Blaze guts Belmont townhouse... p4
July 12, 2024
Local police diverted to fight CBD crime... p5
Interview: Life-skills expert Sue Kohn-Taylor… p20-21
Unplugged: AT cans ferry car-park chargers
Auckland Transport (AT) is removing the two free electric-vehicle charging stations it installed at the Devonport ferry terminal car park eight years ago.
The chargers, touted at the time as “smart pole” technology, were part of a $153,000 project, with $75,000 of that funded by a grant
from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.
They have been plagued with problems and in recent times have carried signs showing them to be out of order.
Their removal will leave the peninsula – which has a relatively high proportion of
electric vehicles – with just two public chargers, at the New World supermarket car park.
AT told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board at a workshop last week that it had decided to remove the chargers rather than repair them again, and redesignate the two
To page 2
Metal moggy has fan from afar
What a yarn... Seven-year-old Thea Pegler from Germany asked her Devonport grandmother, Jean Pegler, to knit this winter outfit for Devonport Library’s Benjamin cat statue. Story, page 3
Chargers installed in 153k project effectively obsolete
From page 1
vehicle spaces in the short-term parking area adjacent to Queens Pde as regular car parks.
AT said the German supplier of the smart poles went insolvent soon after installation, leaving AT without support and having to modify the charging stations to keep them functioning. “Due to the age of the technology, the lack of support from the original supplier and regular breakdowns... it was agreed to remove these EV charging stations.”
Principal sustainability adviser Sandra Murray told the workshop AT was working on clarifying its regional role in supporting EVs by early next year. “We need to let people know they’re going, to give them some time to find other chargers to use,” she said.
Board chair Toni van Tonder said losing the chargers would be a loss to the area. Retailers had raised concerns for several years about them being out of commission.
Board members were concerned that AT might end up spending public money removing the machines and their connections, only to have to pay later to install new ones.
Member George Wood asked: “Why can’t we keep them going for a short while?”
Murray said any future installation would need more modern equipment. Member Gavin Busch also favoured keeping them in place. Leaving the infrastructure might entice a new operator and would save rewiring and having to dig up garden areas again.
New card reader
Auckland Transport (AT) has installed a new tag-on/off machine at Stanley Bay wharf (right), despite the Stanley Bay ferry service being canned in 2020.
The previous machine had been replaced “as a routine activity”, because it was no longer compatible with AT systems, a spokesperson said. “This is
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Power cut... one of the EV chargers being removed from the ferry terminal car park
Murray said the chargers – initially installed as a trial – were basically obsolete. “We have to send people there on an ongoing basis and they go down very often.”
Busch said if the spaces were to be redes-
at unused wharf
to future-proof it.
“It is good business continuity for us to have it there should we need emergency berths, but we don’t have any plans to put regular services out of there at this stage.”
The machine has been put under a cover since locals first noticed it.
ignated, assigning them to ride-share vehicles would be a good idea in the short-term.
Van Tonder asked AT to look into the idea.
Member Mel Powell wondered why electrical companies were not taking more of a lead in providing EV chargers. Murray said Vector had backed away from doing this.
Several months ago, Vector told the board Devonport had one of the highest uptakes of electric vehicles across the city.
Board deputy chair Terence Harpur said he was surprised AT had been giving free power to EV users. “I don’t see this as a role of AT.” Service stations could install them and charge people to use them, he said.
Murray said it was yet to be decided if AT should be supporting EVs. This was being decided in conjunction with council and the New Zealand Transport Agency.
“That’s the work AT is doing on what is appropriate for a public service organisation and what benefit it would have on uptake.”
If there was any wider roll-out it was expected to include a Devonport site, however this might be in a slightly different location, she said.
The board has no decision-making authority over having AT chargers locally, but wanted to be kept updated on any timelines for their removal.
Van Tonder said AT should consider asking for community views to avoid being criticised for “decisions made for people, not with them”.
School’s out... Stanley Bay School students (from left) Lucy Millen (9), Bella Schwab (9), Sienna Vernon (10) and Beth Rigby (10) jump for joy during ‘Wacky Wednesday’, when students dressed up in zany outfits. The school hosted multiple dress-up days and a talent show last week to mark the end of the term. Principal Emma Tolmie said it was a fun way to boost mid-winter morale and encourage the children to look forward to coming back for term three. Other dress-up themes included sports costumes and a twinsie day, when students and staff worked in pairs or groups to come up with matching costumes or outfits.
Foreign fan falls for fashionable feline
From page 1
Devonport’s statue of Benjamin the cat has proved an international hit, with a German seven-year-old excited to visit and dress it in a hat and scarf last week.
Thea Pegler’s grandmother Jean, who lives in Devonport, regularly sends cuttings from the Flagstaff to her son, daughter-in-
law and granddaughter, who live in Hanover.
That was how Thea learned the story of the late library cat and the sculpture of him that is regularly dressed up by the library staff.
When the family came to New Zealand last week, Thea was delighted to dress the sculpture with the hat and scarf that Jean knitted specially.
• Benjamin’s many outfits, pages 18-19
Town-centre floods investigated
Flooding issues in part of central Devonport west of Victoria Rd are being investigated by Auckland Council, with work to increase the size of stormwater pipes looking likely. As part of the investigation, residents in the area, which reaches as far west as the Navy base, are being asked via a leaflet drop to report how they have been affected by flooding.
Blaze guts near-completed Belmont townhouse
Fire gutted an almost-completed new three-storey townhouse in Belmont on Monday night.
Firefighters were called just before midnight to the blaze in Northboro Rd, where fire had taken hold in the second house from the street in a row of unoccupied new dwellings.
Two appliances from Devonport, two from Birkenhead and one from Takapuna attended, along with back-up vehicles.
Devonport Volunteer Fire Brigade chief station officer Warren Tucker said when the callout came he could see the glow of the fire from outside his home in Bayswater.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a fire that when we got there it was so involved. It was literally coming out all the windows.”
Tucker said more than 35 firefighters, both paid Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) staff and volunteers, combined to fight what was the third house fire in the wider area in five days.
Crews were able to halt the fire from spreading to the units on either side of the burning dwelling, or to an older weatherboard house over the fence. This suffered paint blistering from the heat.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said Tucker. “It was lucky it didn’t catch the adjoining units.”
Just a metre and a half separated the five townhouses from each other, he said. The unit exteriors were enclosed and secure, but the interiors were not yet lined. The units are in front of four others that are occupied.
It took until just after 1am for the crews to contain the blaze.
A FENZ spokesperson said a specialist fire investigator attended the scene the next day.
Due to extensive damage, the cause of the fire was undetermined, the spokesper-
Tucker told the Flagstaff the fire reinforced the value of the firefighters’ weekly drills, which had enabled them to quickly join the fight and help prevent further damage.
Seven volunteers had turned up at Devonport to the callout to fill one of two appliances dispatched from there, though only six were needed.
Two nights earlier, on Saturday 30 June, the two Devonport appliances and one from Takapuna had also had been part of a three-
hour-long call-out to Takapuna.
An electrical fire broke out in the roof void of a house on Manurere Ave near the southeastern shore of Lake Pupuke.
Switchboard overload was a possible cause.
And on Thursday 27 June, leading into the long Matariki weekend, the Devonport station responded to a fire that badly damaged an older townhouse in Castor Bay.
“There was a run of them, but all different in terms of causation,” said Tucker.
Engulfed... All that was left after fire in a nearly competed townhouse in Belmont
Local police diverted to combat crime in CBD
A senior constable who works with Devonport peninsula schools is among police officers who have been seconded from their usual roles to staff a ‘safer streets’ operation in the crime-hit Auckland CBD.
Waitematā District staff in investigation-support and family-harm roles have also been assigned to the central-city initiative.
In an email obtained by the Flagstaff, School Community Officer Murray Fenton advised all the schools on the peninsula and others between Takapuna and East Coast Bays that he and several colleagues had been put on the safer-streets team.
“As a result of this Safer Streets initiative, it is with regret that I have to inform you that I will be unavailable for the next six months,” he said.
“I apologise for any commitments that I have made with you. This directive was given to me at short notice by my supervisor.”
The secondments were due to a lack of staff to launch the initiative.
“This was not something that I volunteered for and I can assure you that it is not something I am looking forward to as it will cause massive disruption and turmoil to myself and my family.”
Schools later received an email from the relieving Waitematā East area commander, Michael Rickards, assuring them police had “a robust plan” to mitigate Fenton’s removal from his role.
Operation Safer Streets – “an intensive deployment operation to target anti-social behaviour and crime in the CBD” – was an-
nounced last month by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, who said it would continue until a new Community Beat Team was fully established, staffed with extra officers confirmed in this year’s Budget.
Fenton told schools it was hoped that in six months sufficient new recruits would have graduated to replace those officers seconded to the Auckland initiative.
“Our district has had to take staff away from some critical areas of policing such as investigation-support units, community policing, family harm and MPES (Maori, Pacific and Ethnic Services) groups,” he said.
He had been told his colleagues would “try to get through everything while I am away”.
One of the main areas schools might need assistance with was road-patrol training.
Bayswater berth needs big upgrade for new ferries
The Bayswater ferry berth requires major upgrading before new electric ferries under construction can dock there.
Auckland Transport (AT) says new pontoons will be installed and ageing piles replaced by September next year in readiness for the new vessels, which are larger than those used previously on the route and may have to back into their berths.
The platform will be widened and lengthened to facilitate boarding.
At a workshop update for Devonport-Takapuna Local Board (DTLB) members last week, AT’s senior project manager, Karin Turnage, said maintenance work would be needed at the leased facility anyway, but some of the changes were specifically to accommodate the new ferries.
They will have a higher freeboard that ramp designs would need to allow for, principal project manager Jorrit Bergsma said.
During the upgrading ferry passengers might be diverted via bus to Devonport. Prefabrication of pontoons off-site would
reduce the disruption time.
No changes were expected to landside facilities, board members were told.
Member Gavin Busch asked how the increased number of bikes expected on the larger EV ferries would be corralled for boarding and if gangway cover would be extended.
He was told the cover would increase in length in line with the pontoon, but because the other side of the pontoon was a privately owned berth, only half the gangway could be used.
Board members also wanted to know what was happening about the pontoon and gangway lease with marina owner Empire Capital, which expires in 2031, and sought greater clarity on bus access to the ferry berth around Empire’s Bayswater Marina Ltd
AT said talks were under way with Empire about extending the lease to 2054, with the possibility of an exit clause if AT decided to develop its own ferry terminal at the old
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council-owned wharf.
Further conversations were needed and it could take a year or two to come to a deal, said Turnage.
The current lease requires AT to replace pontoons and make good the area when it exits, so the aim was to ensure it wouldn’t have to redo work in five years’ time. “We don’t have the answers yet,” she said.
Busch asked if an AT pontoon could be built from the old wharf, but was told the structure required millions of dollars to be spent on it and that a resource consent for dredging had expired.
AT’s wider site scoping including around bus access is ongoing. Construction of the apartments is believed likely to begin in 12-18 months.
DTLB chair Toni van Tonder summed up the frustrations of members at the “piecemeal” flow of information that has long left unclear how public transport will be accommodated at Bayswater, telling AT: “What’s missing is a holistic overview.”
Young runner rolls into fundraising ahead of world event Sport
Rising runner Thomas Cowan is door-knocking around his Cheltenham neighbourhood in a fundraising drive to help pay his way to the World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Peru next month.
Former Westlake Boys High School student Cowan and his fellow local running mate and rival James Ford both had their selection to the New Zealand team confirmed recently after meeting qualifying times for the 800m during a head-to-head summer season on the track.
The 18-year-olds will next line-up in heats on 27 August in Lima, where they will be part of a 17-strong New Zealand team – the largest this country has fielded at an U20 champs.
Ford, who finished at King’s College last year, is away on holiday, but will soon be back training with Cowan, who is the national 800m under-18 titleholder. Ford was the 2023 secondary schools male athlete of the year. The pair went to Devonport Primary School together.
Cowan trains at the North Shore Rugby Club gym and runs around 60km a week on the road and in laps at the Navy sports grounds at Ngataringa Bay.
He is also spruiking a massage roller stick he uses himself to help meet the $9000 costs of the trip to Peru.
“I’m pretty excited [to be going] and proud is another word – we’re a pretty small country,” he says.
Hitting the spot... Thomas Cowan, who is selling rollers to fundraise, has won a sports scholarship in the US
His father, Nick, a former top 400m runner, said taking on fundraising had been good for Thomas. “We definitely need to continue the fundraising to make it a reality for him.”
Efforts were stepping up, with more knocking on doors around the wider Devonport area and sales of the roller at markets, including Smales Farm on Sunday 14 July.
Choosing a product that connected with
people’s health and wellness chimed with the family, which includes physiotherapist mother Jo, who travelled with the national team to the Athens Olympics.
Thomas has sold 200 rollers so far, but has access to up to 1000. They can be ordered direct for $25 at info@youfirstnz.com.
The North Harbour Bays Athletics Club member played football at North Shore United as a youngster, then socially at Westlake. But by his mid-teens the focus was on running. The tactical side of his favoured 800m distance appeals.
“To run well over the 800, you have to be quick over the 400 and solid enough to run a decent 1500 as well,” he says.
Cowan hopes international experience will help take him on to senior success. “The more champs, the better you get,” he says.
His best time is five seconds behind that of New Zealand recordholder James Preston, who is running the 800m at the Olympics in Paris.
Cowan is not sure when he might next get to run in the black singlet. After Peru, he flies directly to the United States, to start classes at Boston University on a sports scholarship.
Along with his track work, he will study for an economics degree. The “balance of academics and athletics appealed” from among the college options he looked at.
“The whole system that’s in place is tailored for student athletes.”
Takapuna Grammar pair make NZ cross-country team
Takapuna Grammar School students Sascha Letica and Asha Edwards are in training for the Australian Schools National Cross Country Championships next month.
The two runners were among 12 girls picked for the 24-strong New Zealand team for the event after qualifying as top-10 finishers in the senior section of the New Zealand Secondary Schools champs last month.
It will be Sascha’s second competition in the black singlet following her trip to the World Schools Cross Country in Kenya earlier this year, but Asha’s first.
“It’s nice for two training-squad members to make this team,” said Sascha’s father, Jared Letica, who coaches both girls.
In the build-up before travelling to Yarra, Victoria, for the event to be held from 19-
24 August, the pair have a programme of races, including the Auckland Cross Country Championship at Barry Curtis Park next Saturday 20 July and the Athletics New Zealand national championships in Hawke’s Bay over the weekend of 3-4 August.
They skipped the North Island champs last weekend, due to being in a preparation phase.
North Shore centurion eyes more
Veteran North Shore premiers rugby stalwart Rex Pollock played his 100th game for the side last month, but he’s quickly shifted his focus to his 101st match – a home North Harbour championship semi-final against Mahurangi.
“It would have been nice to play [his 100th] in a more important match, but it some ways it was good to put it behind me so I can focus on the play-offs,” Pollock told the Flagstaff.
North Shore were the dominant team in pool play, going undefeated in 11 games. Against some of the lesser teams it had the luxury of blooding younger players and still winning comfortably.
“We’ve been training as a large group and a lot of the younger players have been able to get a run with the prems which is great,” the 31-year-old veteran said.
The side had a bit of confidence going into the finals, but any team could win on the day and Shore would need to exhibit the same commitment and skill which took it to a championship win in 2023.
Mahurangi qualified for the semi-final by upsetting Massey 26-25 last Saturday.
Pollock said winning the title in Shore’s 150th year was a career highlight, as well as being his only premier championship since he began playing for Shore in 2015, although he did play in the premier reserves championship winning team in 2016.
Another highlight in 2023 was representing North Harbour’s NPC team last September, locking the scrum against Taranaki in the last game of the season.
“I came on off the bench which was pretty cool.”
It was a late call-up. “I was at work on Friday and got the message to get on a flight.”
Pollock played his junior rugby for Takapuna, before attending Kristin School.
His dad Alan, a prominent North Harbour midfielder, played all his senior rugby for
On the charge... Veteran forward Rex Pollock in action against Takapuna earlier this season
the East Coast Bays club. But after returning from Canterbury University, Rex had “a bunch of mates at Shore and I was keen to play with them”.
Apart from time off with two shoulder dislocations which needed surgery and a knee injury, Pollock has been a constant in the premiers line-up.
He has played mainly as a number 6 or 8,
though this season he has shifted into lock. “I’ve learnt a lot more about scrums and scrummaging.”
His two tries this season make up a sizeable percentage of the “bugger all” he has scored over the years for Shore.
• North Shore plays Mahurangi at Vauxhall Rd this Saturday at 2.45pm. Northcote hosts Takapuna in the other semi-final.
Famous flanker among five All Blacks at club lunch
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Former rugged All Blacks number 7 Josh Kronfeld (above) was the special guest at a North Shore Rugby Club ‘Seagulls’ luncheon before the first New Zealand-England test last weekend. Kronfeld, who wore the black jersey between 1995 and 2000, was in good company at the event, which was attended by four other former All Blacks, two of whom have been knighted for their service to the game. Pictured with Kronfeld (centre) are Gary Cunningham, Sir Bryan Williams, Sir Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford, and Frano Botica, who also played rugby league for the Kiwis.
Lake Rd frustration spawns quick-fix suggestions
Faster action on an upgrade for Lake Rd has been urged by the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board (DTLB), which has also suggested quick fixes to ease congestion.
Board members have been disappointed funding for an upgrade has not been included in transport budgets until 2028-29.
The board – which has had Lake Rd listed as a priority since 2016 – called for the project to be brought forward, noting $2 million had been spent on it already and community consultation would have to be repeated if it was delayed too long.
Previous Auckland Transport (AT) plans have had the work starting in 2024.
The board told Auckland Council delays created “further uncertainty and scepticism”
Winning songwriters
A Takapuna Grammar School solo artist and band were winners in the Play It Strange Year 9-11 Songwriting Competition.
Charlotte Crotty’s song ‘Beauty of it All’ earned her the chance to record it in a studio of her choice.
The Lobsters, comprising Milla Rodrigues-Birch, Jessie Hitchens, Nikolas Tsulaia, Zadie Settle and Mackenzie Campbell-Cree, were winners with their song ‘Lego People’.
The national competition received a record 161 entries, which were judged by former Split Enz member Mike Chunn and singer-songwriter Marlon Williams.
and corroded public confidence in AT and council.
Lack of public trust had been highlighted in feedback to the board.
Giving its own feedback to the draft Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP), the board attached ideas advanced by members George Wood and Gavin Busch, including a widening of Lake Rd between Hauraki and Belmont, consideration of ‘tidal flow’ traffic management using a reversible lane and removing the southbound right turn into Bardia St.
Further suggestions were to have a peak-hour weekday morning clearway from Bayswater Ave to Bardia St; to look at restricted peak-hour street parking or bus-
activated traffic lights or bus lanes on roads including Hart Rd, Purchas St, Jutland Rd, Northboro St, Eversleigh Rd, Creamer St and Bardia St; and rerouting the northbound 814 bus through Achilles Cres, reducing snarlups at the Old Lake Rd-Lake Rd intersection.
On other transport matters, the board asked for planning to include policies around electric scooter safety; EV chargers at ferry terminals; and progress on the Bayswater ferry terminal.
It supported investment in better street lighting and CCTV and safety improvements at bus stations, and wanted a Francis St-to-Esmonde Rd pedestrian and cycle link put on AT’s list of proposed cycleway projects.
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Big donor ready to match public contributions to tug fund
Hopes of making the historic steam tugboat William C Daldy fully operational again have been lifted by the promise of a major donation if $50,000 can be raised through a public appeal.
The historic vessel, moored at Devonport’s Victoria Wharf, has been laid up since October 2023 due to a lack of funds for a 10-year survey.
Built in 1935 the steam-powered tug was a working vessel until 1977, when it was retired by the Auckland Harbour Board.
The William C Daldy Preservation Society has received some encouraging contributions, president John Pratt told the Flagstaff, including the offer by a company to match donations if a threshold of $50,000 can be reached.
Reaching that goal and securing the matching funds would cover the survey required to prove the vessel’ s seaworthiness. But there’s still a long way to go.
Pratt said volunteers had been working hard to repair boilers and replace asbestos boiler insulation so the ship will meet survey standards.
But with limited survey slots available,
Toot-toot... If sufficient funds can be raised, the William C Daldy could be back plying the Waitemata Harbour by later this year
the money will have to be raised by August if the Daldy is to become operational again this year.
Anyone wanting to donate can do so at the Givealittle page at givealittle.co.nz/cause/ were-slipping.
The preservation society bought the tug
for a dollar when it was destined for scrap in 1989, maintaining it and hiring it out for charter cruises and functions until 2021.
Along with seeking donations, the society is also looking for fresh volunteers to help maintain it, with training available for anyone interested.
Bayswater boat club bill on track
Efforts to allow Takapuna Boating Club to commercially lease out part of its heritage Bayswater club house are progressing.
Auckland Council has given notice it is promoting a bill to allow commercial use.
The bill can be viewed at the Devonport and Takapuna libraries or online at the council’s Have Your Say website.
Club commodore James Jordan said the matter had been bogged down with council’s legal team for some months. But with the bill’s wording now resolved, public consultation is the next step towards replacing historic legislation that prevented
non-boating commercial activities.
The club wants to attract a long-term restaurant tenant on the building’s upper level, with the middle level being mixeduse space. Making an income will help defray maintenance costs and aid plans to bring more boating activities to Bayswater.
After the consultation this month, North Shore MP Simon Watts says he will support the bill through Parliament.
“This is a simple but meaningful fix that will ensure a treasured community asset can continue to serve the community,” he said.
Souvenirs showcased in new Navy Museum exhibition
Souvenired... An Australian pennant, 1940s flying cap and Soviet naval hat
A new exhibition of items gathered by Navy sailors serving around the world is on display at the Navy Museum.
Over Seas – Mā te Moana is a collection of items which either haven’t been shown before or haven’t been displayed in a long time, with many from places people might not know the Navy had been deployed in, said collections manager Caroline Ennen. “We wanted a really wide range of interesting items.”
Items include a US services magazine from Pearl Harbour in 1943, a Yugoslavian Federal Army cap obtained in northern Bosnia during the Yugoslav Wars, Japanese footwear acquired by sailors among occupying forces after the Second World War
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and a painting of the HMNZS Endeavour in Antarctica, commissioned during a deployment there in 1964
Items dating from 1919 to the 1990s were selected with the aim of covering a wide range of Navy activity. They are from peacekeeping, conservation, disaster relief and other types of deployments.
For those who want more information about items than is included on the 100word plaques accompanying each exhibit, collection assistant Lewis Dunster provided extra details which have been posted on the museum’s website.
• Over Seas – Mā te Moana is on display until February next year in the museum’s Foyer Gallery.
Full denim jacket... Navy museum staff (from left) Lori Bowers, Caroline Ennen and Lewis Dunster with a unique embroidered jacket recording the places visited by the HMNZS Otago during a Southeast Asia tour in 1970
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Cathy Fiebig 021 383 149 c.fiebig@barfoot.co.nz VIEWING Sat/Sun 12:00-12:30pm
Barfoot & Thompson Limited Licensed REAA 2008
24 WILLIAM BOND STREET
Main house has 4 bedrooms. Apartment downstairs has 2 bedrooms. Cottage has 1 bedroom. Opportunities galore, a must view!
barfoot.co.nz/890929
Price By Negotiation VIEWING Sat/Sun 1:00-1:30pm
Trish Fitzgerald 021 952 452
Tracey Lawrence 021 1720 681 7 2 3 1 2 FOR SALE
16 HASTINGS PARADE
NEEDS TO SELL Come and view this property this weekend. All sensible offers will be considered.
barfoot.co.nz/859498
BAYVIEW ROAD
Come & discover easy living in this stylish, sunny, luxurious newly built, quality, architect designed home, in this highly sought after location.
barfoot.co.nz/892921
Price By Negotiation
VIEWING Sat/Sun 2:00-2:30pm
Tracey Lawrence 021 1720 681
Trish Fitzgerald 021 952 452 4 1 2 2 FOR SALE
12:00-12:30pm
Trish Fitzgerald 021 952 452
Tracey Lawrence 021 1720 681
22 ABBOTSFORD TERRACE
Ajusted Expectations for this gracious Old Lady. Fab location, big site, great bones but needs a little TLC. Vendors have moved North. Call me!
barfoot.co.nz/891530
Lance Richardson 021 796 660 3 1 2 1 FOR SALE By Negotiation VIEWING Sat/Sun 1:00-1:45pm
Barfoot
Devonport 09 445 2010 Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club
Devonport 09 445 2010
Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club
BAYSWATER
1/5 ROBERTS AVENUE
Ready for Sale. Beautifully presented two bedroom, one bathroom, single level unit home. Definitely For Sale. Cleverly designed. Sit back, Relax and Enjoy.
barfoot.co.nz/894447
DEVONPORT
19/53 VAUXHALL ROAD
10:00am 25 Jul 2024 at 8-12 The Promenade (unless sold prior) VIEWING Sunday 2:00-2:45pm
Patricia Hinchey 027 222 3367 2 1
BROWNS BAY
3G/9 BUTE ROAD
Often sought but seldom found is this impressive 2 double bedroom beachside apartment with an amazing renovation, enjoying wide sea views.
barfoot.co.nz/892221
$1,050,000 VIEWING Phone For Viewing Times
Ron Sadler
This completely renovated 1970's home with garage, shed and an expansive deck looking over to Browns Island will take your breath away.
barfoot.co.nz/894192
By Negotiation VIEWING Sat/Sun 11:00-11:30am
Cathy Fiebig 021 383 149
DEVONPORT
1B/18 KING EDWARD PARADE
This ground floor apartment allows easy flow onto the manicured gardens with harbour and city views to enjoy by day and night.
barfoot.co.nz/891955
FOR SALE
$1,449,000 VIEWING Phone for an appointment
Cathy Fiebig 021 383 149
Barfoot & Thompson Limited Licensed REAA 2008
Benjamin: A cat
Benjamin the library cat seems certain to retain his best-dressed status thanks to his loyal local devotees.
Chief among them are at Devonport Library, where librarian Jicca Smith says: “Benjamin has a number of couturiers among the staff, who knit for him, purchase items locally or enjoy creating his outfits.”
The cat, which has pride of place in sculpture form near the library’s entrance, also attracts tributes from residents and interest from tourists.
Created by Fiona Startup and installed in December 2022, the statue commemorates the local library-visiting feline who died in 2017.
Along with library staff dressing up the
for all seasons
sculpture, Smith has in recent times noticed other people leaving small items with him, such as flowers, toys and on Anzac Day a poppy.
“We believe he also appreciates a warm hat or scarf and protection from the many seasons of Devonport weather.”
Unusually for a modern-day celebrity, Benjamin does not have his own social media account, but many people take and post photographs of him. Asked if she had a favourite Benjamin outfit, Smith said those when Benjamin got into holiday spirit along with the community were especially fun.
“He is a darling and remarkably easy to dress compared to the cats I have known.”
Teen trauma helped build soft-skills
Suffering terrible injuries in a car accident set Bayswater’s Sue Kohn-Taylor on a path that recently led to to international recognition for her work in wellbeing. Helen Vause reports.
Sue Kohn-Taylor was just coming out of her teenage years when a life-changing moment hit with awful force.
The 19-year-old Massey University student was driving home with friends from a happy weekend trip when their vehicle collided head-on with another.
Kohn-Taylor was riding in the back seat with no seatbelt. She suffered multiple injuries including serious head injuries and lost a lot of blood.
Recovery was to be a long, lonely road, isolated from friends, university and the prospects she’d had her sights on when she began business studies.
Frustrated by the lack of help available to guide her in any therapy towards recovery Kohn-Taylor found herself taking the lead in her own journey back.
Forty years later she found herself at a dazzling awards ceremony in the UK, telling the story of how the skills learned during her recovery from that accident paved the way to her career as a specialist in mental fitness and resilience.
The Bayswater resident was a runner-up at the Women Changing the World Global Summit and Awards in May, hosted by women including the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.
Kohn-Taylor came home from the awards ceremony in Windsor, outside London, last month, still pinching herself to have been a nominee and part of the international gathering.
“It’s been an incredible acknowledgement for me.”
When the first official word of her nomination came up on the screen in her home office she thought it was spam. “Then the penny dropped that I really had been nom-
Pet topic... Sue Kohn-Taylor, pictured with her dog, Cooper, believes we all have an incredible inner strength and resilience, if we connect with it. Opposite: Kohn-Taylor with the Duchess of York, Sara Ferguson, one of the hosts of a recent summit at which the New Zealander was recognised.
inated by people here who know my work. And I was suddenly reorganising my month to dash over to London.”
She makes her living as a coach in her Mental Fitness Company, working one-toone and with senior staff groups across a range of New Zealand businesses.
The 59-year-old has honed the ‘soft skills’ that she began to learn 40 years ago, building a substantial clients list and helping people develop personal qualities regarded as valuable in organisations large and small,
from leadership to general strategies for wellbeing.
As she told the awards audience at the Windsor event, her career direction presented itself – literally – by accident.
Kohn-Taylor was born in Bayswater into a Navy family. Her father, Richard Lea, was superintendent of the Navy dockyards for the last decade of his career.
She went to St Anne’s School in Takapuna and then over the bridge to Diocesan School in Epsom for her high-school years.
She remembers having a great curiosity about how things happened for people in their lives that might influence the direction they took.
“As a child I was endlessly curious, bombarding my mother with questions about my future. What would I be, who would I marry and would I be rich – you get the picture.
Her mother’s response was “always the same”, singing the chorus of the song ‘Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)’.
“It was pretty appropriate, as my mum felt that she had little influence on her life. Of course I grew up living my life in a similar way.”
After her road accident, Kohn -Taylor had to face the realisation she had lost her short and medium-term memory. Skin and bones would probably heal but her brain presented a different challenge.
“My life came to a halt that day. My dreams and career plans were shattered. I left university and moved back home with my parents. My friends were getting on with their lives and I had found myself in a black hole.”
Rehabilitation back then was very different from what it is now.
“Each week I would go to the doctor’s and be shown a pack of cards. If I could remember a card or two, I was doing well. That was it.”
Frustrated, Kohn-Taylor wanted a far more pro-active approach to finding her way back to full health.
“ I decided that I had to take my recovery into my own hands and I was going to make this a different story. So, over two years, I rehabilitated myself.” Devonport Library, her parents and her determination were her main resources.
“My concentration was so bad that If I took my shoes off, within minutes I couldn’t remember where they were. I couldn’t recall something I’d spoken about with my parents just earlier in the day.
“So I would practise trying to recall things, asking them questions constantly.
“I would go out for a walk and note the name of a street sign. Then I would turn my back on the sign and try to recall what was written on it. At home I played very simple
card games with my mother.”
Recall began to come more easily. Aided by her new habit of writing everything down that she felt she’d need to remember, improvement accelerated.
Within two years at home, she began to feel her memory was working well enough to get back out into the world.
The experience of learning how to master her mind, taking the lead in her own life, had changed the young woman, then in her early 20s.
“It was a turning point in my life. I realised that we all possess an incredible inner strength and resilience, if we learn how to connect with it.”
Her message – that we have more choices than we might believe over the direction of our life and that we need to make our minds a partner in success rather than our greatest critic – resonated with her audience in the UK last month.
She won a silver award in the international awards event’s wellbeing category .
She told those in attendance: “I see a room filled with pioneers, innovators, trailblazers and remarkable individuals achieving extraordinary things. Yet amidst the success, I also see the personal toll it takes on your wellbeing. That’s why I advocate for a holistic approach to self-leadership.”
She shared her view that the world is overwhelmed by stress, burnout and what she calls “poor mind and mental health”.
She says this was greatly exacerbated by the Covid years and their aftermath. The call for coaching services like hers, she says, has never been greater.
“People are just ‘doing life’ rather than just living life.
“For my business the greatest demand for professional help is probably two-fold: people wanting to learn about managing stress, and wanting support to keep burnout at bay. Those things are closely followed by sleep issues. One in three people today have sleep problems.
Getting to sleep isn’t magic, Kohn -Taylor says. It’s about how you approach those times staring up at the ceiling in the night.
She has some simple tips: “You need to focus on trying to feel more relaxed and taking deep, slow breaths. And then you need a very simple mantra – something like ‘I am going to sleep now, I am going to sleep now.’”
And if ‘Que Sera’, was ever playing in your head, turn it off.
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Whether you are planning a garden refresh or a full renovation, we can help with all the planning, construction and planting. Including decks, retaining, pergolas, paving and fencing. Everything outdoors!
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Call Mitch on 021 316 111 (Licensed Building Practitioner) for an obligation free consultation.
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• A greater police presence in Devonport in response to an escalation of random violent crime is expected to bring more speeding tickets for local residents.
• The opening of Belmont Primary School’s new library includes a rousing performance by the school’s kapa haka group.
• Takapuna Grammar School bands Bibi Blint and Point Blank make the North Shore finals of Rockquest.
• Permission is granted for the lodging of resource-consent applications for a new Bayswater ferry terminal. The look of the building’s roof is to be based on a po - hutukawa leaf, while its ticketing office is to look like a halved dinghy.
• Eleven-year-old Rebecca Butler is the latest organiser of the Devonport midwinter swim.
• The Sir Peter Blake Trust is launched at Takapuna Grammar School, with Prime Minister Helen Clark, Lady Pippa Blake and Grant Dalton in attendance.
• North Shore Rugby Club’s premier side is down 0-18 at half-time in a match against Helensville, before recovering to win 21-18. The result keeps Shore’s semi-final hopes alive.
• The Flagstaff launches a poetry competition to coincide with National Poetry Day.
• Devonport milliner Diane Dudley makes 50 hats for the film company producing Vincent Ward’s River Queen
• Belmont Intermediate School presents the ‘world premiere’ of Spiramajig, a musical written by head of music Jenny Bezuldenhout.
• Chris Darby is the Flagstaff interview subject.
New entrance carving at Rose Centre
Above all... Carver Natanahira Pona stands beneath the new waharoa he carved for the Rose Centre in Belmont. The work was unveiled in its atrium as part of Matariki celebrations last Sunday.
Thank you!
Thanks so much to all the readers who have subscribed and donated over the last month to help keep the Devonport Flagstaff going. More than $1000 has been received which will be put towards our distribution costs.
Rob Drent Owner and Editor
We hand sort every skip... To recycle more!
RECYCLING GARDEN & GENERAL WASTE TRAILER HIRE
Writers’ colony: The Shore’s lustrous literary legacy
In the final of a three-part series, Graeme Lay wraps up his look at the North Shore’s long-standing popularity with writers of all stripes.
In 1959, the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened, directly connecting Auckland city to the Shore by road. Everything changed, and fast. There was a surge in suburban population growth. Open farmland was smothered by suburbia: Glenfield, Birkenhead, Northcote, Beachhaven, Birkdale, Browns Bay. All these suburbs mushroomed, and the two-lane harbour bridge immediately became too small to cope with the traffic volumes. In 1969, extra lanes were added.
Michael King lamented these changes in an essay entitled “The Harmony of the Sea”, first published in Metro magazine and republished in Golden Weather – North Shore Writers Past and Present (2004) edited by this writer and Jack Ross):
“I returned to Browns Bay to live in 1984. The village had become the centre of a city, East Coast Bays. In one year both greengrocers have closed along with one or two fish shops and the only main-street delicatessen. There is one dairy, which opens late and closes early. By contrast, the main street has seven real estate agents, seven banks and five chemists. The noise of construction is continuous. There are no reference points to link the present with the past.
“Of course there is always the sea, the sea. And that is why we are there. Looking eastward across the gulf, shops and houses are out of sight and mind behind us, [and] we could be a hundred miles from suburbia. Rangitoto, Motutapu and Rakino slumber on unchanged. Coromandel lies along the far horizon like a great whale.”
In the meantime, writers had kept on living and working on the Shore, producing their short stories, novels, poems, and biographies. Short-story writer Maurice Duggan lived in Frank’s Takapuna army hut, and was succeeded as a tenant in the army hut by a young Hungarian Jewish refugee, Renata Prince. (I fictionalised her as ‘Natalia Rothberg’ in my novel Larry & Viv.)
A group of young male writers were mentored by Sargeson and earned the sobriquet ‘Sons of Sargeson’. These included Duggan, David Ballantyne, Denis McEldowney, Karl Stead and Kevin Ireland.
The Depression years and unemployment dogged many of the writers during the 1930s. Then the war intervened, bringing further hardship to artists and writers.
Some, such as Sargeson, turned to book reviewing and live radio broadcasting, but the rewards were meagre. Others, such as James Bertram, Allen Curnow, Kendrick Smithyman and CK Stead, retreated from full-time writing to the security and comfort
of academia.
Although the Shore after the 1960s was now covered in development, the natural attractions of the place remained. More and more writers came. Janet Frame – a ‘Daughter of Sargeson’ – lived in his army hut in 1955-56, and there wrote her first novel, Owls Do Cry (1957).
Frame lived in various places on the Shore, including Devonport, where she worked as a hotel housemaid and lived in a
“Although the Shore after the 1960s was now covered in development, the natural attractions of the place remained. More and more writers came.”
house near the corner of Anne St and Queens Parade in 1963. In the 1970s she rented a house in Glenfield Rd and there wrote most of her novel Living in the Maniototo (1979).
In spite of the suburban population explosion, there were enough of the old baches surviving to allow impecunious writers to maintain their traditional bohemian lifestyle and often subversive writings.
For example, the literary magazine Islands was edited by Robin Dudding from a modest bach at Sealy Rd, Torbay, from the 1970s until the 1990s. Dudding was known as New Zealand’s finest literary editor, and Islands had an esteemed reputation. Dudding’s son, Adam, wrote a memoir of Robin,
My Father’s Island, which was published in 2017 and awarded a national prize for non-fiction in 2018.
What about that other vital component of literature – the publisher? For the first wave of writers, the only New Zealand publisher was Whitcombe & Tombs. They published many books, mostly non-fiction, and owned a chain of book-selling shops. (They still do, as “Whitcoulls”.) Other local publishers were AH & AW Reed, later Reed Publishing, and, later still, Raupo Publishing, along with Heinemann Educational Publishing.
In the 1960s, several of the major publishers set up shop on the North Shore, because costs were lower than in the CBD, and there were printing companies here. International publishers, such as HarperCollins, Penguin Books, Hodder & Stoughton, Random House, New Holland and Century Hutchinson were all based on the Shore. There were smaller, independent publishers, too, such as Bateman, Tandem Press and David Ling. This speeded things up, markedly. Although several of these companies have since amalgamated or retired, the Shore is still home for several publishing companies. The printing of their books has however moved off-shore, largely to China and Malaysia.
In 2000, Christine Cole Catley moved herself and her publishing company, Cape Catley, from the Marlborough Sounds to Ngataringa Rd, Devonport.
She was a longtime friend of Frank Sargeson through her first husband, writer John Reece Cole, and became his literary executor after Frank’s death in 1982. Cape Catley published many North Shore authors, well into the current century.
Cole Catley also founded the Sargeson Trust, whose aims were to preserve the house at 14 Esmonde Road, where Sargeson
Influential... Christine Cole Catley’s publishing company published many North Shore authors
Drawn by the sea... Michael King had a long association with the North Shore, living and writing in Browns Bay
lived and worked for 50 years, as a literary museum, to promote his works, and to run a fellowship to support other writers.
All these aims have been met and maintained, thanks to Cole Catley and her voluntary support people, the Sargeson trustees.
Sargeson’s cottage can be visited courtesy of the Takapuna Public Library, where the key is held. And on the fringe of Albert Park, on the city side of Auckland harbour, the Frank Sargeson Centre provides a home for selected writers, every year. Another writers’ residency is based at the Michael King Centre, on the slopes of Devonport’s Mt Victoria, which commemorates King, the late historian and biographer (1945-2004).
In this way the long tradition of North Shore as the home of writers is being maintained.
Although writers are still drawn to the Shore, like the area itself, the nature of the leading writers is now very different.
Today the literary scene is dominated by gifted young women. It is also women who manage most of the principal publishing houses, now amalgamated into conglomerates such as Penguin Random House.
Award-winning novelists such as Emily Perkins, Catherine Chidgey, Charlotte Grimshaw and Josie Shapiro have all been recipients of the Frank Sargeson Writers’ Fellowship.
In 2019, Catherine Chidgey inaugurated the annual Sargeson short-story contest, which draws many hundreds of entries.
So, just who was it who first claimed that the North Shore was ‘New Zealand’s literary capital’?
Christine Cole Catley? Michael King? Kevin Ireland? George Wood? Tessa Duder? None of the above. It was the author of this article.
CONTEMPORARY WRITERS: Sonya Yelich, Jack Ross, Wensley Willcox, Tessa Duder, Roger Hall, Greg Hall, Shonagh Koea, Jean Day, Jacqueline Crompton Ottaway, Anne Salmond, Karen Goa, Adam Dudding, Michele Leggott, Geoff Chapple, Dave Veart, Graeme Lay, Eileen Merriman, Josie Shapiro, Fiona Sussman, Olivia Spooner, Sheryl Beaumont, Karen McMillan, Sarah Beck and Diana Wichtel.
Laying claim... Graeme Lay, a North Shore writer himself, believes he was the first to declare the North Shore to be New Zealand’s literary capital
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Welcome to July, and Mānawatia a Matariki - Happy Māori New Year!
We are thrilled to feature our annual Matariki exhibition and our first Matariki collection in the DEPOT Shop, Toi Toa, so please come and visit. It’s warm and cozy in the gallery this winter with lots to see and do.
DEPOT Artspace’s current exhibition‘Mai i te Moana ki te Whenua’ - shares stories of Matariki and Puanga, acknowledging the many ways that this time of year is celebrated throughout the country. We’re also hosting several free events in support of the exhibition and in celebration of Matariki 2024:
• Rongoā (Medicine) Workshop: Saturday 20 July, 11am
• Live Whakairo (Carving) Session: Saturday 27 July, 11am
More info and registration at depot.org.nz
DEPOT Sound is super proud to present an amazing Professional Development Workshop tailored for emerging recording artists, songwriters and producers looking to advance their careers in music. Gain real-world insights from our industry professional facilitators and practical knowledge from their ongoing work. The workshop will take place on Sunday 28 July, 10am-5:30pm.
Visit depot.org.nz for more information, event registration, and to stay up to date by subscribing to our e-newsletter!
Ngā mihi nui, Amy Saunders Director | Kaiwhakahaere, DEPOT amy.saunders@depot.org.nz
Science & Engineering Club
The Science and Engineering Club thought they would test the strength of the paper towels we use in our kitchens every day. The challenge was to create the strongest possible rope using 10 sheets of paper towel and 1m of masking tape. The results were astonishing!
All the ropes created could carry at least 7kg and some ropes more than 60kg! The students also had a fantastic opportunity to visit the Georgia Tindall Performing Arts Centre building construction site. Jordan Gregory, the project manager for Accent Construction, guided the
TGS Mathex Madness
students through the site, explaining the construction process, the various challenges and the solutions being implemented. The visit gave the
On Monday 24 June, Te Poho was buzzing with excitement during the school’s Mathex competition. This lively, fast-paced event featured 17 Year 9 teams and 15 Year 10 teams, all striving to complete 20 challenging questions within 30 minutes. The students demonstrated effective teamwork and determination as they navigated the competition’s challenges. By stepping beyond the usual confines of mathematics, the Mathex competition showcased the subject’s versatility and real-world applicability. Congratulations to Year 9 Weka (SY) and Year 10 AMA (SH) for securing the top prizes. A special mention goes to the student leaders (Gavin Wu, student leader in charge) of TGS Maths Competitions Club, who, alongside dedicated student volunteers, organised this remarkable competition.
TGS Shines at the Big Sing
We are delighted that our choir Leonessa will once again head to the Big Sing Finale in Wellington at the end of August. Leonessa received the A Capella Award for a Commendable Unaccompanied Performance in Any Genre at the Auckland Regional event. The Big Sing is New Zealand’s leading choral competition, and out of the 200+ choirs that have competed, only 24 have been selected for the finale event. Congratulations to all the students involved. A huge thank you to our expert teachers whose passion and commitment to excellence makes this possible, namely Elise Bradley (Leonessa Director) and Keani Taruia-Pora (TGS Director of Choirs). Congratulations also to TGS Chorale (Director Keani
students good insight into the real world of construction and structural engineering and the challenges it presents.
Taruia-Pora), Nessamoré (Director Keani TaruiaPora) and Raionāria (Director Takerei Komene) who all performed beautifully at the regional event. TGS is lucky to have so many dedicated young singers involved in our choir programme. The World Choir Games are also taking place from 16-21 July. Leonessa and TGS Chorale will both be competing for the first time - we look forward to sharing their results soon.
TGS trio ready to take talents to winter festival stage
Three Takapuna Grammar School (TGS) musicians will perform amid the neon glow of the Winter Lights Festival in central Takapuna this month.
Ruby Jacobs, Nathan Fry and James Cassidy will feature on the emerging-talent stage each day of the annual evening event being held from 25-28 July.
The festival combines glowing light art installations and performances to create a colourful spectacular that pulls big crowds.
Year 12 vocalist Ruby is also a member of the TGS premier girls choir Leonessa, which will compete at the Big Sing Finale in Wellington next month (choir story, page 30).
She hopes to include “an original or two” in her Winter Lights sets, alongside covers including Amy Winehouse tunes.
Nathan is a live musician who performs regularly at local pubs, markets and festivals such as the Takapuna Beach Summer Days Festival and Winter Lights last year.
The Year 11 student mostly plays covers of upbeat acoustic music, including Jack Johnson and Ed Sheeran songs, recording musical parts at home and uploading them to a loop pedal for live performances.
“I do the drums, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and vocal harmonies at home.”
James, who describes himself as “more of a songwriter than a musician”, will perform a mix of his original songs and covers,
accompanying himself on piano.
Inspired by Billy Joel and Elton John, the Year 13 student said the songs are about love, relationships and other personal subjects.
“One that I’m hoping to play live, if I can work it all out, is a song sort of about high
school coming to a close.”
TGS head of music Lauren Raby asked the three students to play as up-and-coming artists who hope to do more with music when they finish school.
Ruby performs from 5.30-6.15pm, James from 6.15-7pm and Nathan from 7-9pm.
THE NAVY COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
BUSY TIME FOR NAVY
Ship movements are becoming the norm at Devonport Naval Base as the Royal New Zealand Navy tackles its commitments to operations and exercises in New Zealand and globally.
Tanker HMNZS Aotearoa is in Hawaii, participating in Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). It is the largest maritime exercise in the world, involving approximately 29 nations, 40 surface ships, 3 submarines, 150 aircraft and 25,000 personnel.
Aotearoa will play a large part in sustaining the coalition forces by resupplying other ships with fuel, food, spare parts and ammunition.
RIMPAC is just one part of Aotearoa’s five-month deployment, which includes engagement activities in South East Asia. Aotearoa will support the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions which impose sanctions against North Korea, by refueling ships conducting maritime patrols in the vicinity.
Frigate HMNZS Te Kaha is undergoing sea trials in its build-up towards next year’s operational deployments, which include a two-month deployment in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden in early 2025, supporting efforts to counter smuggling, piracy and terrorism.
HMNZS Taupo, while traversing New Zealand ports training junior officers in bridge watchkeeping, has recently assisted Ministry for Primary Industries in fisheries patrols on the east coast of the South Island.
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.
Shining lights... Takapuna Grammar School students Ruby Jacobs, Nathan Fry and James Cassidy will perform at the Takapuna Winter Lights Festival
Sailors aboard HMNZS Aotearoa perform a haka during a reception at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Takapuna Grammar singers prepare for global
Taking on the world... Takapuna Grammar School’s high-voice choir
Leonessa (above) and mixed choir Chorale (right) will both take part in the World Choir Games which begin in Auckland this week. Leonessa is also heading to the national Big Sing Finale in Wellington at the end of next month.
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choral contest
Two Takapuna Grammar School choirs are looking forward to performing on the world stage after a successful showing by the school at the recent Big Sing Auckland regional secondary competition.
Premier high-voice choir Leonessa was selected to go on to the national final of the annual choral competition. It won the regional A Capella Award for its unaccompanied performance at the Auckland Town Hall last month.
But before the Big Sing Finale in Wellington from 29-31 August, Leonessa – along with the school’s mixed choir Chorale – will compete in the World Choir Games beginning in Auckland this week.
“We haven’t had a world event so close before, so we were keen to be a part of that experience,” said the school’s director of choirs, Keani Taruia-Pora.
More than 11,000 mostly adult singers from 30 countries are in Auckland for the Choir Games, with concerts at city venues, including Vector Arena. Some free but ticketed spin-off Friendship concerts will spread to the suburbs, including two venues on the North Shore.
Performances are scheduled for Takapuna this Friday 12 July and next Friday, both at 2pm at St George’s Presbyterian Church, and at the Mairangi Bay Arts Centre on 11 and 20 July at 11am. (See wcg2024.co.nz for booking details).
Taruia-Pora said exposure to international singers and music styles will be beneficial for the students.
As well as competing, they will perform in concerts in South Auckland and West Auckland.
During the 10-day-long games the young singers will also attend workshops, where they’ll learn vocal techniques from choral figures from around the world.
“I’m hoping they’ll get a bunch of little nuggets which they can use to improve and possibly progress the choir too,” Taruia-Pora said.
She said the choirs have been preparing for the games since last year. They had to learn more songs than usual due to the world games requiring a larger repertoire than the Big Sing.
Many of the singers were also part of the recent school production We Will Rock You, which further disrupted rehearsals, but the quality of singing had continued to improve, Taruia-Pora said.
Fly Me to the Moon (M) 132min
Kinds of Kindness (R16) 164min
MaXXXine (R16) 104min
Twisters (M) 122min
200% Wolf (PG) 98min
The Bikeriders (R13) 117min
A Quiet Place: Day One (M) 100min
Inside Out 2 (PG) 97min
Ka Whawhai Tonu:
Struggle without End (M) 115min
COMING SOON
Divertimento (PG) 114min
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (M) 182min
Deadpool & Wolverine (TBA) 128min
The Vic Open Mic Night (Free entry)
events@thevic.co.nz
Takapuna Grammar School student Isis Pinero came runner-up in the secondary school division of Depot Sound’s North Shore Schools Songwriting competition with his composition ‘Forever’. The winner was Caleb Wright from Rangitoto College who won with ‘Strata’. Both won studio time.
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