Waimea Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
Wednesday 6 November 2019
Win a Shwinn
Page 3
This Saturday See page 16 - 17
Fireworks on the track
Page 25
WW2 vet: “I’m not skiting!” Bruno Saia Reporter
bruno@waimeaweekly.co.nz
Alfred Richardson may be 98-years-old but the Richmond resident still remembers his days as a WW2 wireless operator well. While he didn’t see any action, Alfred’s role was a vital one – relaying radio messages from army officers. “You sit there with your headphones on, for four hours a day, and then you go four miles on your bicycle.” Alfred was stationed in England from the beginning of the war to two years afterward. He now lives at Oakwoods in Richmond and is one of the special guests at a lunch hosted by Motueka Returned Services’ Association (RSA), next Tuesday, 5 November. The event is for the remaining World War 2 veterans living in our region and will start at midday at the local RSA (49 High St, Motueka). About his experience during the war, Alfred says it was not particularly dramatic. “In New Zealand, if you tell a good story they say you are skiting (showing off), if you put anything in the paper about me, everyone will say I’m skiting, I have been to more than 30 countries and I’m not skiting, but I will be next Tuesday,” he says.
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Higgins Heritage park chairperson John Hurley personally knows the capacity of each “baby” tractor of his brand new ‘Honey train’. Mountain Valley Honey at spring grove donated the honey drums, which are spacious in leg room when cut down and as John says “can fit children both young and old, and even older folks who want to feel young again.” The only risk that I can see for John is that folks will just not want to get off. Photo: Supplied.
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