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Ashburton FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
Cricketer involved in bar scuffle
Monday, May 13, 2013
Ashburton Car Club’s Donn McLaren gets sideways round the bend in the Darryl Phillips Street Sprints.
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By Jonathan Leask It was a stellar weekend of high speed street sprints action in the annual Ashburton Car Club event. The Ashburton Industrial Park was transformed into a race track and 54 drivers started qualifying on Saturday morning to be the last man standing. After setting their qualifying times, the field was cut down over a series a knockout one-run rounds yesterday and the honour of last man standing after a one-on-one shootout again belonged to Southland’s Glen Frew,
ABOVE and BELOW: Cellphone photographs of the alleged bar scuffle involving New Zealand cricketer Kyle Mills.
Check out our video winning for the third year in a row. Frew was the fastest but the petrolheads were treated to a variety of sprinters over the course of the weekend from old to new, the oldest being Dave Samson’s 1968 Vauxhall Viva,
to the big and the small, ranging from a Mini with the biggest easily being the display lap by Brent Jones in a Bedford KM Super Truck. In between the knockout rounds, while the judges and timekeepers
For almost 70 years an elegant, twostorey building on Burnett Street has been home to Ashburton business Stewart and Holland, but that relationship will end on June 30. The building, believed to be about 108 years old, is owned by David and Jan Stewart and will stand empty while its owners decide its future. Like other buildings of a similar age and construction, it is in need of significant earthquake strengthening work and that leaves the Stewarts with a difficult decision – strengthen or demolish. For them, the decision is made even more difficult because of their strong family ties to the building and the business it currently houses. In 1934 David’s father Doug began trading as Stewart Radios in a small shop on the opposite side of Burnett Street. In 1944 he moved into the Nicoll Bros building across the road and post World War Two formed a partnership with Wilf Holland to found Stewart and Holland Ltd. The company later merged with another local firm, Allen Kelly Ltd, which specialised in refrigeration installation and servicing. The business grew and changed to
meet customer demand but the one thing that did not change was its focus on its core business, air conditioning refrigeration and electrical sales and servicing. While David Stewart is no longer involved in his family’s business, he has retained ownership of the Nicoll Bros building and in the post-earthquake environment, that’s creating more than a few headaches, he said. “Like most building owners in town, we’ve had our engineering reports done and now we have to make a decision, whether to strengthen the building or demolish it. We have 10 years to do the work and we’re in the throes of making that decision.” Today Burnett Street might be losing many of its elderly buildings, but Mr Stewart is confident the area has a great future. “It’s been a busy trading area of Ashburton in the past and with all the redevelopment going on in the street it will be a top street again.” Many of the Nicoll Bros building’s neighbours have or are likely to be demolished. While the Stewarts are still grappling with their building’s future, the business’ current owners, Mark Cartwright, Armand van-der-Eik and
Scott Mackenzie, have opted not to wait. They’ve decided to restructure their business and to relocate. The servicing division and the administration team of Stewart and Holland will relocate into the Alford Forest Road industrial area, along with two of the owners, Mr Cartwright and Mr MacKenzie. “This move is important for us to grow our business and expand what we are capable of achieving, however, we’ve been restricted by the size of the workshops on the Burnett Street premises,” Mr Cartwright said. For Mr van-der-Eik, the future of the retail side of the business is unclear. “For me this is the end of an era. After 21 years it will be sad to leave the old building and the company restructured, but it also creates new opportunities.” While he is hoping to continue with an appliance showroom in a new location, Mr van-der-Eik said margins in electrical appliance retailing had become very tight. “We would have to streamline the running costs as the overheads to run the business have become increasingly inhibiting.” Stewart and Holland will cease trading on Burnett Street on June 30.
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conferred, the sizeable Sunday crowd was treated to drifting displays. The action itself was fast and not too furious with only a few minor incidents when drivers were pushing hard against the clock but instead of a posting a good time they met the hay bale safety barrier, much to the crowd’s delight. In the end the weekend belonged to Frew and his Mitsubishi Evo who reigned supreme in the street sprints, claiming the hat-trick of wins, becoming the fourth driver to do so since the inaugural event in 1990. • See also P8, 14
Historic building’s fate unclear By Sue Newman
Another patron took photos of the scuffle on his cellphone before an associate of Mills seized the phone and, while holding the patron at arm’s length, deleted several of the shots, saying, “you don’t need to be doing that’’. A spokesperson for the Yaldhurst Hotel did not wish to comment when contacted yesterday. Mills, 34, is due to fly out to England next Tuesday to join up with the New Zealand side ahead of their limited overs series against the hosts.
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Frew makes it a street sprints hat-trick
By Myles Hume and Kris Shannon New Zealand bowler Kyle Mills was involved in an altercation at a Christchurch bar early yesterday morning but the cricketer says he was more a peacemaker than active participant. Six weeks after Jesse Ryder was assaulted at a bar in the same city, Mills was involved in an incident at the Yaldhurst Hotel before being advised by security to leave the establishment. Witnesses said Mills was drinking with friends at the rural bar when two of the player’s acquaintances become involved in a scuffle. Mills said he tried to break up the fight before bouncers at the bar escorted him from the venue for his own safety. “I was enjoying a night out in Christchurch last night with some friends,’’ Mills said. “Later in the night I turned around to see two of my friends in an altercation with some other people. “One of those friends ended up on the ground and I went over to break it apart. At no stage did I hit anyone and nor did anyone hit me. “The bouncers broke them apart and two of them suggested I leave the establishment so as to not risk being targeted by anyone.’’ New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association chief executive Heath Mills, the bowler’s older brother, spoke to Mills for clarification. “It wasn’t him involved in the incident,’’ Heath Mills said. “Two friends of his got into an altercation with some other people there, and one of his friends ended up on the ground.’’ Heath Mills had also spoken to another person present at the bar who corroborated Kyle’s version of events, and confirmed the cricketer neither threw punches nor was the target of an attack. Witnesses said a visibly upset Mills had to be restrained in the smokers’ area, and one patron said it was as if Mills was “trying to have another go’’ when he was escorted through the bar by friends and security. Mills was taken outside to the Main West Coast Road entrance of the establishment and, once on the roadside, he yelled at security, “He’s my mate, why would I have a go at him?’’ several times. Mills said he wanted to be allowed back into the bar because he was concerned for the safety of his friend. “I initially wanted to remain to ensure my friends were OK, however once outside I was told they were fine and I made the decision to head home.’’
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The future of the Nicoll Bros building, that has been home to Stewart and Holland for about 70 years, is unclear as its tenants look to move out and its owners consider their options – strengthen or demolish and rebuild.
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