The Manawahe Eco Trust is inviting the community to its centre this Sunday for a day of pickleball, a car boot sale and native tree planting.

The community fundraiser day will officially open the trust’s new pickleball courts, which have been converted from an existing tennis court that was not getting much use.

Trust administrator Emma Radford said the idea was to bring some life back to the area and give locals another reason to visit the centre.

“We realised that it’s quite accessible. You don’t have to be an expert athlete to have a go at it,” she said.

The pickleball tournament is intended to be beginner-friendly and social, with people encouraged to put together a team with friends or family.

“We want it to really be beginner friendly, so it’s intended to be fun and social,” Radford said.

Registrations will open at 10am, with the tournament expected to start around 10.30am or 11am.

Five teams have registered so far, with the trust hoping more people will sign up before the event.

Alongside the tournament, the centre will host a car boot sale, with sellers able to bring their vehicles and set up from 9am.

The trust has held successful car boot sales at the centre in the past and sees the event as another way to bring people through the gates.

The community day will also include native tree planting in an area where the trust has been controlling dogwood, an invasive woody weed in New Zealand.

The plants have been grown at the centre’s shade house with help from Kawerau South School and include mānuka and kānuka trees.

A sausage sizzle will also be running, with sausages costing $2 each.

The whole event is a fundraiser for the trust, with a team of two costing $20 to enter the pickleball tournament and $5 to register a spot for your car in the car boot sale.

People are asked to bring cash on the day for buying things form the car boot sale and sausages.

Radford said the day was about more than just opening the pickleball courts, with the trust wanting to see the community centre used more widely.

“We’re hoping that this and more future events using the centre can just bring people together again.”

The Manawahe Eco Trust works to restore and protect biodiversity in the Manawahe area, including predator control in forests that provide habitat for kōkako.

The trust also provides environmental education and uses the old Manawahe School as its base.

The event will run from 10am until about 2pm at the Manawahe Eco Community Centre.

People wanting to register for the pickleball tournament or car boot sale can contact the trust through its admin email, [email protected].