Tim Bray illness ends theatre tradition... p19
Milford tops wider Auckland’s flood-risk charts
Milford has more seriously flood-prone properties than any other Auckland suburb, latest council figures reveal.
By the end of November, 99 Milford homes had been assessed as meeting the threshold for a council and government buyout offer, more than in any of the high-profile West Auckland
neighbourhoods also badly hit by extreme weather in early 2023.
The number of Milford homes in that ‘Category 3’ group – considered to present an intolerable risk to life from flooding – was expected to grow in the weeks before Christmas, the council’s Recovery Office said.
Grin and bear
In comparison, assessments in Muriwai, which has the next highest number of Category 3 properties at 69, are largely completed. Henderson, Rānui and Swanson also have many Category 3 homes, but they too are further ahead in the process.
To page 2
Season’s greeting... Takapuna Normal Intermediate School students Luna Couto (left) and Chloe MacLeod, (both aged 12), with a giant teddy bear at the Milford shops Christmas event, held the week before Takapuna’s Christmas Festival last Saturday. Carmel College also held a celebration. Pictures, pages 14-15.
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Flood-fix frustration prompts meeting
From page 1
The news of Milford’s unwanted worst-affected status comes with demolitions ongoing in the Nile Rd and Alma Rd areas, where owners have already accepted buyout offers. Others are yet to decide on deals.
Late sign-ups to the categorisation process after an Auckland Council outreach to properties considered at risk, means final figures might not be known before the end of March.
“There were definitely people sitting on the fence until the last minute,” a Flood Recovery Office spokesperson said.
North Shore MP Simon Watts, who has organised a public meeting to discuss next steps for remediation this Friday evening, 6 December, said he did so because of a “degree of [public] frustration around knowing what is going on”.
mitigate some of those businesses in Wairau, particularly at the southern end near Pak’n Save,” he told the Observer this week.
For homes in Milford, remediation would mitigate the risk, but did not remove it entirely. For owners of homes that had been red-stickered, it would not be sufficient for them to stay in their properties.
Watts said the meeting, which he and Northcote MP Dan Bidois were holding in conjunction with the Milford and Castor Bay residents associations, was a chance for people to get an update and ask questions.
By mid-2025, Watts – the Climate Change Minister – expected the government would lay out its climate adaptation plan. Insurers would be involved in talks on the plan.
The Recovery Office spokesperson said its intention was to work with the community in the New Year to get input on how land left vacant after buyouts was managed and used.
He hoped council’s Healthy Waters staff would update locals with their infrastructure ideas, rather than provide a generalised overview, as at earlier meetings.
Flood mitigation planning for the Wairau catchment including Milford was well advanced, Watts said. Healthy Waters had completed a review of causes, infrastructure changes required, cost estimates and a proposal with “quite detailed plans”.
“Solutions proposed by Healthy Waters will
Council had also recently confirmed a limited one-off $5 million scheme for homeowners to repair slips on council road reserve land that affected access to their properties.
In total, 60 homes have been removed across Auckland to date, with 900 likely to go over the next two years. Materials from the North Shore homes are going to community recycling centres in Devonport and Wairau.
Happy holidays from us to you
The saying “Survive to 2025” is doing the rounds. Let’s use it less as a reminder of a tough year in which post-Covid malaise lingered and more as a beacon through the often stressful and busy month of December towards a sunny holiday break.
As some of our stories and letters in this our final Observer of 2024 indicate, a number of community concerns remain ongoing. We will be back into those issues from our first 7 February paper, but we hope in 2024 we have also brought you stories that uplift, information that helps you better understand and enjoy your area, and services and advertisements that allow you to access and support our businesses.
As we countdown to time with family and friends, let’s continue to think, act and support local. Ours is a wonderful community and we thank you for welcoming us into your homes. Meri Kirihimete and Happy New Year from the team at the Observer. (Our office reopens on 20 January). — Janetta Mackay
Authorised by Hon Simon Watts, Parliament Buildings, Wgtn.
proposal
Beach.
Successful proposal makes a splash on Milford Beach
Milford beachgoers were witnesses to a romantic surprise when a marriage proposal was made – and accepted – on the beach late last month.
Dog walkers, swimmers and sunbathers all burst into applause when Darren Pilosi proposed to his partner of nine years Kiri Vertongen at midday on Milford Beach two weekends ago, and Vertongen accepted the proposal.
Pilosi said he chose the location because Vertongen “loves the beach” and he wanted to do something that would be memorable for her.
Pilosi’s six daughters set up a blanket and champagne on the sand in a ring of roses for the occasion. When she said yes, they ran to congratulate the Beach Haven couple.
Happy couple... Kiri Vertongen and Darren Pilosi after she accepted his seaside
on Milford
Below: Pilosi popping the question amid roses arranged by his daughters.
Shore loses two Wood takes
Stained glass windows by a well-known artist are being lost to the North Shore with the demolition of a chapel at Lady Allum retirement village in Milford.
The chapel is being deconsecrated this week and, along with an adjoining care building, will be demolished by village owners Oceania Healthcare in January to make way for redevelopment.
Two of three stained glass chapel windows, commissioned as a triptych by artist Claudia Pond-Eyley in 1998, are being moved to a Presbyterian Church facility in Mt Roskill.
One of these is understood to be a panel with specific local imagery, including a depiction of Rangitoto Island.
One panel, showing the chapel itself, will be retained at the village. But community members have raised concern at the removal of the others.
“I don’t know of another building on the North Shore which has such magnificent stained glass windows, depicting elements of our history and created by such a significant New Zealand artist,” said former long-serving local-body representative Jan O’Connor.
“It’s a pity that all three windows can’t remain here,” she said.
“The chapel and windows relate to the North Shore and are very much part of the village’s history. They are part of North Shore history too, as so many people for the past 60 years have visited family and friends. Over that period many more have attended services in the chapel.”
Oceania says it consulted thoroughly with village residents on the chapel’s future.
It asked Presbyterian Support Northern and the Northern Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church to join it for the deconsecration service on Wednesday 4 December,
stained glass windows as chapel comes down
Due for demolition... The Lady Allum village chapel and (left) one of the three windows of its stained glass triptych by artist Claudia Pond-Eyley, with a panels showing North Shore scenes, including Rangitoto seen through native bush.
followed by a morning tea to celebrate the chapel’s legacy.
The chapel, opened in 1997, was partially paid for by fundraising by parishioners at St George’s Presbyterian Church in Takapuna and local service groups.
The village, which dates to 1968, was operated by Presbyterian Support until 2003.
The windows were installed in 1998. Pond-Eyley, who later created windows
for St Mary’s Cathedral Church in Parnell, is also known for earlier collaborative work done to mark the Women’s Suffrage Centennial in 1994 – a mural in Lorne St, on stairs below the Auckland Art Gallery.
Oceania’s chief property and operating officer, Andrew Buckingham, said a small group of residents still used the chapel regularly.
Other services, including Catholic and
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Anglican services, were held in the village care centre.
Both the chapel and the care-centre space would be replaced by new communal areas that would better serve the needs of residents.
Religious services would be held in a contemplation area in an existing building. “The aim is to ensure that residents continue to have access to quiet, peaceful areas for reflection and connection.”
At a meeting where plans for the redevelopment were outlined, only one or two residents had expressed a desire to keep the chapel, he said.
“After the meeting we did not receive further feedback, indicating broad consensus on the decision.”
The new development would provide enhanced communal space for the entire village, Buckingham said.
He said Oceania had worked closely with the Presbyterian groups on relocating the windows.
“We will be keeping one of the pieces, which holds special meaning to us.”
The executive officer of Northern Presbytery, Dr Rod Watts, said the chapel was Lady Allum’s, so not “our business”, but the Presbytery had been asked to provide a minister for the deconsecration service. “They [Oceania] said we had two surplus stained glass windows and did we want them.”
He was unaware of their history or imagery. But they would be used within a new church initiative in Mt Roskill. “All I know is we are getting the two windows considered surplus.”
Buckingham said the window being kept showed imagery of Lake Pupuke and the Waitematā Harbour, adding a sense of local significance to the new environment.
Pupuke story laid out on new signs for lake visitors
A new sign displaying information about Lake Pupuke for visitors was unveiled at environmental group Pupuke Birdsong’s end-of-year celebration on 27 November.
The sign is one of three with information about the introduced and native flora and fauna in the lake, along with details of how and when it was formed in two volcanic craters, its depth, its condition and what people can do to improve it.
The signs are at Sylvan Park, Killarney Park and Quarry Lake Reserve.
Departing Pupuke Birdsong environmental coordinator Tabitha Becroft said many visitors who come to see the lake don’t understand that it’s an important ecological feature, so the idea behind the signs was to provide the key educational information so people can appreciate it for what it is.
The signs were funded with grants from the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and North Shore Forest and Bird.
Becroft, who has had her role at Pupuke Birdsong since 2021, is leaving this month to take up a community-programmes ranger role at Auckland Council, working city-wide.
She told the Observer she would still be involved with Pupuke Birdsong in a volunteer capacity, while Takapuna North Community Trust manager Natasha Geo and Pupuke Birdsong ecological advisor Maisie Ramsay
Water quality the big worry for Pupuke users
Water quality is the biggest concern for new Lake Pupuke working group, comprising representatives from clubs and organisations who use the lake.
“They even say it’s a given that any activity on the water, if anyone has a scratch or an open wound of any kind they just expect it to get an infection,” said Auckland Council sports and recreation lead Mike Thompson, who attended last month’s first meeting of the Pupukemoana Stakeholders Group and last week presented a summary to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.
The board has previously asked for the development of a restoration plan for the lake and surrounding area.
Other topics raised by the users included safe water access and establishing a booking system for use of the lake.
Board chair Toni van Tonder said that if a system to book space on the water was introduced, it should be made publicly accessible so visitors who wanted to use the lake could see what was happening.
Thompson said representatives of 11organisations attended the first lake stakeholders meeting. Establishment of the group is a local board initiative.
Good to know... Pupuke Birdsong ecological advisor Maisie Ramsay and departing environmental coordinator Tabitha Becroft with one of the new Lake Pupuke signs giving information about the lake
will take over her duties.
Around 35 volunteers were at the organisation’s end-of-year picnic at Quarry Lake Reserve.
The Zhu family of Vita, Lenin and Ronald, who immigrated from China two years ago, won the family volunteering award.
Lenin said volunteering had helped them discover parts of the area they wouldn’t have otherwise known about.
Vita said she used to do conservation/ restoration work in China but that she’s still learning about the different native species in New Zealand.
Illegally released carp may be behind Quarry Lake toxic algae issue
Grass carp have been illegally introduced into Quarry Lake in Milford, a move council experts believe could have contributed to harmful algal blooms.
The blooms – observed at the lake last summer along with significant weed loss – can be harmful to humans and pets, especially dogs.
Further blooms are likely in the man-made lake near North Shore Hospital this summer, an official from Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters department told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board last week.
Grass carp have been seen in the lake and their DNA was detected in testing in April and June, although the Department of Conservation (DoC) consent required for the legal release of such fish has not been obtained.
The fish, which can live for 20 years, eat weed, meaning less nutrient is absorbed, helping create conditions which can cause cyanobacterial algal blooms.
Wai Ora strategic programme principal Janet Kidd said the growth of aquatic weed in the lake had previously affected its use for model yacht sailing by the North Shore Radio Yacht Squadron and canoe polo.
As a result, Healthy Waters removed weed
annually from 2018 to 2021.
The weed continued to be a problem for the squadron, however. At a local board community forum in April 2022, the group proposed that sterilised grass carp be released into the lake for weed management.
Healthy Waters advised against a release because of the increased risk of algal blooms and a lack of support from iwi and DoC. By last summer, weed was no longer an issue, but algal blooms led to public health warning signs being placed around the lake and canoe-polo events being disrupted.
While the presence of carp is one potential cause of the algal blooms, officials believe an influx of water during flooding in early 2023 stirred up sediment and may also have been a factor.
Kidd said Healthy Waters was looking into options for dealing with the fish, such as paying $13,000 for professional removal, inviting bow hunters to shoot the carp, or electrocuting them. But with uncertainty over outcomes, it might choose not to act.
Deputy chair Terence Harpur said members of the public should be invited to catch the fish to get rid of them. Member Gavin Busch suggested hosting a fishing event at the lake.
Team effort... The Zhu family, Lenin, Vita and Ronnie (front) at the Pupuke Birdsong end-of-year picnic on the western side of Lake Pupuke, where they were won the environmental group’s family volunteering award
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TAKAPUNA BEACH
Bollards could cut event traffic-management costs
Removable bollards proposed for Hurstmere Rd could save thousands of dollars a day in traffic-management costs for events.
The Takapuna Beach Business Association (TBBA) last month asked the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board to support the investigation and installation of event bollards at the southern end of the road.
TBBA board member Simon O’Connor said traffic management to close Hurstmere Rd costs $7500 plus GST a day, creating a significant barrier to putting on events. It was also an unsightly way to close the road.
The installation of removable bollards was “a way to minimise the significant costs” associated with putting on events, allowing better events to be held more often, he said.
The bollards would benefit any group or organisation looking to stage events, not just the TBBA, he said.
The system could use the low-cost option of manually installable bollards with padlocks, such as those in Waiwharariki Anzac Square, or remote-controlled retractable versions like those installed in Mercury Lane near Karangahape Rd.
Area’s emergency plan ready to go
Distribution of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board’s emergency management plan will start this month after its adoption by the board last month.
The ‘Emergency Readiness and Response Plan’ has information for people living and working in the area on how to prepare for and respond to an emergency. It gives key contacts for local groups and locations of emergency hubs. Specific threats unique to the area, risk reduction and recovery support are also included.
The 25-page plan will be uploaded on the local-board website and shared on social media. Physical copies will be provided to key community groups.
A launch will follow in February next
year, with a more extensive media campaign, promotion at community events, and printed copies being shared with Citizens Advice Bureau offices, council libraries and community groups. Smaller fact sheets will be made available too.
The plan was developed under an Auckland Council initiative to create emergency plans for each local-board area. This area is the first to be finished.
It is separate from community-led plans for local suburbs, which have made patchy progress, with concerns about resources and how they dovetail into the official response.
Member George Wood asked why the full launch was next year. Staff said time was needed to translate the plan and print it.
The TBBA recently completed a survey of Hurstmere Rd businesses which showed 78 per cent of the 82 respondents supported the installation of bollards.
O’Connor said the association advocated unsuccessfully for event bollards during the design consultation for the 2020/21 street upgrade and has continued to promote the idea to Auckland Transport (AT) and council.
The local board asked that the matter be brought to the attention of AT and that it present a workshop to the board on how the bollards could be provided.
Early coffee shot
The popular Takapuna Beach Cafe has been told not to open so early in the morning. It has been opening at 6am, which led to a complaint from nearby neighbours.
Paul Northover, Team Leader Compliance, Auckland Council said: “Following a complaint, the council was made aware of a discrepancy between the Takapuna Beach Café’s operating and consented hours.”
The council issued an abatement notice, and the café was now operating within its consented hours of 7am-8pm, he said. Regular cafe users have expressed disappointment at the change. An application to council would be required for a change of hours to be considered.
Shore high schools name top scholars for 2024
Westlake Girls High School
Hamy Le has won Westlake Girls High School’s Dux award. Hamy achieved excellence marks in all of her internal assessments this year and also won the school’s excellence in physical sciences and excellence in English trophies. She was the top student in art history and English writing and gained distinctions in calculus, physics and chemistry. In Year 12 last year, she gained firsts in mathematics, English, and Level 3 biology, plus two distinctions. In Year 11, she was also the top scholar. Next year, Hamy is studying for a bachelor of engineering at the Universi-
High calibre... Westlake Girls High Dux Hamy Le (left), Carmel College Dux
Rubbish project compels boys to act
More rubbish bins are needed on the North Shore, two Takapuna Normal Intermediate School students have told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.
Year 8 students Blake Bull and Baxter Frost said they decided to research the topic after reading an article saying residents were unhappy at the Auckland Council decision to remove over 30 per cent of the North Shore’s rubbish bins to cut costs. The bins were removed early this year.
The pair surveyed more than 130 people, finding that 90 per cent of respondents had encountered a situation where they needed to use a rubbish bin and couldn’t find one.
No progress on clean-up at Te Uru Tapu
Work planned to clear litter and weeds from Te Uru Tapu above Takapuna Beach has still not got underway.
The closed-off area of protected old pohutukawa, was due for attention in August, Auckland Council staff told the local board in mid-July.
Asked by the Observer about the hold-up last week, area operations manager Sarah Jones cited “unavoidable personnel delays.”
“We anticipate this work to be started in the new year,” she said.
and more enjoyable to be in.
Blake and Baxter told the Observer they had researched the topic for a school inquiry project and decided to present to the board because that could have a bigger impact than just raising awareness at school.
Board chair Toni van Tonder said she was impressed by their “thorough and detailed” presentation.
The holdup had also delayed co-operative design workshops with mana whenua and community representatives, she said. This is over paths, fencing, landscaping and the approach to fixing the rock seawall around tree roots. “As these workshops have not started, there is currently no timeline on when the options will go to the local board,” Jones added.
Meanwhile, a resource consent to clear a fallen pohutukawa from the grove, which has lain on the lawn of The Sands apartments for several years has been notified for submissions. No council officer recommendations have been made yet, and a hearing date has not been set.
Milford/Takapuna Summer Tides
Face off... Ten-year-old Kiyan Banci gets in the festive spirit at Milford Shopping Centre on 23 November. Below: At Carmel College on the same day, mother and daughter Veronica and Rocio Almiron and couple Joy and Mel Tul-id, whose daughter is a pupil, browsed stalls, while the school choir (bottom) entertained with carols.
Spirit of the season arrives with Shore festivals
It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas when crowds turned out for seasonal celebrations in Milford (opposite page) and Takapuna over the past two weekends.
Carol-singing, costumes, treats from stalls – and the big fella himself – helped create plenty of festive atmosphere.
Meet and greet...
Right: Milford Primary School students Mateo Runcie-Ventura and Riley Kadar (both
Having
a ball... (clockwise from above) Becky Quinn with her children Theo (9, left) and Cooper (2) in front of the Takapuna bauble; sisters Hirushi (7) and Tharushi (11) Gamarurutne wore matching Christmas attire. Finn (6), Isla (8) and dad Denham Koni came prepared for the wet; Forrest Hill family William, Bonnie and Oliver (2) Liu didn’t let the drizzle get to them.
7) with Santa.
High-flying Westlake Boys cricketers aim to better
Westlake Boys High School’s first XI cricket team’s big hitters are aiming to continue their form at the national schools tournament, for which the side recently qualified for the second year running.
Westlake beat Auckland Grammar by 58 runs in the final of the premier district limited overs competition, on 23 November, to become the Auckland representative for the Gillette Cup, the national secondary schools one-day competition.
Coach Paul Strang said it started as a tight game but Westlake were able to keep the pressure on. Once the match broke open, they were able to win more comfortably than the scoreline suggested.
Their second title in as many years comes after a season in which some impressive individual performances helped Westlake win 11 games and lose just two.
Batters Brandon Matzopoulos and Ethan Holman terrorised Takapuna Grammar School, scoring 115 and 151 respectively against the local rival in February and then scoring 117 and 116 against them in October, becoming the first two Westlake players to achieve hundreds both home and away against the same school in a single season.
New Zealand young cricketer of the year Jordan van Zyl has impressed throughout the season, while off spinner Luke Har-
rision has been an unsung hero for the side, said Strang, a former Zimbabwean international who played 24 test matches and 95 one-day internationals.
All-rounder Nishil Patel, who opens the bowling and is a middle-order batsman, has also been a constant contributor, he said.
The entire squad has contributed to the side’s success, said Strang, sticking to team
values and having “put the hours in” to become better cricketers, including during off-season fitness training which helped them become fitter, faster and stronger, he said.
That had helped the team play a “high tempo” brand of cricket this season, aiming to constantly apply pressure to the opposition.
last year’s second at Gillette Cup Sport
They will look to go one better than last year’s second-place finish at the Gillette Cup when they compete in Canterbury from 11-16 December.
Strang said last year’s silver medal has been hanging above his desk all year, giving him more motivation for a different outcome this time around.
He said preparation for nationals was
different to that required for the Auckland season, as the team will play five games in six days, requiring the mental strength to cope with the schedule and mounting pressure as the tournament progresses.
The team will also have to play on different pitches than they’re used to and in variable Canterbury conditions, so it will have to be adaptable to succeed, he said.
College Sports winners
A record number of Westlake Boys High School students won awards at the Auckland College Sports Young Sportsperson of the Year Awards last week. Tai Rhodes won the softball category and collected an all-rounder award; Ezra Morgan-Tafea was named twice as well, for touch and Ki-o-Rahi. Other winners were Damion Kim, for football and Kaawyn Patterson, for rugby league. Curtis Norton was recognised as a student official. The school had a further eight students who were finalists in categories, three of them in sports where a fellow Westlake student won the category. Westlake Girls High School’s Mary Malkova won for gymsports, while Sadie Graham-Hughes won for Ki-o-Rahi. The school and Carmel and Rosmini colleges also had finalists.
NZ netball contenders
Four Westlake Girls High netballers from the premier team which came fourth at secondary nationals have been named for Netball New Zealand’s January camps which lead to selection of the New Zealand Secondary Schools side. They are Year 12s Karmen Maritz and Talia Chatfield and Year 11s Aayliah Sina’au and Phia Marshall.
Takapuna Cricket Club prems in top half of two-day table
Takapuna’s premier cricket side sits mid-table in the Hedley Howarth two-day Auckland competition with pre-Christmas games completed.
The side is fourth out of eight teams, having notched two wins and one loss in three games – the last a first-innings win over North Shore in a local derby played at Onewa Domain.
The Jeff Crowe one-day match scheduled last Saturday against East Coast Bays was washed out with each side given 1.5 points.
The premiers face a full calendar prior to Christmas – one-day matches on 7 December (vs Auckland University at Onewa Domain), 14 December (vs North Shore at Devonport Domain) and 21 December (vs Cornwall at Cornwall Park).
The Martin Guptill T20 competition starts on 11 December, with Takapuna playing Hibiscus Coast (at Victor Eaves Park, Orewa) and East Coast Bays on 18 December at Onewa Domain.
Top talent... Batter Brandon Matzopoulos and bowler Nishil Patel in action
AT’s Milford parking blitz upsets locals, hits business
Milford is an excellent town centre. Lake Pupuke on one side, Milford Beach on the other. A centre with a full range of retail and hospitality but still small enough to retain its ‘village’ feel.
Locals love it – especially because it has plenty of parking and no meters. Milford has been a well-kept secret, flying under the radar. Until now.
In November 2023, Auckland Transport (AT) told Milford Business Association (MBA) manager Murray Hill that AT was planning a parking study in Milford.
MBA objected. In November 2024, ignoring MBA’s feedback, AT commenced its parking study.
Financially constrained Auckland Council spending ratepayer money on an unwanted Milford parking study makes no sense.
As an MBA member, I have little doubt the study is pre-determined to conclude that paid parking is needed in Milford.
Meanwhile AT has recently launched a ‘parking blitz’ in Milford. Shoppers exceeding 30-minute kerbside parking are being regularly ticketed.
AT has a ‘camera car’ which photographs car registration numbers. Thirty minutes later, AT drives back. If your car is still there, you receive a ticket in the mail. Milford’s two main off-road carparks are patrolled by AT wardens.
MBA manager Hill, himself the recipient of a $20 ticket for parking six minutes over time, has successfully promoted Milford for 15 years, and is proud of its success until AT’s parking blitz of last month.
In October, Murray tells me, Milford hos-
pitality sales fell dramatically by 16.6 per cent, while Auckland-wide sales increased by 0.5 per cent. Milford hospitality suffered a $370,000 drop for the month.
The parking blitz is both upsetting locals and damaging Milford businesses. Even if AT issued 1000 tickets in Milford in October at $20 per ticket, that would total $20,000. Milford businesses lost more than $18 for every dollar AT gained. AT’s Milford parking blitz is both unwanted and uneconomic.
Parking in Milford works well already. AT is not solving a parking problem. AT lacks Christmas cheer, and is the problem. Milford needs AT to leave, and to have the centre back to the local, well-liked, friendly village it has always been.
David Schnauer, MBA member
Coastline’s eloquent cavities a Te Araroa drawcard
Many thanks to New Zealand’s geological heritage maven, Bruce Hayward, and Auckland Council’s Kate Lewis for taking up the legal cudgels and forcing the landowner to fix the damage he’s caused to Takapuna’s fossil forest – a protected geological taonga (Rangitoto Observer, November 22).
When designing Te Araroa we had to choose between bringing the trail down the eastern coastline into Auckland or going west through the Waitākeres. One big reason for choosing the eastern route was the extraordinary volcanic coast between Milford and Takapuna.
The Pupuke lava flows of 150,000 years ago swirled through forest here. The forest burned, yet in holding out against that molten
tide imprinted itself time and again as a cast within the cooling rock. And to concrete up these eloquent cavities and hollows left by the forest of 150,000 years ago: Outrageous.
On the other hand, so good see the wooden fences that had been blocking Te Araroa along that same coastal stretch have now been removed.
Thanks to the two families involved. They’ve gone out of their way to make sure their short section of the Milford-Takapuna coastal track is now open again, metalled, edged with driftwood and looking very tidy indeed.
Lava flows date back 200,000 years
There’s no doubt we must be grateful that the Rangitoto Observer informs us well on a wide range of local issues.
But isn’t it a sad indictment on the extent of our general knowledge that the lava flows that have been damaged by concrete work on the Takapuna-Milford coast should be reported as merely ‘centuries-old’?
The Auckland Council website and numerous other publications state that the eruption that created the lava flows, leaving
behind a fossilised forest and the crater we know as Lake Pupuke, occurred at least 200,000 years ago.
We should be aware of these basic facts in return for the privilege of living close to this area which is significant on a global scale.
As Lord Byron wrote, “Man marks the earth with ruin, His control stops with the shore.”
If only!
Gilda Misur
Why no prosecution over damage?
After reading in your latest edition about the homeowner who had listed on his title the protection of the lava flow adjacent to or on his property, I am horrified and would like to know why Auckland Council is not prosecuting the homeowner for wanton damage. Council, take action so this does not occur again.
Lynne
Lagan
Limiting terms on local board would weaken democracy
At the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board (DTLB) last Tuesday (19 November), the chair Toni van Tonder put up a second motion this term with the implication I should move on.
This is sadly not the first time she has tried this. In February 2023, chair Van Tonder indicated I should be replaced after four terms of three years to give a more diverse representation and bring new skills and thinking. This year the maximum would be three terms, so the board gained an infusion of new skills and world views.
If these thoughts of the chair and her supporters on the board became law, I would be on the way out at the end of this term. Interestingly, we had a debate that went around the houses and I was able to help the chair and officers sort their way through interpretation of the local board’s standing orders when an amendment was proposed.
As an elected member I am supposed to put in around 20 hours per week. I feel strongly that I pull my weight and contribute fully.
Imposing term limits on elected representatives undermines democra-
cy, disrupts governance and hinders progress. It takes power away from the voters, the very foundation of our system, and places unnecessary restrictions on representation.
This makes me wonder what democracy must look like in the minds of chair Van Tonder and her team.
In New Zealand it has been a common tenet of central and local government that there are no restrictions on the time people can remain in office. Arbitrarily removing experienced representatives would create a shortfall in institutional knowledge. Elected members who have been around for a while know the “run of the ropes” and certainly won’t be hoodwinked by the officers.
This motion limiting terms for elected members was passed four votes to two. It will be interesting to hear the response from our two ward councillors who would also be caught in this restriction.
George Wood DTLB member
Geoff Chapple Founder, Te Araroa
Curtain falls on Bray shows as founder fights cancer
A decades-long children’s Takapuna Christmas tradition will end at the PumpHouse this month with the final performances by the Tim Bray Theatre Company.
The company is being wound up because its founder and artistic director is unwell with cancer.
Bray (pictured), who has written, directed and produced singalong children’s shows, is a nationally recognised pioneer in staging performances suitable for audiences with audio, visual and sensory challenges.
Through gift-a-seat arrangements with sponsors and supporters, including the local Becroft Foundation, his company has also provided access to live theatre for students who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to experience it. “We’ve seen Tim Bray Theatre lead the way. It’s been a role model in accessibility,” said PumpHouse business manager James Bell.
Bray himself was compassionate and inspiring, providing actors and technicians with paid opportunities and “knowing what the audience wanted”.
Bell said Tim Bray had been a big part of the theatre’s programme for 21 years, booking in for up to 16 weeks a year, making the company the theatre’s biggest customer. “He does four shows a year at the PumpHouse and then tours around Auckland.”
become a North
institution.
Bell praised the company’s resilient “show must go on” attitude to the 2024 production, which opened last Sunday.
Bray said in a statement last week: “While we have conducted a diligent search for a successor, our chairperson, Peter Winder, aptly described the challenge as “trying to find a unicorn”.
His health challenges, including the need for ongoing chemotherapy, meant he did not have the energy or capacity for the essential handover and training required.
Creative Abilities
Bray is suffering from desmoplastic small round cell sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, commonly seen in children. It is incurable, but he is focusing on managing its spread.
Trustees said the decision to wind up the company was made with “deep regret”. They emphasised it was not as a result of financial issues.
The near $2 million enterprise is the second-largest theatre company in the city by audience size, after the Auckland Theatre Company. Last year alone, 34,420 people saw its shows, with 7398 of them benefiting from the gift-a-seat programme.
Founded in the CBD, it soon expanded to the North Shore, with the PumpHouse becoming a favourite venue. It used Takapuna Football Club’s rooms for rehearsals.
Bray’s contributions to theatre – including being the first performing arts company to offer New Zealand Sign Language-interpreted performances – led to him receiving the Queen’s Service Medal in 2017. “We are immensely proud of our legacy and the joy we have brought to generations of children and their families,” Bray said.
Bell said the PumpHouse was looking at ways to continue staging children’s theatre and to fill scheduling gaps.
• The Santa Claus Show 2024 runs until 22 December. Book through pumphouse.co.nz
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the fun
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Shore
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Local players contest national prizes
Rising local musical talents including a 14-year-old Westlake Boys High School student are vying for prestigious national prizes to be decided in Takapuna this month.
Pianists Madeleine Xiao, aged 19, from Forrest Hill, and Henry Meng, 20, from Milford, are in contention for the Lewis Eady National Piano Competition. Fourteen-yearold Shan Liu, from Westlake Boys, is in the National String Competition.
The competition performances are open to the public.
Both events are being held over three days, with a total of 30 musicians from throughout New Zealand to be whittled down to six finalists in each discipline. A grand final evening will be held at the events centre at Westlake Girls High School on 16 December.
Liu is one of the youngest competitors. The Year 10 student has already compiled an impressive musical biography and was named an AIMES Emerging Talent Winner by the North Harbour Club this year.
He has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the New Zealand Symphony and had success in competitions here and overseas. Last year he became the youngest
Xiao is a former Carmel College student who has already graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Auckland. She has performed overseas, along with winning competitions locally, and was awarded a talent development scholarship to tour Europe. As a chamber musician, she has performed with a range of musicians and in her own emerging ensemble, the Kaha Trio.
Meng, who is also a composer, is still studying at the University of Auckland. He has performed with the Auckland Philharmonia and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and his compositions have been performed by orchestras including the NZSO. In 2023, he placed second in the National Concerto Competition, and received the Todd Young Composer’s Award.
• Tickets to the Grand Final, on 16 November at 7.30pm at Westlake Girls High School events centre, are available through Humanitix.com, or at the door: $50 for adults, $35 for Gold Card holders and $25 for students. (Due to live recording of the final, attendance by children under eight is not recommended.)
Shore writers share final resting place
Literary history was repeated recently when the ashes of the late Devonport writer Kevin Ireland (1933-2023) were added to those of the late Takapuna writer Frank Sargeson (1903-1982) at the Sargeson property at 14 Esmonde Road, Takapuna.
Frank Sargeson lived and wrote at the Esmonde Rd property from 1931 until his death 51 years later. Ireland was befriended
and mentored by the much older Sargeson and in 1957-58 lived in an army hut at the rear of the property.
Since Sargeson’s death, the Sargeson Trust has preserved Sargeson’s house as a literary museum. His ashes were scattered under a loquat tree at the property in 1990. Last week, Ireland’s ashes were scattered under the same tree.
winner of the National Junior Piano Competition.
Shore talents... (from left) Shan Liu, Madeleine Xiao and Henry Meng
‘Pure delight’ promised in ballet take on the Bard
Ballet fans are in for enchanted evenings in Takapuna next week, when the Royal New Zealand Ballet winds up its year with a strikingly staged performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The magical Shakespearian tale will be brought to life at the Bruce Mason Centre from 13-14 December. Soloist Shaun James Kelly (pictured), who plays Puck, is reprising a role he first danced in 2015. He says the ballet remains a highlight of his decade at the RNZB and he is looking forward to hearing the laughs and gasps of the audience as the story, set in an enchanted forest, unfolds. “It’s funny, quirky and unashamedly romantic. Flying across the stage in the magical forest world is pure delight for the dancers and audiences.”
NOW SHOWING
There’s Still Tomorrow (M)
Moana 2 (PG)
Gladiator ll (R16)
Never Look Away (M)
Memoir of a Snail (M)
Red One (PG)
Sharko (E)
SPECIAL SCREENINGS & EVENTS
A Real Pain (R13)
Advance Screening 8 Dec 90min
Kurosawa Season:
Sanjuro (1962) (PG) 8 & 11 Dec 92min
STARTING 12 DEC
Kraven the Hunter (R16)
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
PICTURE: STEPHEN A’COURT.
Stage to be repaired
A new stage floor will be installed at the PumpHouse Theatre over the Christmas break. Money from a Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Fund is paying for the work which completes repairs to flood damage, with carpets having been replaced earlier. Underlying tongue and grove will be sanded and new ply laid before the theatre reopens in mid-January.
Shakespeare works given different twists at PumpHouse
Shakespeare in the Park returns to the PumpHouse Theatre next month, but with a twist: both plays will have new interpretations, with Richard III set in 1940s gangland London and The Taming of the Shrew given an all-female cast.
It’s the first time in 29 years that Shoreside Theatre has moved away from its traditional approach, seeking to employ fresh storytelling methods.
Although the setting and costumes of Richard III, directed by Cath Boniface, have changed, the story of Richard of Gloucester using manipulation and deceit to become the King of England, and the traditional dialogue used, remain the same.
Actor Meg Andrews, who plays Queen Elizabeth, said the change in time and place works well, as the play’s key themes can translate into any setting.
“You can drop [Shakespeare’s] stories into any time period and it just works,” she said.
“If you’re looking at the plot of Richard III, it’s about a man who wants to be in power at all costs but shouldn’t be in power at all, and you just look at the people in power around the world and that’s a reflection of right now.”
Andrews, who is appearing in her fifth Shakespeare season, said she’s used to acting like 16th-century royalty, so figuring how to bring the physical elements of the performance into the less socially strict late 1940s London was a challenge.
She’s previously played Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Portia (The Merchant of Venice) and Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, who like Elizabeth are all strong characters but in different ways, she said.
“Elizabeth is one character that grows in her strength throughout the play, whereas other characters that I’ve played like Lady MacBeth or Titania, they are strong from the get-go.”
Portraying the character requires acting out a lot of grief, as Elizabeth loses many people close to her. Andrews has had to find different ways to show that grief, so it isn’t repetitive for the audience.
“I’ve realised there’s actually numerous ways to grieve. There’s a stillness sometimes, sometimes there’s rage, sometimes there is lightness and laughter, so I’m just trying to find a variation in all of those things.”
Originally from Palmerston North, Andrews moved to Auckland in 2012 to pursue acting, then worked as a freelance actor and director until she started as the PumpHouse’s marketing and box office manager five and a half years ago.
• Shakespeare in the Park is on at the PumpHouse Theatre’s outdoor amphitheatre from 18 January to 15 February 2025. Tickets at pumphouse.co.nz.
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Outdoor flow... Meg Andrews, who plays Queen Elizabeth in a Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III, has had to adapt to its late-1940s London setting
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