Alba Street

Alba Street in Westown is a short street running off Poplar Grove. The street has no residents, its sole purpose being to provide access to Lombardy Place and, at the end of the street, the Riding for the Disabled (RDA) complex. Once past the RDA complex, a track leads to the Cowling kauri plantation and further on to Barrett Domain.

Alba Street, along with Lombardy Place, was included in the second stage of the Poplar Grove subdivision, an ambitious project conceived by D.S. Garret Land Development. The 1976 subdivision promised 21 “superb sites” in “New Plymouth’s most unique subdivision”. An unusual feature of the development was a footway underpass below Alba Street, a safe but perhaps slightly unnecessary initiative.

In keeping with the name of the subdivision, Alba Street was named after a species of poplar, Populus alba, more commonly known as silver poplar. Native to most of the northern hemisphere and first grown in New Zealand in the 1930s, they are known to grow quickly on moist, fertile sites.  

New Plymouth Riding for the Disabled was established in 1973 and celebrate their fiftieth anniversary this year. The RDA facility at the end of Alba Street moved to the Barrett Domain site in 1982 after some careful behind-the-scenes negotiations with the New Plymouth City Council and the domain committee. A lease was signed in June 1982 and on 30 October of that year their new stables were officially opened by New Plymouth deputy mayor Ron Barclay and vice-president of New Zealand Riding for the Disabled, Garry Adie.

Forty years later the RDA has become well-established at the domain and in 2021 a long wait for a roof for their arena finally ended (TDN 18 January 2021). The mammoth undertaking was achieved with generous contributions from a number of donors as well as a large fundraising effort. The roof provides all-weather riding for more than 80 riders enrolled with the group.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Further reading: I Saw a Child Who Couldn't Walk...New Plymouth Riding for the Disabled: 50 Years 1973-2023, Murray Moorhead and Barry Easton. (TRCT728.23087 NEW)