By Rebekah Williamson
PHAB is a little organisation with a big impact.
PHAB primarily provides social groups for people of all abilities, across Auckland. We are always looking for new ways to engage with our community.
We have been doing a Girls Day Out annually, but after talking to many families we came to realise that the day-to-day routines for our mothers and daughters often revolved around care, and we wanted to provide a day that was uniquely about their relationship: bonding, learning and being together.
The recent Mothers and Daughters Day started with a cooked breakfast at the PHAB building, all the families came together and before long we were in taxis and off to our main activity for the day: Aerial circus for the day at the Dust Palace.
We chose the Dust Palace in particular because of the large and varied range of costumes that they had, as we wanted everyone to walk away with photographic memories from the day.
Dust Palace was amazingly professional, and provided just the right amount of support, exceptional safety and empowerment to allow the participants on the day to grow in confidence as they explored the apparatus.
After lunch everyone dressed in costumes and got their time in the limelight for their photoshoots with their photographer Natasha H’ng.
The afternoon was finished off at Kiwi Nails and Spa in Takapuna and cake and drinks.
We were lucky to have support from the Louisa and Patrick Emmett Murphy foundation, who saw the value in providing this special day and supported us to do so.
We are grateful to everyone who made this day happen. We are especially grateful to the Mothers and Daughters who were simply inspirational.
Kathleen Derrick. Photos: Natasha H’ng
Deborah and Faith Van Heeswyck