24 February 2023 Devonport Flagstaff

Locals take on Auckland Council drainage work

North Shore Rugby Club removed 2500 litres of sludge from its drains prior to Cyclone Gabrielle – after Auckland Council refused to do the work.

The Vauxhall Rd sports fields were saturated in the 27 January floods, so the club wanted

to safeguard its grounds and clubrooms in the lead-up to the cyclone.

Council, which owns the fields, declined the club’s request for it to carry out the work. Mike Simpson, manager of the club’s senior team, said the clearing of the drains made

its building safer during the cyclone. But he thought council should have done the work.

“My feeling is around 50 per cent of the (recent) damage has been caused by a lack of care by the council.”

To page 5

After the cyclone: cooking up a storm

Food force... Among volunteers who prepared meals at the Rose Centre for cyclone-hit residents were (from left) Brianna Parkinson, Brian Peak, Chris Gregory, Jean Van Havill, Sally Bussey, Leigh Jewell and Zoe Sergent. Story, page 3.

The day the music died

Folk in the Park, scheduled for Windsor Reserve on 12 February, was cancelled due to the onset of the severe weather brought about by Cylone Gabrielle. Organisers say no plans have been made to reschedule the event.

Slips fenced

Auckland Council staff were this week checking cliffs on the peninsula coastline, including an area beneath Fort Takapuna, where slipping has occurred (photo, page 9). Temporary fencing was put up last week around subsidence at the cliff edge, just south of the Officers Mess function venue and further north towards Narrow Neck Beach. A large pohutukawa tree crashed from the cliff onto the beach south of the Officers Mess. Near the Fort Takapuna sports field, a gun emplacement has also been fenced off due to a sizeable crack in the ground.

Festival rescheduled... again

Cyclone Gabrielle forced the postponement – for a third time – of a community festival at the Rose Centre in Belmont.

Covid cases and artist availability issues caused the previous postponements of the Aroha Festival, originally planned for November last year.

High winds due to the cyclone led to the event, rescheduled for 12 February, being called off again.

It has now been postponed until 19 March.

Rose Centre operations manager Geoff Allen said the weather conditions made it unsafe to push ahead, and turnout would have been low in any case.

“It was frustrating for me because we’ve postponed so many times and we really wanted to get it done. But I think it was the

right decision,” he said.

Organisers started setting up on the Saturday, but made the call to postpone when high winds meant a six-metre ‘tube man’ couldn’t operate.

Even car doors caught by the wind could be a hazard in such conditions.

“It was best to keep everyone safe.”

Allen said the festival might be partly rebranded, as it no longer aligned with the week of Valentines Day, but that it was well worth rescheduling again.“I think putting on anything for a bit of relief after everything that’s happened would be a good thing.”

All the attractions booked for the event have been confirmed for the revised date, including local musician Āpera, circus and magic acts, and stalls run by local schools.

Sale process continues for heritage former council building

The former Devonport Borough Council building at 3 Victoria Rd will be up for sale in early March, if there is no prior interest from iwi to buy it.

Auckland Council property arm Panuku is preparing the building for sale. It says it gives its “iwi mana whenua partners early notification of this commercial development opportunity, allowing for a limited contestable period for any initial expressions of interest before being taken to the open

market.”

This period ends on Friday 3 March.

If mana whenua aren’t interested, the property will be placed on the market the following week, a Panuku spokesperson said.

Some furniture items from the building are being transferred to council storage.

“We have also had interest (in historic items) from the Devonport Museum and will be meeting with them soon to discuss,” the spokesperson said.

Streetside Saturday gigs roll on

Entertainment will continue to liven up Devonport’s main street on Saturday evenings until the end of March, with a selection of musicians playing on Flagstaff Green from 5pm to 7pm.

The Devonport Business Association initiative was first launched last year to help kickstart activity in the village after Covid lockdowns.

Organiser and Business Improvement Disistrict manager Richard Thorne said following the Frank Talbot Trio performing jazz last weekend, local band the Waterways would play tomorrow, 25 February, weather permitting.

Duo Blue Horizons was lined up for 4 March, with other gigs to be confirmed for the following Saturdays.

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Food truck deployed for post-cyclone cook-up

Stepping up to the hot plate... Volunteer Heather Bourke browns chicken for a casserole in the Kai 4 Communities food truck. The Rose Centre kitchen was also used in the production of 150 meals for those hit by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Community group Kai 4 Communities fired up the stoves in Belmont last week to provide meals for cyclone-affected residents.

Cooking in its own food truck and the Rose Centre kitchen, the group produced 150 meals for local people.

Co-founder and chair of the group, Brianna Parkinson, said the food truck was a resource that could help provide for the community in a time of need.

Thirteen volunteers cooked up four lamb legs, four kilograms of chicken legs and large quantities of vegan curry.

Milford Rotary paid for the ingredients.

Residents could collect meals, which were also distributed in Bayswater, Belmont and Hauraki, including to residents of Haumaru villages.

Parkinson said weather events such as Cyclone Gabrielle could be particularly hard

on older people.

“They’re also difficult to reach out to because a lot of them don’t have social media.”

Kai 4 Communities began organising community dinners in Belmont in 2017.

With restrictions to such activities during Covid, it switched to distributing meals.

This year, it plans to restart the Kaitahi community dinners at Bayswater School, with the aim of running them twice a month.

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4 3 2 2

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

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Found in translation: Local shares film’s Oscars buzz

Devonport translator Diana Renker will be watching the 2023 Academy Awards next month for the first time in years – and with keen interest.

Renker translated from German the English subtitles on Netflix film All Quiet on the Western Front, which has been nominated for nine Oscars – after this week being named Best Film at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTAs).

It won six other BAFTAs, including those for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Renker’s translation provided a template used by other subtitlers translating the film dialogue into dozens of different languages.

The ‘backroom job’ of subtitling has become a vital cog in the film industry: around 70 per cent of streaming income is generated from non-English-speaking customers.

Renker, who is is named in the All Quiet on the Western Front credits, did not read the anti-war literary classic by Erich Maria Remarque, on which the film is based, prior to tackling the assignment.

“I had no idea before the job that it was such a high-profile movie... but it was quite a big production and was being filmed from a German perspective for the first time.”

Renker says she translated perhaps 15 minutes of footage per day, with the entire job taking around a week’s solid work.

She loved the challenge. “When you are doing a work you are a bit like a surgeon,” carefully taking a scalpel to the words, she says.

Very few words and phrases translate exactly from language to language and she has to use her expert knowledge of German and English idiom and colloquialisms.

The work is closely checked, as any mistakes in the screened version are highly public and quickly pounced on by viewers who highlight them on social media.

Her template was in ‘American English’, though she also checked the ‘British English’ version based on her work.

She also did the subtitles on a Netflix documentary on the making of the film.

An arts writer, curator and editor with a masters in art history from the University of Auckland, Renker’s first taste of translation was working with a friend translating German art catalogues into English.

In 2018, she completed a postgraduate diploma in translation, also at the University of Auckland.

Translation agency A2Z offered her a job, which led to translating and subtitling for a diverse mix of clients. She has worked on fishing and Department of Conservation videos, and for companies such as Les Mills.

After completing an online subtitling course through University College London, she started to build a freelance portfolio, drawing the attention of Swedish company Plint, which does subtitles for Netflix.

Renker hails originally from Duren near Cologne, Germany, but moved to New Zealand after her high-school years, during which she completed an International Baccalaureate in French and German.

She envisioned moving to France or Canada. “I never thought I would live in New Zealand – I didn’t like English at School.”

Since her work on All Quiet on the Western Front, Renker has worked as a subtitler on other interesting projects such as Vergiss Meyn Nicht, a documentary on protests against coal mining near her home town, during which one of the filmmakers died in a fall. Renker hopes the doco will come to this year’s Auckland International Film Festival.

She is also part of a rostered team in Australia and New Zealand doing English subtitles for German news bulletins.

“It’s an invisible kind of job but I’m by nature quite introverted,” says Renker.

While surprised by the media attention she is getting – which her husband, Auckland North Shore ward councillor Chris Darby is more used to – Renker is glad to to shed light on the importance of subtitling.

Floods struck just as local emergency plan ready to share

From page 1

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board member George Wood, who was also contacted by the rugby club, said Auckland Council needed a more robust drain-cleaning programme.

Meanwhile, it has emerged a public-engagement process over emergency management around Devonport was about to go ahead when the floods on 27 January and 1 February struck Auckland, closely followed by Gabrielle.

In December 2020, the Devonport-Takapuna Local board allocated $30,000 for work helping to re-establish defunct local Civil Defence groups.

“We were aiming to establish groups

across the [local-board] area, and this happened to some degree, but the Devonport group were the most committed,” former board member Trish Deans said.

Umbrella group ANCAD (Auckland North Community and Development) and the Devonport group had been developing a booklet and attending meetings with the Auckland Emergency Management team.

“We were planning to start the process of engaging with the public when this weather event occurred. We based our work on the Piha model,” Deans said.

• A Devonport emergency group meeting was scheduled for thisThursday 23 February at 7pm at the Air Cadets rooms at 9A Achilles Cres, to work on further steps.

Word surgeon... Diana Renker does the painstaking work of translating German dialogue for film subtitles

Raw feelings to the fore in cancer patient’s story

Having lived with incurable cancer for a decade, Sandra Russell has published a book about the emotions encountered on her challenging journey. She talks to Rob Drent about life since her diagnosis, and her “emotional well-being memoir”.

When Sandra Russell was first disagnosed with cancer, bunches of flowers began arriving at her Devonport home.

“Our living room was like a funeral parlour – it was as if I’d died already.”

It was an introduction to the cauldron of conflicting emotions that can envelope people living with cancer – often threatening to swamp them.

Russell, her husband Sandy and their two children emigrated to New Zealand in 2001, from Cheshire, south of Manchester.

They had previously lived in Bermuda and hadn’t fully settled back in the UK.

“We picked Devonport (to live), when we drove in and saw a cinema.”

The family “bought a house in four days”, in Vauxhall Rd. Daughter Holly went to Belmont Intermediate School and son Hamish to Takapuna Grammar.

Russell returned to university, completing a masters in health science at AUT, specialising in psychotherapy.

In 2003, she began practising, based in Takapuna, and also holding consultations at the Devonport Community House.

In 2013, she was found to have myeloma, a usually incurable type of blood cancer, which affects bone marrow. She was 53.

She had had a sore shoulder, then pain

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First-hand acccount... Psychotherapist Sandra Russell signed up for a creative-writing course to produce her book about living with cancer

across the top of her back. She was taking painkillers and thought the discomfort might be related to menopause.

But one night, the pain got so bad she ended up in Shorecare at Smales Farm and had an X-ray.

Radiology staff don’t usually say much but Russell was told she’d broken her neck and asked if she’d been in a skiing accident or injured herself jumping in a swimming pool.

She was transferred to North Shore Hospital where further tests revealed myeloma cancer had centred on a vertebrae in her neck.

Russell had a prearranged trip to Australia to visit her daughter in Townsville.

Her first thought was, “I’ve got to be able to get to Australia… they said, ‘no you’ve got cancer’ – I burst into tears. Then they left the room and I cried and cried.

“Diagnosis is a large trauma.”

Russell recalls a quote from comedian Stephen Fry: “You’re not the sort of person who gets cancer”.

But she was just that: one of 25,000 people to be diagnosed with some form of cancer each year. Only one in three people are cured.

And on top of six months’ chemotherapy and stem-cell replacement, Russell had to face the fact her type of cancer was incurable. “It bubbles away, mutates and will come back”.

Around 600 cases of myeloma are diagnosed in New Zealand each year. Some 3000 people are living with it.

Russell had to stop work, and when she stabilised, she cashed in a UK pension and went on an eight-week trip to Europe – focusing on Italy: Florence, Venice and Tuscany and the Cinque Terre in Liguria – as well as visiting friends and family in England.

When she returned, she relapsed: the cancer had sought out her right thigh.

When talking to the Flagstaff at The Stone Oven cafe, Russell looks well. “People often

say that.”

But she is only out and about when she is able and often responds “you should have seen me yesterday”. She lives with constant fatigue.

After diagnosis, she researched her condition thoroughly but found literature on the emotional side of cancer missing from the bookshelves.

Many books centred on the ins and outs of medical procedures and how wonderful the medical staff at hospitals are, Russell says.

diagnosis and while living with cancer – as people are doing in greater numbers as better drugs extend longevity.

She describes it as “an emotional wellbeing memoir”.

In it, she writes: “Cancer threatens to rob you of who you are, by shattering your emotional landscape.”

Living with her cancer has been hard on Russell and her family.

Pneumonia is a major threat, as was Covid.

“We spent two-and-a-half years hiding away from it, but got it last Christmas – I’ve no idea where from. It may have been at the Santa Parade.”

Russell was prescribed anti-viral drugs but was “very sick for three weeks”.

She no longer has the energy to travel overseas, but appreciates the advantages of her location.

“Devonport is an amazing place to be sick: you are close to the hospital, you can walk around and the community and our friends have been great.”

After one discharge from hospital “high on steroids and morphine”, Russell woke in the middle of the night and did a drawing, “a sketch of what had happened”.

She knew she had to write about her experience to bring some sense to it.

In 2018, she began in earnest.

She learned of a last-minute withdrawal from a creative-writing course at the University of Auckland. She applied for a place with a dissertation on Katherine Mansfield’s short stories written when studying for her BA in English back in Manchester.

She was accepted for the course: her book The Feeling of Cancer is the result.

“It’s quite a harrowing book – as a psychotherapist, I’m not pulling any punches... it’s a tough read.”

But she hopes the book fills a gap for people dealing with their feelings after

Music has been a constant comfort: she still sings in the North Shore Camerata Chamber Choir, and in the book recounts a memorable trip to the Womad music festival in Taranaki, dancing madly and feeling united with a body that has caused her so much grief.

She practises yoga and spends as much time as she can with her four grandchildren “who I thought I would never live to see” – especially 20-month-old Emme, who she and Sandy look after three days a week.

“It’s mostly Sandy – but I have my tambourine kit, which she loves.”

The spontaneity and joy of her grandchildren has been a revelation.

“Spending time with them makes me happy.”

• The Feeling of Cancer has an initial print run of 1000 and is available through bookshops, including Paradox Books in Devonport.

“It’s quite a harrowing book –as a psychotherapist, I’m not pulling any punches...”

Peninsula dodges worst of cyclone’s fury

Schools closed en masse, along with many businesses in Devonport as Cyclone Gabrielle swept across the country.

Auckland was on high alert for wind and flooding damage – with concern heightened after the floods on 27 January and 1 February.

After gaps in preparedness were revealed during these previous floods, authorities appeared better set up for the cyclone’s potential impact, establishing temporary emergency shelters, including at the Takapuna War Memorial Hall, and a community-led support centre at the Air Cadets headquarters on Achilles Cres.

Many residents across the Shore moved to protect their homes with sandbags. Heavy swells raised fears that a storm surge could threaten low-lying parts of the coastline.

But Devonport Peninsula escaped much of the damage that afflicted other parts of Auckland and coastal areas of the North Island.

A yacht, which was blown off its mooring in Devonport, was retrieved, as was a launch floating around Ngataringa Bay.

The Waitemata Golf Club course was flooded and a few trees fell, while branches were snapped off many others, but the area was spared the high number of coastal slips that occured during the earlier deluges.

One of the ongoing problems has been the large amount of plastic debris washed up on beaches and the foreshore.

Council facilities, such as Devonport Library, closed until 16 February.

Aftermath… Parts of the cliff near the Officers Mess near Fort Takapuna were fenced off due to slips or subsidence.

Above right: Fallen pohutukawa were gathered up at Narrow Neck beach and chopped into firewood last Saturday.

Right: Slips along the coastline near Narrow Neck.

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Space, swimming and sunsets on quarter acre

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4 3 3 2

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 16 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland

View Sun 2-2.45pm

Linda Simmons 027 459 0957

linda.simmons@bayleys.co.nz

BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE LTD, DEVONPORT, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

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Devonport 1 Grove Road

Gracious character | Beachside lifestyle

Deceptively large, bursting with gracious character and less than a two-minute walk from stunning Cheltenham Beach, this grand manor-style home celebrates the very essence of Devonport living. It sits on a quarter acre of beautifully landscaped grounds and is an easy stroll to the Vauxhall shops. This stately 1920s home’s authentic floorplan and beautifully preserved heritage features will impress lovers of period design and family living is easy thanks to its spaciousness, offering four bedrooms, four bathrooms and three living areas, with the entire ground floor set up for independent living with its own kitchenette, bathroom and private entrance – ideal for teenagers, guests and extended family and the giant flat rear lawn is fantastic for kids and pets to play.

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4 3 4 2

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland

View Sun 1-1.45pm

Linda Simmons 027 459 0957

linda.simmons@bayleys.co.nz

BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE LTD, DEVONPORT, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

bayleys.co.nz

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4 1 2 4

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland View Sun 12-12.30pm or by appointment

Victoria Bidwell 021 947 080

victoria.bidwell@bayleys.co.nz

BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE LTD, TAKAPUNA, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

NEW LISTING

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4 2 3 1

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland View Sun 11-11.30am or by appointment Victoria Bidwell 021 947 080 victoria.bidwell@bayleys.co.nz

BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE LTD, TAKAPUNA, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

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NEW LISTING

Cheltenham Beachfront 52 Cheltenham Road

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Cheltenham Beachfront is a lifestyle to cherish - quiet, safe, tranquil and an easy commute to Auckland’s CBD. This charming home is set on 914sqm of sheltered, sunny lawns. Enjoy wonderful swimming directly outside and the everchanging interest of the shipping lanes, yacht races and Rangitoto sunsets. Tucked back from the street, the home spreads over one level for easy living. Spacious living rooms are bathed in beach and Gulf views and unfold to the wide verandahs and lawns leading through a secure gate to the beach. The master suite is lit by the sun and moon rising over the sea and unfolds to a deck overlooking the curve of the bay. Three additional bedrooms open to sunny garden patios and include a one-bedroom apartment, a part of the main residence. bayleys.co.nz/1451438

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4 3 4 2

For Sale

View by appointment Victoria Bidwell 021 947 080 victoria.bidwell@bayleys.co.nz

House News

Our thoughts and well wishes go out to all those in the community who have been affected by the severe weather conditions In light of the recent events, we are pleased to announce new additions to our weekly timetable along with some exciting events and workshops that we have planned in the coming weeks We hope that these offerings provide a sense of comfort and normalcy during these uncertain times

Ngā mihi nui Devonport Community House Team

What's New?

Digital Help

Every Friday 10 30 am-12 pm

Free service and no booking is required, just bring your device and our specialist team is here to answer your questions

Events

Devonport Bike Workshop

Saturday 4 March 12-4pm Bring your bike and family along for a fun afternoon of bike repair and maintenance tips held by professional bike technicians Gelato and coffee are available to get everyone back on their bikes afterwards

Figure Drawing Workshops with tutor and artist

Paola King- Borrero

Monday 13 March & Monday 20 March 7-9pm

$60 per workshop, materials provided An introduction how to interpret the figure through dry media in a relaxed environment No previous experience required

Local dog deemed menacing

A Devonport dog has been officially classified as ‘menacing’ after an investigation into the death last month of a much-loved neighbourhood cat.

Auckland Council’s animal management team told the Flagstaff it was not laying charges over the death of the cat near its Aramoana Ave home due to insufficient evidence and witnesses.

But infringement notices were issued regarding the bull terrier, which neighbours reported seeing unrestrained in its owner’s unfenced front yard.

It had been classified as menacing, which meant it was required to be muzzled in public, except when in a vehicle or cage.

Such a classification is made “when a dog has been proven to be a risk to the public, other animals or protected wildlife,” the council’s website says.

Five dog breeds are automatically considered menacing, while others can be classified as such “by deed”.

Menacing dogs are also required to be neutered within one month and microchipped within two months of classification. Non-compliance with the conditions can result in the owner being fined up to $3000.

The deceased cat, Sir Podge Roamsalot, was given to widespread wandering, following children to school and making himself at home on people’s sofas and beds.

New speeds in force from March

The new 30km/h Devonport town centre speed zone takes effect from 2 March.

The new limit, set by Auckland Transport, is being introduced as a safety measure, with signage in place leading into the main street and around schools.

Takapuna speed restrictions apply from the same date.

Life cut short… popular Podge

Pictures and stories of his visits were shared online after news of his death.

His retired owners did not wish to comment on the outcome of the investigation, but said they had recently been given a lovely painting of their pet.

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MAKING WILLIAM SANDERS A HOME – PHIL’S STORY

With Sue’s husband Phil becoming more dependent on her in daily life, she began to look for retirement villages nearby in Devonport.

“I always worried about him when I left the house to do the grocery shopping or meet a friend, and that went on for a long time.

“I was getting increasingly tired, and it was hard to always worry.”

So, after exploring their options, they settled on William Sanders Retirement Village and Phil began his regular visits to the care centre there.

“I found it a very hard decision to make. But it was the best thing that could have happened and I’m really glad I made it.

“He started coming in for the day for a few months, and then that morphed into full-time care.

“The team is amazing in the way that they care for Phil, they know that he loves music, and they know his individual preferences and wants.

“I know a lot of people and it’s all very comfortable, I like it here,” adds Phil.

Phil takes part in Ryman’s ‘Care Companion’ Programme - implemented across some Ryman villages in dementia units. A designated caregiver, or companion, is assigned to individual residents to provide personalised and continuous care.

The focus is on experience-based care rather than processes. This enables residents to live in the moment and to feel kindness, love and security. It means residents can continue to do the things that bring them joy and a sense of fulfilment.

William Sanders caregiver Olivia says working individually with residents is a highlight of her role.

“It really helps because if something is bothering a resident, we know how to really get through to them and we build that bond with them.

“We focus on smaller group interactions too. It could be one or two residents sitting down having coffee with their caregiver or setting them up with a personal project they like to do” says Olivia.

As well as the benefit of care, Sue and Phil have found they can still enjoy spending quality time with each other.

“It’s a wonderful place here and the caregivers do a wonderful job, and I’m so grateful to them.”

Phil with wife Sue and William Sanders caregiver Olivia

By Rob Drent

When we sold our Narrow Neck house around nine years ago, the puchaser spent considerable time and energy researching potential tsunami flows and the distance of the house from flood plains or potential rain events. I thought this was a little over the top at the time. In retropect, he was totally justified in doing so. Given the floods on 27 January and 1 February, and the effects around the country of Cyclone Gabrielle

last week, it is clear that we face increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather. Clifftop properties are exposed to a greater threat from slips and rockfalls, while other properties – not always low-lying – have been shown to be more susceptbile to flooding than was previously realised.

Pre-purchase invesigations will often need to go much further than a solicitor’s check of title and whatever may be on the council files. I would hope lawyers are advising purchasers take the relevant precautions.

Our reporting team got a strange reaction from the staff at the emergency centre set up at the Takapuna War Memorial Hall when we visited last week.

Far from a welcoming reception, we got a “no comment” straight out of the Mayor Wayne Brown manual of communications. Staff also refused to be photographed. We had simply gone there for an update on how they were going and seeking to give some publicity to people of where to go if in need of help. The response was especially strange, given a smiling picture of the same staff appeared on a social-media update from visiting North Shore councillor Chris Darby.

Media coverage – particularly radio – of the recent cyclone has sometimes proved vital, as many of those affected have had no power – or cellphone connection, as cell towers also lost power.

Coverage of people’s flood stories not only helps the wider community understand the dangers, it can help those at the centre of a crisis by informing friends and family and others in the community who might be of assistance, reducing their sense of isolation. In the end, we are all in this together – and that includes the media. That’s something those council staff at the Takapuna War Memorial Hall should have a think about.

And from the newspapers-not-dead department, it was interesting to note the emergency authorities in Gisborne co-opted the most traditional media of all – in the form of independent provincial daily the Gisborne Herald – to deliver a water-saving message to its 22,000 households.

Hawkes Bay today also put out a special edition so the public could be kept up to date with council and civil emergency messages.

Social media – due to the power outages and lack of cellphone coverage – had proved unreliable as a means of communication.

It seemed a strange decision by Stanley Bay School to open last Tuesday – the day after Cyclone Gabrielle went through the region. It seems to have been one of only two schools in Auckland to do so.

While it has been shown that the damage to Devonport from the cyclone was minor compared to other parts of Auckland, and the North Island, Stanley Bay decision-makers could not have had a good grasp of the situation that morning.

Land was still unstable and trees were falling, or shedding branches. Power lines could have been down as well. With ground still saturated from previous heavy rainfall, slips remained a very real threat. Teachers and children returned to the school just as the government was declaring a national state of emergency.

On the other hand, Devonport Library was closed too long, not opening until Thursday – long after the immediate risk to Auckland had gone.

Post-cyclone, people stuck at home with other plans disrupted might have welcomed an earlier opportunity to pick up some reading material.

DEVONPORT COMMUNITY RECYCLING CENTRE

OPEN

|

Narrow Neck 34D Seabreeze Rd

Mediterranean Style + Golf Course Views

Located directly opposite the Waitemata Golf Course and just a four-minute flat walk from Narrow Neck beach, this captivating Mediterranean-style home celebrates Devonport living at its best.

The current owner has lived here for over 23 years and has immaculately maintained the property over time - dedicated to preserving and enhancing its inspired style, while ensuring it meets all modern standards.

The open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge areas enjoy great flow, plus showcase views of the lush green golf course. You have a choice of two sheltered courtyards, depending on the season, and a private hot tub zone for soaking under the stars. There are two double bedrooms and one single, including the restful master retreat with private balcony and ensuite. This unique property presents secure, affordable, lock-up-and-leave living just footsteps from the beach.

3 2

1

Auction

Thursday 9th March at 1:00 pm

In Rooms (Unless Sold Prior)

View

As advertised or by appointment harcourts.co.nz/DP24444

1 2

Maria Steves | Marissa Muirhead

M 021 979 084

maria.stevens@harcourts.co.nz

Marissa Muirhead

M 021 337 222

marissa.muirhead@harcourts.co.nz

NEW

Dazzling Views of City and Sea

You will love this expansive waterfront home with double street frontage and mesmerising sea, sky and city views. A sunny private garden and entertainers deck on 956m² site. A rarity in this village location. Call me for further information or your private viewing. barfoot.co.nz/844503

TENDER Closing 4:00pm 15 Mar 2023 at 39 Victoria Rd, Devonport (unless sold prior)

Patricia Hinchey 027 222 3367 p.hinchey@barfoot.co.nz

Devonport 09 445 2010

Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club

Barfoot & Thompson Limited Licensed REAA 2008

VIEWING Sat/Sun 12:00-12:30pm

CENTRAL VILLA - LARGE, CORNER SITE!

With room to add a pool and spread your wings, this four-bedroom artfully renovated home and gorgeous garden is waiting for you and your family to enjoy!

Well positioned on a generous site of around 675m² and providing numerous options, this is a unique offering with a floor area of approximately 199m², a pleasing layout and a nor-east orientation.

Sue Harrison 021 909 549 s.harrison@barfoot.co.nz

Toni Gregory 021 044 3663

t.gregory@barfoot.co.nz barfoot.co.nz/843042

Barfoot & Thompson Limited Licensed REAA 2008

Devonport 09 445 2010

Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club

Barfoot & Thompson Limited

Licensed REAA 2008

DEVONPORT 42 CHELTENHAM ROAD

- Two back from beach

- 4 double bedrooms

- Grand formal lounge

- Ornate ceilings

- Indoor/outdoor flow

- Land approx. 906m2

barfoot.co.nz/825746

OPEN HOME

FOR SALE

By Negotiation

VIEWING

Sunday 11:00 - 11:30am

Sue Harrison 021 909 549

Toni Gregory 021 044 3663

BAYSWATER 50A PHILOMEL CRESCENT

Stunning practically new four bedroom home, and what a location! Prepare to fall in love with the incredibly outlook from this lovely home. Call now!

barfoot.co.nz/844345

AUCTION

12:00pm 8 Mar 2023 at 39 Victoria Road, Devonport (unless sold prior)

VIEWING

Sat/Sun12:00-12:45pm

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

DEVONPORT

18 CAUTLEY STREET

Are you looking for an outstanding entry level home in Devonport, you really should check this one out! Absolutely immac with motivated vendors!

barfoot.co.nz/844330

NEW LISTING

FOR SALE

$1,695,000

VIEWING

Sat/Sun 1:00 - 1:45pm

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

DEVONPORT

17 OWENS ROAD

This lovely entertainer's home is just a short stroll to the beaches, Devonport Village, cafes and ferry. Join us at our open homes or view by appointment.

barfoot.co.nz/841841

PRICE REDUCED

3 2

FOR SALE $1,869,000

VIEWING

Sat/Sun 12:00-12:45pm

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

North Shore cricket star hits top levels

With opportunities expanding in the women’s game, young cricketer Anna Browning is poised to benefit from a new level of professionalism. She tells Helen Vause about her rise in the sport.

Down at the Devonport Domain with her cricket bat in hand is where Anna Browning loved to be right from her early childhood.

By the time she was five years old she was a regular at the North Shore Cricket Club, along with her brother and the other children who started playing cricket there – most of them boys.

Now 19, she’s become a star of women’s cricket, fresh back from a performance to be proud of in South Africa as a member of the first New Zealand women’s under-19 side to contest a Cricket World Cup for the age group.

It’s been an incredible season for the young Devonport cricketer: making her Auckland Hearts debut; winning selection for a national development squad competing in India; and then being picked for the national under-19 team for the world cup.

Meeting with the Flagstaff to look back on her rise, she’s still very modest about her success, even if senior North Shore administrators call her a cricket “superstar”.

Through her years at Devonport Primary, then Belmont Intermediate and Takapuna Grammar School (TGS), Browning was a sporty kid, and one to watch in the small group of girls who were emerging in local cricket.

She’d had a go with football, hockey and basketball, but found her first love with cricket.

In her early teens, she made it into the Auckland girls under-15 team, stepping up another level.

When resolve sometimes wavered in her teenage years at the demands of higher-level sport, she says she decided she’d make a commitment to giving cricket her all. And she went for it.

Her enthusiasm was in some ways boosted by the fact more girls were rising through the ranks around her.

At intermediate school, there were just enough of them to make a team.

Showing her ability among those girls pitched Browning into a regional side.

“I suppose our group did help make cricket a bigger thing around here for girls,” she says.

Local cricket administrator Gillian Scott watched Browning progress through the grades, and the cohort of girls she was part of help drive change in cricket for young women.

“They were just a really sporty group of girls and the fact that they got into cricket and were good was partly because they were a bunch of friends who liked to be together. It was both opportunity and serendipity.”

Browning was “a trailblazer”, Scott says.

“Anna stood out, excelling all the way, and the schools were proud of her.”

Scott points out that North Shore had been very strong in women’s cricket until the mid90s, when various factors led to a drop-off in numbers.

Not least, a limitation on how far women could expect to progress in the sport.

Now, Scott says, there is renewed energy for the sport among local girls and women – and rising interest all over the country.

By the time Browning reached her senior years at TGS, cricket was taking a lot of her time and focus.

Like many junior sporting stars, she had her parents right behind her, supporting her and driving her to Auckland and regional games.

Getting a drivers licence meant being able to run her own regime, travelling for matches around the country.

In 2021, her senior year at TGS, she captained the Girls first XI and featured regularly in school dispatches.

Leaving school, she headed for Otago University to study for a Bachelor of Commerce, and to get away from home, she says with a chuckle.

But not to get away from cricket. In Otago, she trained hard through the winter last year and was picked for the women’s under-22 indoor cricket team who went to Melbourne in October, winning their section of the world indoor champs.

Browning had to fundraise for the trip, but very soon the New Zealand cricket machine would be picking up the tab for another team travelling internationally.

She was barely home from Australia when she was named in a national development squad.

For the first time in the country’s cricket history, the squad of young women was sent overseas for international competition.

Browning found herself in Mumbai, in cricket-mad, noisy colourful India.

That, in itself, was an amazing, challenging experience.

And from that squad she was picked for the under-19s to go to the world cup in Potchefstroom.

Young gun... Anna Browning has been a North Shore Cricket Club regular since she was five years old

at right time

Her family joined Browing there, watching as her team made it through to the semi-finals.

The sporting media at the event took notice, and picked up on the batting form of Browning and her teammates.

They made it into the semi-finals by soundly beating Pakistan, but were themselves eliminated by a formidable Indian team.

She’s had a season to be proud of. But despite her successes, Browning says she still struggles a bit with confidence. She’s not known for singing her own praises.

Nerves on the day are a thing for everyone, she says, but she has to work hard on keeping her confidence up.

Between times, and before the game, she works on this by sticking to routines and processes for the moment she steps up as a strong batter or spin bowler.

“I love cricket but it’s a very mentally challenging game and it’s that side of it that I’ve had to work on.”

Another win came for her and other female players this season with historic changes in the pay scales of Auckland Cricket.

New contracts for women players mean that at last they are paid the same fee on match days as their male counterparts.

While there is still a way to go for complete parity, the new contracts help make cricket a viable option for sportswomen looking for a

Stand and deliver... Anna Browning’s batting prowess caught the eye of international observers at the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, where New Zealand made the semi-finals

professional career.

For university student Browning, the payments make her the equivalent of a summer holiday job.

As Browning returns to her new flat in Dunedin and knuckles down into her second year of studies there, she’ll continue to fit training around student life.

She says she’s thinking about the possibility of doing a cricket season in England some time soon.

But the dream, of course, is to step up into the White Ferns. How likely is that? And when does she hope that might be?

She smiles quietly and says that selection is the goal she’ll be working for.

Devonport 31 Mozeley Avenue

4 2 2 2 Price

Owners have relocated!

So much more than meets the eye, this delightful transitional villa will surprise you with its spaciousness, perfect for family life through all ages and stages. Generous bedrooms and separate living spaces with the kitchen/dining opening to the covered outdoor area - ideal for entertaining all year round. The multi-use garden studio could be a home office, teenage retreat or playroom. Update the home and make it yours, our vendors have left Auckland and want this sold! Brilliant location, an easy stroll to excellent schools, Devonport village and the ferry which provides a relaxing 10-minute journey to the CBD.

bayleys.co.nz/1470572

“I love cricket but it’s a very mentally challenging game and it’s that side of it that I’ve had to work on.”

Nigel Bioletti General & Fundraising Manager

Phone 027 445 6211

nigelbioletti@devonportpeninsulatrust.nz

CAPTAIN JACK

Those who knew and loved ‘Captain Jack’ gathered at Harmony Hall on Sunday afternoon, shared memories of Jack, sang some of his favourite songs, and heard a little of his life and times. Jack was a member of our Devonport Senior Forum, and always brought positivity and a sense

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM YOUR COUNCIL?

What is important to you? Just a reminder that consultation on the Council’s next budget will open February 28th.

Given the probable and significant cuts to council spending, and the effect that will have on funds allocated to Local Board initiatives, it is important that our Peninsula community makes clear its wishes for the future. You can go to ‘Have your say’ at akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

EMERGENCY RESILIENCE

Thanks go to Alex Koppenaal – Commander of 6 Squadron Air Cadets, who opened its HQ in Achilles Cres. as a hub and stayed on site for many hours Saturday to Monday in case any peninsula folk needed to evacuate their homes.

Only one resident sought help, but thanks go to Alex for being there if needed. Many thanks also to those who offered help and support.

Also, a reminder that the Devonport Emergency Resilience Guidelines can be found at www.devonportpeninsulatrust.nz

YOUTH REPRESENTATION ON THE DEVONPORT PENINSULA TRUST BOARD

The trust would very much welcome youth representation at the board table. This is a governance role – looking at the trust’s directions and priorities, and looking at policy settings. The Board would welcome a shared role – two young people could share. If you would like to discuss, email board@devonportpeninsulatrust.nz

TRUST AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

The peninsula and wider folk-music community will have been disappointed that Folk in the Park could not go ahead, even with an attempted move to Harmony Hall. ‘Rotary Kids Athletics’ is under way – Tuesdays 4pm to 6pm at Vauxhall Sports Rsv. No cost. All peninsula children are welcome.

shorejobs

shorejobs

Compass Group Is looking to fill several hospitality and accommodation related roles located at the cafes, stores and accommodations located on the Devonport Naval Base.

CATERING POSITIONS

• Cafe supervisor

• Kitchen Hand / Food Preparation

• Cafe / Kitchen assistant

• Catering Assistant / Front of house staff

All of the above roles require some food preparation and general kitchen duties and some roles require some customer interaction.

ACCOMMODATION POSITIONS

• Cleaners

The ideal candidate for these positions is likely to be a local resident who would benefit from working school hours 9.30-2.30 or 9-3pm etc. Part-time or full-time positions available.

Compass Group is New Zealand’s leading and largest provider of food and support services across multiple industry sectors including Business and Industry, Education, Defence, Offshore and Remote, Aged Care, Hospitals and Senior Living.

You must be able to satisfactorily pass a police clearance.

HOW TO APPLY

Send your CV and Cover Letter to Roger.Pearce@compass-group.co.nz or call 027-257-0163 for more information.

Weighbridge and Recycling shop staff & Yard Operations Staff

We are after strong, capable, hardworking individuals who are comfortable talking with customers and aren’t afraid of a bit of grime or a hard day’s work. We have two positions we need to fill as soon as possible, full or part-time, Weighbridge and Recycling shop staff & Yard Operations Staff

Enquiries for Volunteering in the shop are also welcomed.

The Devonport Community Recycling Centre, Reuse shop, and Landscaping yard is open six days a week, with staff working together to receive, price, sort, up-cycle, and sell goods and materials suitable for reuse. We divert waste from landfills, assist our community in becoming more sustainable, and run a thriving landscape supply company. We are looking for environmentally conscious individuals to join our team.

Please submit your resume to richard@devonportrecycle.co.nz or call 021 0831 0025.

House Manager

The Devonport Community House is seeking a House Manager to join our close-knit team.

This is a great opportunity to make a difference in your community and be part of a supportive and dynamic team. If you’re a motivated individual with a passion for community engagement, we’d love to hear from you!

This is a 25-hour-a-week role. Working in close collaboration with the Marketing and Activations Manager, you will be responsible for delivering the House’s vision and purpose through efficient management of the day-today operations of the House, prudent management of the House’s finances, and active engagement with the Devonport community and other stakeholders. You’ll live our values (connected, and responsive to community needs and well-being) and lean on your excellent organisational and interpersonal skills to achieve our strategic priorities.

Please email events@devonportcomhouse.co.nz for a copy of the job description or to submit your cover letter and resume.

Another multi-storey development for Lake Rd

Another multi-storey commercial and townhouse development is planned for Lake Rd – just north of the Belmont shops.

Sentinel Planning has applied to construct three new buildings containing seven commercial tenancies, nine apartments and 15 town houses at 163-165 Lake Rd, up to the corner of Corrella Rd.

Three-storey buildings, up to a height of 11.6 metres fronting Lake Rd, will have commercial units on the ground floor and two

storeys above. The three-storey townhouses will be towards the rear of the site.

Current businesses on the site include Bella Mama, Toni’s Pizzeria and Supa Fruit Mart.

In its application to Auckland Council, Sentinel said construction is expected to take two years. Demolition would take one week.

“The site is well placed, being on an arterial route and the provision of seven commercial units, nine apartments and 15 town houses will provide for a suitable level of intensity

that will support the public transport network,” the application said.

The proposed mixed-use development would provide “residential living, employment, and services, at a variety of scales, that will support and contribute positively to the existing range of activities within the Belmont local centre, while providing an attractive environment.”

The application should be non-notified, Sentinel said.

Lake Rd development… an artist’s impression of the proposed multi-level buildings at the corner of Corrella Rd. Below: The existing buildings at the corner.

20 years ago from the Flagstaff files

• The Devonport Action Group Against Spraying attacks the Devonport Domain cricket pitch in protest at the community board’s decision to spray the ground with toxic weedkillers. Fourteen small holes are chipped out of the number-one cricket pitch, just days before North Shore premiers play a top-four game against Howick Pakuranga.

• A 72-piece Devonport Festival Symphony Orchestra will combine with Māori performers at the 2003 Devonport Arts Festival.

• Devonport Cinema owners reconsider selling the building and open up talks with the Save the Devonport Cinema group. Devonport Theatre Company Ltd had been asking around $2 million for the complex.

• Devonport Arts Festival chairperson Sherri Weinberg is abused and sworn at by people who fail to secure stalls at an art-and-craft fair. The four calls are from out-of-towners.

• Complaints by residents have forced the

arts festival to cut back its opening event – tribal drumming on North Head – to end at 9pm instead of 10pm.

• Devonport architects launch a Doodles on Devonport event to be held at the Depot Artspace, seeking drawings from each firm. Stanley Bay School will judge the best entrants.

• Seven Devonport artists – sculptor Richard Joughin, painters Julia Henderson and Lisa Currin, glass artists Holly Sandford and Peter Raos, photographer Katja Bigalk and jewellery designer Roley McIntyre – will open their studios for a public viewing as part of the arts festival

• Devonport kids are preparing costumes for an arts-festival fancy-dress street parade.

• Devonport mother Lynn Knight escapes injury when a branch from a historic Moreton Bay fig tree outside the Devonport Library falls on her car, smashing the windscreen.

the UK publishes a travel article admiring Devonport’s “lush vineyards”.

• A proposal to spend $215,000 to expand Devonport Library is put on hold.

• The Devonport Business Association continues its push for a car-parking deck in the New World car park

• St Leo’s School launches a friendship bus to combat students feeling lonely or in need of help at lunchtimes.

• Amien Hair Design of Belmont is judged the best hair salon in Auckland by Classic Hits 97fm.

• The Stanley Bay School fun run is under threat of cancellation due to the pending US war with Iraq, as the route is through the Navy tunnel, which would close if hostilities occurred.

• An eighth-floor two-bedroom apartment in Devon Park is on the market for $475,000.

• The mass-circulation Sunday Express in

THE NAVY COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER

NAVY EMBEDDED IN CYCLONE GABRIELLE AID

The Royal New Zealand Navy has committed three ships to Cyclone Gabrielle relief on the East Coast, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions.

HMNZ Manawanui was tasked to Gisborne, calling in at Tokomaru Bay on the East Cape to transfer 1,600 litres of water, one tonne of frozen food, 140 loaves of bread and 120 litres of diesel.

Once in Gisborne the ship offloaded its remaining stocks of water, filled prior to departure, and water produced by the ship’s filtration systems. The ship also offloaded two tonnes of food, clothing, tents, shelters, sleeping bags, generators and fuel.

HMNZS Te Mana was deployed to Napier with 26 tonnes of stores and equipment on board, including disaster relief equipment, food, water, fuel, shelters and generators.

After offloading its supplies, most of Te Mana’s crew were distributed

throughout Napier, Hastings and Havelock North over several days to help residents with debris removal, working in food kitchens and helping prepare meals. A team of Te Mana personnel even helped rescue a steer

trapped shoulder-height in silt.

HMNZS Canterbury has returned from her mission to the Sub Antarctic Islands and on Monday was in Lyttelton, taking on relief supplies for her tasking to Napier.

Devonport Naval Base security reminder – for the safety of the community please take care and remain outside the 60-metre perimeter of the Naval Base at all times. This includes when swimming, diving, kayaking, fishing and sailing.

• Writer Rod Bridgman is the Flagstaff interview subject. Congratulations? Thanks? Problems? Complaints?

A Unimog waits to take on stores from HMNZS Te Mana in Napier.

Narrow Neck 31 Merani Street

Big family home with stunning views

31 Merani Street is a stunning example of modern design with commanding views across the harbour to Rangitoto from the main living area. A large, architecturally designed home like this does not often come to the market so don’t miss the opportunity to buy a big family home on one of the most desirable streets in the area.

Built to the new building code in 2005 the home, which is clad in Titan Board with cavity rainscreen system and weatherboard, has been lived in by just two owners who can attest that this is the kind of home you settle into and love for years.

bayleys.co.nz/1470596

bayleys.co.nz

4 3 3 2

Price by Negotiation

Phone for viewing times

Victoria Mules 021 679 349 victoria.mules@bayleys.co.nz

Jemma Glancy 021 246 5300 jemma.glancy@bayleys.co.nz BAYLEYS

Devonport 2/2b Grove Road

Cheltenham charmer

Just steps from Cheltenham Beach you will feel like you are on holiday every single day living in this tidy and private Brick & Tile unit. Offering two good sized bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and laundry and lovely sunny loungeroom all on one level. The living opens out to a private deck positioned for the sun. A lovely low maintenance and fully fenced garden make this unit feel like you are tucked away in your own little slice of paradise.

Just one of two units in the block this really is a rare find and worth coming to view as it is not often you find something like this in such an incredible location. bayleys.co.nz/1470601

2 1 1 1

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland

Phone for viewing times

Victoria Mules 021 679 349

Jemma Glancy 021 246 5300 BAYLEYS REAL

UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

Devonport 7/71 Church Street

Small but perfectly formed!

Centrally located in sought after Church Street, where you can easily walk to all the delights of sea side Devonport, this two bedroom apartment may be just what you have been waiting for. One of only eight in this well looked after 1970’s complex and situated on the ground level with easy access directly in from the garden and an off street car park as well. Completely refurbished throughout and easily tenanted, this could be your city pad if you have moved out of Auckland, a lovely smaller home to downsize to or the perfect fit if you just want to start your home ownership in Devonport. bayleys.co.nz/1470597

bayleys.co.nz

2 1 1 1

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland

View Sat/Sun 1.30-2.15pm or by appointment

Prue de Bie 021 521 242

prue.debie@bayleys.co.nz

BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE LTD, DEVONPORT, LICENSED UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

Devonport 62a Wairoa Road

Home & Income with a Brilliant Beach Lifestyle

Overlooking the golf course with the sailing club only 5 minutes’ walk away and Cheltenham Beach not much further, your choices for leisure and pleasure are endless here. This stucco clad home, with a hint of the back streets of Santorini, is built into the contour of the land over three levels. Open plan living, a seriously large sunroom, vaulted ceilings, skylights, and big windows create space and bring in an abundance of natural light. Two garages mean there’s space for a car plus your paddleboards, kayaks, bikes, and of course golf clubs. Off-street parking is available for your caravan or boat. Update, renovate and boost the value when you’re ready. Dive into Devonport and enjoy the ultimate Kiwi lifestyle with the bonus of an income from the flat at the back!

bayleys.co.nz/1470602

3+1 1+1 1+1

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 9 Mar 2023

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland

View Sat/Sun 11-11.45am

Helen Michell 021 210 3228

helen.michell@bayleys.co.nz

BAYLEYS

bayleys.co.nz

Untrimmed natives to blame for cliff-face slips

Chris Darby continues to wage his war against pruning of clifftop trees. In another publication, he states: “Severe pruning or removal of pōhutukawa and other vegetation for views often results in land failure when the root systems – binding the soils and rock – die”.

I personally have been around the cliffs

by sea. At 90 per cent of the cliff-face collapses, I saw a huge very healthy, untrimmed pōhutukawa tree now in the sea. Is he suggesting that all these people went against the council’s prohibition of tree trimming?

My view is that the root systems of these trees were primarily in the clay at the top of the cliffs. Being pōhutukawa, many of

their branches were growing horizontally out from the cliff face resulting in a fulcrum effect, which pulled the clay and the whole tree down once the clay was wet.

Nothing at all to do with his assertion of widespread tree trimming and tree roots dying.

Rinan Maximo

More advice for self-entitled whingers

Thank you Chris Werry (“Try reducing your whinging footprint”, Flagstaff 10 February) for articulating what many of us feel about self-entitled people who seem to have nothing better to do than complain or be offended.

We can all do little things every day to

reduce our footprint on this earth. Pick up rubbish and little bits of plastic as you walk around the neighbourhood and along the beach. Pull up weeds. Clear the leaves and other debris out of the drains on the street.

As Chris suggests, get on a bike, or walk,

and give your car a rest day. Think twice before you buy something as to whether you really need it.

And find something every day to be grateful for.

Jennifer Jones

Cheltenham pontoon dislodged

Council contractors were to attempt to recover the dislodged Cheltenham Beach pontoon this week.

The floating platform popular with swimmers was last week seen washed up under cliffs on the shoreline between Cheltenham and Narrow Neck.

An Auckland Council spokesperson said efforts to secure it were underway. “We do not have enough information to decide if the pontoon will be reinstalled this summer,” she said.

Exceptional Properties | Outstanding Results

Figure Drawing Workshops

Figure Drawing Workshops

When: Monday 13 and 20 March, 7-9pm

Where: Devonport Community House

Cost: $60 per workshop*

Live model**

No previous drawing experience required

An introduction to how to interpret the figure through dry media in a relaxed environment. Tutor Paola King-Borrero is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Ta-maki Makaurau. She currently works at Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Ta-maki and the Naval Museum.

When: Monday 13 and 20 March, 7-9pm

Where: Devonport Community House

ACCOMMODATION

Devonport - London

Home Swap: We are a professional couple on transfer to London in early September 2023 until late January 2024 and are seeking to swap our award-winning Devonport home for a minimum 3 bdrm property in London as we have adult children joining us for part of the time. We have 3 large bdrms, 2 bthrms and a well set up home office. Open plan living extends to a large deck and garden area. Situated within easy walking distance of the village we would consider a car swap too. For more information, please call Annie on 021 626 632.

ACCOMMODATION

To Let. Two bed unit Easy walk to village. Garage. Private garden. $550 per week. 445 7206 or 021 234 5121.

SERVICES OFFERED

FixIT Handymanexcellent work, practical budget, most jobs welcome, interior/ exterior free quote. Josh 021 261 8322. Complete home maintenance by perfectionist boat builder/builders. Including rotten windows, doors, weather boards. Exterior/interior. We also do shingles and shake replacement. Call Duane 027 488 5478

SERVICES OFFERED

Mobile hairdresser. Have your hair done in the comfort of your own home. 25 years experience. Pensioner haircut rate $55. Email amycowiehair@ gmail.com or phone Amy 0221 677 804.

SERVICES OFFERED

Need someone to feed your cat and other pets at your home while you’re away? I love animals and would love to help you! I am 11 years old and live in Devonport. I charge $5 per visit. Each visit I feed your pet and can play with them for about 10-15 minutes each visit if they are comfortable with me. I also send you pics of them so you don’t miss them too much! I always visit with one of my parents. Devonport only please! Text/call: 021-270-7677.

TUITION

Spark their musical minds and learn piano online. FREE Workshop 4 March! TEXT Sandy 021 256 1760 for more info.

Devonport Flagstaff ClassifiedAdvertising. It really works. To make a booking please email us at sales@devonportflagstaff.co.nz

1 Fleet Street, Devonport Phone 445 0483 email: fleetst@ihug.co.nz

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Vodafone plans local upgrades

Vodafone is seeking Auckland Council consent to upgrade two telecommunication facilities on road reserves in Devonport. They are adjacent to 17 Albert Rd and opposite 9 Cambridge Tce. Because the facilities are within volcanic viewshaft and height-sensitive areas, a resource consent application is required, and has been notified, allowing for public submissions by 16 March.

Bike workshop next month Support

Bike enthusiasts can get advice and help with repairs at the Devonport Bike Workshop on Saturday 4 March. The event is being held at the Devonport Community House in Clarence St from midday to 4pm, in collaboration in Auckland Transport.

Landscape Design in Devonport

Whether

Takapuna Grammar

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

TGS Students excel in Scholarship sxams

2022 was a very successful academic year for TGS students, which is highlighted by our wonderful Scholarship results. In total, 40 students were awarded 57 Scholarships across 19 subjects.

SUBJECTS

English – 16 (including 2 Outstanding & 1 Top Scholar)

Design & Visual Communication – 6

Biology – 5

Design – 5

Health & PE – 3 (including 1 Outstanding)

Painting – 3 (including 1 Outstanding)

Media Studies – 3

Calculus, History, Photography, Statistics – 2

Accounting, Chemistry, Classics, Drama, Economics, Japanese, Physics, Spanish, 1 in each

, For a list of all our 57 Scholarship winners, please scan here.

Homestay families wanted for 2023

For more information please contact Carla Hemopo in the International Department at homestay.coordinator@tgs.school.nz or by phone on 09 489 4167 ext 9226

Our International Baccalaureate (IB) students gained excellent results this year. Eight IB students 29 per cent of our cohort, gained more than 40 out of a total of 45 points. Among these, Victoria Johnson (left) gained the perfect score of 45 points. less than 1 per cent worldwide attain at this level. Neve Mann Benn (right) achieved a score of 44 points. These students and 270 more were congratulated in front of their senior peers on Wednesday 15th February at our Excellence Assembly. Held in Te Poho hall, the assembly recognised students who achieved at the highest level in their NCEA or IB courses in 2022.

TGS athletes make history

at Porritt Classic

A squad of TGS athletes competed individually, and as teams, at the Porritt Classic Athletics Meeting, held in Hamilton recently.

Senior students Jodie Nash and Sascha Letica teamed up with year 9 Nadia Letica, to compete as a three-person team in the Dianne Rodger 1500m Secondary School Challenge Trophy. This is the first year TGS has entered a team for this prestigious challenge.

The team’s combined total saw TGS win the Challenge Trophy by a single point over Wellington East. Dianne Rodger, former two-time Olympian presented the shield which carries her name, to the team.

Fifteen-year-old Kate Hallie gained third place in the Open Women’s ShotPut event, with a senior shot personal best of 13.23m. Year 9 Connor Brady sprinted to first place in the U16 100m hurdles and finished sixth in the U18 300m hurdles. In both races, Connor was the youngest athlete in the field.

Congratulations to all our athletes doing TGS proud.

Top Scholar Sofia Drew being congratulated on stage by Principal Mary Nixon

TOP SCHOLAR Sofia Drew English (at Year 12 in 2022)

SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS Lachlan Jardine (2022 TGS Dux) awarded 3 Scholarships (Accounting, Economics, Classics) and 1 Outstanding in English (2nd year running)

SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS Pearl Nicholson (Year 12 also) awarded 3 (English,Scholarships Stats, Media) and 1 Outstanding in Health & PE)

TO BE COMMENDED Louis Fisher 3 Scholarships English, Biology and DVC(IB)

Hooked the big one at Waiheke

Welcome to our first fishing and boating report.

We have been contemplating whether we start stocking freshwater tackle to see if there are any trout in Lake Waitemata….seriously when will it stop!

In between the wind and the rain, there have been a few pockets of calm weather and we have been out catching some good fish.

At this time of year, the anchovy schools have been herded into all the north-facing bays by the ever-present kahawai. Snapper, trevally and kingfish are also there in good numbers.

Fishing enthusiast and Devonport local, Brett Boulle, holding a 62cm, 4.7kg snapper caught off Waiheke Island. Brett was on his way to Man O’ War Bay for lunch and stopped on the way for a spot of fishing. The snapper was caught under a Kahawai work-up using soft bait (Z-Man Elaztech Scented Paddlers – Smelt, 4” – which come in packs of five). Boulle usually fishes from his 170HP Sea-Doo FishPro.

Glass & Glazing Specialists

We have been hitting spots like the northern side of Rangi, Administration Bay and all northern bays of Waiheke, catching fish in good numbers using small soft baits and micro-baits such as Ocean Angler Fleas. Just be sure to get the wind and the tide going in the same direction, use a sea anchor to slow your drift and bounce your jigs along the bottom.

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Trev has been fine-tuning his raw kahawai recipe using lemon, red onion, coconut cream, hot chillies and coriander. He brings it in for lunch and I try and steal it – it’s so good on crackers. Last week, we had an awesome session drifting across the worm beds, basically right in the middle between The Noises and Tiri, using some berley and whole squid baits. Every bait got smashed by snapper in the 5–6-pound range, great fun so close to home.

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Great fish for making Matt’s fishcakes that he shares, sometimes.

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We are stocking an increased range of quality fishing gear in-store now. We have Ocean Angler products, Black Magic terminal tackle, bait, berley and salt ice.

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• Tyres

• Batteries

• Servicing

• WOFs

“Always great service from Aaron and the team at Wynyard St Motors. I have used them over the years for WOFs, battery replacement, head gasket issues, new tyres and tyre repairs. Highly recommended!”

PETER, DEVONPORT LOCAL

1 Wynyard Street, Devonport | Ph 09 445 1357

We have our second fishing event on 2 March at the Devonport Yacht Club. 6pm start, all welcome, bar will be open. Paul Senior will be talking about soft-baiting in the Anchovy schools.

See you out there...

Phone 445 2356

15 Clarence Street, Devonport

WHAT’S ON @ Devonport Library

Tēnā koutou katoa.. Kia kaha tātou. Wishing you warm greetings and the strength you need after an extremely challenging start to the year. We are writing this on the first fine day after Cyclone Gabrielle did such terrible damage to our beautiful country. We are all in shock and know many of you are worried about family and friends as well as dealing with the aftermath of this unbelievable storm.

Auckland Libraries had to close, some with flood and wind damage, but also so staff could assist in shelters across the city. Devonport Library was thankfully spared and we can warmly welcome you back into this treasured space, a sanctuary for reading and reconnecting. The power is on, there’s free wi-fi, comfy chairs and computers, and we are available to help.

Storytime is still on Mondays, but Rhymetime and Lego Club are now on Thursdays, and Wriggle and Rhyme on Fridays. It is all free and little ones and their carers are welcome to attend any session.

If you are checking in with elderly friends through these tough times, please mention the Library Bus. It will pick them up from home and bring them to the library for a cuppa and companionship every Thursday afternoon. Book via Devonport Community House which organises this wonderful volunteer-run service.

Library staff can also help you fill in your online census form from now until April 7th. It doesn’t have to be on Census Day. If you would like some particular help from the census staff then come to the Library on March 1st when they will be here to answer all your questions.

In February, we are focusing on romance books and if Valentine’s Day somehow passed you by, consider a Blind Date with a Book. Choose one of our carefully wrapped romantic novels, take it home unseen, unwrap and read, preferably with a nice foodie treat close by.

Warmest greetings to all.

Yellow alert! Another sculpture lands

Canary wharf... A temporary artwork from Auckland Council’s collection has arrived on the Devonport waterfront, sited alongside the Flight Support for Albatross sculpture. Does it really add to our marine view? Captions to news@devonportflagstaff.co.nz. The best one wins two movie tickets for the Vic Theatre.

Purple Poppy Day

SUNDAY

SUNDAY

Colourful village character farewelled

Friends of actor, author and Devonport man-about-town Jack Smith gathered to remember him at his funeral recently.

Growing up in Brixton, London, Smith was one of five siblings to a single mother. He had a “rough” upbringing, spending time in an orphange and in borstal.

At 17, a judge offered him the choice of prison or the option of joining the merchant navy. Smith opted for the latter – a career move that fostered a lifelong love of the sea.

In the late 60s, he shifted to Australia, where he worked as an actor, before he immigrated to New Zealand.

He continued acting, his parts including a role as a skipper on Xena Warrior Princess. In his day jobs, he worked as a steeplejack and also ran a second-hand shop on Ponsonby Rd.

Moving to Devonport around 2003, he became well-known in the village, partly because he followed the same routine every day.

He would have lunch in Clarry’s cafe then head to the library for a chat with staff, to

check his emails or read a book.

Then he would sit at the same place on the waterfront, rain or shine, to watch passing boats for a couple of hours. Friends and locals always knew where to find him for a chat or a catch-up.

He was partial to sauvignon blanc and chocolate, and liked nothing better than to drink a gin on a friend’s deck at Stanley Bay, watching the action on the harbour.

He lived for many years at Cambria Court retirement flats, was a member of a Devonport Sunday singing group, played table tennis and was a David Bowie fan.

After taking a creative-writing course, he published a book, Ahoy There, featuring a number of his tales. It was popular enough that a second edition was printed.

Friends at Smith’s funeral recalled his cheerful, generous nature and readiness to engage in conversation or banter.

In his will, Smith asked for his ashes to be dropped off the Waiheke ferry as it passed Rangitoto.

School gathers goods for flood-struck Hawke’s Bay

Devonport Primary School is collecting goods for people hit by the floods in Hawke’s Bay.

With the school’s Fair on the Hill coming up on 18 March, organisers decided to combine preparations with the gathering of donations. From this week, until Friday 3 March, items for sending south will be accepted in the hall during school hours.

A parent on the fair committee, Lisette Knight, said those in the school community often had a sort-out of goods to donate leading into the event.

“We have reached out to local welfare

and marae in Hawkes Bay to see what support we can offer those most affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. There are requests for clean sheets, blankets and clothing.”

The fair, which is the school’s largest fundraising event, was last held in 2021, with Covid intervening last year. “It’s so exciting we can hold it again,” Knight said.

Items for the fair itself, such as old children’s bikes, scooters, skates, books, plants, plant pots, children’s sporting equipment, toys, old plates, and games are welcome until 14 March.

Subdivision hosts open day

A community open day is being held at the Oneoneroa subdivision in Belmont on Sunday, 26 February, to mark the finishing of the latest 16 terrace-style homes in the staged development on Eversleigh St. Developer Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei says members of the public are welcome to look over the site from 10am to noon.

The homes range in price from $1million upwards.

Storyteller... Jack Smith with a copy of his book

On February 18 we hosted our first DEPOT Open Day by inviting the community to learn more about our unique arts ecosystem. It was a wonderful day and we hope to host more events soon to help bring the community together.

We have always believed in the transformative ability of the arts to engage, inspire and bring the community together and after the last few years and the recent devastation brought on the Cyclone Gabrielle we see it as more important than ever to work together to offer a sustainable, resilient future.

As part of our commitment to work with the community more we are thrilled to announce our First Thursday’s initiative which will see us and others in Devonport host activations on the first Thursday of every month. To find out more get in touch or jump on our website at depot.org.nz

Make sure you come and check out our two March exhibitions; Robyn Penn: SENTINELS is in the Streefront Gallery and in partnership with the Auckland Art Festival, we’re thrilled to be hosting emerging atrist show, THE REALISTS.

Be sure to join us for AAF Light Night 2023 on Saturday 18 March 5.30pm-8.30pm. Free entry. All welcome. DJ, art and drinks!

Amy Saunders General Manager, DEPOT amy.saunders@depot.org.nz

Sax appeal: Devonport-raised

Local jazz musician Frank Talbot has realised the longtime goal of releasing his debut album.

Talbot’s Mundane Life Updates is a personal reflection on life moments, both big and small.

The 24-year-old saxophonist said the album title expresses the topics and themes of the music. “I actually came to quite like the way it kind of played on the kind of mundaneness of what we think of as the big events as well as the very specialness of what we might consider the very mundane events”.

Releasing an album was always a goal for Talbot, but he says the “feast or famine” nature of gigging gave him the push to make it.

“I had recently had a couple of months that had been really good. There were all of these gigs happening. And then there was a month or two where it’s like, ‘oh there’s not much going on, I guess I can’t sit around and wait for someone to knock’.

“I think it was always something I wanted to do, but maybe I had been given a premature push to do so”

Talbot has spent time touring in Eastern Europe with the JM Jazz World Orchestra – an international youth jazz orchestra – and in New Orleans and New York with New Zealand’s Rodger Fox Big Band

He told The Flagstaff he first got a taste for music as a child, ,rummaging through his parents’ CD collection, which featured the likes of Split Enz and Dave Dobbyn.

He got into jazz when a woodwind teacher

came to Vauxhall School and introduced him to the saxophone, flute and clarinet.

Talbot originally signed up for saxophone lessons. But he was told he was too small and was first given a clarinet.

At Belmont Intermediate, he had grown enough to play the saxophone, and didn’t look back, joining Takapuna Grammar School’s big band as a sax player when he was in Year 10.

At 17, Talbot’s musical path led him to Wellington, where he studied at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University.

He became the lead saxophonist in the school’s top big band in his first year.

Among other achievements during his university years, he twice won Woodwind Player of the Year and won the Therle Drake Award for performance.

Talbot has toured both New Zealand and worldwide with a variety of bands.

His 10-track instrumental album was laid down over the course of a day at the Air Force band rooms in Wellington.To record it, Talbot put together a band that includes Narrow Neck bass player Phoebe Johnson.

For an outdoor performance in Devonport last Saturday, sponsored by the Devonport Business Association, his trio featured Hank Trenton on bass and Ben Frater on drums.

Mundane Life Updates is available on all streaming platforms, and CDs can be purchased at Marbecks Records on Queen St or by emailing franktalbotmusic@gmail.com.

jazz musician launches first album

On a high note... Frank Talbot, who was introduced to woodwind instruments at Vauxhall School, has since played internationally and has just released his debut album

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

A play WRITTEN & DIRECTED by Geoffrey Clendon

Boyhood adventures and tales of island baches

As a lad, Geoffrey Clendon rowed to Rangitoto for fun. Now he has made the island that was the backdrop of his North Shore childhood the location of his first play.

Rangitoto is set in the Depression era and is one of a planned trilogy of works, all based around his beloved Hauraki Gulf.

In the five-plus decades since he left Westlake Boys High School, Clendon, now aged 69, has transitioned from professional actor to teacher to playwright. Also a keen sailor, he describes himself as “a wooden boat sort of fellow, out of the Milford Creek originally”.

Recently, he turned his hand to being a producer as well, and is deep into rehearsals for Rangitoto’s premiere season, opening next week at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna. The play is a snapshot of the time when the island had close to 100 baches and a thriving holiday community facing social upheaval.

“It was a dramatic time in our history, as is now,” says Clendon. “The only reason you do a historical play or book or film is it’s a reflection on the present.”

As island life became more managed, a clash of values flared. The comedic play tells of disparate family groups rubbing up against each other over a Christmas-New Year holiday. There’s working-class folk and returned servicemen who had built their own baches and believe in mateship and DIY. Along come “new chums with old money” – one with an architect in tow – plus rebellious teens and a resident eccentric misfit.

While fictional, the story is well-founded in records of the time and Clendon’s own later stays.

“I had a dinghy that I used to row over to Rangitoto after school from Milford Beach,” he tells the Flagstaff. Having been in a thirdform Westlake four that won at Karapiro, he had good form on the water. Later, he graduated to a small yacht, heading off on Friday nights with mates to camp.

Rangitoto

by Geoffrey Clendon

23rd FEB–5th MAR

Comedy set in the Rangitoto bach community during the Great Depression.

Creative Talks: Tabitha Becroft

27th FEB

A chat with Environmentalist Tabitha Becroft. Free event, booking essential.

Empire of Light

PumpHouse Movie Fundraiser

2nd MAR

Come enjoy drinks, nibbles and a movie at the Bridgeway Cinema in Northcote to help us fundraise for new theatre seats.

Journey to Dreamland

8th MAR

Original songs, popular hits, and unique interpretations of Macedonian folk songs

PH: 489 8360

PUMPHOUSE.CO.NZ

“We had a billy and we chipped oysters off the rocks and cooked them in butter – it was bloody nice.”

Westlake science teacher Chester Nealie, a noted potter who later taught at Takapuna Grammar School, told the boys about a cave on the island behind one of the beaches. “We used to go over and sleep in it – it was damp and uncomfortable,” recalls Clendon. He also recalls studying Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with its shipwreck scene, when Miranda shelters in a cave. “I was literally looking at Rangitoto,” he says.

A few Tempest references have slipped into his play. Clendon says he owes English teacher Russell Aitken a debt of gratitude for inspiring his love of literature.

Growing up in Milford, a few blocks back from the beach, he remembers the skin-

ny-legged schoolboy poet-to-be Sam Hunt wandering the neighbourhood in shorts while puffing on a pipe.

Visits to Takapuna took him to his grandparents’ grandly named shop, Clendon’s Modern Fruit Store, which was a landmark at Halls Corner.

On school trips to the Mercury Theatre in Auckland, he saw the likes of Ian Mune, George Henare and Lee Grant on stage.

After doing some acting and classes in Auckland, a tutor encouraged him to try out for Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. He was one of 25 students chosen from 800 who auditioned. He spent his 20s in Sydney at drama school and then as a working actor, before love of place called him home. New Zealand’s burgeoning theatre scene also kept him busy.

Oarsome... Geoffrey Clendon (third from left) in his school rowing crew, which also features (from left) Noel Nancekivell, Michael Crossley and Stuart Gladding, with coxswain Alan Aspell seated

help inspire first play in planned Gulf trilogy

“I was just a jobbing actor,” he says modestly.

He worked for a range of theatre companies as an actor and turned his hand to directing, including on short films he scripted. He also completed a masters in creative writing at Victoria University of Wellington.

“But I wanted to pay off the mortgage,” says the father of two now adult children. So, having enjoyed leading a few drama classes, he decided on a year at teachers college. This led to his becoming head of drama at Massey High School, which he loved.

Knowing his background, a friend one day referred him to a masters thesis, Holiday Communities on Rangitoto Island, written by Susan E Yoffe.

Some of those who used to holiday on Rangitoto would row over from Narrow Neck and Kohimarama. Others came from Freemans Bay, Ponsonby and Devonport. “When I read that, I thought there is my play.”

The thesis, published in around 2000, drew on oral histories, including the story of a woman who arrived for the summer with seven chickens. They got seasick on the way over – with colour said to have drained from their combs – only to end their holiday as dinner.

The play has been a long time coming. To finish it, Clendon relinquished his role at Massey in 2019. “Then Covid came along.”

That meant his plans to stage it were twice delayed. The latest cast of “eight wonderful actors aged 18 to 71” includes one from the UK, who has returned specially.

Another, Isla Sangl, is a former Kristin School student who came recommended by Geoff Allen at the Rose Centre after doing acting classes with him in her gap year.

Clendon says staging the play is costing around $70,000, with money going on billboards, professional lighting and sound, venue hire and not as much as he would like to pay his cast. He is grateful they love the play and for the help of an experienced costumier and Arts Laureate John Parker designing the sets gratis. A ‘Boosted’ campaign is helping fund the project.

An old friend from Milford Primary, Debbie Dunsford, has offered Clendon plenty of encouragement and became a trustee of the company he formed to stage the play and those that follow. The second of the trilogy is set around changing mores on Waiheke Island; the final play will be based on Great Barrier Island in the late 19th century.

Staging his first play at the PumpHouse was a natural choice.

The venue by Lake Pupuke is evocative. Before it became a community theatre, Westlake rowers stored their gear there. “I remember lifting up those heavy skiffs, walking across the gravel in bare feet,” Clendon says.

• Rangitoto runs from 23 February to 5 March at the PumpHouse Theatre, Takapuna, with tickets priced at $42 for adults, and available at pumphouse.co.nz

Island life... Geoffrey Clendon’s first play tells of Rangitoto Island holidaymakers in the Depression era

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