19 May 2023 Devonport Flagstaff

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May 19, 2023

Firm snaps up Devonport property empire

More than 15 commercial properties in Devonport village have been bought by Peninsula Capital, which aims to refurbish them and redevelop the area over the next two decades.

The private equity firm – owned primarily by Berridge Spencer, Graham Turley and Mark Hiddleston – had already purchased the

old Devonport Borough Council building at 3 Victoria Rd, with settlement due this week.

Hiddleston said negotiations began with major Devonport landlord Vista Linda Ltd a couple of months ago. Peninsula has agreed to buy all Vista Linda’s commercial properties, with settlement at the end of June.

Trio’s timely tiara tribute

Hiddleston wouldn’t be drawn on the purchase price, but it would easily run into the tens of millions of dollars.

The Vista Linda portfolio in Devonport includes: 5 Victoria Rd (the Devonport Public House); 7 Victoria Rd (Focus Dental); 9 Victoria Rd; 13 Victoria Rd To page 4

Victoria Rd safety plans scaled back... p2

Belmont woken by loudspeaker glitch... p2

Interview: Ultrarunner Michele Fleischman Dean... p16-17

Right royal celebration... (from left) Jackie Brewer, Penny Milne and Angela Cannon at the St Leo’s School high tea to mark the coronation of King Charles. More pictures, pages 14, 15.

Ay, caramba! – loudspeaker glitch wakes Belmont

The peace of the small hours was shattered in Belmont last week by a series of phantom high-volume broadcasts that roused locals from their slumber.

Intermittently – from midnight until just after 4am on Wednesday 10 May – mysterious messages were heard by households across the suburb.

Some residents were still trying to work out the next morning if they had been dreaming. A few managed to discern some of the words, concluding the source was a school.

“All classes are cancelled this afternoon,” was the badly timed announcement, which was then repeated – in Spanish.

Belmont Primary School principal Bruce Cunningham, who was roused from his own bed to sort the problem out, has since apologised to the community for the inconvenience caused by the random messages.

“We had many emails and posts from families who had their sleep disturbed, some of whom were 500 metres away,” he said

An electrical fault, possibly triggered by heavy rainfall, may have set off the message, which was repeated on a loop.

“It came through our speaker system but was generated from a hard drive on the amp.”

The on-off message may have gone for 15 minutes then restarted on the hour, said Cunningham. “All of which is very strange.”

He received a phone call around 4.45am from a neighbour of the school and drove from his home to turn the amplifier off by 5am.

A technician, who had since looked at the

gear, said the message had just been added to the school’s list of automated messages but did not know how. “We are in contact with the manufacturer.”

Cunningham said the school had no idea the cancellation message in two languages was in its system.

MP among local flood victims

The home of North Shore MP Simon Watts was among those flooded locally last week, in an unsettling repeat of the 27 January Anniversary Day flooding.

The deluge on 9 May created early afternoon chaos, with flooding at the New World carpark and outside the ferry terminal. Devonport Squash Club gym closed as its car park was underwater, as was Waitemata Golf Club and the Vauxhall Rd sports fields. Some sleep-outs and garages were flooded.

“To be honest, Devonport got off lightly,” Devonport Volunteer Fire Brigade principal officer in charge ,Warren Tucker, said. The main call dealt with by the brigade was flooding of three houses on Lake Rd, south of Takapuna Grammar, he said.

Other homes in Hauraki, Belmont and Bayswater were also affected.

The lower level of Watts’ home in Seacliffe Ave was again flooded, not long after an insurance claim was settled from damage caused by January flooding. Gib had been replaced but not the carpet.

He said drainage work would now be needed on his property to protect it in future.

Watts said his office was dealing with a number of constituents still waiting for insurance payouts. Getting tradespeople was a challenge.

“I know there’s a degree of anxiety and strain and stress in our community when it rains – and it will happen again,” said Watts, who is National’s climate change and local government spokesperson.

Key part of road-safety plan ‘on hold’

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A controversial plan to put a median strip, wider bus stop and raised crossing on a busy section of Victoria Rd, has been put on hold and is likely to be canned.

Speed and safety improvements to Victoria Rd are going ahead – but on a reduced scale from original Auckland Transport (AT) plans.

Details of the $3.3m project caused an uproar when the final design was revealed – especially plans for a median island, dedicated bus lane and a raised crossing near The Patriot pub.

This controversial “middle section’ of the project will be put on hold, while changes at the Calliope Rd and Kerr St intersections and on lower Victoria Rd will go ahead, AT confirmed to the Flagstaff. Work will start in late June/July.

If the modified works slow vehicle speeds in the village, the middle section may be put on

hold for good, AT said.

Many local businesses are fuming about the plans. Some felt the Devonport Business Association (DBA) failed to adequately keep them abreast of what AT was working out and the pushback to council was not strong enough.

And most questioned the need for the changes on Victoria Rd – which included a loss of 15 car parks.

The controversy also spread to the wider community, with a petition opposed to the changes eliciting more than 1000 responses.

A special general meeting of the DBA has been called on 1 June, to thrash out some resolutions to be put to AT.

But AT has already taken on most of the businesses’ concerns, with the decision to put off the middle section of the project.

Residents battle tree debris and council to halt flooding

Residents were knee-deep in water clearing street drains in Anne At on Tuesday 9 May as blockages caused surface flooding.

Auckland Council has been unwilling to remove two Brisbane umbrella trees from the street, despite residents’ concerns their leaves and fruit block drainage on the street.

Umbrella trees are listed as a pest species by Auckland Council and an “environmental weed” by the Brisbane City Council.

Residents have been campaigning for them to be replaced or removed since May last year.

Craig Mark was one of those clearing drains last week, likening the occasion to a “neighbourhood street party”.

He said water runs down from Clarence St to the north, and Queens Parade to the south, to pool at a low point where the drains are.

When the material from the trees blocks the drains, the water has nowhere to go and begins to flood the street.

He said when the foliage and fruit was cleared, the water drained quickly.

“If we’d done nothing, houses would’ve been flooded.”

Resident Peter McNab, who has been the main campaigner for the trees removal, said the water disappearing quickly after the drains were cleared was “proof” the trees were the problem.

“Council are aware of the damage it’s causing, but still fail to do anything about it.”

Heather Dixon, who has lived in the street for more than 20 years, says she’s been clearing the drains nearly every day since she moved in.

A request to remove the trees was recently blocked by the council, with regional arborists and ecological manager David Stejskal saying the the trees were healthy and provided canopy cover.

Another resident, Judy McGregor, said the invasive roots that blocked pipes and surface roots that grew out of the footpath, warrant the trees removal.

A suitable native species could be planted instead, she suggested.

Residents squad... (from left) Peter McNab, Heather Dixon, Penny Ellison and Molly Clarke joined forces to help clear drains in Anne St during last week’s deluge

Pest species... Brisbane umbrella tree foliage, includes conker-sized hard fruit that adds to blockages

Investors plan major Devonport rejuvenation

From page 1

(the Arcade); 15 Victoria Rd (Bookmark); 17 Victoria Rd (Arts and Gifts); 19 Victoria Rd (Catch 22); 21 Victoria Rd (the former ASB); 23 Victoria Rd (Blue Illusion); 25 Victoria Rd (Anna Stretton); 41 Victoria Rd (empty); 43 Victoria Rd (Ray White); 45 Victoria Rd (former Westpac); 24 Victoria Rd (Signal Hill); 1 Wynyard St (Wynyard St Motors); 12 Wynyard St (Lily); 3 Clarence St (Tiny Triumphs); 19 Clarence St (Liquorland); and 21 Clarence St (Devonport Drycleaners).

Devonport had massive potential to be both a major tourist destination – much like Sausalito in San Francisco – keeping and restoring its heritage buildings, and at the same time working better for the local community, Hiddleston said.

With its views to the harbour and proximity to Auckland City, Devonport was “not living up to its potential”, he added.

Peninsula Capital were long-term, “multi-generational” investors, and wanted to develop a master plan for Devonport village.

After ownership transferred, a team would be created to work on the vision for Devonport and the properties. “We want to bring life back into the village,” Hiddleston said.

Auckland Council had created a “beautiful building” in Devonport Library and Peninsula Capital wanted to return the heritage buildings opposite to top-class standard.

The master plan would likely take three or more years to complete and “would be the catalyst to start a rejuvenation of downtown Devonport”.

Given the complexities of the portfolio and the need for significant earthquake-strengthening, redevelopment would probably be five or more years away, Hiddleston said.

While no plans had been made, it would make sense to combine restoration of the commercial buildings with a residential component behind them, Hiddleston said.

Vista Linda principal Antonio Regueiro-Diaz

had amassed an amazing portfolio of Devonport property, Hiddleston said. However, the death of Regueiro-Diaz last year meant his dream of redeveloping the village was unfulfilled. This presented an incredible opportunity for long-term investors to build “a holding we are proud of”, Hiddleston said.

In the short term, it was “business as usual” for current tenants, he said.

Asked if Peninsula Capital was seeking to buy further properties in the village, Hiddleston said it was interested to talk to other landlords about the vision for the town centre, but was not “ knocking on doors” to buy.

Major plans for Devonport… Mark Hiddleston of Peninsula Capital, outside the former Devonport Borough Council offices the firm has bought, along with a slew of other buildings

Asian champs next step for rising basketball star

Bayswater basketballer Bailey Flavell has been named in the New Zealand team to compete in the FIBA Under-16 Women’s Asian Championship in Jordan in July.

The Takapuna Grammar School (TGS) Year 12 student, who is a high-scoring guard in her school’s first team and a North Harbour representative, is unfazed by adding to an already packed programme of play and training.

She loves the game and hopes to gain a college scholarship to the United States after finishing school.

The appeal is where basketball can take you, she says. “The opportunities of going away and meeting new people.”

Bailey hopes the U16s can secure New Zealand a spot in next year’s FIBA U17 world champs.

To do that, they will likely have to knock out one of the other top seeds vying to qualify in the first four places – Australia, China, Korea or Japan.

While Bailey focuses on honing her skills for the challenge ahead – aided by tips from her father, former Tall Fern and Breakers player Judd Flavell – mother Melissa Middleton, who has also played the game, will look after trip logistics.

It’s a pricey business, with those selected in the New Zealand team last week having a short time to come up with nearly $7000, including air fares.

Middleton is looking at options for fundraising to get her daughter on the plane, and is determined she will be there.

Before the Jordan trip, Bailey will play for Harbour at age-group nationals next month and compete in a Māori tournament in Rotorua.

Last year, Bailey travelled to Guam for the U15 Oceania Championship, where New Zealand finished second.

It was the first step in a possible three-year cycle, with seven girls in the national system who played at the Oceania champs, going through to the 12-member squad for the Asian champs.

The family spent several years in Melbourne, where Bailey was in a Victoria state development side. They note Australia meets the costs for its young players to represent their country.

New Zealand’s top basketball export, Steven Adams, has spoken out about how costs kept him from competing for national teams as a youngster.

The Flavells know they are luckier than some. They had their Bayswater home to return to when Judd finished a coaching stint with the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Before that he was at the Breakers for 13 years.

He now coaches the Canterbury Rams, but offers Bailey tips on trips home and through video coaching. He gives “good advice”, says Bailey.

She shrugs off any pressure she might feel for being known in basketball circles for his

On the ball... Bailey Flavell hopes an Under 17 world championship and US college scholarship will be part of her basketball future

name, saying: “I don’t worry about it too much.”

She has made her own choices about what to play, opting for basketball when the family were in Melbourne.

Before that, when she attended Bayswater School and Belmont Intermediate, she was involved in a wide range of sport. But as time pressures grew she focused on what she enjoyed most.

The family returned to New Zealand early last year.

Bailey chose to attend, TGS, over Westlake Girls High School, which has a stronger

basketball pedigree. She timed it perfectly, coming in when the sport was on the rise at her local high school.

This year, the top team has won its way into the Auckland Premier grade.

“It will be hard because a lot of the girls are young,” she says of the season, which started with a 72-57 loss to St Kentigern.

By 2024 – her last year at school – she reckons the side will be peaking.

Bailey is focusing on building her leadership and teamwork on top of her wellestablished ability to sink three-pointers and drive to the post.

Veteran author’s new book set in early Auckland

Acclaimed author Tessa Duder’s first novel in 20 years will be launched close to home next weekend.

The returned Devonport resident will speak at the Devonport Library about The Sparrow, which, through the eyes of its main character, observes the founding of Auckland as the nation’s capital in 1840.

A troubled teen who served time as a convict in Tasmania, he happens to arrive in town on the same ship as officials involved at the time.

Duder hopes the book will shine a light on a pivotal chapter of the nation’s past and be a useful adjunct to teaching the revamped school history curriculum. “The story is so little known,” she says.

Although the book fits into the young-adult category she has long written for, Duder believes it will appeal to people who like reading authors such as Jenny Patrick, or historical novels generally.

Her jumping-off point for the story came from research she did for a biography she wrote in 2015 of Sarah Mathew, wife of colonial administrator Felton Mathew, whose adventurous life intrigued her.

Mathew’s accounts of early Auckland, along with those of John Logan Campbell, give an insight into what life was like in what was a pretty rough town in its early days.

“Sarah Mathew is the woman who left us with a wonderful description of Auckland’s first day,” she says.

It fell on 18 September, but with Auckland Anniversary Day celebrations having long been shifted to January to coincide with summer and a yachting regatta, it has faded from view.

“We could do much more to acknowledge it,” says Duder.

That includes the role of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei in assisting settlers and how land sales and property prices have always been an issue in Auckland.

“Officials came in to buy land and run up a flag and have a party,” she says.

While the sales provided money for Governor Hobson to spend on roads and buildings, she says speculators who travelled from Australia to buy and sell land pushed up auction prices.”People who came with modest amounts of money were generally shut out.”

A sequel to The Sparrow will feature Devonport as one of Auckland’s early settlements. “I’m working on that and hoping it

will be published, but it’s never guaranteed,” she says.

Duder, now 82, has written more than 40 books over a similar number of years, since turning to writing after raising a family and an early career in journalism.

Best known for her Alex series about a young swimmer, Duder was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours

Her debut novel, Night Race to Kawau (1982), drew on her love of sailing, as did her most recent non-fiction work about Captain Cook’s charting of New Zealand.

“I enjoy going to the Devonport Yacht Club, although I don’t sail much these days,” she tells the Flagstaff.

After living here in the early 1990s, returning to Devonport two years ago from previous homes in Castor Bay and Milford had the bonus of being near a daughter who lives here. “I just felt I needed to downsize and it was a nice place to come.”

The Duder name, which comes from her former husband John, is entrenched in the area’s own colonial history and lent to a local beach and street. John’s great-grandfather, Thomas Duder, was an early signalman on Mt Victoria, serving from 1842 to 1870.

Duder keeps busy with her writing, involvement in the Storylines children’s literature charity and as vice-patron of the Spirit of Adventure Trust. She enjoys proximity to the village, and says: “It’s got a wonderful identity of its own.”

Duder belongs to a local book club and says being an author does not give her any bragging rights, although she sometimes offers her own take in discussions. “I try to fit in with the group.”

• Tessa Duder will read a short extract from The Sparrow and talk about the novel at 2pm on Saturday 27 May, at Devonport Library.

Book it in... Tessa Duder outside Devonport Library, where she will launch her latest young-adult novel on 27 May

Prize-winner poised for spin on literary circuit

It’s been quite a week for Bayswater author Josie Shapiro. Her first novel, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, has just hit book stores and is generating a buzz in literary circles; she is appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival; and a launch party is in the offing.

In a conversation fitted around the school run, the busy mother of two tells the Flagstaff she is just trying to enjoy the moment.

“You only get to have a debut novel once.”

Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts has attracted more early interest than most debut novels, given it gained Shapiro a publisher’s advance to finish it after she won a prize for unpublished first manuscripts.

When the $10,000 Allen & Unwin prize was awarded last year, the contemporary novel was provisionally titled Mickey Bloom, after its challenged young main character, who finds herself through running, an all-consuming obsession she returns to later in a difficult life.

Shapiro, who swam competitively in her younger years, has drawn somewhat on that experience, but also on reading about the trials and tribulations of other high-level sport.

“Telling Mickey’s story – even if it was fictional – felt very urgent and real.”

With publicity interviews scheduled on radio and reviews on book pages in the works, Shapiro admits to a few nerves about how the story will go down. It raises issues of the particular pressures female athletes compete under and also the pleasure of working through pain to meet personal performance goals and find self-worth.

When Shapiro was asked to join a panel discussion, ‘On Female Friendship’, at the writers festival, she initially wondered how the theme connected to her book. However, she realised Mickey’s female friendships were an essential element. She expects that she and fellow panellists Megan Nicol Reed and Caroline Barron will address the topic by “talking about our personal experiences of friendship and also how it relates to character”.

A launch party, primarily for family and friends, is planned next weekend at the Wakatere Boating Club.

Shapiro is developing her next novel. Working from home is more of a challenge than the welcome sojourn she enjoyed at the Michael King Writers Centre on Takarunga early this year, finishing off Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts

Knowing the book was about to go on sale was both exciting and humbling, she says. As a former publicist, she is aware how many books launch into the ether, but adds,

“It’s nice to know that it’s getting the best possible chance to find readers.”

• Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Allen & Unwin, $36.99, is in bookstores now, including Paradox in Devonport.

Here for you, because of you

Creating a stir... Josie Shapiro’s debut novel has attracted more interest than most

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Swag of runs and wickets earn award for TGS star Izzy

For Takapuna Grammar School student Izzy Fox, being named College Sport Auckland Female Cricketer of the Year came as a surprise.

But the stats give a pretty clear indication of why she won the accolade.

Excelling with both bat and ball, with a swag of runs and wickets to her name, the 17-yearold from Bayswater (pictured in action, right) is a key member of the school’s premier girls side, which won the Auckland competition in March. It will contest the national championship at the end of the year.

Izzy, who also plays premier club cricket, says: “I was really shocked to get the award; there are so many good players in all of the schools.”

That includes TGS teammate Rishika Jaswell who won the same award in 2022. The pair’s back-to-back success underlines the strength of the game at the school, which is marking Izzy’s achievement in an award presentation this week.

Director of Cricket Michael Tillet said it was very proud of a hard-working player who was one of the team’s leaders. “Izzy has had a remarkable season and has been pivotal to the success of the Girls 1st XI.”

Secondary school coaches nominate and vote on the College Sport winners.

Izzy drew attention for her consistently high performances across the season.

In term one, over 14 T20 games, as opening bat she was not out twice and scored 373 runs at an average of 31.08 and a strike rate of 83.07.

Across the season, she hit 36 fours and three sixes and made two 50s with a high score of 79 in a crucial game against Mount Albert Grammar School.

Izzy told the Flagstaff she used to consider herself a bowler, but was now aiming to further develop her batting and be seen as an all-rounder. “I used to bat defensively, but recently I’ve tried to score big.”

As a medium-pacer with away swing, her best bowling figures of the season were 5/5. Off 208 balls she conceded just 131 runs, and claimed 17 wickets at an average of 7.71 and

an economy rate of 3.76.

In the cricket off-season, she is playing the indoor game and is already in pre-season training for her Parnell club.

She, Rishika and Maia Scott all transferred there from North Shore, before it launched a premier women’s team. “I moved for bigger opportunities and coaches,” Izzy said.

Her cricket began at the Devonport Domain when her parents signed her up for Shore, following behind her brother at the club when she was at Belmont Intermediate . “I was only doing it for social reasons at first, but I really enjoyed it.”

For a time she played in a team with her mother, Jo.

Izzy was selected for the Auckland Under-17 side last December, but was away visiting family in England in December, so was not able to play. Her ambitions are “to keep improving and making teams”.

Her main goal this year is finishing her school cricket career on a high note. The TGS team has a trip to Australia, which she hopes will expose them to different styles of play and prepare them for the national Gillette Venus Cup.

“We really want to go and win,” she says.

Next year, Izzy plans to continue cricket while at university, which might bring a move to either Otago or Canterbury.

Her plan is to study geology and Spanish. As for her sporting ambitions: “I really want to play for New Zealand one day.”

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Set in an idyllic village location not far from Devonport Central, this Classical Edwardian Villa is beautifully presented and offers its lucky new owner the idyllic 'seaside village' lifestyle. With an attractive street presence and a view over towards Mount Victoria, this is undoubtedly a home to be proud of The property is currently presented with three double bedrooms, a beautifully designed family bathroom and an additional separate toilet A formal lounge, (which could easily serve as the fourth bedroom), is complimented by a spacious open plan family room incorporating a superb modern kitchen The family room opens onto an expansive outdoor entertaining deck area, with an automated covered louvre for alfresco dining, plus a sunny northwest outlook to the private and secure mature garden

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By Rob Drent

The purchase of the old Devonport Borough Council building, at 3 Victoria Rd, and 17 other commercial buildings in the Devonport village by Peninsula Capital, which is owned by Berridge Spencer, Mark Hiddleston and Graham Turley, is a major shot in the arm for the town centre.

Long-term owners (with Spencer and Turley living locally at Stanley Point, and Hiddleston in Mt Eden), with enough money to properly refurbish and earthquake-strengthen properties to a high standard, is a great outcome for Devonport.

I know of several hospitality groups who have looked at setting up businesses in Devonport and have been put off in recent times by the dual barriers of Lake Rd and the absence of tourists visiting over winter.

Add in the Covid lockdowns and the post-Covid economic slowdown, with empty shops and some buildings looking increasingly shabby, downtown Devonport is probably not looking as attractive as might be expected for a tourist destination.

A new investor in the main street and beyond gives confidence for others to build on.

I also like the idea of a master plan for the Devonport town centre.

During the creation of the ‘supercity’ and the Auckland Unitary Plan, Devonport Heritage wanted the Devonport commercial area to be offered special protection as a separate zone. This was rejected.

But now, with a property owner controlling a significant number of landholdings, this idea should be revisited to give Devonport the best chance to fulfil its potential for locals and tourists alike.

Again, this should be considered alongside a visionary tourism plan for Auckland, which would incorporate walking and cycling over the harbour bridge, light rail to the Shore and trams from Devonport and Takapuna: a long-term vision rather than short-term expediency.

It’s great to see The Depot’s songwriting contest entering its third year, with the added bonus in 2023 of the help of a genuine rock star from the band Goodshirt offered up as part of the recording prize.

I hope a good number of entries are forthcoming. I’m a little bit uneasy though that the organisers have picked a theme – collaboration and community – for this year’s entrants. Shouldn’t young musicians be able to write songs free of any constraint?

Twenty years ago, my son formed a

band called Loaded Dice, with his Belmont Intermediate mates. They began playing sets at the all-ages concerts at the Masonic, determined to perform only originals. I’ve still got a video of them playing songs with delightful titles such as Slacker and Empty Wallet

The band later went onto the North Shore Rockquest finals as 13-year-olds, but refused to compete in later years as they didn’t want to be known as a TGS band.

Railing against the establishment through freedom of musical expression has always been one of the touchstones of youth.

Or is this something that resonates more with previous generations?

A picture says a thousand words: a reader sent in this shot taken at the Devonport ferry terminal last week.

With Fullers commuters plagued by late sailings and cancellations over recent months, it seems even Auckland Transport’s signage has got in step.

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If you want the central village lifestyle, and a home with an income or to accommodate family, you must see this one-of-a-kind villa. An impressive hallway welcomes you into a versatile, generously sized residence with captivating views to the harbour, spectacular sunsets, and cityscape. French doors open onto a peaceful deck for evening nibbles. A well-appointed kitchen, scullery, four double bedrooms, plus two bathrooms promise space to spread out. A luxurious separate apartment includes lounge, two bedrooms plus office (or three bedrooms) and two bathrooms. You may wish to reinstate as a huge six-to-seven-bedroom home. The private and sheltered 971sqm section has room to add a pool. Genuine reason for sale - you must view now!

bayleys.co.nz/1470611

7 3 4 2

Auction (unless sold prior)

2pm, Wed 7 Jun 2023

Bayleys House, 30 Gaunt Street, Auckland

Central

View Sat/Sun 11-11.45am

Helen Michell 021 210 3228

Lynda Betts 021 278 3024

BAYLEYS

bayleys.co.nz

Tea and tiaras help local ladies mark King’s

Dainty china and Union Jacks set the scene, as around 120 women took part in a ‘Ladies High Tea’ to raise funds for St Leo’s Catholic School. The event, staged at a specially decked-out Devonport Yacht Club, marked the coronation of King Charles with bunting and good cheer.

Glittering occasion... Sarah Albrecht and daughter Chiara helped officiate in a programme that included wellness experts, games, fundraising and treats

Happy trio... Alex Urquhart, Rachel Rohloff and Suzie England

coronation with right royal school fundraiser

Fancy frocks and festivity...

Above (from left): Genni Lynch, Rachel Steel, Lisa Murphy, Michelle Scott and Joy McBreen.

Crowns and jewels... (from left) Vanessa Badley, Francisca Knottenbelt, Adrienne Ramskill, Suzie Tait Bradley, Karen Rawlinson (partly obscured), Linda Lampen Smith and Cheryl Gush were among attendees

Finding her ‘tribe’ unleashes the power of an

Taking on challenges as she approached 50 led Michele Fleischman Dean into a whole new world of physical endurance. She tells Helen Vause about the joy of running long and often.

When she was 21 years old, Michele Fleischman went out one night from her home in the Hamptons to a Mexican restaurant. There she met a young man from Belmont.

She had recently come home from college to Sag Harbour on the eastern end of Long Island, near New York City; and young Trevor Dean had just sailed into the historic whaling port on a 68-foot yacht.

She’d met her match. Thirty years later, she talks to the Flagstaff about sailing away with Dean, washing up in Devonport and recently becoming an ultra-distance runner, sometimes covering 50-plus kilometres a day and training for runs of 100 kilometres.

Fleischman Dean is a passionate member of the growing ultra-trail and marathon-running community.

She’s buzzing with the exhilaration of the sport she took up a couple of years ago. It’s the most recent of the turns her life has taken that she could never have imagined the night she met the New Zealander she’d marry.

From that first meeting in the Sag Harbour restaurant, the pair began to spend a lot of time together. When Dean suggested she join him on the bare-bones racing boat, with few creature comforts, on a long leg to the Caribbean, she didn’t hesitate.

“I’d never sailed and had no idea how to help,” she recalls happily. “Right away we were heading into big seas and a head wind and I was pretty sick. Everyone was pretty patient with me and very helpful.”

Two hours on watch and two hours off were the schedule on that challenging, lumpy journey. But she’d found love, a mate, and a new lifestyle at sea that she’d be living for a couple of decades.

The couple went on to run boats, from small craft to the huge luxury vessels found cruising in waters around the US and the Caribbean – he as a captain and she as a deckhand and sometimes cook.

“I couldn’t boil an egg. But I learned.

They were amazing years,” she recalls.

Then life intervened. At 35, she became pregnant with their first daughter, Saiba, now 18. She managed to keep up the boating working life with a young baby until Naomi (now 16) was born.

The family settled in Florida. For eight hard years, Fleischman Dean found herself mixing motherhood with becoming a caregiver to her ailing father.

Her eyes still fill with tears at the memories of her 40s, raising young children and with long periods of caring for both of her parents at different times.

Adventures and her own interests were a long time on hold.

Meanwhile, back in Belmont, Dean’s parents, Reg and Deidre, were also ageing.

In 2016, the family decided it was time to make the big move from the US to Auckland.

In 2020, Trevor Dean bought into a half share of the Devonport Hammer Hardware business.

Finding her ‘tribe’ didn’t come easily for Fleischman Dean as she went about starting a life here. Without a circle of friends and social connections, for a time she suffered from isolation in her new country.

As the city was grounded by lockdowns, she was looking for ways to get into a more active and sociable way of living. And she

In step... Fleischman Dean felt isolated after moving from the US to New Zealand, but found a like-minded community when she took up running

began to turn to online fitness courses and challenges.

“That’s me,” she thought, “I’ll do 50 of those exercises. Or 50 of something.”

That was to mark the approaching milestone of her 50th birthday, and it wasn’t long before her new-found interest in serious exercise turned into a plan to run 50 kilometres to mark her half-century.

As the goal began to take shape, she ran into a whole new world.

“You could say I found my thing. I found my passion, I met a whole new group of great people and I just totally turned my life around once I started really running a long way and often.”

She discovered a community of people, locally and citywide, who regularly were running astounding distances – 50km, at least.

Fleischman Dean surprised herself to find that she could do it too and was soon clocking up some amazing distances. At just over 155 centimetres tall and weighing less than 50kg, she cuts a slight figure among ultrarunners. But her fitness, strength and mental toughness get her across the line on big race days.

Ultrarunning has changed her life from the inside out, she says.

“I’m very grateful for finding something that fills me with so much joy and also has amazing physical and mental health benefits. I realise now how important self-care is and that it is not selfish. Life is a gift. Find what you love, do things that make you happy. Surround yourself with people who bring you joy and support you.”

Ultrarunning means doing distances greater than a standard 42.195km marathon, and there has been a phenomenal upturn in the number of runners who are wanting to go longer and much further.

Researchers in 2021 reported a 345 per cent increase in the participants in global ultrarunning events over the previous decade, and a marked increase in the numbers of women signing up.

Worldwide, there’s been a big increase in the number of events on the calendar to meet the demand and they’re usually oversubscribed.

In part, the continuing surge in the numbers of ultrarunners has been put down to the effects of lockdowns due to Covid. People looked for things to do and had time to run – and keep running – if they could.

Chat in online communities helped build interest.

New Zealand has plenty of races to choose from, year-round.

The Tarawera Ultramarathon is this country’s biggest. It’s on the world ultra circuit, which attracts sell-out fields for each event.

The biggie at Tarawera is the 100-miler –just over 160km – but crowds also sign up

to do the 21km, 50km or 100km challenges.

In October last year, Fleischman Dean completed the 100km Taupo Ultramarathon. She was incredibly proud to be first in her

ride to the start line. I had no doubt about covering the distance. I didn’t want to just finish, I wanted to do my absolute very best.”

In September 2022, she’d done an 80km ‘fun run’ training for the Taupo event. But throughout the year she’d been on long runs through Auckland’s regional parks and up over volcanic cones on many a weekend with her trail-running community.

One Saturday back in April 2022, she did 127km at a Riverhead event. In that summer’s half-marathon series she’d finished in the top-10 women overall.

When there’s a big event coming up, she’s up before 5am and can be seen in all weathers bounding around the side of Devonport’s maunga and along peninsula pavements.

age group, sixth woman across the line and the 30th person home out of 154, with a time of 11 hours and 29 minutes.

“I’d been training for months and was so excited to be there. It was my first race outside of Auckland and I actually had tears running down my face on the 3.30am bus

A niggle in her knee means she probably won’t be in top form for a few months yet. But already Fleischman Dean is planning to go further and for longer than she ever has before. She has the 100-miler in her sights. “Why not? I think I can do it. And maybe further after that.”

On the trail runs with her cohort she says they call her ‘the barometer’, because she lets out a cautionary squeal at surprises underfoot. “But some call me the ‘energiser bunny’ too.”

“Life is a gift. Find what you love, do things that make you happy. Surround yourself with people who bring you joy and support you.”

Making a splash... Fleischman Dean has recorded some impressive results since taking up ultrarunning at close to 50

House News

We're thrilled to offer a diverse range of events workshops, and classes this month, catering to a variety of interests and needs Please check out our timetable at www.devonportcomhouse.com

Ngā mihi nui, Devonport Community House Team

What's New?

Newcomers Meet-Up

Thursdays 9.30 am-10.30 am

Our brand new House meet-up for our newcomers to connect with fellow newcomers, share experiences and learn about our community A Citizen Advice Bureau person is there to also answer questions. All are welcome and free! Tea and coffee are provided.

Bricks4Kidz

Mondays 3.30 pm-4.30 pm

After school Lego Steam Programmes Junior Robotics, Coding Introduction and Engineering

Email Auckland-LNS@bricks4kidz com

Events

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

TUESDAY 23 May 6 pm-8 pm

Bring a plate of your favourite cuisine to our community potluck dinner Join the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board at the Devonport Community House for conversations over dinner

Pencil, Chalk and Charcoal- Drawing Fundamentals

TUESDAY NIGHTS 7 pm-8 30 pm

6th June-11 July

Using basic materials, cartoonist and illustrator Steve Bolton teaches the fundamentals of drawing in six lessons! events@devonportcomhouse co nz to book!

Choir sings out for more members

Island Interiors is proud to support Devonport Community House

Ph: 09 445 6667

islandinteriors.co.nz

Reformed after a long break following the disruption of Covid, Devonport’s Village Song Choir is looking to double its membership.

The choir has been going for a decade but ceased operating during the first 2020 lockdown. It elected to wait until this year to resume.

“We were unsure of the situation and I didn’t feel comfortable coming back until now,” choir leader Helene Piper says.

Numbers have dropped since the choir last gathered, due to people moving away and joining other groups.

Performances will be scheduled when more people join up.

The choir currently has 15 members, but will need double that to perform, Piper says.

Piper, who is head of the performing-arts department at Belmont Intermediate, took over the choir in 2017 when its former leader

Max Maxwell retired. She previously led the Devonport Community Choir for five years.

Village Song is a community non-auditioned choir that is open to anyone who enjoys singing, regardless of ability.

The choir has a strong emphasis on the social aspect, with tea breaks and social events to create a “welcoming social platform”, Piper says.

It has performed frequently in the past, and Piper hopes it will do so once more.

“I’d like to get back to the point where the choir is a big part of the community again.”

If numbers start to increase, she says concerts could be planned for later in the year, possibly at rest homes.

Anyone above 11 years old can join the choir, but those under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information, visit sites.google. com/view/village-song.

Recruiting… Helene Piper (conducting) hopes to increase membership of the Village Song Choir so performances can resume

Authorised by Simon Watts, Parliament Buildings, Wgtn.

DEVONPORT 36 TAINUI ROAD

3+1

FOR SALE

$2,949,000

PRESTIGIOUS CHELTENHAM

Sitting in this high-profile position so close to Cheltenham beach is this fantastic family home at 36 Tainui Road. This lovely 1920's double bay villa has a gorgeous street frontage and a stylish interior. The home sits on a freehold title of 582m² just one road back from prestigious Cheltenham beach. Included in our icons is the cottage/studio. Call for your private viewing.

VIEWING Open Homes Saturday 1:00-1:30pm

Tracey Lawrence 021 1720 681 t.lawrence@barfoot.co.nz barfoot.co.nz/846848

Trish Fitzgerald 021 952 452 t.fitzgerald@barfoot.co.nz

Devonport 09 445 2010

Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club

Barfoot & Thompson Limited

Licensed REAA 2008

LOCATION!

Barfoot & Thompson Limited

Licensed REAA 2008

BELMONT 3/1 ELDERWOOD LANE

Tucked down off the lane is your perfect slice of paradise, privacy guaranteed. New double glazing, open fireplace, lovely fully fenced garden.

barfoot.co.nz/847692

NEW LISTING

DEADLINE SALE

Closing 4pm 24 May 2023 (unless sold prior)

VIEWING

Sat/Sun 12:00-12:30pm

Trish Fitzgerald 021 952 452

Tracey Lawrence 021 1720 681

BAYSWATER 1/14 BERESFORD STREET

You will be smitten with this stylish two bedroom stand alone home. Set in very desirable Beresford Street.

barfoot.co.nz/848268

Devonport 09 445 2010

DEVONPORT 106 VICTORIA ROAD

From the front of the home to the enclosed garden out back, this 1910 four-bedroom villa will steal your heart. An absolute must-view!

barfoot.co.nz/847293

SOLD

AUCTION 12pm 10 May 2023 at 39 Victoria Road, Devonport (unless sold prior)

VIEWING Sat/Sun 1:00-1:30pm

Sue Harrison 021 909 549

Toni Gregory 021 044 3663

DEVONPORT 71 NGATARINGA ROAD

Arts and Crafts coastal charmer overlooking Ngataringa Bay with views of Auckland City sited on over ¼ acre with your very own boat-shed.

barfoot.co.nz/845408

NEW LISTING

FOR SALE

By Negotiation

VIEWING Sat/Sun 2:00-2:30pm

Trish Fitzgerald 021 952 452

Tracey Lawrence 021 1720 681

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

By Negotiation

VIEWING Sat 2:00-2:45pm or By Appointment

Sue Evans 021 448 977

Youyou Yu 021 868 273

Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club

NARROW NECK

30B HANLON CRESCENT

From the one of a kind Brazilian marble, chef's kitchen and Italian flooring, this is a very special 325m² of Luxury and Style. Call now!

barfoot.co.nz/847970

HAURAKI

3/258 LAKE ROAD

Brand-new freehold and fabulous duplex, this very stylish and clever home is uber comfortable, low maintenance and perfectly positioned.

barfoot.co.nz/847989

FOR SALE

$2,580,000

VIEWING

Sat/Sun: 11:00 - 11:45am

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

BAYSWATER 187 BAYSWATER AVENUE

Nearly 647m² of commercially zoned land (8F).

First time offered in 60 years this property is right in the heart of Belmont.

barfoot.co.nz/847392

TENDER 4:00pm 24 May 2023 at 39 Victoria Rd, Devonport (unless sold prior)

VIEWING

Sat/Sun: 1:00 - 1:45pm

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

NEW LISTING

FOR SALE

$1,590,000

VIEWING

Sat/Sun: 12:00 - 12:45pm

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

BAYSWATER 1/54 BAYSWATER AVENUE

Ladies and gentlemen. We are proud to introduce our absolutely stunning entrant into 'The Masterbuild House of The Year 2024' competition.

barfoot.co.nz/824935

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

$1,349,000

VIEWING Sat/Sun: 12:00 - 12:45pm

Suzy Wang 022 199 7808

Lance Richardson 021 796 660

Devonport 09 445 2010

Major sponsor for the North Shore Cricket Club

Barfoot & Thompson Limited Licensed REAA 2008

NEW LISTING

NEW LISTING

Shore vintage car club follows in tyre

Around 35 antique automobiles puttered off from the Devonport ferry building last Sunday, on a rally to mark 50 years of the North Shore Vintage Car Club.

The event came 50 years to the day since a rally left the terminal to launch the club.

The 2023 version travelled around 80 kms north to Wellsford, with other cars joining along the way.

Only one vehicle that took part in the original launch rally, Jacqui Goldingham’s 1924 Sunbeam roadster, made the trip.

New World owner John Ashton donated a prize pack in recognition of the club’s first clubrooms being in the middle of today’s supermarket car park.

Early members Harold Kidd and Frank de Lautour had a storage facility for old cars (36 of them) in former bus barns on the Clarence St site.

Scheduled for demolition, the barns provided accommodation for early club committee meetings, along with storage for many vehicles.

When they were demolished, a property was bought in Albany, where the club is still based today. Its clubrooms are a relocated house built in around 1900 for the Auckland Harbourmaster, that stood at the corner of Russell St and Calliope Rd, Stanley Bay.

Half a century ago... A still from grainy home movie footage of the North Shore Vintage Car Club launch rally, which left from outside the Devonport ferry terminal in May1973

Model makes... (above, clockwise from top left): 1912 Ford Model T Torpedo (owner, Gavin Welch); 1947 Sunbeam Talbot (Leo Fowler); 1956 Morris Isis Woody station wagon (Terry Bracey); 1934 Packard Super Eight roadster (Ken Williams)

tracks of launch rally – 50 years on

Takapuna Grammar claims regional futsal title

Indoor football code ‘futsal’ has made big gains at Takapuna Grammar School (TGS), less than a year after it was introduced as a sports option.

The school’s senior boys side won the Northern Region secondary school competition at the end of March, beating Rangitoto College 2-1 in a dramatic final.

Competitive futsal was introduced to TGS by social sciences teacher Elliott Jost in term four last year, but has grown quickly since then.

Player numbers have increased from 18 to 47.

Jost said he first sent out emails to gauge interest, then began a programme as a a casual way for football players to keep fit during the off-season.

Numbers grew as head of football Ryan Ward spread the word to more footballers across the school.

Jost, who has himself played the sport for seven years, hoped it would continue to grow at TGS.

Kallen Mutch, who scored the winning goal in the final against Rangitoto with just 15 seconds left on the clock, said the biggest difference between five-a-side futsal and its outdoor counterpart was the intensity.

“I feel like football is a lot more about

using your head whereas futsal is more about your technical ability.”

Another player, Miller Perry, said defenders and attackers were more specialised roles in football. “Whereas in futsal you’re defending and attacking. You get up and

down the court quite a bit.”

Kallen said he felt “a lot of relief” when his late effort went in against Rangitoto. “I was getting ready to kick myself if I missed it because I had like five opportunities earlier and missed all of them.”

An original… Ian and Jacqui Goldingham in her 1924 Sunbeam roadster, the only car on the original North Shore Vintage Car Club run in 1973 to make the trip last weekend

Champions... The TGS senior futsal team celebrates after winning the Northern Region secondary school competition: (from left) Kallen Mutch, Sam Bradley, Evan White, Miller Perry and Evan Moorby

Need for Shore transport links emphasised by board

The next Waitemata Harbour crossing needs to be planned with flow-on connectivity to North Shore suburbs in mind, the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board says.

It wants routes to the Devonport peninsula and Takapuna to be considered, along with cycle paths and rail links north.

“We want to reach the greatest number of people,” board chair Toni van Tonder said at a workshop to provide feedback to Auckland Council on national transport agency Waka Kotahi’s five options for a tunnel or bridge crossing of the harbour.

Board member Peter Allen said people needed to know what would come next rather than “having to wait 30 years”.

A preferred crossing option is due to be announced mid-year.

The board said it could not pick a favourite as too little information had been provided, and that the crossing could not be looked at in isolation.

Van Tonder said she wanted the Devonport peninsula considered. A link from Akoranga station to Belmont could be planned early, rather than as stage two of the crossing project, she said. Land-use planning was vital

in any decision-making, she said.

Devonport was not growing, but the rest of the peninsula was intensifying.

The board’s feedback emphasised the need for rail to flow on to the Takapuna metropolitan centre. It is expected that from whatever harbour connnection is chosen, rail – light or heavy – will run up the Northern Busway, to Sunnynook and Albany, with a spur to Takapuna, possibly across to Smales Farm station.

East-west as well as north-south transport connections needed to be part of the planning, the board submitted.

Deputy chair Terence Harpur suggested lines to Glenfield and Greenhithe. He said given previous studies Waka Kotahi should have more meaningful information at hand to share about how the options would work..

Member George Wood said: “All roads lead to Akoranga station/interchange.

“A tunnel there is going to be a giant construction.”

Member Mel Powell said a lot of planning would be needed to have so much infrastrucutre concentrated in what was a fragile wetland area.

Its history as a landfill site was also noted.

Wood said cyclingacross the Esmonde Rd interchange was already a nightmare.

The board called for rapid progress on the Northern Pathway cycle route between Constellation Dr and Akoranga/Esmonde Rd.

“Significant cycling infrastructure should not have to wait,” its feedback stated.

It opposed the option of a second bridge built for light rail, walking and cycling, and three general traffic lanes next to the existing bridge, deeming this less resilient to climate change, sea-level rise, and high winds.

The board did not directly address the option of two tunnels, one for light rail from Wynyard Quarter via Belmont and Takapuna to Smales Farm, and another for traffic from St Mary’s Bay to Akoranga Dr, east of the existing bridge. Transport pundits consider this option involving the Devonport peninsula an unlikely choice, as it will be the costliest and slowest to build.

The government says it wants to begin building a second crossing before the end of the decade.

Public submissions on the options have closed.

THE NAVY COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER NAVY SALUTE TO BRITISH MILESTONES

In a chance piece of timing, Navy photographer PO Chris Weissenborn captures the flare of a saluting gun at Devonport Naval Base. On 7 May, the Navy fired a 21-gun salute to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III.

Personnel from Devonport Naval Base were much closer to the action in London, with seven Naval officers and sailors among a 21-strong NZDF contingent marching alongside 6,000 British military personnel in the coronation ceremony.

They included HMNZS Te Mana’s Able Weapon Technician James Strachan, from Albany, who said it was something he would remember for the rest of his life.

Last week saw the first-ever visit to New Zealand for Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey, berthing at Devonport Naval Base on 10 May.

Spey, alongside sister ship HMS Tamar, is conducting a five-year deployment to the Indo-Pacific, working with friends and partners as

part of the UK and Royal Navy’s commitment to trade, maritime security and shared values in this part of the world.

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.

Congratulations? Thanks? Problems? Complaints?

DEVONPORT NAVAL BASE TEL 445 5002

Shore-fire Carlos does his talking on the field

New Chilean import Carlos Irribarra speaks little English, but his injection off the bench for North Shore United against Te Atatu in its first-round Chatham Cup match last Saturday spelt victory for the home side.

Irribarra arrived from Chile three weeks ago and is staying with North Shore’s Tommy Miller, who is currently injured.

“Tommy is teaching him English. But it’s a bit hard tactically when Carlos can’t speak a word, so he’s pretty much a 30-minute player,” said Shore coach Dylan Burns.

And what a great substitute’s spell Irribarra put on at Allen Hill Stadium last Saturday.

Shore led 1-0 at half-time with a late goal by Jack Anderson. An arm wrestle ensued in the second half, until Irribarra came on. After several sniping runs, he broke down the left flank beating several players before delivering a pin-point pass to Jackal Taylor to nudge the ball in.

Minutes later, another break saw Irribarra with only the goalkeeper to beat before he was brought down on the edge of the box. The resulting penalty by Jason Hicks gave Shore a slightly flattering 3-0 win.

But it was a good result when the side had eight of its usual starting line-up out.

Shore’s second round in the Chatham Cup competition will take place in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, in the league competition, Shore has a run of a few home matches, starting with Waiheke this weekend – a match sure to be full of fireworks on and off the field, with the visiting side bringing its explosive set of Argentinian fans.

All class…Carlos Irribarra (top) makes the break that led to Shore’s second goal and (below right) is brought down in the box, securing the home side a penalty to wrap up the match

Historic clock preserved

Devonport Museum has retrieved historical items from the old borough council building at 3 Victoria Rd. Among them is a control clock that was used once to manage other clocks in the building, as well as some street clocks in the old borough area.

After restoration by museum member Dennis Dowie, the control clock has been put on display, said museum president Alastair Fletcher.

“It now hangs in the museum, giving a ghostly clunk regularly!”

Fletcher said the museum had been invited by council property arm Eke Panuku to find appropriate homes for items still in the building before it was sold.

Other items retrieved included some oak furniture and chairs that the museum had found uses for, he said.

More tennis success for Eddie

The golden season continued for Ngtaranga tennis player Eddie Biss, with his Under-17 Northern side winning the National Junior Teams Championships in Hamilton.

The mixed team of Eddie, Chan Min, Nehal Naidoo, Andre Duggan, Sammi Liu, Muhan Cui, Mala Krzanic-Sullivan and Sasha Warren won all five games to be crowned national champions.

The Northern team takes in players from clubs north of the Harbour Bridge.

The win was a send-off of sorts, as it was the last junior tournament for many of the team.

Six of them have been playing for Northern together since Under-12s, so a win was the best way to say farewell, Eddie said.

“It was a good way to finish out our journey.”

Teams played three boys singles matches,

three girls singles, one boys doubles, one girls doubles and a mixed doubles game per tie, with the team with the most wins winning the encounter.

Despite stiff national competition, Northern managed to win two of their matches 9-0, taking the title in style.

Eddie said his favourite memories from the tournament were playing some tight doubles matches and getting an impressive singles win.

“I played the second-best under-17 player in the country (Jonty Giesen) and beat him, which was pretty cool.”

Earlier in the season, Eddie won the national secondary school teams title with the Westlake Boys High School team. It was the school’s first national win, with Nehal also in the line-up, teaming up with Biss in the deciding doubles.

America for 48 years, internationally renowned opera singer to Devonport, where she was born and raised. She spoke to Maire Vieth Sister Mary Leo, singing for the Vienna Volksoper, touring with Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway.

auditioned at Volksoper, was signed small apartment. “The bathtub kitchen,” she says. Friends from came to stay, among them Anne another student of Sister Mary Leo. time Mary also sang at music Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Vienna Dubrovnik. She made guest appearances oratorio across Europe, as well Sadler’s Wells Opera as Gilda in at the Windsor Festival in concert Menuhin.

Top soprano who returned to childhood home

cials and bits and pieces. We made a record of Lieder – Schumann, Schubert – with him and some friends. I loved it,” she says.

In 1973, Mary came back to New Zealand to sing Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor at His Majesty’s Theatre for the Auckland Opera Trust. The NZ Herald review called O’Brien’s performance “triumphant.”

Three years later, during a surprise visit for her father’s birthday, she appeared in a Max Cryer TV show.

Mary returned to Australia to tour Australian Broadcasting Company over in Auckland, giving recitals Beethoven’s 200th birthday. she was invited to Anne Rasmusin the hills above Florence. There future husband Donald Specht, an “The house where Anne got married Don’s stepsister. He had just come and got dragged along to the wedsays.

Don hit it off straight away. Specht successful in the music business Angeles as a composer/arranger for commercials. “He was originally player and had played with many in bands all over the States. He Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis for time,” Mary says. married within a couple of months at Vecchio in Florence.”We just knew says Mary. The wedding wasn’t a Don’s parents were deceased and couldn’t come all way from New Zeaup my dad on the phone. He had War One and just said, ‘so you’re a Yank?’ I said, ‘yes dad.’” the newly-weds moved to Studio Angeles where Mary met jazz musi Manne, Buddy Collette, Jo Maini, her piano player Lou Levi. re-establish her opera career in the found it difficult. “I went into doing sang in some of Don’s commer-

One-on-one singing lessons soon followed. “You would have a lesson that would take about an hour or so. She was often interrupted by other pupils coming in and would tell you to go over in the corner there and breathe,” she says.

Soprano Mary O’Brien-Specht, who sang on the world stage for five decades, has died, aged 86.

In 1981, Mary performed in the roles of Mrs Hopkins and Lady Boxington in the 1981 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady, alongside Rex Harrison, who was cast as Henry Higgins. “We did a two-year tour across America and Harrison always brought the house down,”

She left Devonport in 1963, at the age of 26. When she was widowed in 2009, she felt the call of her old suburb and returned in 2011.

Mary graduated from St Mary’s in 1954 at the age of 17 and for the next three years continued to study with Sister Mary Leo privately. “I lived at home and had a job down at the Naval base as a gofer. Off I would go to work on my bike at eight in the morning, get off at four and go over on the boat to Auckland, up to St Mary’s and work for the rest of the day there, just really concentrating on singing and learning repertoire,” she says. She also performed regularly in small concerts, often in halls around Devonport.

O’Brien-Specht was born in 1937 at Pentlands maternity hospital on Buchanan St. She was the youngest of three. Her father, James Lawrence O’Brien, was Devonport’s deputy fire chief, and the O’Briens moved to a flat next to the Calliope Fire Station.

She first heard classical music in her

The Magic Flute and La Boheme followed.

grandmother’s Vauxhall Rd home.

“I did a lot of things like that and in 1984 I went on tour to London as a personal assistant to Peggy Lee. You always had to call her ‘Miss Peggy Lee.”

After attending St Leo’s Catholic School in Devonport, she went to St Mary’s College in Ponsonby, where Sister Mary Leo became her singing teacher.

Mary gave her last public performances in the late 1980s. Retired life in Los Angeles was good until 2009, when Don died at age 79. “As we didn’t have children or family over there, two years later, I sold up and came here,” she says.

In 1957, Mary got her first big break. She was to share the lead in the Auckland Light Opera Company’s production of La Traviata with Mina Foley, Sister Leo’s first star student who had studied in Rome, Los Angeles and New York and performed at La Scala in Milan.

In 1958, Mary married New Zealand yachtsman Bernie Skinner. The couple had a son, Paul, but later divorced, and Paul stayed with his father. “Sometimes I think about that. I wanted a career and to go away and Bernie wanted to stay in New Zealand. Another woman might have made a different decision, but it was my decision and I made it. I had to do what I had to do,” she says.

villes, from North Cape to Bluff,” she told the Flagstaff. Lead roles in Don Pasquale, The Magic Flute and La Boheme followed.

“That was it! She was a wonderful teacher, became a great friend and a very important person in my life,” she told the Flagstaff in a 2016 interview.

And of course she loves being back in Devonport. She has reconnected with Kay McKellar, a childhood friend from St Leo’s school, where McKellar later became a teacher and eventually principal.

Dame Sister Mary Leo, who died in 1989, is best known for tutoring both Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Dame Malvina Major. “I’m what’s known as BK – Before Kiri,” O’Brien-Specht said.

She enjoys being back among the local O’Briens. Both of her siblings are still around: her sister, who became a nun at age 20, in a convent in Dunedin, and her brother, in Papakura. Cousins live in Takapuna and further north.

Professionally, Mary felt trapped in New Zealand. “During the 1960s, it was very difficult to go where you wanted. You had to go by ship anywhere, even Australia. And it took about six weeks to get to Europe.”

In 1963, she moved to Sydney and performed under contract at the Elizabethan Theatre Trust.

Does Mary still sing? “No. My voice failed me in 2010 and I haven’t been able to sing since. And I am deaf in one ear, which is not good.” But during our interview, she often breaks into her favourite songs from various operas.

She left St Mary’s in 1954 at the age of 17, but for the next three years continued to study with Sister Mary Leo privately.

In 1965, she headed for Europe, settling in Linz, Austria as a base for singing around Europe, including at music festivals in Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Vienna and Dubrovnik. She made guest appearances in opera and oratorio across Europe, as well as London’s Sadler’s Wells Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto and at the Windsor Festival in concert with Yehudi Menuhin.

Mary says one of her favourite pastimes is walking in the half tide across Cheltenham Beach. From her lounge she has a view of Rangitoto Island, another place that reminds her of her grandmother and the way her life has come full circle.

In 1963, She moved to Sydney and performed under contract at the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. “I did Micaëla in Carmen, Marguerite in Faust, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte, and Louise for an opera on TV called Louise.”

She also performed regularly in small concerts, often in halls around Devonport.

Later this year, Mary plans to visit her son Paul, who now lives in Sydney. “I am very fond of him, his wife and my two grandchildren,” she says.

Then Foley became sick and Mary took over the role as Violetta on her own. “I was only 20 years old. I did eight shows at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Queen St in one week. It was a big risk,” she says.

The Devonport Historical and Museum Society

AGM will be held on 28th May at 3pm

But it was the start of things to come. In 1958, Mary won the John Court Memorial Aria competition and a year later the Mobil Song Quest.

The speaker will be Paddy Stafford-Bush

Afternoon tea will be served. All welcome.

By 1959, she had joined the New Zealand Opera Company and sang as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, the company’s second full-scale production touring through New Zealand. “I did hundreds of Barber of Sevilles, from North Cape to Bluff,” she says. Lead roles in Don Pasquale,

In 1957, she got her first big break. She was to share the lead in the Auckland Light Opera Company’s production of La Traviata with Mina Foley, Sister Leo’s first star student, who had studied in Rome, Los Angeles and New York and performed at La Scala in Milan.

In 1971, she met her future husband Donald Specht, an American, and moved to the US. In 1973, she came back to New Zealand to sing Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor at His Majesty’s Theatre for the Auckland Opera Trust. The New Zealand Herald review described her performance as “triumphant”.

“My grandmother lived in Islington Bay for quite a long time. When she couldn’t handle it there on her own any more, she moved to the house on the land where I live now.”

In 1965, she briefly returned to New Zealand as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. The New Zealand Listener ran an article on her entitled “Singer on her way up.”

Three years later, during a surprise visit for her father’s birthday, she appeared in a Max Cryer TV show.

Foley became sick and Mary took over the role as Violetta on her own. She did eight shows in one week at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Queen St.

In 1958, she won the John Court Memorial Aria competition and a year later the Mobil Song Quest.

By 1959, she had joined the New Zealand Opera Company and sang as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, the company’s second full-scale production touring through New Zealand. “I did hundreds of Barber of Se-

The same year, she headed for Europe. She had only a vague plan. “I wanted to go somewhere where I could become a more rounded personality as a singer, to be able to sing Lieder [German art songs] as well as opera. I was infatuated with a lot of German opera. A colleague who had worked with me in Australia was at the Vienna Volksoper [a major opera house]. I was introduced to an agent there, who got me an audition in Linz. I got the job,” she says. Linz is Austria’s third largest city, just west of Vienna. Mary fell on her feet. She learned to speak

In 1981, O’Brien-Specht performed in the roles of Mrs Hopkins and Lady Boxington in the 1981 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady, alongside Rex Harrison, who was cast as Henry Higgins. “We did a two-year tour across America and Harrison always brought the house down,”

OBrien-Specht gave her last public performances in the late 1980s, retiring to Los Angeles. Donald died in 2009, which led to thoughts of returning home to Devonport.

Her death notice stated: “A voice to be remembered.”

Drawn home to Devonport… Soprano Mary O’Brien-Specht

Mary O’Brien-Specht in the lead role in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte

“ I’m what’s known as BK – Before Kiri.” Soprano Mary O’BrienSpecht on her tuition from Dame Sister Mary Leo

From Devonport to the world – and back... Mary O’Brien-Specht in 2016 and (right) as she appeared in a production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte

Murray Inglis is New Zealand commercial radio royalty. He was acknowledged as such as early as 1977 by none other than Billboard magazine. In its annual Air Personality of the Year competition, the US music publication crowned Inglis the top radio announcer of the Southern Hemisphere, and among the top ten in the world.

Inglis was blown away. “I literally fell off the chair when I found out and didn’t go to bed for two days,” he says. He also got a kick out of beating his role model John Laws, a hugely successful Sydney radio presenter at the time.

Inglis received the award after he made his mark as Muzza in the Morning on the breakfast show of Radio Avon, an AM station established in Christchurch in 1973. “Radio Avon took Christchurch by storm. The station had 52 per cent of the audience. I did some outrageous things there.”

One was called Phone Fun, where people could call in between five and six in the morning and tell dirty jokes. Another was a fake phone call to Idi Amin. “I was probably New Zealand’s first shock jock,” Inglis says.

Inglis also staged a lock-in by barricading himself into the station’s studio for 48 hours, using a filing cabinet pushed against the door. It was supposedly a protest against being gagged by his bosses, but it turned out to be a publicity stunt for Radio Avon.

Everyone fell for it, he says. “Apparently people outside the station shouted: ‘We want Muzza back!’ TVOne came down to interview me, but when they came up to the window I just pulled the studio curtains shut and wouldn’t talk to them. It even made the New York Times.”

His subjects included Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Bob Geldof, David Bowie, Lauren Bacall, Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis and Robin Williams.

hear these guys who sounded like they were having a great time, and I thought that’s what I want to do. Until then, I was going to be a priest,” he says.

The stunt helped Inglis get international recognition. The Billboard award came with a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, where he got to work at WHBQ with US radio personality Rick Dees.

He began in an off-air role in Wellington in

Rubbing shoulders with famous people came with the territory of a radio career. Since his Christchurch days, Inglis has met dozens of celebrities, often interviewing them on-air.

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“Bette Davis was doing a one-woman show in Christchurch in 1976 and I interviewed her on the radio. I spent a hilarious afternoon with Robin Williams and interviewed Michael Jackson in Sydney in the 1980s. He really did speak with that high-pitched voice. I partied with Mick Jagger at the Gluepot. The Boomtown Rats threw me a 40th birthday party.

back again, working in London, Memphis, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, and Christchurch. And he was burnt out.

1959, but by 1963 had graduated to a job at the microphone for a tiny station in South Australia.

Over the next 10 years, Inglis worked at sta-

I had dinner with Peter Ustinov in Christchurch in the 1990s. And I introduced Elton John in front of 70,000 people at Western Springs. It doesn’t get any better than that,” he says.

But this year’s New Zealand Radio Awards blew Inglis away all over again. He reluctantly accompanied Flea FM’s owner John Grant to the ceremony. “John told me he had a spare ticket and asked me to go with him. I was hesitant and halfway through the night I was ready to leave. The next minute I look up and there is this huge picture of me on the screen. I put my head between my knees and don’t remember much else, except that it was pandemonium. I was buzzing for days.”

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“Radio has been my life almost to the exclusion of everything else,” Inglis says. His home life had radio connections as well. He recalls flatting with radio personalities Pam Corkery and Paul Holmes. And the often antisocial hours of a radio host took their toll over the years.

told the Flagstaff.

He said radio had given him an on-air personality often at odds with his off-air self. “Muzza is an outgoing guy and Murray is a lot more quiet and shy.”

When his mother and younger brother died within four weeks of each other in 2000, it shook Inglis to the core. His father and older brother had both died 20 years earlier and he was now the last family member standing. “I guess I had a nervous breakdown,” he says.

20 years ago from the Flagstaff files

• A $1.5 million package to buy the Devonport Cinema and reopen it has been knocked back by its owners, raising fears it will be bought by a developer.

• A workshop for councillors on proposals to stop boats dumping sewage in the Waitemata Harbour will be held by Auckland Regional Council.

Murray Inglis arrived at The Flea on Devonport Wharf seven years ago, after he retired from his last job at Solid Gold FM. He had been around the radio world and

Inglis recovered in a respite home. “Then one day I was driving along Tamaki Drive and heard this radio station. I thought that’s Mike Baker’s station and they are not bad actually,” he says. Baker had died in 2009. Inglis called station owner John Grant and offered to volunteer. “And they said they’d love to have me,” he says. Soon, he liked coming to Devonport so much that he moved from St Heliers to Cheltenham. Inglis now works at The Flea almost full time. “Generally I get there about midday, get the music together, read everything on social media, tweet, have a coffee and chat to some of the people around the wharf,” he says.

• A $10-haircut bar opens in Belmont.

• Devonport takeaway Catch 22 is forced to put up a ‘Gone Fishin’ sign after a car ploughed into its Victoria Rd premises.

• Lorenzo Pradel (16) wins the Best Saxophonist award at the Tauranga Jazz Festival.

• Police make little progress finding who shot Bubble the cat.

Most Flea programmes are pre-recorded,

• More than 30 sparrows have been poisoned in the Calliope Rd area.

• North Shore City Council rejects an application from Vodafone to build a cell-site tower at 165 Bayswater Ave. Vodafone indicates it will appeal.

• A three-double-bedroom home in Belmont is on the market for $392,000, and a two-bedroom unit in Devonport listed at $239,000.

• New Zealand’s best rhythmic gymnast, 16-year-old Alex Kirichai, enrols at Takapuna Grammar School after arriving from Ukraine.

• Devonport Cars celebrates selling 900 vehicles to locals

• Vandals attack the dragon-seat sculpture at Ngataringa Park.

• Devonport Community House coordinator Anne Hickman departs after five years in the role. She is replaced by Joy Gibson.

• Paul Snow-Hansen (12) is off to the World Optimist Championships in Spain.

• Wakatere Boating Club’s Grant Bourke and Luke Yarnton place second in the Sunburst Nationals.

• Devonport’s new Black Cap Richard Jones is the Flagstaff interview subject.

Murray Inglis has been working in radio for 57 years – the last seven based in Devonport at The Flea. In

Big impact... Murray Inglis’s achievements behind the microphone were recognised with a services-tobroadcasting award in 2016

Deluge worsened by pest trees

The 10 May river of rain deluge was made worse for residents of Anne St, who suffered surface flooding as a result of a drain blocked by the hard fig-like fruits of the Brisbane umbrella tree (Schefflera actinophylla), officially listed as a pest species.

Despite Auckland Council promising to clear the drains before any major weather event, residents were knee-deep trying to clear debris from the drain beneath the trees while water flowed over the road and up their driveways.

Most Anne St residents support the campaign for the removal of the trees, described by the Brisbane City Council as an environmental weed that is ecologically invasive.

Auckland Council’s arborists, who do not live in Anne St, describe the two trees as healthy, as if that is an overriding consideration. Of course, they are “healthy”, but these are pests with invasive roots that block plumbing joints and pipes and a surface root system that is a health and safety risk for anyone walking down the footpaths.

If atmospheric rivers are the new norm, Anne St is in trouble unless Auckland Council finally gets its act together and decides that resident safety, flood risk and pest-species control are more important than so-called “canopy cover”, which no one uses or wants.

John Harvey and Judy McGregor

Once more: how about a coastal park?

Recently attending the special grand opening of the William Sanders Retirement Village, where landowner Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei was represented, reminded me of the numerous letters I have written over several years, to no avail, suggesting Ngāti Whātua consider establishing – with the assistance of Auckland Council and others – an Oneoneroa/ Belmont Regional Coastal Park on part of their coastal land at the end of Eversleigh Rd, Belmont.

This would be a wonderful legacy project for North Shore schools to become involved in replanting to eventually create a land-based version of Tiritiri Matangi scientific reserve.

Bruce Tubb

Muddy hell: mowing after rain takes toll on turf

The nice man on the mower was just as upset as I was to see the state of the park after his machine had cut the grass. But he has no option as this is the day scheduled for him to mow it. From here, he was going to go to Takapuna to cut up parks in that suburb.

My question is, why does this have to happen after the downpours that we have experienced in the past week?

Surely someone in the council parks department can decide that this maintenance should be done only weather-permitting? No one will be able to use this park for possibly a month when it is in this condition.

I think that is unacceptable. I wonder what other Devonport residents think of this mess.

Kathy Farquhar

These are photos I took of Ngataringa Park at approximately 10.30am this morning (Thursday 11 May).

Takapuna Grammar

Winter Has Started!

Isla Sweetman Tackles Blake Inspire Programme

Winter sports have started this term with over 1100 students taking part in multiple team sports with many sports having an increase in numbers. Some of our bigger team sports include 110 students playing hockey, 140 rugby, 194 basketball, 199 netball and 260 playing football. We also have teams competing in badminton, squash, table tennis and junior water polo as well as cyclists and archers. Some early season highlights include our Boys hockey 1st XI defeating Mt Albert Grammar 2-0 to retain their place in the top Auckland Grade for the winter and our Girls Premier basketball team defeating Carmel College to gain promotion to the top Auckland grade. The Boys 1st XI football will be

aiming to better their semi-final place in the knockout cup from last year, they started their campaign with a 12-0 victory against One Tree Hill College. The 1st XV rugby team have started their season with two decisive wins, 39-14 away over Rangitoto College and 45-3 at home against Manurewa.

Some recent individual successes include Halena Kearns competed in the NZ Kayak Sprint Nationals picking up a bronze and two silvers and Chen Chen Wang also winning a bronze and two silvers at the NZ Karate open and being selected to represent New Zealand at the Oceania championships this month.

Year 12 student Isla Sweetman was selected from students across the country to take part in the environmental leadership programme, Blake Inspire, over the school holidays. She describes her experiences below.

“Blake Inspire was an incredible experience! Set up by the Sir Peter Blake Foundation, the organisation aims to connect young leaders from all around NZ, who are passionate about the environment, with other like-minded youth.

“At the start of our five-day trip, when we first arrived in the Waikato, none of us knew one another. However, after some icebreaker activities which ended with most of us falling into the Waikato River, we soon did. Highlights were kayaking through Raglan Harbour, finding tuatara in the wild, water-testing streams, ziplining over the Rotorua ancient canopies, and much more.”

Shakespeare’s UseofWeapons & Upcoming Events

Takapuna Grammar’s recent production ‘Shakespeare’s Use of Weapons’ was a huge success. Both evening shows attracted full audiences who enjoyed watching our young thespians deliver a quirky, and frequently comical, take on Shakespeare’s nastier characters and plot lines. The music throughout the show was fantastic too several of our students performed songs they had written especially for the production. Well done to the full cast and crew. After all the disruptions of the last few years, it really was a show to be proud of.

Izzy Fox Claims Auckland Female Cricketer of the Year

Year 13 Izzy Fox has been awarded the College Sport Auckland Female Cricketer of the Year award, This award acknowledges Izzy’s outstanding contribution to the TGS Girls 1st XI and her consistently high level of performance in both the College Sport competition, where TGS claimed gold, and during the National Qualification tournament, which TGS also won.

Explore our School!

We welcome you to take a journey through Takapuna Grammar School with our new Virtual Online Tour Tool. Simply scan this QR code with your mobile phone camera or go to https://takapuna.youtour.nz/# and explore!

Our talented Performing Arts students will have plenty of other exciting opportunities to showcase their talents this year – please come support us if you can!

• Cabaret Evening 31 May - Drama Room, Takapuna Grammar School

• National Dance Challenge (NDC) 1 JuneWestlake Girls High School

• Choir Concert 18 JuneSt Peter’s Anglican Church, Takapuna

• Big Sing Regionals 21 June - Auckland Town Hall

• Auckland Lights Festival (dance performance) 27 -30 July - Hurstmere Road, Takapuna

• KBB Festival 7-12 AugustHoly Trinity Cathedral, Parnell

• Cadenza 14-15 August - Rotorua

• DanceNZ Made Regionals 21-22 AugustThe Trusts Arena, Henderson

• Dance and Fashion Evening “7” 23 AugustBruce Mason Centre, Takapuna

• Big Sing Finale 25-29 August - Auckland Town Hall

• DanceNZ Made National Finals 9-10 SeptemberPalmerston N orth

• Senior Treble Festival 26 OctoberWestlake Girls High School

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Phone 027 445 6211

nigelbioletti@devonportpeninsulatrust.nz

A new website for the Trust - go to www.dpt.nz This has been possible due to the wonderful help we have had from Bays resident and supporter, Urs Steck, and the ongoing support we have had from Alex, at EasyPC. Please send me any further suggestions you have for the website - address below.

You will see the ‘Emergency’ Guidelines on the sitedownload these, go through them, and have your plans ready for the next emergency. If need be, seek help from friends, family, neighbours, in order to be prepared. Bayswater-Belmont Emergency Support – a willing group of residents met at the Rose Centre last week, and agreed that they would like to see the BayswaterBelmont area included in one Emergency Support Plan for the whole peninsula, and added to the Devonport plan that has already been completed. We will proceed on that basis, and thank all attendees for their support.

MIDWINTER DIP

Is scheduled for June 25th at 11:30 am. We had approximately 280 dippers last year. Can we make it 300 this year? 400?

Tell friends and family to lock the date in. Do you see yourself in this photo?

You will see Devonport’s very own Druid, centre left, about to take the plunge!!

TAMARIKI WINTER PLAY

Starts Tuesday 6 June at Bayswater School Hall – sessions running from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. There is no charge, and there is coffee, tea available. These are great sessions for little ones and not so little ones alike. In the past, some coffee groups have used this as their meeting point. Our thanks to the Bayswater School team for making us welcome again this year.

DEVONPORT SENIOR FORUM

Another great meeting on Thursday 27th - with a very interesting talk by Professor Vanessa Burholt, – speaking about the University of Auckland’s ‘CCreate-Age’ – Centre for Co-created Ageing Research’ – aimed at involving the senior community itself in establishing research needs and opportunities. Two questions we would ask: Is there a need for support for those who care for elderly members of this community? What might that support look like?

Email: nigelbioletti@devonportpeninsulatrust.nz

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Accountant

Axiome Chartered Accountants is a well-established Devonport CA firm with a broad client base of entrepreneurs, small business owners, trusts, and companies.

We are seeking an accountant to join our team. The role will suit a Business Services Accountant with sound grounding in business advisory, financial accounting, management reporting and tax compliance. Core competence with Xero, excel and other MS office programs is an advantage. Excellent communication skills are a must.

Professionally qualified with CA (CA ANZ) or CPA and with 4-5 years+ current NZ experience is ideal, but a part-qualified individual or someone with strong technical experience will also be considered.

We have modern offices in Devonport and a great team environment. We offer flexibility in the hours of work.

Please apply by email attaching your CV to Sheryl Beaumont: sheryl@axiome.co.nz

Korean Garden being built in Takapuna

Work on New Zealand’s firstever Korean Garden has begun at Barry’s Point in Takapuna thanks to the ongoing support of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and the hard work of the North Shore’s Korean community and local stakeholders.

Work began on January 16 on stage one of the build, which will include a war memorial acknowledging Korean and New Zealand veterans of the Korean War. Construction is planned to be completed by June this year, weather permitting.

“This will be such a welcome asset for residents in the area that acknowledges the sacrifices made by New Zealand and Korean soldiers in the Korean War while providing cross-

cultural educational opportunities and a peaceful space that all Aucklanders can enjoy,” says Local Board Chair Toni van Tonder.

The local board approved designs for the project presented by key architect Paul Lee in 2021. Lee is a member of the Korean Garden Trust, a group of Korean residents and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to create a Korean garden on the North Shore since 2009. The local board has worked closely with the Trust for several years to facilitate the project which has had numerous setbacks in approvals and funding.

The board has also contributed $144,200 toward construction costs and will assist the trust with the procurement process for further stages of the build.

CONTACT US: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/devonporttakapuna

FOLLOW US: Facebook.com/devonporttakapuna

The Korean Garden Trust will be responsible for gaining further funding and the ongoing maintenance of the gardens. Later stages of the design will include a pavilion, rotunda, bridge, surrounding walls, amphitheatre, event space, sculpture garden and extended landscaping of the surrounding grounds.

Paul Lee is excited to see this long-standing dream finally become a reality for the North Shore. “Big thanks to the local board for supporting this project since the start. It means so much to me and the Korean community in Auckland to see work on the gardens begin,” he says.

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Devonport 41 Stanley Point Road

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There is a lot to love about this architecturally designed 17-year-old home. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows showcase the wide and panoramic views inviting the sun to stream in all day. Four bedrooms include the spacious master with walk-in-robe, large ensuite and doors to the deck. The upper level is dedicated to living with spacious open-plan lounge and dining, separate media room, big kitchen with walk-in pantry and informal living opening to the entertainer’s deck. Double internal access garage, workshop, office (or gym) and landscaped gardens are just some of the thoughtful additions contributing to the ease of living this home offers. Great location, near excellent schools, beach, golf and sailing clubs.

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Takapuna Grammar identity hits the stage for charity

Takapuna Grammar School staffer Ngaio Hardie is organising and performing in six concerts for charity this month.

The principal’s executive assistant is fundraising for the Breast Cancer Foundation with a band called The Twist, which includes her and husband Tor. It plays hits from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

The couple, who were part of the Rose Singers, based at Belmont, for several years, have put together the nine-member band, which plays private functions rather than pub gigs.

Hardie, who has strong family connections to the Devonport area and a son in Year 10 at TGS, hopes peninsula locals will head north to Torbay where the charity shows are being staged.

The location is largely because of venue cost, she says. “It means we can give more money to our chosen charity.”

The group, which performed shows last year to raise money for the Stroke Foundation, this year hopes to raise around $4000.

Hardie has worked at TGS for nearly five years and is house-hunting to move nearer to the school.

Her grandmother, Shirley Brickell, who was on the school board in the 1950s and 60s, was responsible for the planting of pohutukawa along the Lake Rd frontage by the TGS rugby field. And the name of her uncle, the potter Barry Brickell, is emblazoned on the school’s art studio. She jokes that her father also features in the school’s annals, but in his case in historic punishment records of pupils who were caned.

Hardie hopes to get hundreds of people along to enjoy covers of songs by the Beatles, Bowie, Stones, Elton John, Sweet, Nancy Sinatra, Cindy Lauper, Phil Collins, U2 and more.

She is largely a backing vocalist, although she takes lead-vocal duties on a couple of songs.

Pretty

Tor played in bands in the United Kingdom for years and once appeared in a video opposite Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman.

• The Twist, Torbay Community Hall, Friday 19 May and Saturday 20 May at 7.30pm, and Sunday 21 May at 2.30pm, with a further three shows at the same times the following weekend. Tickets, $30, through thetwist.co.nz

Room with a Foo: Music shots on show at ferry terminal

The Devonport ferry terminal is playing host to a small selection of images from last year’s Music Photography Awards.

Among them is the winning shot of Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters (left), taken at Mt Smart Stadium by Dave Watson at a concert in 2018.

The images will be on display until the end of the month and their display is timed to coincide with May, New Zealand Music Month.

Entries for the 2023 Music Photography Award close on 20 May.

Details about the awards and upcoming events at the Auckland Photography Festival, which runs from 31 May to 11 June, are online at photographyfestival.org.nz

in pink... Ngaio Hardie (above left) with her fellow The Twist vocalists and at TGS (right) near pohutukawa on the front field her grandmother had planted

Sound check: calling all young songwriters

The chance to record alongside a chart-topping musician is the prize on offer for young Devonport songwriters entering the Depot Sound schools songwriting competition.

The competition, which is in its third year, is partnering with the New Zealand Music Commission and New Zealand Music Month for 2023

As part of the collaboration, former Goodshirt front man Rodney Fisher will be providing the benefits of his experience during the two days of studio time the winner receives.

The competition is open to intermediate and secondary school musicians and bands, who submit an original song for judging by a panel of former winners and industry experts.

The winners of the intermediate and

secondary school categories will be allocated two days at the Depot Artspace studio facility to record and produce their song.

Second-placed contestants will receive one day of studio time.

Studio manager and audio engineer Noah Page said he and Fisher will select the 10 entries to be judged by the panel.

This year’s theme is ‘community and collaboration’.

Page said it was chosen to reflect the importance of collaboration, which often goes unnoticed by young musicians.

Many make music alone in their rooms or began making music during periods of Covid restrictions.

“I’m really interested in the idea of musicians being in a room with other people and enhancing the power of that.”

He said that the studio experience will also reflect the theme.

He and Fisher will bring in session musicians, collaborate with the musicians themselves and also encourage them to work with their peers.

The competition attracts around 80 entries a year. Judging them in the past has been hard, Page said.

Previous finalists have ranged from folk to RnB and electronic music to live bands.

Depot Sound, which has a reputation for supporting young songwriters, has previously hosted acts such as Harper Finn, Head Like a Hole and Dead Favours.

For more information and to submit a song, visit depot.org.nz. Entries close on 31 May.

Desk job... Noah Page started working for the Depot in 2021, through an internship with the New Zealand Music Commission

WHAT’S ON @ Devonport Library

Tēnā koutou katoa

It’s been another stormy few days with dramatic cloudbursts, hail, lightning and rainbows too. If you need a warm, dry space to hang out, the library is the perfect spot. Come and find a good book and a cosy corner till it all passes over. Check out the recommendations in our Great Reads section too. Plenty on this coming month too. All sessions are free and you can just turn up on the day.

Monday 22nd May 2pm - 3pm Conscious

Breathing Techniques. Jefferson Chapple, an experienced breathing coach will lead this calming session of breath techniques to reduce stress.

Tuesday 23rd May 10am - 11 am Borrow Smart and Pay Off Debt Lisa, the local ASB Community Banker will share tips and information on credit and debt. A practical friendly session over a cuppa.

Saturday May 27th 2pm - 3pm Tessa Duder will launch her young adult novel, The Sparrow A historical story of early Auckland with a plot twist, written by a treasured Devonport author. If you loved her Alex book series, you will love The Sparrow.

Sunday May 28th 11am- 12 noon Traditional Composting Techniques. Learn with Pip from the Compost Collective. $40 voucher for each attendee towards a Compost Collective composting system.

Tuesday May 30th 7pm for drinks, 7:30pm for speakers. Two Works, Karl Stead and Kevin Ireland, chaired by Steve Braunias. An unforgettable evening of poetry, memoir and conversation with these very well known authors. A Devonport Library Associates (DLA) event. Our children’s programme goes from strength to strength with fun activities focused on preschoolers on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays at 10am. Afterschool Lego on Thursdays is extremely popular.

As well, we are promoting the upcoming Auckland Writers Festival authors with a display of their books.

See you here or see you there. Remember, books, minds and umbrellas all work best when opened. Ka kite anō māua i a koutou. See you again soon

Local playwright sets sights

Devonport resident Luke Thornborough is eager to achieve blast-off with his scifi thriller play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

But before the writer-director can take the play Alone across the globe to Scotland, he and its two cast members and technical designer have to raise enough money to get there.

What awaits is a coveted opportunity to stage the award-winning production for a month-long run in August.

It’s the sort of chance no budding theatre talent would want to bypass.

Kiwi stars Flight of the Conchords, Taika Waititi, Rose Matafeo and James Roque are among those who built their names with festival performances.

Thornborough reckons Alone is innovative, topical and entertaining enough to stand out.

It is his first full-length play, but the 32-year-old has honed his creative skills making documentaries and advertising campaigns.

He hopes the trip will provide exposure and opportunities, not just for him but also for his long-time actor friends Kat Glass and Courtney Bassett.

Alone is an exploration of climate change, feminism and David Bowie, seen through the interaction of two “diamaterically opposed” characters on a long space journey, he says.

One (played by Glass) is a scientist intent on returning with an alien micro-bacterium to make Earth habitable; and the other (Bas-

sett) is the spaceship commander charged with getting her home.

The trip takes them to the edges of the universe and human nature, with the story unfolding over an intense 90 minutes.

Thornborough reckons it would translate into a decent Netflix mini-series or a movie.

“It’s in the not-so-distant but terrifying future,” he adds.

The actors have worked closely with Thornborough on developing the play in the four years since he wrote it at home in Devonport.

Bassett emerged from Auckland Theatre Company’s youth programme while Glass is a familiar face to North Shore audiences through regular work with Tim Bray Theatre Company.

Alone debuted at the Auckland Fringe Festival in 2020, toured around Covid disruptions, and then ran again at the New Zealand Fringe Festival in 2021, winning awards at both events.

On the back of this, it was taken to the Sydney Fringe Festival last year, where it won positive reviews, before returning for a summer season at Auckland’s Q Theatre.

Securing selection from leading Edinburgh venue operator, Assembly, was a coup.

A season awaits in a near 300-seat theatre in George Square, in the heart of the festival area, where talent scouts often attend shows. Plays such as Fleabag, which became a television series, came out of Fringe, Thornborough notes.

To have any chance of similar recogni-

on Edinburgh

tion, the Alone team first has the challenge of getting to Edinburgh.

The logistics are worked out, with a set that can be folded down into a suitcase. But the finances for travel and expenses aren’t yet arranged, so Thornborough has launched an online campaign on the Boosted arts-crowdfunding platform to help out.

“Everyone is doing it tough at the moment. It’s an awful position to be in, asking for money, but we have to,” he says.

Thornborough may have to make the ultimate artistic sacrifice if fundraising and grant applications don’t come through with all of the $20,000 he is seeking – sending his actors but forgoing the trip himself..

But it’s the teamwork that makes things click, he says, and he would love to be there – at least partly to do some networking in between packing sets in and out.

He is counting down to the end of his Boosted campaign on 28 May, with fingers crossed. “I’m not getting much sleep at the moment.”

He still rises early, however, to continue his daily morning walks up both Takarunga and Maungauika to kickstart his creativity.

Having lived at various addresses in the area for more than a decade – dating back to his student days at the University of Auckland, where he studied film and English – he loves the locale.

And after being involved in some memorable campaigns, including Leave No Trace videos shown on Air New Zealand and Like Minds clips for the Ministry of Social Development, he these days enjoys the flexibility of freelance work.

“I’m often pottering around cafés and the library, writing,” he says.

• By early this week, the campaign to get Alone to Edinburgh had raised close to $6000. To donate, go to boosted.org.nz

The Way We Get By

19-27 MAY

An audacious tale of a very modern romance

Taylor Swift Tribute

9 JUNE, 7.30pm

An acoustic instrumental concert featuring a string quartet and piano

Hits of the Crooners

10 JUNE, 7.30pm

A tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby & Michael Bublé

PH: 489 8360

PUMPHOUSE.CO.NZ

Lure of the Fringe... Luke Thornborough has his sights set on Edinburgh’s famed festival

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