In recent years the Bridge has seen a huge increase in new houses and new arrivals: so a group of locals recently organised another series of evenings to welcome and inform them about the Bridge. Friends of the Farm Mangere Bridge (FOF) supported the Bridge Connect Group with supper and promoting the event on the FOF website. Here’s the full report from Bridge connect.
Week 1, St James Anglican Church: Jake (Te Puea Marae) traced the history of mana whenua and Auckland’s first urban marae. Mark (St James) shared the 1857 church’s heritage, built from Māngere Mountain scoria. Kate (Village Business Association) highlighted 35+ local businesses and at-risk Council funding, urging residents to help preserve it and volunteer.
Weeks 2–4 were kindly hosted by Friends of the Farm at Ambury Regional Park. Janine (Park Ranger) revealed how the area was originally famous for its (1887) Ambury butter factory and now attracts 500,000 annual visitors to the farm.
Ian (Birds NZ) celebrated the 75 local bird species on our doorstep, including godwits migrating 12,000km from Alaska annually in October.
Zane (Māngere Mountain Education Centre) described pre-European Māori ingenuity—solar-powered horticulture, food pits, walled gardens, fish traps, and entrepreneurial trade as far away as San Francisco.
Julie (Māngere Historical Society) recalled her 1960s childhood amid the many market gardens. Jack (Chinese Community) then explained the migrant gardeners’ vital contribution as Auckland’s primary source of vegetables for many years – and also some of their hardships.
Gemma (Māngere Bridge Kindy) gave us insights into the high quality local early child education available , while several other contributors, including Geoff (walking group), Marie (Guides), and Lyn (Probus + Rummy-O) spoke for some of the 30+ local clubs and interest groups
As currently there is no single source of information about all the groups in the Bridge, they are currently working on addressing that via this website – so watch this space!
For those of you who welcome these opportunities to connect with others in this special community and learn more about its fascinating history, other events will be also advertised as they are planned.
Bridge Connect is a small group of locals from Mangere Bridge Baptist church, passionate about connecting with the history, the landscape, the place of faith and ways to make this community thrive.
Read more…
- Bridge Connect Evenings for new residents 2026
- Beanies, blankets, jumpers, toys, slippers…
- Māngere Bridge – Events Summary for May
- Wash Against Waste – Another Local Initiative
- Fidget Squares Debut at Craft Group
- Tap n Shake Repair Café March 2026
- Crafty Graft at the Library
- 2026 Begins at Māngere Bridge Community Orchard Working Bee
- Save the dates! Lots of Wastewise events coming up!
- Two Years of Crafty Work – and Counting
