ABOUT US
Introduction to SPiCE - by Evie Ashton
How SPiCE Came to Be
SPiCE began in 2014 when a group of Sandringham residents sought greater community involvement in the renewal of the Sandringham Reserve playground. With funding from the Albert-Eden Local Board, the community developed its own vision, resulting in a redesigned Reserve and playground shaped by local input.
This momentum led to the Sandringham Community Vision Report (2016), outlining the community’s aspirations. Since then, SPiCE has evolved into a champion for community-led projects, advocating for Sandringham’s future and connecting local groups.
In 2018, SPiCE became a community-led development partner with the Department of Internal Affairs, securing funding and support to expand its work. Today, SPiCE continues to empower locals, bringing ideas to life—like the annual floral carpet!
Vision Report
Produced in 2016, the Sandringham Community Vision Report, is a snapshot of what locals want for Sandringham. It is this shared vision that has informed the work of SPiCE. If you would like to contribute to a shared vision for Sandringham going forward, please fill out our Make Sandringham Amazing Survey.
SPiCE began in 2014 when a group of Sandringham residents sought greater community involvement in the renewal of the Sandringham Reserve playground. With funding from the Albert-Eden Local Board, the community developed its own vision, resulting in a redesigned Reserve and playground shaped by local input.
This momentum led to the Sandringham Community Vision Report (2016), outlining the community’s aspirations. Since then, SPiCE has evolved into a champion for community-led projects, advocating for Sandringham’s future and connecting local groups.
In 2018, SPiCE became a community-led development partner with the Department of Internal Affairs, securing funding and support to expand its work. Today, SPiCE continues to empower locals, bringing ideas to life—like the annual floral carpet!
Vision Report
Produced in 2016, the Sandringham Community Vision Report, is a snapshot of what locals want for Sandringham. It is this shared vision that has informed the work of SPiCE. If you would like to contribute to a shared vision for Sandringham going forward, please fill out our Make Sandringham Amazing Survey.
Meet The Team
So, who are SPiCE?
SPiCE (the Sandringham Project in Community Empowerment) is a charitable trust and a registered charity (CC57639) and is run by volunteer trustees who are all local residents of Sandringham. These trustees oversee the strategy and governance of SPiCE and are supported by a wider group of community members through regular meetings, online discussions and decision-making.
Our current Trustees are Helga Arlington, Peter Haynes, Sadie Keenan, Rohan Patel, and Sneh Patel
We are supported by SPiCE's Community Facilitator Trixi Pavey.
SPiCE (the Sandringham Project in Community Empowerment) is a charitable trust and a registered charity (CC57639) and is run by volunteer trustees who are all local residents of Sandringham. These trustees oversee the strategy and governance of SPiCE and are supported by a wider group of community members through regular meetings, online discussions and decision-making.
Our current Trustees are Helga Arlington, Peter Haynes, Sadie Keenan, Rohan Patel, and Sneh Patel
We are supported by SPiCE's Community Facilitator Trixi Pavey.
Peter Haynes TRUSTEE Kia ora all! I love contributing to our neighbourhood as a trustee of SPiCE. It is a fabulous community-led group that does a lot to make Sandringham a great place to live, work and play. As the chair of Albert-Eden Local Board, I saw the value of the work that it does and how powerful an organisation deeply rooted in the community can be. |
Helga Arlington TRUSTEE I am delighted that my time as a local board member brought me into contact with the great group of people who stepped up to form SPiCE and to advocate for the local community. We all feel pride at what we achieved for our reserve. Tablecloths even! I warmly recommend SPiCE to anyone who would like to 'belong' more to Sandringham - maybe there are skills or time you have to offer? What would you like to dream up? |
Sadie Keenan TRUSTEE Kia ora, I'm Sadie Keenan. I've been living in Sandringham for the past four years with my partner and two children, and we love the area's rich cultural diversity—something truly unique to Tāmaki Makaurau. Being part of SPiCE has been incredibly rewarding, and I’m proud of the events we’ve held that bring our community together. I'm passionate about fostering connections and creating a strong, inclusive neighborhood. |
Rohan Patel TRUSTEE Kia ora all, my name is Rohan, I’m a Final Year Business Student, a young Kiwi, and I absolutely love my community. My family has been in Sandringham for over 6 decades, and it's a place we love calling home. My ultimate goal is to ensure that those from and around Sandringham can see SPiCE as a means for their community to thrive, and I intend to do this to the best of my ability by helping support anything that comes my way! |
Trixi Pavey Community Facilitator A passionate community development practitioner with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering inclusive, creative, and community-led initiatives across Aotearoa, Australia and the United Kingdom. Trixi loves collaborating with communities to deliver creative projects that honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, amplify diverse voices, foster connection, and promote wellbeing. |
Sneh Patel TRUSTEE Kia ora, I'm Sneh! I’m really excited to join SPiCE as a Trustee. Being new to Mount Albert, I’m looking forward to contributing to a strong, supportive neighbourhood - a place where people truly want to live, work, visit, and belong. |
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Natasha McCoy Former Trustee - 
Rob Richardson Former Trustee - |
Chloe Pope Former Trustee - |
James Ibell-Roberts Former Trustee - |
Karel Wöhlnick Former Trustee - |
SPiCE's mission and kaupapa
Our mission is simple: to make Sandringham an even more amazing place to live, work and enjoy.
Our kaupapa is equally clear: to give our community a voice and empower our community to shape our future, following the principles of community-led development.
What is community-led development?
Community-led development is a planning and development approach that puts local voices in the lead, builds on local strengths, is intentional and adaptable and works to achieve systemic change. In following the community-led development principles SPiCE is joining neighbourhoods around New Zealand and the world in strengthening the vitality of communities by activating and weaving the contribution of everyone connected to a place to ensure the everyone thrives.
There are five core community-led development principles that guide us and what we do:
This means if you live here, work here, gather here, shop here or play here then we want to talk to you. It also means that if you have an idea or project for the Sandringham community that you'd like some help with – we can help you! Or if you want to do something positive for your community but don't know what that might be? We'd love to hear from you! Everyone is welcome to our come along to our community meetings or join our online discussion and decision-making group. Contact us to find out more.
If you'd like to find out more about community-led development and the CLD principles then please check out Inspiring Communities website.
Community-led development is a planning and development approach that puts local voices in the lead, builds on local strengths, is intentional and adaptable and works to achieve systemic change. In following the community-led development principles SPiCE is joining neighbourhoods around New Zealand and the world in strengthening the vitality of communities by activating and weaving the contribution of everyone connected to a place to ensure the everyone thrives.
There are five core community-led development principles that guide us and what we do:
- Grow from shared local visions
- Build from strengths
- Work with diverse people and sectors
- Grow collaborative local leadership
- Learn by doing
This means if you live here, work here, gather here, shop here or play here then we want to talk to you. It also means that if you have an idea or project for the Sandringham community that you'd like some help with – we can help you! Or if you want to do something positive for your community but don't know what that might be? We'd love to hear from you! Everyone is welcome to our come along to our community meetings or join our online discussion and decision-making group. Contact us to find out more.
If you'd like to find out more about community-led development and the CLD principles then please check out Inspiring Communities website.
