NOTE: The start of this term's course has been postponed for a week. It will now start on Thursday, 28 February. All other details are the same.

By Anan Zaki, Western News, 15 January 2019

Residents growing tired of short cut-takers have petitioned the city council to close off their street.

The huge amount of community work provided by individuals and organisations in the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton area has been applauded by City Council Community Development Advisor Marie Byrne.

Marie says she has done some number crunching in the past week. "I worked out that in 2018 the Community Board supported 59 community organisations to provide over 130 programmes to their local communities. These programmes comprised more than 200,000 volunteer hours contributed by over 4,500 volunteers and benefitting 135,000 participants.

A new exercise class for refugee and migrant women is to start in Riccarton in Term 1 of 2019, run by Sport Canterbury.

Environment Canterbury wants to raise awareness that urban stormwater waterways are struggling.

Members of the Riccarton community had the honour of turning the first sods when the beginning of construction of the new Riccarton Community Centre was marked today.

A small event to celebrate the sod turning that will mark the start of construction of the new $4.5 million Riccarton Community Centre will be held on Thursday, 20 December.

Christmas carols and a Christmas musical will light up the approaching holiday season in Riccarton this year.