Hi everyone, the last few months has seen a few changes within the Pokaiwhenua Catchment Group.  The founder of our group, Andrew Lennox had been in the coordinators role for a bit over a year, and wanted to step back from the day to day operations.  Meanwhile I (Hadleigh) had expressed some interest in the role after being involved on the board since we started.  Long story short, Andrew stepped down as coordinator, and was voted back onto our board as chairperson, with me stepping down as chairperson and being contracted as our new coordinator!  I started in the role at the start of July.

So, a bit about Hadleigh…

I grew up on a family dairy farm which bounds the Pokaiwhenua Stream. Growing up on the farm, I spent many hours in or near the stream fishing, rafting, swimming, exploring, dam building and many family BBQ’s. My family and I still enjoy visiting the stream for these activities, and camping in the summer months.

I am passionate about the strength of catchment groups in bringing people together to achieve multiple objectives.

I previously worked for Fonterra as a Sustainable Dairying Adviser for 6 years, covering the South Waikato region providing individually tailored, farm-specific sustainability support and advice to Fonterra farmers via Farm Environment Plans (FEP’s).

Prior to Fonterra, I was a Field Consultant with Ballance Agri-Nutrients in the South Waikato for 11 years, where I developed close relationships with many farmers in the region.