and for a part time project leader to facilitate the establishment process.

Further community meetings were in held 2006-7, with local community leaders workshopping what the project should look like and how to begin engaging Massey's very large (25,000 people),  geographically spread  and diverse community.  From these discussions, two key action platforms and overarching project principles were developed.  These have guided the initial phase of project development.