Our West May 2013 by Nourish Magazine

May 2013

Start your…beds?

t s e w our

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Fifty years commitment to a burning passion P4 Te Atatu Netball's 50th Jubilee P6 Icon of the West - Oscar Kightley MNZM P7 The Alcohol Debate P8 For more information on The Trusts, visit our website www.thetrusts.co.nz or email us at info@thetrusts.co.nz

our west Lopdell House Progress

Start your...beds!

Lopdell House Making Excellent Progress

Fifty years commitment to a burning passion 4 Te Atatu Netball's 50th Jubilee 6 Oscar Kightley MNZM

The Alcohol Debate

Did You Know

They Said It

The Trusts Arena

Two men and their donkeys at Gallipoli 11 The Good Times Guide

West Liquor Royal Heights Grand Opening 18 Great Liquor Specials

Earthworks well underw ay for the

new purpose built Lop dell House Gallery.

The long dry summer has been a boon to the Lopdell House redevelopment project with two of the three stages complete and the remaining two on schedule. With stage one is the addition of a new carpark and stage two is the refurbishment of Lopdell Hall - stage three - the seismic strengthening of Lopdell House - is well underway; work has now begun on the fourth and final stage - the addition of a new, purpose built gallery at the Scenic Drive end. The building is due to re-open in about a year. The addition of the purpose built gallery will mean that Lopdell Gallery will acquire the controlled environment that artworks need and is demanded by owners of major collections and exhibitions. Lopdell House Development Trust Chair, Terry Bates, says funding of the $18.6m project is also well on track with $18.2m already committed. He said that the trustees are grateful for the very significant recent multi-year grant of $3m from The Trusts Community Foundation (TTCF) which is yet another proof of the “enormous value TTCF adds to the ongoing development of the social and cultural infrastructure of West Auckland,” he says. Auckland Council also contributed $12m. Mr Bates says that the funding on hand is sufficient “to build the new gallery and complete the gallery floors themselves, but not yet sufficient to complete an education facility and workshop.” Lopdell House Gallery Director Lesley Smith says she and her team will soon begin planning for a new exhibition programme with which to welcome the new facility.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

start your...beds? For the most exhausting fun you can have with a 'bed' in public and not be arrested, welcome to The Great Auckland Bed Race, with its start and finish line at The Trusts Arena and course round nearby Henderson streets. The aim is to raise money for Hospices throughout Auckland and in particular for the West Auckland Hospice, which is building its first in-patient facility. The inaugural race happens on 26th May and if you haven’t yet entered, it may almost be too late because it’s not just a matter of entering - you also have to “make your own bed” - which is not quite as simple as what your mother taught you. With this, you literally have to build a racing bed. However, plans are provided by the organisers which makes it just a little easier. However, if you are too late - or aren’t the bed-racing type you can at least turn out on the day to cheer the contestants on and show support for the West Auckland Hospice, which is a very worthwhile West Auckland facility and one The Trusts are privileged to support. The bed race features specially-built wheeled vehicles that have some vague similarity to a bed. A team of six runnerpushers propel at race-pace around a 2.7 km course of local streets, with a seventh team member riding “in bed”. An eighth has the twin responsibilities of shaking the bucket for the team’s chosen hospice and making sure the team doesn’t break any rules - or at least doesn’t get caught.

TOP: The two BNI (Business Network International) Great Auckland Bed race teams training at The Trusts Arena, with Classic Hits’ Jason Gunn in the lead “bed” and ZM Drive’s Jay Reeves close behind. in the BNI West Auckland entry. BOTTOM: Star of kids’ TV and Classic Hits, Jason Gunn and fellow BNI (Business Network International) team members practice around The Trusts Arena for the Inaugural Great Auckland Bed Race.

The idea is being brought to West Auckland by new migrant Samantha Jung-Fielding, who caught an entirely new species of bed-bug - the bed-racing bug - from a long standing tradition in Knaresborough, near her former home in Yorkshire, in the UK. The New Zealand event is modelled directly on the original that has been organised by the Knaresborough Lions since 1966. It includes having a theme. Bed racing experience however, is non-essential. The organisers have chosen the theme of “Bedtime Stories”, with teams expected to decorate their beds with this in mind. “That should bring a few Scarface Claws, Wild Things, Cinderellas and Little Red Riding Hoods out of the woods,” Samantha says. “There will be plenty of trophies to be won on the day, including coveted prizes for best costumes and best-dressed bed,” she says. The beds are built to very strict specifications for health and safety reasons and also to enable them to negotiate a very tight track. They consist of a frame that supports a seat for the rider, and six handles at about chest height, for the pushers.

The enthusiastic Samantha Jung-Fielding has high hopes for the future of the Auckland event. Knaresborough, she says, started with 4 beds that first year. Last year they had 90 teams and raised $200,000 for charity, which is remarkable from a market town of not quite 15,000 people. “We are well ahead of Knaresborough for our first year,” Samantha said after the entries had been open only a short time. She also praised Auckland Council and particularly the West Auckland events team, for their support and efficiency in getting the various necessary approvals processed quickly.

Fifty years commitment to a burning passion is honoured When you sort through the stories of his 50 years of voluntary service, the only real conclusions you can draw about Owen Pennell, officer charge of the Henderson Volunteer Fire Brigade, is that he is a fireman to the soles of his boots and in his heart and soul he just likes being of service in the community. Oh and making 'his' volunteer brigade the best. Owen signed up for the HVFB in 1963. Fifty years later he’s still putting in 25 hours of volunteer work a week, still going to fires, Officer in Charge, Station Officer, Fire Safety Promotions Officer, Brigade secretary/treasurer, recruiting officer and canteen manager. He oversaw the acquisition of the Environmental Protection Unit at the Brigade. He is also trained in first aid and Civil Defence. He already has the Queen’s Service Medal for services to the New Zealand Fire Services and the Community. Now in recognition of this lifetime’s story the United Fire Brigades has recently honoured, with the 98th Double Gold Star Medal awarded in New Zealand in the past 160 years. And he’s out there still, adding to his legacy in the fire service. Besides his brigade work, he’s the honorary Fire and Safety Officer at The Trusts Arena, a regular on the schools and clubs circuit, teaching fire safety and sometime installer-in-chief of thousands of smoke alarms throughout West Auckland. Fireman by day and fireman by night, he served 21 years in the Auckland Regional Fire Control Room at the Central Fire Station in Pitt Street, rising to supervisor. At other times he’s been a men’s outfitter, truck driver and purveyor of T-shirts he printed himself. After 50 years and more than 11,000 call outs, it’s inevitable that this genial, amiable 72 year old (he was born on Winston Churchill’s birthday in 1940),

has thousands of stories, many of which ended not just badly, but horribly. Until 1979, for example, the Henderson brigade had had no fire fatalities in 50 years. Then, in one year, there were three and Owen found all three bodies. But equally many are stories of life being snatched from the jaws of death. Among the jewels is the fact that he personally has brought three people back from the dead through his CPR skills. One on-going triumph is the HVFB’s Environmental Protection Unit - a distinctive white fire truck laden with life saving equipment, the vast mass of equipment needed to protect the environment from toxic spills and to help redirect flood waters, and equipment for lighting, salvage and rural fire fighting. Bought with a grant from The Trusts Community Foundation (TTCF) and operating with support from The Trusts, this has paid for itself many times over. It assisted after the Albany tornado and was actually in Whenuapai when last year’s killer tornado struck. Interestingly, a photo of the truck at the scene turned up in a newspaper in Bahrain! Most profound, however, was its role in the two Christchurch earthquakes. After the first quake, it headed south to Palmerston North where it stood in readiness to support the entire South Island while other equipment was sent to help the stricken Garden City. Moments after the second quake struck, Owen’s granddaughter called him from Christchurch and after calming her, he realised he was one of the few people in Auckland at that moment, who knew what had happened. Grasping the full implications, within minutes he’d made calls to central headquarters, emptied the EPU, thrown a week’s worth of clothes in a bag and raced to the Central Fire Station. There the truck was loaded with the Civil Defence gear it would need in Christchurch and Owen drove it straight to Whenuapai, where an RNZAF 757 was being readied. The truck’s contents having been transhipped to the plane, Owen returned to central where it was loaded again and then driven to Christchurch by full time fire officers. Owen stayed behind but the truck proved itself invaluable again. “It has more than justified its cost and the donations that have paid for it,” he says.

50 year fire fighting veteran Owen Pennell with the Environmental Protection unit.

Over the years TTCF, with recommendations from elected members of The Trusts, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase safety equipment to be donated to every West Auckland home. This equipment has included, smoke alarms and fire extinguishers and Owen made it his business to install thousands of the smoke alarms - including 1500 installed in retirement villages. And if all that’s not commitment enough to the subject of fire, at home there are cabinets chock full of model fire appliances, badges, insignia, photos and other fire fighting memorabilia. In a next door room, there is a massive model railway based on London’s Euston Station - but the only obvious connection with his “burning passion” is that most of the locomotives are of steam engines (well, the real ones do have a fire in them!). Downstairs, in the double garage, a 1969 Pontiac Firebird is undergoing restoration and coincidentally or not, it’s fire engine red.

Imagining cru isin' Route 66...

Owen, Owen, Owen. It sounds like a one man job, but in fact Owen has been part of a team of two for the entire 50 years. He was going out with the “very beautiful” 18 year old Janet when he first became a fireman. They married a year later, he says - reeling off their anniversary date - and had a family of two one of each. So, Janet has been there the whole time, the indispensable other member of their team who makes what he does, possible. “She is the most honest, tolerant, stoic, supportive, no-nonsense person I know,” he says. “I couldn’t have done all this without her. She is still beautiful today and I love her.”

Ross family an integral part of Te Atatu Netball's half century Netball families with a passion for the game are relatively common, but to have three Life Members and three generations currently involved in one local netball club, is the exceptional and possibly unique position Te Atatu Netball finds itself in. The Ross “Dynasty” from left: Debbie Sellar, Marion Ross, Monique Campbe ll-Ross, Karyne Ross

What’s more, three members of that same family - the Ross family - are on the committee organising the 50th Jubilee for Saturday 1st June 2013. The Ross’s have been synonymous with netball in Te Atatu since ages ago and are one of several families who have 2-3 generations of extended whanau strongly cemented in the club. The “dynasty” includes matriarch Marion, her daughters Debbie and Karyne and granddaughter Monique. It all began 40 years ago in the 1970’s, when Marion took up primary grade coaching. Two talented daughters joined her and spent their playing lives from juniors onwards, with Te Atatu Netball. So deeply have they become embedded in the well-being of the club over the years, all three have the honour of being Life members, indeed with Monique now carrying on the tradition, they have come to regard the club as their second family. Marion has held a variety of roles over the past 40 years. Her late husband, Graeme, was a steadfast supporter of Te Atatu Netball too, vocal both courtside and at social functions, and very proud of his girls’ achievements. “The club has always been very active on the social scene,” says Marion. “With annual trips away, end of season tournaments, the club hasn’t just built on the strength of talented players, but from camaraderie and family involvement too.” Debbie and Karyne played representative netball for Western Districts in their younger years, and with an involvement of more than 30 years service to Te Atatu Netball and associated netball organisations, they have been immersed in administration, coaching and committees. More recently Karyne has taken position as Coach Development Officer.

“The mind is willing but the knees are a bit tattered,” jokes Karyne. “The next best thing to playing is to help nurture a new generation of talented girls. It must be in the blood. Watching my own daughter, Monique, grow in the sport is really special. I love it.” “Among the club’s objectives is to foster and recognise member loyalty” says Debbie, and accordingly it is abuzz with the upcoming 50th Jubilee in June. “We are planning a heck of a gathering, and can’t wait for old and young members to reconnect, sharing stories and really embracing the spirit of the club. It’s been such a big part of our lives, as for so many families for decades,” says Debbie. Past and current members are invited to join in the Jubilee celebrations, Saturday 1st June 2013. At the Te Pai Events Centre in Henderson, it will be a memorable occasion for a memorable sports club that has served West Auckland for half a century - and the opportunity to relive past glories and renew old friendships.

Register at teatatunetball50@gmail.com or go to www.sportsground.co.nz/ teatatunetball for more information. For further information contact: Karyne Ross Jubilee Organising Committee, Te Atatu Netball Club Mobile: 021 333 591 Home: 834 8762 Email: karyne252@xtra.co.nz

icons west of the

West Auckland/Waitakere has produced an extraordinary number of extraordinary New Zealanders - men, women, families and companies - who have been unique, outstanding and yes, that much overused word, 'iconic'. We will profile one of them each month.

Oscar Kightley

MNZM - a star in an expanding universe “The hit film Sione’s wedding - co-written by Oscar Kightley - burst upon the New Zealand scene in 2006 unleashing a uniquely Polynesian brand of humour into New Zealand film. It was instantly popular with the biggest opening weekend of any local film, grossing over $3 million in its first weekend and reaching number 1 at the New Zealand box office.” So reads the opening paragraph of the biography that accompanies Oscar Kightley’s place on the Waitakare Walk of Fame. If that biography had been written half a decade earlier it would have read differently, just as one written today reads differently again. Join the dots, however, from the late ‘90’s to 2013 and what emerges is an ever rising graph of achievement, of impact on society, of success and of evolution of the man as a multi-talented creative who borders on and may be, genius. For one thing, there’s been a second Sione’s Wedding, for another, Harry has arrived on the scene, and for still another Oscar Kightley is now Oscar Kightley MNZM - Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film and television. It’s not a bad CV for the boy from Apia, who grew up in Te Atatu having been sent after his father died at age 4 and without knowing a word of English, to an aunt and uncle in this strange and foreign place. With no disrespect to his aunt and uncle, he was desperately homesick for Samoa and his mother who could not emigrate for another four years. Perhaps it’s circumstances like these, that breed funny men and women. It is a common enough thread in the life-stories of so many; “life isn’t funny so I must make it so”. Having said that, Oscar Kightley has never fitted into just one mould. He’s not just a funny man. And he’s not just an actor; he’s also a very fine playwright, and script writer with a CV stuffed with intelligent, perceptive and powerful social commentary. Examples include: Fresh off the Boat, A Frigate Bird Sings and Niu Sila (all co-written), and the solo written Dawn Raids.

He’s also been a presenter on kids’ TV (Life in the fridge), a TV sports show presenter (SPORTZAH) a TV documentary maker and director and theatre company founder and director (Pacific Underground). All of that came after stints as a Qantas Award winning reporter who had time in newspapers and on radio.

Kightley came to prominence however, with New Zealand's first animated TV series, Bro' Town which in many ways grew out of the previous peak in his comedic career - The Naked Samoans. Now we have Harry - which he also co-wrote and significantly also stars - Sam Neill - who has never before acted in a New Zealand drama series. In the mould of some brilliant but personally conflicted detectives, Harry is the very unfunny, but intensely human story of a Samoan detective Harry Anglesea investigating a murder in an environment awash with P in Auckland, while wrestling his own issues and coping with being a solo father. Sam Neill plays his friend, mentor and boss Jim “Stocks” Stockton. By all accounts Sam Neil was drawn to a programme that is “special”. Intensely realistic and clearly drawn from genuine police life. It has none of the slick qualities of shows like CIS and NCIS, and all of the raw, compelling, emotionally draining grittiness of real life: police realism, family strains and demands, crime, drugs, awfulness, overwork and underpay. So the stellar success graph for the former Rutherford College pupil seems set to rise to new heights and given that he’s only 43, it has no apparent ceiling. And yet the man behind it all, the funny and lugubrious Oscar Kightley - or to give him his Samoan name, Vai Osar To’elau Mase - remains one of New Zealand’s “Mr Nice Guys” - a trait common in West Auckland celebrities.

Oscar Kightley - Icon of the West, The West salutes you.

The Alcohol Debate - Fact or Fiction Did you know that research shows that a large number of popular 'solutions' to alcohol related problems don't work? Wherever there are alcohol related problems that affect this community, it is my duty to identify solutions that work and advise those that set the rules around the sale of alcohol so they don’t fall into the trap of adopting politically popular “solutions” that don’t work. The Americans discovered that with Prohibition. Often “the obvious answer”, is exactly the wrong thing to do and only research and experience can tell us what actually works and what doesn’t. For my part, I prefer to learn from looking to the mistakes and successes of others. The important question is always: What does past experience in New Zealand and around the world, tell us? Experience and research shows us, in fact, is that the Licensing Trusts model works very well here in West Auckland. When we have finished modernising our business, we will have a retail liquor store environment that is second to none. I’d like to say second to none “in the world” because that is our goal. Nevertheless, there is a huge public debate going on about alcohol - binge drinking, the drinking age, opening hours - and so on. As usual there is a rush to find the “obvious solution” which is always “one size fits all”. Of course, as West Auckland proves there is no “one size that fits all”, and a lot of what is being said, just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. So, I now want to share with you a range of Fact versus Fiction discussion points that the Hospitality New Zealand has assembled from a very wide range of very reputable research at home and abroad - often involving actual experience and its outcomes. This is not my research nor my opinions but I am sharing them for your information as the public debate continues.

Popular opinion: Blanket closing times reduce problems. Fact: In fact this can be counter-productive and can actually increase trouble and aggression.

Popular opinion: One-way-door policies are effective. Fact: The evidence is inconclusive and one-way-door policies have been withdrawn in most places where they've been tried in Australia.

Popular opinion: Regulating licensed premises is the only way to change behaviour. Fact: Around 75 per cent of alcohol is not consumed on licensed premises. Popular opinion: Regulations on licensed premises are

too loose. Fact: These premises work under strict conditions and with comprehensive host responsibility.

Popular opinion: Additional restrictions won't have any negative flow on effects. Fact: There will be huge implications for many industries including tourism, one of our biggest industries. In the year to March 2012 tourists spent 12 per cent of their budget in this area. Popular opinion: Alcohol volume continues to increase. Fact: Not so. Volumes have been going down steadily for years. Total volumes fell 15 million litres or 3.3 per cent last year, compared with 2011.

Popular opinion: New Zealanders are big drinkers and are drinking more. Fact: We’re actually drinking less and per capita, we’re not even in the top 50 “big drinking” countries. Popular opinion: It is easy for underage drinkers to buy alcohol. Fact: Offences are dropping in licensed premises. We believe The Trusts have very effective systems to prevent under age purchasers in our stores. Popular opinion: If people want to get drunk they go to bars and nightclubs. Fact: The number of offences on licensed premises has dropped. It is illegal to get drunk - or be drunk - on licensed premises. Popular opinion: Many licensed premises are not obeying the Sale of Liquor Act. Fact: Since 1999, recorded offenses against the Act involving licensed premises have dropped. Popular opinion: Bars and clubs are making big profits. Fact: A recent survey found 48 per cent of bar and club owners paid themselves less than the minimum wage in 2011 and 2012. Thanks for reading. In a later issue I will share some well researched facts about alcohol and sport. As usual the facts are very different from a lot of popular opinion. What you can expect from The Trusts is a very responsible and considered approach to meeting the public demand for purchasing alcoholic beverages in a manner that ensures profits made in West Auckland stay in West Auckland.

Kind regards

Simon Wickham CHIEF EXECUTIVE

They said it... The message about the Trusts Model being a good one, is definitely spreading and we’re not the only one’s spreading it, in fact we’re being supported in some interesting quarters. In November we proudly reported how at a dinner celebrating 75 years in the New Zealand wine business Soljan family patriarch, Tony paid a tribute to The Trusts, suggesting to the Prime Minister that if the rest of Auckland’s liquor industry was managed by The Trusts it would be better for the community and better for the winemakers. “It’s the best system,” he said. He elaborated on how The Trusts model made sure that there wasn’t a proliferation of liquor stores and how as a result we don’t have the level of liquor related crime and other problems that are prevalent in many other parts of New Zealand. We read a similar sentiment in a recent issue of Beer Wines & Spirits Magazine, the following extract from an interview with Peter Fredatovich of Blanc on Lincoln Road. “I think The Trusts model has benefits for the local community. Probably

their biggest contribution is preventing the proliferation of minor liquor outlets that have become abundant in other parts of Auckland. The recent refit of their stores has been well received by the community.” It’s equally good to have the good opinion of your Prime Minister. At the opening in March of the $5 million Surf Club at Muriwai, several speakers talked about how The Trusts and TTCF had been key supporters and how good The Trusts Model is for West Auckland. Prime Minister John Key said in response that he, too, supported The Trusts and the way they operate and the benefits they bring to the West.

Did You Know... 1. That Licensing Trusts were set up 70 years ago? They were established to create a way in which the public could own the liquor businesses in their town and ensure that liquor was sold responsibly.

2. The public control The Trusts?

7. The Trusts can't stop others getting liquor Licenses and gaming licenses? We have absolutely no say in either area.

8. There don't seem to be many liquor stores in West Auckland?

Our trustees are West Auckland people elected by you every three years. They are accountable to the community. You can talk to them and you can vote them out if they don’t do a good job.

3. Trustees are up for re-election this year? Trustees are elected every three years at the same time as the Council and the District Health Board. There are two Licensing Trusts - Waitakere and Portage - with a separate trust board for each. Trustees are governors for the sale of liquor (by The Trusts) in their area.

That’s good. Our research shows that most West Aucklanders are happy that West Auckland has the right number of liquor retailers compared with many areas of New Zealand that have a proliferation of outlets and issues.

9. The Trusts are great local employers? • We are one of the biggest employers in West Auckland with more than 400 staff across 43 businesses.

• We don’t offer jobs - we offer careers with full training and encouragement for people to develop their professional skills and move ever upward in the organisation. Career paths include management, marketing, hospitality services, retail and logistics and supply.

• Our people work as part of the team designing ever new and better ways of doing things - we set and agree goals collaboratively.

• We have such a good reputation that more than 3,000 people are registered with us looking for a career at any one time. Many of them tell us they want to work with us because they’ve heard we’re a great place to work and they like the benefits The Trusts bring to West Auckland.

• In 2012, we won the Kenexa Award as the most improved large workplace in New Zealand.

4. The Trusts don't do gambling? The pokies in our premises are owned by a completely separate organisation usually referred to as TTCF. TTCF is a Class 4 Gaming Society that owns the machines and distributes profits back to worthwhile causes in the West Auckland community as grants and donations. The Trusts have no control over that but elected Trustees may make recommendations to TTCF about the many applications they get from the public, for money. They cannot however tell TTCF what to do.

5. The Trusts supports 200 organisations? The Trusts provides, gifts, donations, sponsorships and rebates to 200 organisations, schools and clubs each year in West Auckland.

6. The Trusts aren't a monopoly? People say that we are but just over half of the licensed premises in West Auckland are privately owned. A number of these “competitors” are licensed clubs sports clubs, RSAs, restaurants, cafes and so on - we make them even more competitive by selling them their liquor at competitive prices.

10. We have world-class customer service? We’ve had the world-renowned Dale Carnegie organisation create a course that trains our staff to give world-class customer service. Our job isn’t to just take your order, it’s to make you feel welcome and to use our product knowledge to give dependable, quality advice.

The Trusts Arena - The Jewel in the West Auckland Crown

Many things make West Auckland the best place in New Zealand to live and one of the biggest and best of them, is The Trusts Arena or as it was known until recently, The Trusts Stadium. It is one of the finest community assets in the country - and perhaps even in the world. Where stars like One Direction will be strutting their stuff one day, or motorbikes are flying above the Fight for Life crowd and the next day, it’ll be the venue for something like Trash to Fashion or Toddlers Day Out or Diwali, or the Waitakere Fireworks display, or a trade show or a conference, or a netball test, or even the netball world cup and sometimes several of those events at once. One day our kids can watch their sporting idols and the next they can be playing on the same floor as their heroes. Because it is such a symbol of all that is good in West Auckland, The Trusts is very proud to have its name on this beautiful building and proud to renew its sponsorship for another 10 years. Leading the driving forces who created The Trusts Arena, was that outstanding Westie, Ross Dallow. Ross, one time Police District Commander, pillar of the Waitakere Athletics Club, sports administrator and international coach and, for many years, a Waitakere City Councillor, had been project leader when the athletics club built its first indoor stadium in 1982. By the early 2000’s it had a much grander vision - The Trusts Stadium - and once again Ross was in the driving seat. Ross brought to the project his mantra that projects must be: “on time, under budget, debt free and financially sustainable for the future.” The new stadium project ticked all those boxes in becoming a truly glittering example of the Waitakere Way. It was to be built and owned by a trust and it would realise the minor miracle of being both a top commercial operation and a community asset. This would be achieved by working “hand-in-glove” with the Waitakere City Council which knew the community desperately needed a central hub for all manner of activities; a “town hall” as Mayor Sir Bob Harvey said.

The fifth largest city in the country, Waitakere had both a diverse population that needed an events centre and a huge youth population playing court sports. What it needed was a multipurpose arena with surrounding sports fields. It had to be big and it had to be financially sustainable by “earning its own living” without ratepayer subsidies. And yet, it had to be affordable for the community to use.

That set the challenge. To earn the income it needed, it had to be an outstanding world-class venue that would attract the very best in New Zealand and international sports and events. But to be attractive it had to be competitively priced. That meant it had to be a very efficient not-for-profit operation, where the running costs were so small that income was greater than expenditure resulting in surpluses to subsidise very large amounts of community use at very affordable prices. It is a matter of record that it was so well conceived and is so well run by the Waitakere City Stadium Trust and management, that it consistently meets all its visionary targets. It is a venue of choice for New Zealand and International events and yet the public can use it for as little as $3 for a child and $5 per adult. A school athletics day using the international Douglas Track and Field can cost just $300. In response, the public uses it in droves, with an average of 1,800 users a day - or half a million a year. To meet those financial objectives, everything about the Arena had to be trend setting and innovative. Following the Council’s eco city principles, it was planned to integrate environmentally sustainable design, materials and operational systems. The resulting building has a healthy and pleasant indoor environment, a small carbon footprint and relatively low running costs. Furthermore, the public of West Auckland got this fabulous venue at a bargain price because “The Waitakere Way” kicked in. Instead of ratepayers being asked to pay the $28 million purchase price, the Waitakere City Stadium Trust (chief fundraiser Ross Dallow, naturally) raised $16 million from funders such as TTCF, The ASB Trust, Lotteries Grants Board and many, many, other organisations - and The Trusts was one of the bigger contributors. The Council (ratepayers) contributed $12 million - less than half what it would have paid to provide its own venues. In return, it received the benefits of having a world-class community asset available. It purchases a certain amount of time for community use each year - an obligation it would have to meet anyway, but at a higher cost because it wouldn’t have the costs subsidised by the Arena. The same generosity has characterised subsequent developments. The name “Douglas Track and Field”, reflects the great generosity of Douglas Pharmaceuticals and its founder, Sir Graeme Douglas, in bringing that venue to international standard. Private individuals too numerous to mention, helped pay for the floodlights. All in all, around $60 million has produced a venue we honestly believe is second to none in the world.

Two men and their donkeys at Gallipoli It is, probably, the most famous Anzac image from the First World War. It is certainly the most celebrated case of mistaken identity. In many ways, it represents the true Anzac spirit because one painting represents the courage of two men - one Australian, the other Kiwi - working together. The image is of a medic at Gallipoli, evacuating a wounded soldier sitting on a donkey. In Australia it was long considered to be a portrait of John Simpson, an Australian medic who pioneered the idea of using a donkey to rescue the wounded. That, however, was mistaken identity. We now know that it was painted from a photograph of Corporal Richard (Dick) Henderson Military Medal (M.M), a New Zealander who was doing the same work. Both men returned hour after hour, day and night, to walk fearlessly into the battlefields, picking up the wounded and bringing them down to the beaches - Simpson using a donkey named “Murphy” in some stories and “Duffy” in others; Henderson using “Rolly”. Simpson died at Gallipoli, cut down after three weeks, by machine gun fire. Henderson survived at least a further six weeks, and went on carrying out his fearless work on the Somme where he was awarded the newly struck Military Medal for courage. His charmed battlefield existence ended at Passchendaele, in October 1917, when he was gassed and later evacuated home. Henderson, who had been at the fronts for three years from the start of the war, never fully recovered. He returned to school teaching, living for a time in Millbrook Road, Henderson, but had to retire at 41 when the effects of the gas made him blind. He died aged 63, in 1958 and there is a plaque to his memory in row 11 of the “Soldiers L” sector of Waikumete Cemetery. The MM is one step down from the VC and there are many who believe to this day, that both Simpson and Henderson deserved the VC.

Moore-Jones, Horace. (1916) Heroes of the Red Cross. Private Simpson, D.C.M. and his donkey at Anzac. Auckland Commerce Club. Corporal Richard (Dick) Henderson’s plaque at Waikumete Cemetery

A number of myths grew around this brave pair. “Murphy and his Donkey” came into the story because someone thought “Murphy” was Simpson’s name. It was also believed that Henderson took over from Simpson when he died, but while he got the idea of using a donkey, from Simpson, Henderson was doing the work before Simpson was killed and they worked side by side for a period. Because he believed Simpson deserved recognition, Dick Henderson let the mistaken identity continue almost until his death, at which time he decided to put the record straight. His version is verified by several factors. The photograph from which the portrait was painted was taken a week before Simpson died and surviving photos of both Henderson and Simpson show quite clearly that the man in the portrait is the former Henderson resident. Now the portrait is acknowledged under different names on both sides of the Tasman, as one picture that represents the immense courage of two Anzacs working together, saving life. In a final twist to the tale, John Simpson’s real name was John Simpson Kirkpatrick and he wasn’t, strictly speaking, Australian; he was an Englishman serving in the Australian forces at Gallipoli. 11