6 November 2010  Don’t tell me it’s too early to be thinking about Christmas!  At the Heart of Gisborne office, Ken and I are not only thinking about Christmas, we’re physically dusting off the street wreaths and Santa sleigh so they’re ready for the annual Children’s Christmas Parade… booked for 4pm, Saturday 4 December. Parades [...]

30 October 2010 I duck plenty of bullets in this job: retailers who complain locals save their money to spend on shopping trips to other centres, hospitality people who say no one in Gisborne ever eats out. But some of these same moaners shut the doors and turn off the lights when hordes of visitors [...]

23 October 2010  Heart of Gisborne is not just an area, it is an Incorporated Society representing the interests of all the people who live, work and play in our city centre. We’re funded – almost solely at present – by a levy on non-residential property owners within a Council defined geographic area. In practice, [...]

Our mission at Heart of Gisborne is to make the city centre more vibrant…but how to define vibrant? Does vibrant mean shops with gleaming-clean and well-lit windows featuring fabulous retail displays? Does it mean lawyers and dentists sit in buildings that are shoulder-to-shoulder with nightclubs boasting colourful doorways? Does vibrant mean clean footpaths and lush [...]