2 December 2022 Devonport Flagstaff

An upmarket cafe-restaurant is planned for the Devonport waterfront – offering a vote of confidence in the local hospitality scene as it bounces back from the pandemic. A multimillion-dollar fit-out of the build ing on the corner of Church St and King Edward Pde is in progress, including the

former Platter cafe premises being leased for the new operation.

Restaurants and bars in Devonport have struggled due to the impact of Covid,with a number of closures on Victoria Rd. Staff shortages have caused widespread problems since opening restrictions were eased.

Platter closed on 5 June after more than 12 years in business. It had to vacate the building for earthquake-strengthening work, but opted to close sooner due to difficulties finding chefs.

The new restaurant is being set up by

Hitting the books: BIS wins national literary quiz

Former landlord principal dies

The property holdings of major Devonport landlord Vista Linda Ltd are operating on a “business as usual” basis following the recent death in Australia of former director and shareholder Antonio Regueiro-Diaz.

Vista Linda owns around 10 properties in Victoria Rd and Wynyard and Clarence Sts. They are managed by Harcourts.

Harcourts property manager Rob Meister said at this stage, no change was in the offing. “We are still managing the properties and tenants are in place.”

In May 2017, Vista Linda Ltd’s directors were Jayne McElvie, Antonio RegueiroDiaz and Emily Susan Reguerio McKelvie. Antonio owned 20 per cent of the company and Jayne 80 per cent. Latest records show ownership split 50/50 between Emily Regueiro McKelvie and Jayne McElivie. Antonio Regueiro Diaz was removed as a shareholder in 2019 and as a director on 26 October 2022. He had been a director of the company since 2009. For a time, he was also Spanish consul general in New Zealand.

Ferry failings hit local hospo with staff left stranded

Local hospitality businesses are feeling the effects of Devonport’s ferry woes, with delays impacting both customers and staff.

Mylam Sloan, owner of The Patriot, said delays and cancellations to ferry services between 10 am and 1pm were a “consistent daily occurrence” affecting the ability of chefs to make it to work on time.

Sloan said staff travelled from the city side of the harbour because they can’t afford to live in Devonport. When chefs arrived late, they lost vital preparation time ahead of the lunch and dinner rushes.

He said the issue was “another pain we have to deal with” on top of the Covid fallout and staff shortages.

Inconsistencies in the ferry services and “chaos” at the ferry terminal in town was also affecting foot traffic and business at the pub, which was down on previous years.

Sloan believed international tourists from

cruise ships weren’t coming to Devonport due to the shoddy ferry services. He said tourists often chose between visits to Devonport, Wai heke or Rangitoto, and were put off Devonport by the prospect of delays.

International tourists were crucial for The Patriot, accounting for 30 per cent of its busi ness from September to April.

Sloan feared that if the services were not improved soon, that summer surge would not eventuate.

“Ferries have to pick up otherwise we and Waiheke are going to suffer.”

Saff shortages were already “crippling” local businesses, he said.

“We need to make it easier for people to work, not harder,”

Ferry operator Fullers’ own staff shortages and recruitment woes are among factors contributing to cancellations and delays. Un expected absences can lead to cancellations.

Two council villas now unoccupied

Two multimillion-dollar waterfront proper ties owned by Auckland Council at Torpedo Bay are currently vacant.

Houses at 52, 55 and 56 King Edward Pde are among a small number of residential properties with heritage status owned by Auckland Council.

Number 52 is tenanted, but 55 has been vacant for several years, with council hav ing insufficient funds to bring it up to renta ble standard. Number 56 has recently been vacated, Auckland Council has confirmed.

It is looking for a tenant for the property.

A number of issues with 55 King Edward Pde were identified through a heritage and structural assessment, which showed the house “needing significant investment”,

Auckland Council’s Head of Property and Commercial Business Kim O’Neil said.

“Keeping in mind the Emergency Budget, and the financial challenges created by Covid-19, we are now looking at when it’s feasible to do this.”

The properties continue to be maintained to “preserve the fabric of the buildings” and to ensure they remain secure, O’Neil said.

The council is also considering options for consulting with the community on potential broader uses for the buildings, through the parks management-plan review process. This is expected to be at least 12 to 18 months away, she said

“We have no plans to sell any of these properties at this stage.”

King tides on track to be ‘the norm in 100 years’

The king tides of today will be the com monplace the future, battering Devonport’s coastline and threatening to spill into the heart of the village.

That was the message from environmental economist and founder of King Tides Auck land, Ben Sheeran, who was at Victoria Wharf to photograph last Friday’s king tide.

“Sea levels are going to rise no matter what, so it’s important that we adapt to the changing environment. But it’s also important to do everything we can to mitigate the effects of climate change to prevent the severity of rising sea levels,” he said.

According to council modelling, much of Devonport’s coastline is less than five metres above sea level, including King Edward Pde and Queens Pde which are one to two metres above sea level.

Wynyard and Anne Sts, and Victoria Rd south of Clarence St are at seven to nine metres above sea level.

At the current rates of increase, over the course of 100 years New Zealand sea levels will rise by 55-136 cm, said Sheeran.

This would put much of Devonports’s low er-lying areas at risk of flooding.

If sea levels continue to rise as they are, the average daily high tide will be 1.3m higher than the 3.2 m king tide measured last Friday.

The best scenario, based on attaining net-ze ro carbon emissions, is that the daily tide will remain at the level of the 3.2m king tide.

With the current rate of sea levels rising 1.6mm per year, tides in Devonport in 2122

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could be as high as 4.6 m.

“Where we’re standing [outside the ferry terminal] is about one metre above sea level. So, if we were standing here 100 years from now, we’d be ankle-deep in water.”

Sheeran said this is a worse-case scenario, as infrastructure, such as seawalls, can be built to relieve the effects of rising sea levels.

He believes preparing to adapt to the chang ing environment as well as doing everything we can to mitigate the effects of climate change are the best response to rising sea levels.

King Tides Auckland is a community ini tiative that encourages people to photograph king tides across the region, to capture what coastlines in the future could look like, in order to visualise the implications of rising sea levels.

The initiative has transitioned from research to educating children about climate change through its schools programme.

Sea-level rise occurs through greenhouse gases causing the earth’s temperature to rise, the ocean absorbing heat and the polar ice caps melting, putting more water in the ocean.

Scott Kennedy, a Melbourne hospitality entrepreneur, who has returned to New Zealand. He hopes to open next July.

Kennedy said he previously owned a bar in Melbourne and recently ran a company that had a brewery, roasted coffee and owned a restaurant.

Back in New Zealand, he has been working for Atomic Roasters. He saw the opportunity of a “beautiful site on the Devonport water

front”. He was aware of the talk of recession but “fingers crossed, the world is returning to some normality”.

Devonport has been hit hard by the lack of tourists and cruise ships in particular, he said.

“I’m pretty confident things are looking up and an upmarket cafe and restaurant will be enjoyed by locals with a few tourists on top,” Kennedy said.

Rising waters... King Tides Auckland founder Ben Sheeran says rising sea levels put parts of Devonport at risk from flooding

Entrepreneur keen on ‘beautiful site’ and Devonport’s future

When heritage meets modern

Once upon a time this was one of several worker’s cottages lining sought after Church Street, which fell into disrepair leading to the original cottage being replaced in 2007 with a brand new two level residence designed by renowned heritage architect Jeremy Salmond, to create a modern home with a giant nod to its rich heritage With a street presence totally in keeping with its neighbours, its elegant interior comes as a big surprise While touches of original character have been incorporated into this new incarnation, it boasts all the benefits of a contemporary build Every element has been meticulously crafted to conceive the ultimate in warm, dry and efficient easy living, with no expense spared This is a rare opportunity to combine heritage, with contemporary living bayleys co nz/1470586 bayleys.co.nz

The benefits of reading don’t need spelling out to the Belmont Intermediate School (BIS) students who have won the national Kids’ Lit Quiz. But they and the school hope others will discover the pleasure of spending more time page-turning and less screen-scrolling.

BIS last month became the nation’s most successful in the quiz: it was the school’s fourth win in the national competition.

The members of the gold-medal winning team of Year 8 students were Thomas Ben nett, Elizabeth Ellis, Felix Gould and Zara Matthews.

“We’ve got a bit a legacy to uphold now,” said team coach and teacher Angela Winslade.

The team travelled to Wellington for the final held at the National Library, supported by reserve Maddie Wylie. They won their way there after competing successfully against 50 schools at the Auckland regional event in late August – and months of practice.

Event founder and retired University of Auckland academic Wayne Mills told the BIS team they were clear winners of the national event. “Your literary knowledge was superb. This says a lot about your school, your teach ers, librarians and parents.”

More than a dozen countries around the world now run Kids’ Lit Quizzes after Mills came up with the concept 31 years ago.

Until Covid intervened, world finals were held, including the 2009 event in South Africa that a team from BIS attended, after its first New Zealand win earlier that year.

It also won in 2010 – with a team that included Ella Yelich-O’Connor, now best known as global music star Lorde – and 2018.

Winslade, BIS’s facilitator for literacy and gifted children, said the team was chosen two terms ago after internal school quizzes. “It’s all about getting the right mix,” she explained.

Competition akin to a pub quiz is con ducted over rounds of questions in different categories. One question in a beverages bonus round asked which children famously had

Team members each left with a $400 prize, a certificate and a medal. A cup also goes in the school’s trophy cabinet for the year.

Felix and Thomas told the Flagstaff the amount of research they did leading into the final, along with four practices a week, actually reduced their regular reading. Instead they were swotting up on the likes of book authors and titles. Felix thought everyone should aim to read daily, even if they only manage a chapter or a few pages.

RBNZ talking tough!

We see the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) raised the Official Cash Rate by 0 75% to 4 25% last week, with some tough talk about the need to slow inflation by raising rates further and cutting spending For the first time, it really pointed the finger at the government to contribute to this as well It also lamented the government’s immigration policy, which has severely restricted the number of migrant workers required to fill so many jobs hence the wage/price spiral is so much more difficult to contain!

It looks like we are in for a pretty hard landing next year The RBNZ now forecasts a recession (not considered likely to them just a few months ago), which will just create another boom bust senario Contrary to this, most other OECD countries that are also seeing a decent slowdown next year are actually taking their foot off the rate hike accelerator!

It appears to us the RBNZ rhetoric is trying to shock the market and government into cutting spending We will see if it works, but the pain has really yet to come in this space!

Zara agreed: “I think it’s really important. For example, you might be good at maths, but if you can’t read the questions you will struggle.”

Thomas said he mostly uses an e-book reader, which contains the entire Harry Potter collection.

For Winslade, it is other electronic devices she has compete with to instil a love of read ing in students. She believed the key was parents encouraing reading and teachers firing up young imaginations. The spin-off was ed ucational benefits and the pleasure it brought.

ginger beer? Answer: The Famous Five (by Enid Blyton).

Book brigade... BIS’s winning Lit Quiz team, (from left) Zara Matthews, Elizabeth Ellis, Felix Gould and Thomas Bennett

By Rob Drent

The Flagstaff Notes

I can’t help feeling the Bayswater Commu nity Committee (BCC) and the Bayswater Marina Berth Holders Association have had a rum deal in the hearing into the Bayswater Marina Holding Ltd (BMHL) resource-con sent application to build apartments and townhouses on its reclamation.

reply on the changes.

The commissioners have left submitters an avenue of challenge in the Environment Court.

Delays, cancellations and long queues con tinue to plague Fullers ferry services.

Before games of squash, I occasionally drop into the Devon Superette, run by Yogita Patel and husband Matt Bhai on Old Lake Rd, for a sugar hit of glow hearts. After tennis on a hot day, I’ll pop into White’s Dairy, run by Nilesh and Jody Jogia, in Cheltenham, for an ice cream.

Last week, life for dairy owners – among them, Nimesh and Priti Patel of Elizabeth Dairy at Belmont – got harder. In a year of ram raids (Elizabeth Dairy was hit in July) and robberies across Auckland, a worker was fatally stabbed at the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham.

Dairy ownership must be unrelenting, with low margins and long hours, and now the threat of physical violence has become deadly.

I’m always amazed by the cheerfulness of our local dairy owners. And their resilience. Devon Superette was ram-raided in 2014, and robbed in 2018 and 2019. But Matt and Yogita and their family are always friendly and engaging.

The Sandringham murder is a shocking event. But the best way we can show some local sol idarity is to keep shopping at our local dairies, whose owners have been part of our community for many years.

BMHL had applied to build a 119-home housing development, but was knocked back at the conclusion of a 10-day hearing for fail ing to include marine-related activities in the proposal – as required in its marine-precinct zoning. Auckland Council officers withdrew support for the consent at the conclusion of submitter evidence.

BMHL resubmitted a scaled-back proposal with less housing and more public space and areas set aside for marine activities. Commis sioners ruled that as it was an amended – not new – application, submitters had no right of reply.

Is this fair and in the spirit of the pub licly notified application process? Has too much licence been given to BMHL, as the commercial applicant, and not enough to the submitters who have spent thousands of volunteer hours bringing legitimate legal and practical concerns to the attention of the commissioners?

The community groups have effectively saved Auckland Council thousands of dollars by doing work that should have been done by council officers.

Given the significance of the land to the public, the BCC and berth holders should at the very least have been offered the right of

Commuters, along with local bar owners and retailers relying on reliable transport for staff and tourists, suffer as a result.

The major problem seems to centre around staff shortages, in common with the rest of New Zealand and the western world but acutely in the transport and health sectors.

Some say businesses should have planned ahead for the shortages. This is easier said than done when many operations were closed or cut back during the Covid pan demic.

But public transport is an essential sector, not a nice-to-have. In Devonport, the ferry is a lifeline to employment, services and more, in the city and wider Auckland. Irate ferry users jumping back in their cars to join frustrated motorists on clogged Lake Rd is not the answer.

With Auckland Transport taking an in creased role in the provision of ferry opera tions, one idea may be to create a labour pool of temporary workers who could be shuffled around areas of the transport network where shortages exist.

Obviously this won’t fill the gaps in specialist areas for the likes of skippers, engineers and bus drivers. Forward planning is needed to provide adequate cover and trained personnel to flow into the workforce.

all

Rain couldn’t put a dampener on high spirits at the St Leo’s School Christmas Fair last Sunday. Santa himself was among the big drawcards and teachers proved good sports

On target... Clockwise from left: St Leo’s teacher Greg MacCarthy-Morrogh gets a soaking courtesy of Oscar Flynn Christie (5); Steven Rumble waits while daughter Eva (5) has her face painted; Mina Roelvink (5) has a turn on the fire brigade hose.

Leo’s School fair

1 1 1

Position, views and potential

on (unless sold prior)

m, Thu 8 Dec 2022

Bright

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 8 Dec 2022

rthcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland Sat/Sun 10 10 30am a Betts 021 278 3024 betts@bayleys co nz

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland View Sat/Sun 10 10 30am

Lynda Betts 021 278 3024

lynda betts@bayleys co nz

S REAL ESTATE LTD, DEVONPORT, D UNDER THE REA ACT 2008 2

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

ose to e and all it to the k hen The is Perfect as der 5+2 3+1 3+2

Spectacular on Stanley Bay Park

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 8 Dec 2022

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland View Sat/Sun 10 10 30am

Lynda Betts 021 278 3024

lynda betts@bayleys co nz

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

on (unless sold prior)

Auction (unless sold prior)

m, Thu 15 Dec 2022

1.30pm, Thu 15 Dec 2022

rthcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland Thu 5 5 45pm & Sat/Sun 2 2 45pm

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland View Thu 5 5 45pm & Sat/Sun 2 2 45pm

Rarely do magnificent fully renovated family homes like this come to the market You will love the space, outlook and tranquillity of this peaceful park side position You can entertain in style and enjoy the living rooms flowing outdoors to wide, sunny private verandahs with views over the lawn through the trees to the park There is plenty of family space with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms in the main residence plus a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, self contained

a Betts 021 278 3024

love the e and the lawn ooms in rage has to the

Lynda Betts 021 278 3024

betts@bayleys co nz

lynda betts@bayleys co nz

S REAL ESTATE LTD, DEVONPORT, D UNDER THE REA ACT 2008

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

bayleys.co.nz

bayleys.co.nz

Auction (unless sold prior)

1.30pm, Thu 15 Dec 2022

28 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland View Thu 5 5 45pm & Sat/Sun 2 2 45pm

Lynda Betts 021 278 3024

lynda betts@bayleys co nz

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

Twenties chic takes to floor at the Vic

The Victoria Theatre has been transformed by glamorous be spoke carpet on its foyer floor and stairs.

The new Axminster carpet recreates the floral patterned carpet that was laid in 1929 when the Vic was enlarged and refurbished in an art deco style.

Theatre trustees examined 1989 photos showing fragments of the distinctive 1929 carpet in the aisles. Flooring company Signature Floors was able to graphically copy the pattern and colour of the carpet, overseen by heritage architect Graeme Burgess.

Trust co-chair Mark Sigglekow said recreating the unique style of the carpet was an important aspect of the building’s restoration.

“We are very intent on bringing out the heritage of the Vic at the same time as improving audience comfort and enjoyment.

“Auckland Council has recently reconfirmed the Victoria The atre as an A-scheduled historic building because of its national significance as the oldest purpose-built cinema in the Southern Hemisphere, so it’s important for us to get it right.”

Lovich Floors laid the carpet over the course of a week, to en able the cinema to operate normally during the day and evening. Lovich manager and Devonport local Caleb Hills was pleased to be involved in a boutique job that had a high level of detail and was important to the community. “I look forward to bringing our three kids along and telling them the story of how such a unique design was made.”

Next year, soundproof doors will be added to the rear of the down stairs cinema to enable the foyer to be expanded and allow more room for audiences. Removal of stairway mirrors and reinstatement of wood panelling and wooden balustrades is also in the pipeline.

“It’s great to be moving on with the front-of-house restoration now after many years of maintaining the building and doing equip ment upgrades,” said Sigglekow.

The new carpet has been made possible through grants from the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and Foundation North, and generous donations from the Vic and heritage supporters.

Magic carpet... Lovich Floors manager and Devonport resident Caleb Hills (left) and Victoria Theatre Trust cochair Mark Sigglekow showing off the new foyer flooring

Narrow Neck 21 Hamana Street

Family Living by the Beach

On the market for the first time in 20 years, this family masterpiece presents the ultimate in luxur y living and is just a five-minute walk from Narrow Neck beach. Offering four bedrooms, four bathrooms and two living areas, the four-level layout maximises optimum light and sun, as well as showcases spectacular sea views. There’s off-street parking out front, as well as a separate boat park Classic, stylish interior design creates a warm and inviting vibe, with timber floors and joiner y complemented by vibrant tropical gardens outside. The open plan lounge, dining and entertainer ’ s kitchen flows out poolside, where mature hedges enhance privacy and kids can run around on the fenced flat lawn.

The ground floor has internal access to the double garage and the fourth bathroom, ideal for coming inside from the pool.

Narrow Neck is a short stroll away, along with Wakatere Boating Club and Waitemata Golf Club It’s also in zone for Belmont Primar y, Belmont Intermediate and Takapuna Grammar Spend this summer in the pool and at the beach!

Devonport 20 Hastings Parade

Family Paradise in the Village

A masterful collaboration between the owner, architect and builder has transformed this original villa to create an almost entirely new, two-level home that is framed with landscaped grounds and an inground pool.

The spacious floorplan offers five bedrooms, three bathrooms, two living areas, an internal double garage and an office, plus self-contained, legal accommodation. A classic villa footprint at the front sees the bedrooms and two bathrooms located off the entr y hall, before flowing into the cosy TV nook

The open-plan dining and top-of the-line chef ’ s kitchen space at the rear showcases elevated views out over the treetops. It flows out to a sunny wrap-around deck overlooking Mt Victoria. The office, garage and self-contained accommodation is located downstairs.

North-facing rear decks and the pool are enveloped with established gardens and the fully fenced, flat lawns are a safe place for kids to play

The owner has purchased, so this extraordinar y property must be sold at auction.

Car parks lost under Vauxhall corner safety plan

Ten parking spaces would be lost near the corner of Vauxhall and Tainui Rds under proposed pedestrian-safety improvements.

Auckland Transport (AT) is consulting on a plan that aims to slow traffic by raising the entire intersection and would provide a new pedestrian crossing on Tainui Rd.

The removal of 10 car parks, most of them on Tainui Rd, would improve visibility. Footpaths would also be widened and busstop positions adjusted.

AT said it had “minimised the removal of parking as much as possible”.

Residents and affected businesses are being sent information on the proposals, with feedback invited before 8 December.

Speed in the area has long been of con cern, especially that of along Vauxhall Rd, travelling through an intersection where people congregate at cafes and other busi nesses, and schoolchildren cross the road to catch buses.

In 2020, local residents Keith Robinson and Ken Davis, an architect, presented to AT and the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board a colourful plan to slow traffic, featuring built-out kerbs and painted road surfaces.

At the time, AT was not convinced the extent of works could be justified.

In late 2020, board member and current board chair, Toni van Tonder, called for action.

Van Tonder told the Flagstaff last week she was pleased to see AT had now respond ed to requests to calm traffic and improve safety. She expected the changes would help prevent accidents.

She suspected the work by Davis and Robinson had formed the basis of the AT proposal.

Another local resident, Matthew Meikle, had hired a speed gun and recorded consist ent speeding in the area.

Losing parking was always a concern,

for a 15m clear lead-in entry zone and 9m lead-out for buses to enter and exit their stop safely.”

Van Tonder encouraged everyone who used the area to have their say.

“It would be great if we could see some street furniture incorporated here, like what has been done on Hurstmere Rd,” she said.

In its latest communications, AT spoke of working towards ‘Vision Zero’ targets, aimed at eliminating deaths and serious

hall Rd and Tainui Rd, so we are proposing some safety improvements to reduce speeds and create a safer intersection,” it said.

The approach was designed not just for those in vehicles, but also vulnerable road users, including those walking and cycling, children and the elderly.

More detailed information on the propos als is on AT’s Have Your Say website, along with an online feedback survey. Once feed back is reviewed, a final plan will be drawn up, with the aim of starting construction on the project in late 2023.

Safety plan... An Auckland Transport graphic showing the proposed raised intersection (in red) at the corner of Vauxhall and Tainui Rds and a new pedestrian crossing on Tainui Rd

Church sold after price sparks surge of interest

The landmark St Paul’s church at the foot of Takarunga has sold for more than its asking price, after a surge in demand led to multiple competing offers.

The church and its neighbouring hall, which has been converted into a home, occupy 1696sqm of land.

The property at 100B Victoria Rd, which had been on the market since April 2021, was recently listed for sale at $2,395,000, which renewed demand.

Barfoot and Thompson agent Lance Richardson said it sold for more than the asking price.

“It’s subject to a confidentiality agree ment, but I can say it has been bought by a local who is passionate about the church.”

A number of offers had come from churches who had wanted it for religious purposes, Richardson said.

Local landmark... St Paul’s church was built in 1916, in the Arts and Crafts style

Gospel Singers to busk for charity

Holy Trinity’s Gospel Singers will be back busking this Christmas, raising money for the City Mission. The six-strong group will be out side the former Westpac Bank on Saturday 10 December. Coordinator Val Morrison says since Covid, numbers have dwindled, but the local singers are keen to their rebuild their membership in the New Year.

E V O N P O R T

Popular choir helps women in need

The Beautiful Noise all-female community choir raised more than $1000 for Women’s Refuge with its performance last month at the Devonport ferry terminal. Co-director Maria Cantrell said the group was delighted with turnout. Seating for 200 soon filled and more people gathered to hear popular songs.

INSPIRED

Pool at Navy Base still closed to the public

The Devonport Naval Base swimming pool remains off-limits to the public while health and safety and security is reviewed.

The Devonport Swim Club used the pool for decades in an easy-going relationship with the Navy, which was keen to contribute to the community.

But the pool has been closed to the public for around two-and-a-half years, firstly due to Covid restrictions and now the review.

Swim club president Tom King said the club hoped to return to the pool soon, but in the meantime: “We’ve got thick skins; we swam through winter in the sea.”

Going to other pools was impractical for many club members – with Lake Rd conges

tion a major barrier, he said.

The swim club had around 130 members using the pool prior to Covid – masters swim mers, teenagers and juniors.

When the pool reopened, the club would need to go through a membership rebuilding programme, King said.

Navy Commander Julie Simpkins said the pool facilities were currently being reviewed internally “from a health, safety and security perspective, in consultation with a number of parties.

“There has been initial consultation with the Devonport Swim Club, and once the review has been completed we will make the findings known,” she said.

The Flagstaff understands one of the issues being explored is the need for a lifeguard when the public is using the pool.

Simpkins said the Defence Force retained Covid-19 restrictions longer than the wider public and, since May, had been progressively opening workplaces and services as resources had allowed.

“Like the rest of the nation, our resources have been strained this year, which has meant continuous re-prioritisation of reviews and other work.”

The Navy was committed to working with and supporting the Devonport community, while fulfilling the safety and security require ments of an operational port and naval base.

Parking restricted on Albert Rd to improve cyclist safety

Rush-hour no-stopping zones have been in troduced on Albert Rd, restricting the use of 11 roadside parking spaces opposite St Leo’s School and in front of St Francis and All Souls church, to make the road safer for cyclists.

Auckland Transport (AT) originally pro posed yellow lines preventing parking at all times, but amended its plan after public consultation.

Signage installed last month confines the

no-stopping restrictions to weekdays only, from 6am to 9.30am and 4pm to 7pm.

“The project team worked closely with the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board to arrive at a solution that aims to balance the safety needs of commuting cyclists and parking demand from the community,” an AT spokesman said.

The board had last term expressed concerns about access to church services for elderly pa

rishioners, while accepting that cyclists were being put at risk navigating around vehicles.

AT planned to issue warning notices for a brief initial period before starting enforce ment this week.

The initial fine for parking at restricted times will be $40, but additional fees will apply if vehicles have to be towed.

AT received 38 responses when the project was in its proposal phase.

Barfoot & Thompson Limited

Licensed REAA 2008

Devonport 09 445 2010 Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club

Pacific architecture expert hands on his archive

The contribution of Bayswater’s Dr Mike Austin, who took a pioneering interest in Maori and Pacific architecture, is being acknowledged in an exhibition of photographs from his vast collection. He told Janetta Mackay about the lessons to be learned from indigenous traditions.

A retired Bayswater academic is sharing his insights from more than 50 years studying the architecture of the Pacific, including how this could better shape ideas for building homes in Aotearoa.

Dr Mike Austin is handing over his treas ure trove of around 2000 images collated from travels across the Pacific, from Papua New Guinea as far east as Rapa Nui.

These form the basis of an exhibition, Oceanic Architectural Routes: The photo graphic archive of Mike Austin, opening at Objectspace in Ponsonby this weekend.

Curated by Samoan architect Albert L Refiti, it will help bring Austin’s life’s work to a wider audience.

Austin believes we have much to learn from how Māori and Pacific peoples ap proach their homes. And in turn, Refiti says, Austin’s lectures at the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture in the 1980s and 1990s were responsible for quietly sprouting alternative ways of looking at New Zealand’s contemporary architectural history.

Austin, 83, lives over the road from where he grew up in Beresford St, in a modest home he has transformed thanks to his love of ar chitecture and the sea. The keen sailor notes “the weather is quite Pacific” as he looks out

over a blustery Sandy Bay towards Takapuna.

Around a decade ago, his daughter Sonja Austin, who lives in the former family home, saw the house opposite was for sale and suggested her father buy it. Initially, he wasn’t that keen on the little 100-year-old bungalow, but soon saw its potential. “It had possibilities,” he says, of an interior he has much altered. Its most notable feature is a striking mezzanine floor an old Bayswater mate built for him.

“My friend Harry Richards – he’s a ven erable old boat builder – when I explained what I wanted, he said, ‘It’s a bloody boat you’re after’.”

Richards, who lives in a retirement home in Northcote, fashioned the mezzanine’s timber balcony clinker-style. It curves out above the ground-floor living area, where Austin knocked through a few walls to create a relaxed open-plan space, lit by skylights in an angled ply ceiling.

The home is busy with books and dotted with items that speak of Austin’s abiding in terest in the Pacific, such as wooden carvings

and a tapa lampshade. A light rigged from the ceiling over his dining table continues the marine theme set by the mezzanine, which was Richards’ “last boat”.

Austin, who has built a few boats him self, lived for a time in Devonport, where his home also reflected a connection with things oceanic: a more modern structure on King Edward Pde, it had a jutting, prow-like frontage and sea views.

On the day the Flagstaff caught up with Austin, he was keep an eye on a rising sea ahead of his weekly sail out of Westhaven, crewing on a Young 88.

Trim and fit, he remains “more an asset than a liability,” he says.

His enthusiasm for sailing started early. “Anyone that grew up in Bayswater is inter ested in sailing.”

Although he hasn’t sailed the Pacific, he travelled extensively across it from the 1960s through to 2006, including to the Solomon Islands and throughout Polynesia. His studies have also taken him to Indonesia.

Austin took an early interest in Māori ar chitecture, studying it for his PhD, which he was awarded in 1976. It was the first serious academic study of the topic.

“People said there was no such thing,” he says of the time. Some justified this by noting that Māori had no written language. “I said, that’s a good reason to look at the architecture.”

In Fiji, and in Papua New Guinea, where he spent an “utterly fascinating” year lectur ing, Austin came to appreciate how much he was yet to understand. “These people have been in this environment a lot longer than us colonials have – and we’ve never learned from them,” he says. “We could learn a lot more from them, including politically”.

At an age when he was wanting to pass on his archive, Austin sorted through boxes of slides accumulated over the decades, passing

Pacific influence... captured on film by Dr Mike Austin over many years

on around 2000 images to Objectspace. The archive will be digitised for easier access.

Around 50 of the images will be on show, depicting everything from vast bure to tiny tree-huts and inviting interiors. Austin’s gallerist daughter Hannah Manning-Scott is responsible for the exhibition’s design.

In another local connection, Devon port-raised architect Katie Braatvedt in terviewed Austin for the quarterly Island magazine.

He says the Pacific approach to housing naturally draws a lot from living outdoors, creating beautiful spaces that are open to the breeze but also sheltering from the rain. “We Europeans don’t do that so well.”

European buildings begin with the founda tions, with walls joined up and a roof on top.

“All around Polynesia they build from the roofs down.” Timber is used to create dis tinctive roof shapes. Walls are less a feature, and the floor is built as a separate structure.

“Albert L Refiti will say this [elevated roof] is holding up the sky, creating another sky.”

In Māori homes, a main post is considered the heart and the ridge is the backbone of a building, Austin says.

The Polynesian concept is of living in the space between the sky and the ground. It’s a nice way to think of it, he says, “rather than having our heavy feet on the ground”.

Although Austin has studied and taught more regularly than he has designed homes, around 20 have been built, including a mod ernist wooden home at Black Rock, Takapu na, that won an award in 1968.

He taught at the University of Auckland – where his slides were regularly used in his popular Oceanic Architecture and People and Environment Studies courses – until 1999, then spent 10 years as professor of architec ture at Unitec.

In “retirement” he kept up his academic contribution by supervising students working

on their masters theses. “This year was the last year,” he says.

His contribution to teaching architectural anthropology to many hundreds of students will continue through his archive.

Despite his acknowledged expertise, Aus tin does not want to speak for others, and is pleased Refiti, Associate Professor of Art and Design at AUT University – who himself lived for a time in Devonport – curated the Objectspace show.

And he is also glad a new generation of Pacific architects are bringing their cultural perspectives to the profession to the benefit of all.

“We are slowly learning that these so-called primitive people have a very interesting and advanced culture.”

• Oceanic Architectural Routes: The pho tographic archive of Mike Austin is on show at Objectspace, Ponsonby, from 3 December to 26 February.

Clinker-style... Dr Mike Austin beneath the nautically inspired mezzanine balcony built for him by his friend Harry Richards. Right: The interior of his much-altered century-old Bayswater bungalow

Wood queries bike-lane consultation Remembering the Devonport bowlers

As the old Devonport Bowling Club will soon be taken over by other sporting clubs, I would like to pay tribute to all the men and women who, over the last 120 years, found companionship, community and entertain ment there.

My dad, Jim Summerhays, was the presi dent of the club at the time of its centenary in 1995. It was a very special place for him and his many friends over the years.

L. Summerhays

Devonport beach an eysore for visitors

What an embarassment our Devonport Beach has become. Perhaps it should be closed? Rusty nails in planks of wood, a truckload of debris from three storms, all piled up. Not good for our tamariki; an eyesore for visitors.

I was so happy when we had our Midwinter swim: now it is a neglected and very unpleas ant beach. At least five handfuls of glass are gone: I collected it all.

John de Montfort

A story on a meet-the-makers market published in the 18 November Flagstaff gave an incorrect name for ethical-clothing maker thislittlebird threads. The error is regretted.

The Auckland Transport (AT) consultation process for its Bayswater Ave cycle-lane project is being taken to the Ombudsman.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board member George Wood wants a ruling on whether AT’s process has been “fair and reasonable”.

Wood said members of the public are being shut out of having their say over plans to build a bi-directional cycleway at the cost of all parking on the south side of the road.

AT has had “a selective dialogue with the people they wish to deal with,” Wood said. It had not given details of promised further consultation on its website.

An informal consultation was held at the Bayswater Halloween Trail community event in October. “The process has gone very quiet since then,” Wood said.

The cycle-lane project was initially flagged as part of the wider Lake Rd upgrade. AT says it undertook a full consultation on this in 2020.

But that was before more detailed designs

were drawn up. AT now says it will hold targeted talks with stakeholders, being local residents, schools, businesses and community groups. They would be invited by mail or through stakeholder databases.

Further drop-in sessions for the wider public were likely to be held in February after the oth er feedback was gathered, AT told the Flagstaff These would be advertised closer to the date, a spokesman added. An update to the local board has been flagged for February.

Wood is concerned interested parties risk being shut out before then. He wants to be assured regular users of the road will get their say. Commuters, cyclists and sports groups also had an interest as users of the 2.2km-long road and Bayswater Park, he said.

Wood is concerned targeted consultation means the views of stakeholders AT has handpicked might hold sway in its reporting back.

AT said details about the lanes were on its project webpage. Queries could be sent from it.

Howzat! Christmas trees from cricket club

Christmas trees being sold on Victoria Rd signalled the start of the holiday season for many locals, but after 10 years Lucy and Ben McNicoll are moving their business on to the North Shore Cricket Club.

Says Lucy: “We started it when we were in high school and it was a good job through school and uni but work and renovations on the house led us to deciding to pass it on to the cricket club”.

North Shore Cricket Club will be selling the trees on Cambridge Terrace from Decem ber 1 - 18. Club chairman Hayden Smith

says it feels grateful to be able to take over the operation, adding the venture is a great fundraising opportunity for future projects.

North Shore Cricket Club will be offering a delivery and collection service as well as buying and picking up trees from the Domain.

Starting 1 December, club members, volunteers and players will be outside the club rooms on Cambridge Terrace seven days a week.

The 1st Devonport Scouts Group is also selling Christmas trees this year via a delivery service.

Music-mag man gets on his bike for business

New Devonport Business Improvement District manager Rich ard Thorne is looking forward to bringing skills developed in the music-media world to his latest role.

Bayswater resident Thorne is familiarising himself with the parttime position he took up a few weeks ago, but says his first priority will be to network with local businesses to establish all their wants and needs.

The long-time editor-publisher of NZ Musician magazine has also worked in other business and event-management jobs.

He says the opportunity to explore fields beyond the music and publishing spheres and to be around business in his local community attracted him to the position.

“I had the confidence when applying that I would be adding some thing to the job rather than just doing a job,” he says.

Thorne grew up in Christchurch, completing an economics degree at Canterbury University, then worked in Taupō and Tauranga before travelling and living in Europe.

While overseas, he took an adventurous approach to travel, spending six months cycling through England, France, Portugal and Spain.

He is still a cyclist, and plans to get around on his bike in his new local job.

Music also remains a major passion. He enjoys listening to upand-coming New Zealand artists, in particular.

Thorne has lived in Bayswater for 19 years. His two daughters (aged 16 and 19) have been through Belmont Primary, Belmont Intermediate and Takapuna Grammar Schools.

He says he looks forward to working in and with the community where he eats, shops and catches the ferry.

He knows a key part of his role will be working alongside business still facing lingering post-Covid challenges, such as staffing shortages. But he also sees an upside emerging, and believes the feeling in the village is beginning to brighten as cruise ships arrive and start to bring punters back.

Santa Claus is coming back to town

Christmas comes to town this Sunday, when the Lions Santa Parade is held for an 18th year, and the Christmas Festival, which follows it, clocks up 15 years.

The parade was cancelled last year due to Covid restrictions, being replaced with a fes tive drive-by tour of local streets and suburbs.

Commencing at 11am, the 2022 parade will involve more than 35 local groups and organisations, including primary schools and the Devonport Volunteer Fire Brigade, and feature a selection of floats and vintage cars.

Led by the music of the North Shore Brass

Band and the Navy Pipes and Drums, the pa rade starts from Clarence St, making its way through the village to Windsor Reserve, where the festival will be held.

Santa Claus will ride on a vintage fire engine provided by The Patriot. When the parade ends at noon, he will relocate from the fire engine to a grotto on Windsor Reserve, where he will be available to listen to Christmas wishes and pose for photographs.

The Devonport Peninsula Trust hosts the free festival, which will feature a range of activities as well as market and food stalls.

Local groups will be fundraising, including: Devonport Scout Group selling burgers and cakes; Calliope Sea Scouts offering a sausage sizzle and sweets; and Vauxhall School holding a cake stall. The Devonport Market will also be setting up shop with a variety of craft stalls and food on offer.

Performing artists will display their different talents on a Dance in the Park stage, while the fire brigade will give live demonstrations.

A tamariki play zone with ride-on toys will be provided for preschoolers.

The festival runs from 12pm to 3pm.

Landscape Design

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Diving in... Magazine publisher Richard Thorne is trying something different as manager of the Devonport Business Improvement District

When Mark Sagar was a kid, tearing around the village and jumping off the Stanley Bay wharf, who would have thought he might bag a couple of Oscars in Hollywood one day?

Well, they were scientific and engineer ing Oscars, Sagar says modestly, not the sort the big movie stars get.

But they are coveted Academy Awards nonetheless, and the ceremonies he attend ed in Los Angeles to collect them were the flashest events he’d ever been to, even without the movie stars.

Sagar settles in to tell the Flagstaff how some big names in the backrooms of mov ie-making came to hear about him and the days he spent at the top of the animation game in Los Angeles.

While the movie story begins in Holly wood, the Oscars were won after he was back in New Zealand, working for the renowned Weta Workshop in Wellington on Peter Jackson productions, as supervisor of special effects.

His two Oscars were won in 2010 and in 2011 after he’d developed world-leading new technology for the creation of digital characters in blockbusters including Avatar, King Kong and Spiderman 2

With his unique facial-rendering system, Sagar had moved the industry capability forward.

His fascination for the expressions on the human face and his passion for working to recreate that could have a bit to do with his parents, Neil and Nell Sagar, who brought him to Devonport from Kenya as a child.

He says his systems-analyst father had a talent for observing human quirks and was known for sharing colourful yarns “with everyone in Devonport”.

His mother was an artist who taught him how to draw the human face.

When Sagar first travelled as a young student, he’d earn money by sketching people wherever he went. “I have always loved people-watching.”Sagar started out

in mechanical engineering studies at the University of Auckland.

His PhD research in the late 1990s was groundbreaking work, demonstrating how he could make a virtual human eye.

“The eye is the window to the brain and the interface with the world. It’s the hardest part of the face to make really believable,” he says.

From eyeballs, he moved on to creating

faces, joining a laboratory group at the Mas sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He drew on his artistic side and under standing of creating portraits, and dreamed of building virtual actors so believable they could fool an audience.

His work, combining graphics, maths and physiology, revealed how highly real istic human features and expressions could be created for use on screens.

It added an extra layer of thinking to mathematical modelling, as art met sci ence, with human psychology added for good measure.

Things moved fast for Sagar when word of the exciting work in the MIT Laborato ries caught the attention of entrepreneurs, who could see the huge potential of very lifelike artificial characters.

Soon, he had relocated to Hollywood and the world of the big-budget movies.

“They were crazy, exciting days full of the most incredible real individuals with amazing ideas. And then there were all the stars and the famous directors. It was the who’s who of Hollywood, and people were excited by what we were doing.”

Sagar and his team combined all the many tiny movements of the human face with animation techniques to produce a digital Jim Carrey, with a face pulling a whole range of complex expressions.

The project created a big buzz and “everyone in Hollywood” came to look at it.

But beyond the movie world there was big potential for the technology too, and Sagar these days continues to work at the leading edge of his field.

Since 2012, he has been the director of the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute. Her is also chief scientific officer of the company he co-founded in 2016, Soul Machines, which is headquartered in San Francisco but conducts its research and innovation in Auckland.

Soul Machines, which claims to have cre ated “the world’s most astonishing digital people”, employs around 150 people, most of them in the United States.

At last count, more than US$130 million had been invested in the company’s work.

The potential of digital people as a work force both on-site and on-screen has already been well established.

They are deployed in healthcare appli cations, such as their use by the World

Health Organisation for Covid messaging, and in an alcohol-consumption programme where a virtual person runs Zoom calls with clients.

They are examples of digital ‘workers’ –being used in use in sectors from education and entertainment to finance, healthcare, retail and the public sector –that have been successfully programmed to interact and ‘talk’ in such a believable manner that they have become acceptable to large audiences – The digital assistant has huge potential to becoime part of our lives, says Sagar. The goal is to capture a sense of consciousness in them that is indistinguishable from the real human being.

Soul Machines started young, with Baby X, a virtual, artificially intelligent infant. She is the very lifelike character they

work with to explore human co-operation with machines.

In a YouTube demonstration, Sagar sits chatting and observing the baby’s tears and discomfort as he takes his attention from her. But she’s seen soon smiling again after a few soothing words from him.

“Her behaviour is generated by neural networks running live. So she is seeing me and listening to me and responding to what I do.”

Sagar says the leaders in the field of human co-operation with machines are working to enhance the feedback systems between people and digital assistants, mak ing interactions faster and more relatable for the real participants.

But his team observes important ethical distinctions to guide the intentions of what they are creating.

“The aim is to make digital assistants that can help people and enhance the workforce.”

He says the concept of creating artificial friends, for example, could bring with it the possibility of dependency for real humans and that would not be ethically acceptable.

“The intention in this field is to create digital assistants for socially positive purposes.”

And for those yet to visually encounter a digital assistant on a Zoom call, Sagar points to Siri as a simple example of how life might be in the near future.

‘Asking Siri’ or any of her peers will become an increasingly sophisticated expe rience, as computer systems become more intuitive in their responses and therefore make Siri more ‘human’ to talk to.

Though Sagar is in the thick of this fast-evolving field, he also appreciates recreational activities back in the same environment he grew up in.

To relax on the weekends at home in Devonport, he swaps computers for swim ming, paddle-boarding and appreciating nature.

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Fast learner... Soul Machines’ lifelike ‘Baby X’

FROM THE

PENINSULA

Situations Vacant Abby is looking for secondary students who would be interested in helping run our very popular ‘Kids Athletics’ programme next year The programme runs on Tuesday afternoons approx 14 Feb to 21 March 4 pm to 6 pm plus a training session These are paid positions

It’s a fun time for all, and hugely appreciated by the community which probably explains why it has been running for 30 something years! If you are interested, or know of someone who might be, and for more information, please email abby@devonportpeninsulatrust nz

The trust welcomes Anne McMillan (pictured) onto the board Anne is an integral member of the Restoring Takarunga Hauraki community, giving this programme many hours of her voluntary time Anne will bring a wealth of experience to the board table

Welcome also to Melissa Powell, who is now the Devonport/TakapunaLocalBoardrepresentativetothe Trust Trustees very much value the connection this enables with the Board, which funds the trust each year

TIKANGA WANANGA

Chairperson Iain Rea and I have been enjoying attending the lunchtime Tikanga Maori Wananga being facilitated by Terehia Walker, with the support of her husband, Ngahiwi Terehia’s generosity in providing this opportunity for peninsula community organisation leaders is very much appreciated

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Devonport Ceremony I was able to support the ceremony with sound equipment Organised by Devonport RSA president Muzz Kennet, it was a very well set up event, and, along with bands, organisation representatives, and military personnel, involved Takapuna Grammar Student Gavin Wu, who delivered the address, a choral group, who sang Te Aroha very well, and Mila Rodreguez Birch, who sang God Save the King again, very well

ACCOMMODATION

Apartment King Ed ward Parade 1 bed $650pw ph 027 264 6626.

Central Devonport, Short Stay - 1 Bdrm ful ly furn private apt - all linen etc supplied - suit Single person/Couple. Views of Auckland city. Handy to all amenities and both Ferry and Bus services. Contact Colin 09 446 6640 or email balgray@xtra.co.nz

SERVICES OFFERED

FixIT Handyman - ex cellent work, practi cal budget, most jobs welcome, interior/ exterior free quote. Josh 021 261 8322.

Healthy Home Cook ing Service www. NatureHaven.co.nz 0800 FREEDOM (3733366).

SERVICES OFFERED

Section Services All tree work & section tidy ups. Insured. 027 222 1223.

Transformational Coaching through a Quantum lens: Discov er more about yourself and where this will take you. Barbara SuttonPhone: 021-117-2069 or bgsuttonnz@gmail.com

WANTED

Caring daughter seeking local carer/ companion to provide personal care for much loved mother (75) in the evening (1-2 hours) 4 nights p/w on a rotational roster. $25p/h. Suit nurse, nursing student/student, mother, or mature adult. Experience preferred, but not essential.Ph 021 419 100. Additional hours also available over sum mer period (1-2 hours) during the day.

DJ on the bill for school fundraiser

Hauraki School is holding an event with a difference to raise money for pool ren ovations.

The ‘Electric Picnic’ on Sunday 11 De cember will feature a DJ and saxophonist, a tug-o-war and a magician.

PTA member and former pupil Adam Bennett is looking forward to “a nice ex perience for everyone and, if the weather’s good, a great pre-Christmas get-together for the kids and parents”.

Those attending are encouraged to bring their own food and blankets, but a bar will offer a range of craft beers and wines as well as non-alcoholic beverages, and a food truck serve hot chips.

Among the entertainment is popular DJ and Takapuna resident Karn Hall, who will be accompanied by sax player Kareem Brown.

“I’m looking forward to the Electric Picnic because I have friends with kids who attend Hauraki primary,” says Hall.

Harcourts will be auctioning Christmas hampers, among other goodies.

Activities to keep the kids entertained will include touch rugby, ‘monster tag’ and the tug-o-war contest.

The event starts at 2pm and finishes at 7 pm.

Tickets are free for anyone under 17 years old, and $20 for over-18s.

Bayswater marina consent decision looms

A decision on Bayswater Marina Holdings (BMHL) application to build residential homes on its reclamation is due on 15 December.

At a resource-consent hearing that closed on 15 November, BMHL cut back its original plans for 119 dwellings (27 apartments and 92 terraced houses) to 78 homes (18 apartments and 60 terraced houses) and added space for marine related activities.

The Bayswater Community Committee (BCC) confirmed last week it won’t challenge the hearing panel’s decision to allow BMHL to amend its proposal during the hearing, depriving submitters of a right of reply.

All parties have 15 working days to lodge an appeal against the upcoming decision. If this is released on 15 December, an appeal would have to be lodged on or before 27 January 2023.

TGS cricketers win promotion

Takapuna Grammar School (TGS) has won promotion to the premier boys grade of school cricket after a top 2022 season.

After losing only one game out of 14, the team got a shot at promotion to the eight-team premier grade, hosting the 1A final against second-placed Mt Roskill Grammar School last weekend.

Batting first, TGS scored 198. In the field, its opening bowlers claimed five wickets by the 22nd over, with Mt Roskill limited to just 39 runs.

However, a massive rearguard action by the Mt Roskill tail-enders put TGS under pressure, before the visitors finally succumbed for 137 in the 33rd over.

It was the most successful season for TGS since 2019.

On deck... DJ Karn Hall is among the entertainment on offer at Hauraki School’s ‘Electric Picnic’ on 11 December

Jack

Audrey

Matt

Tayla

BIS athletes soar at zone day

Belmont Intermediate School (BIS) students delivered a string of good results at last week’s North Harbour Zone Athletics Day at Millenium Stadium.

BIS won both the Year 7 girls and boys 4x100m relays, came second in the Year 8 girls relay and third in the Year 8 boys. Individual gold medals went to four Year 7 students: Ariana Vosper in the 1500m girls race; Solomon Hibbert in the shot put; and Alex Hallie and Huni Posimani in discus for boys and girls respectively.

A team from BIS will go through to Auck land championships this month.

Results

Year 8 Girls: 100m – Orla Chambers 2nd, Sally Nicholls 3rd; 200m – Orla Chambers 3rd; 400m – Orla Chambers 3rd; 4x100m –Orla Chambers, Sally Nicholls, Nadia Letica and Isobel Tuttle 2nd.

Year 7 Girls: 400m – Romey Jewell 3rd; 800m – Ariana Vosper 2nd; 1500m – Ariana Vosper 1st; 4x100m – Romey Jewell, Ariana Vosper, Izzy Congdon and Evie Marks 1st; Discus – Huni Posimani 1st; High Jump –Evie Marks 2nd.

Year 8 Boys: 400m – Connor Brady 3rd; 800m – Jacob Howell 2nd; 4x100m – Angus Waddams, Connor Brady, Baxter McNaughton and Will Taylor 3rd; Discus – Connor Brady 2nd; Shot Put – Connor Brady 2nd.

Headed for victory... Ariana Vosper in the Year 7 Girls 1500m

WHAT’S ON

Devonport Library

-

Te

na Koutou Katoa

In case you haven’t noticed, there is something in the air And changes around the library

In the Community Room space you cannot miss the presence of the big, ceiling high Christmas tree View it during the day or at night, as it has twinkling lights between its lush green branches and bright red bows And see if you can spot our Santa hats when you come in for your December reads Emerging into the light from your dark exam tunnel? Search out our international competition chess set, to wind down and regroup with your friends or your chess enemies Just present your library card or equivalent and we will bring out the set for you to play in the library for as long as the game takes Also check out in the Teen Space the new feature display to kick off your holiday reading

We have a Tim Bray Production member presenting a Santa Claus Show Storytime on Saturday 10th December. It will be at the family friendly time of 2pm and we would love to see you there, especially if your children need some assistance getting into the Christmas mood

Briefs

Year 7 Boys: 4x100m – Neve Upston,

Long-time board member’s service acknowledged

Stryder Somerville, Ollie Ryder and Ben Harvey 1st; Discus – Alex Hallie 1st; Shot Put – Solomon Hibbert 1st, Alex Hallie 2nd.

Blood service seeks more North Shore donors

The New Zealand Blood Service’s North Shore Donor Centre is desperately looking for more donors to help meet demand.

The centre, on Lake Rd, Takapuna, wants 700 new plasma donors and 10 per cent more blood donors.

Local-body veteran Jan O’Connor’s many years of service were recognised at the first monthly business meeting of the new Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.

The Hauraki resident (pictured) was first elected to the Takapuna City Council in 1986, going on to serve on the North Shore City Council before being elected four times to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board. She stood unsuccessfully in last month’s board election.

Member George Wood, who has known O’Connor for decades, described her as “a wonderful servant of the North Shore”. Chair Toni van Tonder said she was a real champion of those she represented.

O’Connor, who has also served as a patron and trustee of community and sports organisations, was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal in 2019.

Although the number of donors has dropped slightly – down to 3 per cent of the population from nearer to 4 per cent a year ago – the service says the main reason it is urgently seeking new donors is to meet increasing medical demand.

Plasma demand is increasing by more than 12 per cent annually.

Blood can only be stored for 35 days once donated, which means a consistent flow of donations is needed.

The services prioritise donor-relations team leader, Scott Sinclair, said it needed people to prioritise donating. Doing so could directly save people’s lives. “There’s not many opportunities to jump in front of a bus to save someone. This is something that is tangible, it’s life-saving and it’s meaningful.”

If people cannot commit to regular donations, even doing so twice a year can help.

New Zealand imports 12 per cent of its plasma products from the United States. Being fully self-sufficient would guarantee security of supply.

And following that, we will start our final programme sessions for the year, preceding the Christmas and summer break Lego Club: 14th December; Wriggle and Rhyme: 16th December, 10am; Christmas Storytime; 19th December, 10am; Christmas Rhymetime: 20th December, 10am. Join June, Anne and Rani as we share some Christmas fun with you all We would like to say it has been very encouraging having your support and involvement in our children’s programmes this term It has been wonderful meeting with you all again this way and it’s been our privilege and pleasure to do so

Also, keep your eye on our displays, Auckland Libraries website and our Facebook page for our up and coming Level Up Summer Reading programme events and activities, which can be done in the library, at home or while away on holiday

Meanwhile, Season’s Greetings, and see you in the library for your summer readi Nga mihi nui, The Devonport Library Team

ng

20 years ago from the Flagstaff files

• Takapuna Grammar School’s Jubilee Centre plan is on shaky ground after North Shore City Council rejects a $250,000 funding application.

• Silver Ferns goal shoot Irene Van Dyk arrived by helicopter and shot a few hoops at Devonport Primary after the school was judged joint winners of a national gardening competition.

• Devonport mothers sick of being beaten by their children at chess are meeting at a Belmont cafe once a week to practise.

• A controversial application to de molish Lloyd and Caroline Sills’ 2 Buchanan St home goes to a hearing, with building inspectors saying the house is rotting, leaking and riddled

with borer.

• Several investors eyeing the recently closed Devonport 3 Cinemas building say it should be bulldozed for a fresh development. Others want to convert it to apartments with a small cinema on the ground floor. It is on the market for $2.3 million.

• A Belmont Primary Shool PTA mem ber allegedly steals nearly $1500 from school funds raised by selling cookies.

• Takapuna Grammar tightens security after computer thefts from the school.

• The Bayswater Community Commit tee has been named the top volunteer group for 2020 in the North Shore City Civic awards. Individual awards

went to Margaret Williamson, Estelle Cassrels and Bruce Macfarlane.

• A man is hospitalised after being shot in the foot with his own shotgun in a domestic incident in Bayswater.

• The Devonport Community Board wants the Navy to build its new museum on the Tamaki land at Narrow Neck, instead of at Torpedo Bay.

• The 2003 Devonport Arts Festival will see photos of Devonport scenes and people plastered throughout the CBD to celebrate the area’s uniqueness.

• Devonport classic yacht Janet is still racing at 100 years old.

• Businesswoman Josephine Grierson is the Flagstaff interview subject.

HOLY TRIINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH

20 Church St Ph: 445 0328

Christmas Eve

5 00pm Christingle Service (Suitable for All Ages) 10 30pm Community Carols 11.00pm Midnight Eucharist

Christmas Day 8.00am Traditional Eucharist 9 30am All Age Communion

DEVONPORT METHODIST CHURCH

Cnr Lake and Owens Roads Ph 445 6801

Christmas Eve

A Kids Christmas 4pm 5pm

Perfect for preschool and primary aged kids and their families in the garden behind the church inside if wet Come on an adventure to get ready for Christmas and find the baby Join us for a sausage sizzle at the end

Carols by Candlelight 8pm till 9pm

In the garden behind the church Bring a picnic blanket or seat and join us for that starry, starry night Inside if wet

Christmas Day

Christmas Breakfast at 8.15am

Join us for a special Christmas Breakfast Email: admin@de vonportmethodist org nz to book a seat

Christmas Service

9am Celebration Service

S St FRRANCIS de SALES & ALL SOULS CATHOLIC CHURCH

2a Albert Road Ph 445-0078

Christmas Eve—Saturday 24th

5.30 Vigil Mass

9.00pm Vigil Mass Christmas Day—Sunday 25th 9.30am Mass

B BELMONT BAPTIST CHURCH

168 Lake Road, Belmont Sunday 18 December

5.30pm Carols on Westwell

Christmas Day

9:30am Christmas Service

D E S T I N A T I O N

We cannot believe it’s December! Where did the year go!?

We wanted to say a huge thank you to all the wonderful people who have made this year so special to the artists, the musicians, our amazing volunteers, our browsers and buyers, our creatives and job seekers!

We are really excited about next year with lots to share Stay tuned and have a great holiday season!

Sarah Adam: Late to the Hut 3 21 Dec 2022

Sarah Adam has created a visual account of walking Te Araroa the 3000 kilometre trail stretching from Cape Reinga in the North to Bluff in the South Painted ‘en plein air’ over 5 months, this oil series depicts the geographic character as it transforms each day from North into South.

Ande Barrett Hegan: Ambiguities 3 21 Dec 2022

Ande Barret Hegan’s work derives from a lifelong interest in the development of western art This exhibition is a selection of her most recent paintings

Daily painting stops break the

For most people, completing the Te Araroa trail is challenge enough. But for Auckland artist Sarah Adam, the walk also turned into a creative accomplishment.

Over the five-and-a-half months of her journey down the length of New Zealand, the 23-year-old stopped each day to paint.

“I kind of had an idea of an exhibition after wards in the back of my mind. The goal was just to paint every day and see what happened,” she says. “I ended up totally hooked on the painting, all alone, days away from anywhere, so immersed in painting the landscape.”

The results of that endeavour during her walk from Cape Reinga to Bluff, which she reached in May last year, go on show at De vonport’s Depot Artspace from this weekend.

Postcard-sized works ranging from sea scapes to mountain scenes document her jour ney, with the size determined by what Adam could carry in her pack. Rather than sketching scenes and painting them later, she followed the classic ‘en plein air’ approach of painting there and then.

The Te Araroa track is 3000km long, which averages walking around 20 to 30km a day, she explains. With careful food rationing, water, tent and a sleeping bag, there is very little room for painting materials.

“I had a special lightweight box made that could hold 30 papers and then also my oil paints and brushes. I pretty much had to wear the same clothes for six months. It was a very tight fit, but I just made it work.”

Her journey took in the local section of the trail, through Devonport.

The exhibition includes two Auckland paint ings. One is a typical North Shore coastal scene (above), which she painted at Rothesay Bay; the other a view of Motukorea / Browns Island.

Devonport resident Geoff Chapple was a driving force in setting up Te Araroa, which links existing tracks into a trail that people can choose to do in sections or as the country’s ultimate outdoor challenge.

Adam has chosen to show her work running around the circumference of the gallery, so the viewer can experience the paintings in the order she created them. “I’m excited to see them all together,” she told the Flagstaff, ahead of their being hung at the Depot.

Speaking from the

Depart ment

works

(DoC), Adam said she had allocated two or three hours a day of her Te Araroa walk to painting. “I was constantly late to the huts in the evenings.”

Remote places satisfy both her love of art and working outdoors. Her DoC job removing exotic plants from an offshore nature reserve puts her in a little piece of heaven, she says.

Adam grew up in Whangaparaoa and Whangarei, then studied architecture at Vic toria University of Wellington. “But my real love was always paint, so with finishing my degree, lockdown and everything going on, I just gravitated back to painting.”

She enjoyed doing oils outdoors and decided on Te Araroa as the perfect opportunity to go on a painting pilgrimage. Along the way she was struck by the impact of people on the landscape, observable even in the remotest places. This included “the lack of native birdsong, forests closed due to kauri dieback and the ‘greening’ of Canterbury and Otago.”

“Part of my journey has been deciding to do something to help, she says. She is donating 20 per cent of her art sales to Forest & Bird to help its work saving native flora and fauna.

After her first solo exhibition, she is looking forward to showing a series of paintings of trees in a group show in Howick.

“Next year? Well, I’m figuring that out. I would love to continue working outdoors in wild places. I would also love to get some formal training in art, so perhaps art school.”

• Sarah Adam’s Late to the Hut, is showing 3-21 December at the Depot Artspace.

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