In brief

Blowing our own biro Wild rice spread

Mangawhai residents are being asked to keep an eye out for new patches of Manchurian wild rice grass amid fears the invasive pest plant could have been spread during recent flooding. The Northland Regional Council says in Northland, the core rice grass infestation occurs in the Kaipara District on the banks of the Wairoa River and its tributaries, and on adjacent farmland. There are also small infestations in Mangawhai on pasture and cropping land, roadsides, and in and around creeks and farm drains. Due to the scale of the infestation, total eradication is not possible with current technologies, but the goal is to progressively contain it and reduce its distribution. Manchurian wild rice is a giant grass that grows up to four metres high. Native to Asia, it arrived unintentionally in ship’s ballast near Dargaville more than 100 years ago. It has harsh, dull green leaves that are one to two centimetres wide and grow in fans.

Marine pest spotted

Biosecurity New Zealand is reminding boaties and fishers to clean their anchors and fishing gear and reduce the risk of introducing or spreading any exotic seaweeds after a small clump of suspected Caulerpa brachypus was spotted on a Bay of Islands beach. Biosecurity’s director of readiness and response John Walsh said a local resident, who had been at a beach at Te Rāwhiti, near Russell, took a photograph of the 20cm seaweed clump they found and sent it in for visual identification. “We did provisionally identify the seaweed as Caulerpa brachypus based on the photograph, but unfortunately the seaweed was no longer there when the person returned so we have been unable, at this stage, to collect a sample for confirmation testing. We do have a small team up there doing beach-based surveillance. We know that exotic Caulerpa can be spread through breaking into little pieces and can potentially spread over large distances by rafting on floating debris. This can happen by wave action, or when anchors and fishing gear are moved into or through weed beds, which is why keeping your boat and equipment clean is the best thing you can do to avoid spreading marine pests and diseases, including the exotic Caulerpa.”

Book winner

On May 27, several staff from Mahurangi Matters put on their glad rags and beat a path to the annual Voyager Media Awards in Auckland. These national awards celebrate excellence in New Zealand journalism and this year was an extra special occasion because it marked the event’s 50th anniversary. It was also a special occasion for this newspaper, as we were one of the finalists in the Community Newspaper of the Year category.

We were up against a strong field from across NZ and sadly, we did not win. That well-deserved honour went to the Ashburton Guardian, a tri-weekly newspaper that has been printing since the late 1800s. But we were named runners-up, and we think being singled out as the second-best community newspaper in NZ isn’t a bad achievement.

While the major stories captured the limelight – reports from the war in the Ukraine, the Wellington protests and the Black Ferns win at the Rugby World Cup – there was a recurring acknowledgement of the importance of hyper-local reporting, the stories that tell us what is happening on the ground in our communities.

The appetite for news that can be trusted has never been stronger, but unfortunately, when people think “media” they often don’t differentiate between the news stories produced by trained and experienced journalists, and opinion pieces that populate many of the larger news sites, the posts they see on social media or advertorial written to please an advertiser. It was good to be in the company of fellow professionals who are dedicated to their craft, showing innovation in delivering stories through multimedia platforms. The Ashburton Guardian, like Mahurangi Matters, has started to encourage its readers to support its journalism through an online membership programme. We are grateful to the people who have already signed up to our Premium subscription package. Thank you for your support, which means we can continue to bring the Mahurangi district the sort of news service it deserves.

One of life’s little mysteries

The Warehouse’s move from Snells Beach to Warkworth delivered an unexpected and touching story that may never have been uncovered had the Snells store not closed. Warkworth resident Stephen Becket takes up the story …

In February, a friend was looking at the local Facebook page and suddenly exclaimed, “Isn’t that your Mum and Dad?” that this photo could be reunited with the family. Pictured are Deirdre and George Becket.

She was looking at a photo that someone had put up enquiring who these two people were and did anyone recognise them? I did.

It was a photo I remember seeing many years ago, as a boy, of my mother and father taken during World War II. My father, who was a lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers, was in uniform and my mother was in civilian dress. She was wearing a brooch that she later gave to me after my father died.

My father’s rank and uniform suggest that the photo was taken in 1944 just before he was sent to India, after surviving D-Day and the invasion of Western Europe. He was sent to India in preparation for the invasion of Malaya, which never eventuated because the war ended owing to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan and Japan’s subsequent surrender. He returned from Malaya a Captain.

The other clue was that my mother was in civilian dress. During the war, she was a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, after being bombed out of her home by the Germans. She was the first person demobbed from the WRNS because her husband was going to India so that would have been why she wasn’t in uniform. All her other war-time photos had her in uniform.

A lady who worked at the Snell’s Beach Warehouse Store, Jenny Walsh, found the photo in the company safe when she clearing the office prior to the move to Warkworth.

Instead of just throwing it into the bin, she made an effort to trace the owner – which I’m truly grateful for. Apparently, the photo had been found among the photo frames back in 2018 and someone had put it in the safe in case anyone claimed it. And there it lay until February.

After much toing and froing, I managed to contact Jenny and showed her the brooch my mother had been wearing, and she very kindly gave me the photo.

The Warkworth Photo Store did a marvellous job of tidying it up, as it was fairly scrunched up, and they reworked the old photo and we had it framed. This I then sent to my mother in the UK as a present for her 100th birthday in April. She really appreciated receiving the photo and has it displayed at her home – despite her age, she lives independently and needs no medication or assistance.

Where the photo came from and how it ended up in the Snells Beach Warehouse, we have no idea. I do have other family here but no one claims to know anything about it. One of life’s little mysteries! So, thank you, Warehouse, and a big thank you to Jenny who could have just as easily consigned the photo to the bin. You made one very old lady very happy.