Print Page - Doing it in Gizzy (and around the East Coast)

Newspaper editor of 29 years steps down

NZPA | 7:10PM - Friday, 09 April 2010

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LONG-SERVING EDITOR: Iain Gillies, left, vacates the editor's chair at The Gisborne Herald after 30 years
as the paper's leader writer and will be replaced by Jeremy Muir. Gisborne, NZ, Friday, April 09, 2010.
— Photo: NZPA/Gisborne Herald/Dave Thomas.

The longest-serving editor of a daily newspaper in New Zealand, Iain Gillies, stepped down as editor of The Gisborne Herald after 29 years today.

But the man whose two great interests have been journalism and football will continue at The Herald as a part-time sports reporter.

Gillies emigrated to New Zealand, when he answered an advertisement in the British soccer press for players interested in moving to Gisborne.

He was well-qualified, having been on the books of Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic and ending his professional career with Crewe Alexandra in England.

After studying history and geography at Edinburgh University, he started his journalism career at the Scottish newspaper company Thompson and Leng.

He joined The Gisborne Herald in 1959 and was made deputy and then chief reporter in 1974, before he was appointed editor in September, 1980.

Gillies has won seven national journalism awards including the Cowan Memorial Prize for historical journalism three times. They were for a 32-page feature on the Cook Bicentenary, a feature on the Williams family to mark the centenary of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, and one on the centenary of local government in Gisborne. He also led a fourth editorial team win of the Cowan award for a publication marking 100 years of the newspaper.

He has also won the Balm Award for sports writing, and on three occasions has won the NZ Football Association Award for feature writing.

Three sons, a sister and niece Amanda Gillies, now Australian correspondent for TV3, all followed him on to the staff of The Gisborne Herald.

Gillies has been a mainstay of the Eastern Union, later Gisborne City, soccer club.

He represented New Zealand at a tournament in New Caledonia and coached both Gisborne City and Thistle.

Arriving in time for the 1959 season, he had success immediately as part of the Poverty Bay team that won the EFA trophy, making them the top provincial team in New Zealand.

He became player-coach in the 1960s, taking the club first into the Central league and then the National league. In the mid-1980s he took Gisborne Thistle into the Central league as player-coach.

He continued to work with Gisborne City in a managerial and coaching role, which he filled with Kevin Fallon and other coaches. The team won the national league in 1984 and the Chatham Cup in 1987.

Gillies is still actively involved in the game and holds a proud record of having coached at some level every year since he arrived in 1959.

• Jeremy Muir, who has been editorial manager of the Herald for the past seven years, will replace Gillies as editor.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3567072/Newspaper-editor-of-29-years-steps-down (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3567072/Newspaper-editor-of-29-years-steps-down)

When tsunami warnings turn bad ...

The Gisborne Herald | Thursday, 22 April 2010

WHEN the tsunami warning came, Richard Carlson knew he had to get his cannabis stash to higher ground.

So he had nearly eight kilograms of the drug in his car when police spotted his broken tail light and pulled him over.

"These facts, with respect, could only happen on the East Coast," Judge Tony Adeane said in Gisborne District Court yesterday.

The facts lay ‘between irony and farce’, said the judge.

Richard Toihau Carlson, 57, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis for supply and was sentenced to 12 months home detention.

Judge Adeane said Carlson's vehicle was stopped on September 30 on the corner of Te Araroa and Waiomatitini Roads, just south of Te Araroa township, where police found 7.9kg of cannabis in 15 plastic bags.

Carlson said he was moving the cannabis because of a tsunami warning.

The cannabis was mouldy but would have been worth $40,000 in good condition.

Carlson was not a character replete with criminal convictions, as was normally the case in such matters, the judge said.

But the court would not condone such offending or encourage a situation where offending of that nature was lionised.

Carlson's offending was particularly dangerous to young people, said Judge Adeane.

Counsel Doug Rishworth said Carlson was active in the community.

There was a drug culture in the region, which was difficult to reconcile with a man of Carlson's character.

Crown prosecutor Jo Rielly said the cannabis was not in good condition. There was no evidence of sales and police were not looking for Carlson.

It had been a random arrest. Carlson was relocating the cannabis and there was an element of hoarding.

"It defies rational explanation."

Carlson was considered to present a low risk of re-offending, she said.

He was a community man who had placed himself in this predicament.

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=16961 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=16961)

SFO on failed lender's trail
By Maria Slade
5:30 AM Sunday Jan 30, 2011

The Serious Fraud Office has uncovered a mysterious $10 million money-go-round involving failed Gisborne finance company Rockforte Finance.

The small local financier only had depositors' funds worth a third of that.

Rockforte was placed in receivership in May, calling on the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme to repay $3.2 million to 77 mum-and-dad investors.

Receivers Indepth Forensic say the Government will be lucky to recover 10c in the dollar from Rockforte's loan portfolio.

After opening Rockforte's books the receivers filed complaints with the SFO, the Securities Commission and the National Enforcement Unit of the Companies Office over the "apparent misappropriation of investors' funds".

SFO's general manager of financial markets and corporate fraud, Simon McArley, said it had not been possible to pay out some investors.

"There's a small group who didn't receive their money back under the deposit guarantee scheme because they couldn't locate where the money had gone. It's a matter of tracking it down.

"Obviously there's the same money going round and round. It's pretty good for a finance company that only had $3 million, but there you go."

McArley said the SFO was investigating three sets of transactions: the missing deposits; undisclosed related party lending and unauthorised transactions.

The last two accounted for the greater part of the $10 million. "The allegation is that the money ended up in companies related to the directors and there's a whole swag of those we're looking at."

Rockforte's directors are Gisborne accountant Nigel O'Leary, former banker and Rockforte's manager, Colin Simpson, and local car dealer John Gardner.

Indepth Forensic principal Dennis Parsons said the Inland Revenue Department had filed petitions to liquidate a number of companies associated with the directors.

Indepth Forensic was also the liquidator of New Wave, a failed chain of surfwear shops run by O'Leary's daughter and son-in-law and described as "hopelessly insolvent", and of a company that ran the troubled womenswear retail chain Jean Jones. Jean Jones was the subject of an acrimonious ownership battle between its founder, Michael Ward, and O'Leary and Gardner. The O'Leary-Gardner company that took over the Jean Jones assets is also now in receivership.

Many investors outside Rockforte had bought shares in and given loans to some of the related companies. "It's a big deal in Gisborne," Parsons said. "I had three calls [this week] from people who've invested money, who want to know if there's a claim they can make against Rockforte."

People were owed large amounts - in one case a man had invested $1 million, he said.

Indepth Forensic's complaint to the authorities also related to its concerns about the accuracy of Rockforte's registered prospectus and of the company's books and records.

Rockforte's portfolio was mainly small loans on secondhand Japanese imported vehicles. "Security for loans can generally be described as poor and in some cases non-existent," Indepth Forensic said in its latest receivers' report. Thirty-five loan files could not be located.

It believed Rockforte's figure of $1.1 million in overdue loans was "materially inaccurate" as the company regularly refinanced non-performing loans, effectively removing them from its records.

Its investigations also revealed "material undisclosed related party lending" worth $2 million, it said.

Surfers' dispute

One of the directors of failed Gisborne finance company Rockforte Finance was at the heart of a bitter dispute within the surfing community.

Nigel O'Leary was secretary/treasurer of Surfing New Zealand and a dominant voice in the organisation when efforts by parts of the membership to get new blood at the top ended in the High Court.

In 2008, Surfing Taranaki sought a judicial review of the previous year's board election, arguing that proxy voting had been allowed against SNZ's rules. The court agreed proxy voting was not permitted but stopped short of overturning the election results.

There had been concerns about the way SNZ was being operated, particularly around finances, member John Wilson said.

But SNZ chief executive Greg Townsend said that was "rubbish".

O'Leary, who stepped down in November 2009, was a "fantastic board member. I haven't got a bad word to say about him."

By Maria Slade

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10702948

Classic Kiwi campground for sale

Love the beach and have a spare $1.4m?

By CATHERINE HARRIS - The Dominion Post | 11:52AM - Friday, 30 December 2011

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PARADISE: The Tatapouri by the Sea camp ground, just north of Gisborne, is on the market.

ENJOY YOUR CAMPING HOLIDAY? A business opportunity in Gisborne is offering people the chance to make it a lifestyle choice.

The Tatapouri by the Sea campground, about 13 kilometres north of Gisborne, has been put up for sale.

Popular for its fishing and nearby surf breaks, the campground can take up to 180 campers.

The property is being marketed by Bayleys Gisborne agents Greg Robertson and former world lifesaving Ironman champion Cory Hutchings.

Mr Robertson said in its hey-day in the 1970s and 80s, the Tatapouri settlement was a magnet for the local surfing community and free campers.

With few camping grounds on the market, he said there had already been widespread interest.

"The enquiry has been as far out as the UK and Australia, and we've also had Timaru, Tauranga as well as Gisborne people looking at it."

The campground has been split into two titles and Mr Robertson thought the properties might go for $600,000 to $700,000 each.

During New Zealand's property boom last decade, many campgrounds around New Zealand were put up for sale.

Rising coastal land prices and mixed commercial success saw six per cent of New Zealand's campgrounds disappear in the five years to 2006, according to a Department of Conservation report on family-friendly camping options.

The sale of Mahia's Blue Bay motor camp (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4341106/Losers-all-round-as-popular-beach-camp-becomes-deserted-subdivision) in 2010 ended in disaster when it was turned into a subdivision which got caught up in the Lombard Finance receivership.

The 44-lot subdivision, bought by Wellington developer Craig Nisbet for $2million in 2004, had been a campground for more than 60 years.

Recent reports show camping in New Zealand is getting more expensive (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/6174709/Is-camping-getting-too-expensive) with some holiday parks charging $500 a week for a beachside site.

Figures collected for Statistics New Zealand's Consumer Price Index show prices at camp grounds and holiday parks grew several times faster than prices of hotels and motels during the five years from June 2006 to June 2011.

• Related story: Camping with children (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/6189650/Summer-reading-Camping-with-children)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/property/commercial-property/6202242/Classic-Kiwi-campground-for-sale (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/property/commercial-property/6202242/Classic-Kiwi-campground-for-sale)

Rhythm but no blues

By MICHELLE DUFF - The Dominion Post | 5:00AM - Monday, 02 January 2012

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FIELD OF FANS: Spotlights illuminate the crowd at Rhythm and Vines. More than 29,000 tickets
were sold for the New Year festival. — Photo: PAUL HOLDEN.

GISBORNE's Rhythm and Vines festival is the juggernaut of the New Year party scene.

It's three nights long, where most of the other pretenders are one-night affairs. It's set on a sprawling, hilly stretch of farmland with two massive stages and a handful of smaller ones. And it keeps growing every year: 2011's version was the biggest yet, drawing 29,000 people on New Year's Eve.

For the average Kiwi youngster it's close to a rite of passage. The appeal has crossed the Tasman too — we kept running into Aussies who'd trekked across the ditch to ring in 2012 in Gisborne.

"It's so well-organised," said one, a young lady in a tiger outfit on one of the packed buses that shuttle punters to the venue.

She was mostly right — the organisers had spent up on everything from a magnetic payment system, to an epic new year fireworks display, to impressive AV and sound systems. (Other aspects were not so fantastic, such as making people print out tickets then wait for hours in the heat to swap them for armbands.)

On night one, an amped-up, early evening crowd rocked out to Grandmaster Flash, the DJ, producer, and key figure in early hip-hop.

Despite a couple of technical issues, the crowd in the huge amphitheatre setting didn't care, and by the time night fell the scene had been set for some serious partying.

Night two was equal to the first, with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris putting on upbeat fare ideal for frenzied festival dancing.

By the final night three days of rain had transformed the vineyard into a mud pit, with Kate Moss-style festival wear and gumboots donned by many of the revellers.

"Timmy, whose jandals are those?" one punter said to his mate, who was stumbling through the mud in footwear at least three sizes too small. "I don't know," the hapless Timmy mumbled back.

UK rapper Example and DJ Wire had the midnight crowd pumping, and when the call came for the countdown the skies had opened again. So it was in the pouring rain that thousands saw in the new year in the first place in New Zealand to see the sun.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/performance/6206615/Rhythm-but-no-blues (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/performance/6206615/Rhythm-but-no-blues)

Rail line left hanging after slips

By MARTY SHARPE - The Gisborne Herald | 7:26AM - Wednesday, 28 March 2012

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ON THE RAILS: Track damage in the Wharerata ranges.

MAJOR STORM DAMAGE to the Gisborne-Napier railway line could spell the end of the little-used track, which was already facing an uncertain future.

A storm early last week caused three big washouts — one of which measured about 100 metres and another about 40m — along a three-kilometre stretch of the line between Gisborne and Wairoa.

KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn said the section of track through the Wharerata Range just south of Beach loop was hardest hit, and staff were now "assessing reinstatement options".

"Parts of the line are so difficult to reach that it wasn't until Friday that our teams were able to access it and see just what damage had occurred."

It would take some time to complete the necessary evaluation of options for the track, he said.

"At this stage we are continuing to focus on gathering the facts which will form the basis for a decision to be made on how best to proceed."

"However, from what can plainly be seen, the damage is extensive and any repairs would take considerable time to complete."

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ON THE RAILS: Track damage in the Wharerata ranges.

The future of the line has been in question for some time. KiwiRail said last year that it would make a decision on its future later this year, with mothballing or closure possible options.

Mr Quinn said he did not know how long the line would be out of action and he would not comment on whether the damage would have any bearing on its future.

The line usually has one or two train services a week. This was increased to three a week in January.

The line runs at a loss of about $2.4 million a year, but hopes were raised late last year when Gisborne transport company Weatherall Transport became KiwiRail's "retail provider" and put additional business on rail.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6645729/Rail-line-left-hanging-after-slips (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6645729/Rail-line-left-hanging-after-slips)

Mining may save line from being mothballed

By MARTY SHARPE - The Dominion Post | 5:00AM - Tuesday, 22 May 2012

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ON THE RAILS: Track damage in the Wharerata ranges.

THE FUTURE OF the Napier-Gisborne railway line is bright, particularly if fracking goes ahead on the East Coast, a report on the line's future says.

KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn is addressing Gisborne District Council today about the line's future after a washout swept away a section of line between Wairoa and Gisborne in March.

A decision on whether to repair about $4 million of damage is expected to be made next month.

The report by the council finds that, based on conservative estimates of freight volumes, "not only would the short-term viability of the rail line to Napier be assured, but that the medium and long-term viability of the line is also strong".

The report bases its findings on estimates provided by the companies using the line until the washout.

KiwiRail said last year that the line was running at a loss and threatened to mothball it if freight loadings did not increase this year. Loadings had been improving until March.

The report, which will also be discussed today, considers international studies from Canada, Ireland and the United States, where the closure of railway lines had been linked to various social and environmental impacts, including more road accidents and a population decrease.

It says Gisborne's economy is based on primary produce, with large volumes needing to be sent out of the district.

"Further large-volume commodities may need to be exported from the district if tentative plans to mine mineral resources ... come to fruition. If hydraulic fracturing [fracking] processes were to be used for this, there may be a need to move considerable volumes of water mixed with fracking fluid as well."

Using projected figures based on recent usage, the study says the 212-kilometre line could carry enough freight to exceed the amount required to break even by 500 tonnes.

Mr Quinn said yesterday that KiwiRail had been gathering information "from a range of stakeholders to make the decision on repairing the line".

"Clearly our main focus is the commercial operation of the rail line, but it is important to have these wider community reviews to include in the thinking. We expect to be in a position to make a recommendation to the Government shortly."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/6961399/Mining-may-save-line-from-being-mothballed (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/6961399/Mining-may-save-line-from-being-mothballed)

Three killed in smash as driver flees

The Gisborne Herald | Monday, 16 July 2012

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CRASH SITE: A new power pole stands in place of the
one a fleeing driver smashed into on Nelson Road on
Saturday night, killing three of the four occupants
of a Mitsubishi. — Photo: PAUL RICKARD.

POLICE have named the three people killed in a car crash in Gisborne on Saturday night.

They are Dylan Kingi, 28, Holly Gunn, 25 and 27-year-old Peter Bunyan, all from Gisborne.

The car was reported to be destroyed after smashing through trees and fences before hitting a power-pole.

Emergency services say it is a miracle the only survivor, 25-year-old Claire Badger, walked away from the accident.

The car was said to be “still live” after making contact with the electric wires carried by the pole.

Firefighters had to make the scene safe before they could do anything.

Miss Badger, a trainee nurse, is said to be in a stable condition in ICU today but St John operations team manager Shane Clapperton says she is lucky to be alive.

“It’s a miracle she is still with us.”

“I don’t understand, and I’ll never understand how she was able to get out of that car.”

“But she was able to communicate with us at the scene of the crash before being taken to hospital.”

Police say the driver of the white Mitsubishi car drove off after officers tried to stop it near Wi Pere Street. The driver fled along Stout Street at speeds “well in excess” of the 50km/h limit.

After chasing the car for about 90 seconds, police say they lost sight of it at the intersection of Lytton and Nelson roads.

After speaking to witnesses, police say they continued to search for the car and found it crashed into the power pole on a bend in the road about two minutes later.

The car was first noticed by an officer when it was driven at speed in the opposite direction at about 9.40pm, said acting area commander Senior Sergeant Maui Aben.

“He turned and started his blue and red flashing lights but the car did not stop.”

Due to the driver’s speed, police lost sight of it.

Police continued to look for the car and spoke to several witnesses before coming across the wreckage a short time later.

It was not known why the car driver fled from police, said Senior Sergeant Aben.

A Nelson Road resident said the car was travelling “at high speed down Nelson Road”.

“The car couldn’t wind up any more ... the revs were so high.”

She said when police drove past, they “were not chasing the car”.

Police Minister Anne Tolley described the accident as “tragic”.

However, as there were separate police and Independent Police Conduct Authority investigations into the crash and circumstances surrounding it, she would not comment further.

Attention now turned to the welfare of the families affected by the deaths, as well as members of the emergency services who attended the scene, said Senior Sergeant Mick Lander.

“Police understand the obvious grief that will be involved and there are victim support services available to the immediate families,” he said.

“Our own staff can also be deeply affected by incidents like this and are offered support through internal welfare systems.”

Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon said the driver of the car made “a wrong decision” when he decided to flee police.

“I’m sorry to the families for their sad loss. I have three children of my own and my thoughts are with you.”

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?type=article&id=28494 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?type=article&id=28494)

Rhythm & Vines sound truck crashes

By MATTHEW THEUNISSEN (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/matthew-theunissen/news/headlines.cfm?a_id=743), KIRSTINE WALSH and MURRAY ROBERTSON of the Gisborne Herald - APNZ (http://www.apnz.co.nz/) | 12 NOON - Friday, December 28, 2012

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The truck and equipment belonged to a contractor, which was organising
the retrieval of the vehicle and its contents from the gorge.
— Photo: Sheryl Sefton.

THE DRIVER of a 16-wheeler truck that went over a cliff while carrying sound and visual equipment to the Rhythm & Vines music festival in Gisborne walked away unhurt.

The incident occurred about 8.30am on Waioeka Rd in the Waioeka Gorge, about 50km north of the festival site at Waiohika Estate in Gisborne.

Festival spokeswoman Sara Cairney said the truck was carrying equipment for the Rhythm Stage, which was to host artists including Kimbra and Mark Ronson — the headline act for New Year's Eve.

"It should have pretty low impact, although we don't actually know the extent of the damage to equipment yet," Ms Cairney said.

"The issue is really, even if a lot of the equipment is fine a lot of the electrical stuff is quite sensitive. It could be good but we are looking at contingencies of where we could get other equipment from."

The truck and equipment belonged to a contractor, which was organising the retrieval of the vehicle and its contents from the gorge.

More than 25,000 people are expected at the festival. The camping ground opens today and the first act is scheduled for 5pm tomorrow.

Festival managing director Scott Witters said the show would go on.

"The driver is fine and from what we understand the gear is in good condition."

"We have five stages to run and a whole lot of equipment to manage, so we wouldn't have let this interrupt us in any case."

The gear was being carted in a solid — rather than curtain-sided — truck and was professionally packed in road cases designed to be bumped around, he added.

"This stuff is on the road for a couple of hundred days every year so it has to be pretty robust."

"Anything that happens is pretty much par for the course when you are putting a festival together and we just deal with things to make sure the show goes on. That is what we are here to do."

But if the crash was the bad news, the good news was a weather forecast for the region that tipped clear skies and temperatures in the mid- to late-20s from tomorrow into the New Year.

"It is absolutely brilliant ... Gisborne is definitely going to be the best place in the country to be," Mr Witters said.

This morning's accident in the Waioeka Gorge followed yesterday's crash when three Hamilton men believed to be travelling to Gisborne for R&V rolled down a bank in the early hours of the morning.

In that incident — also at the Opotiki end of the gorge — the people in the crashed car were taken to Gisborne Hospital in other vehicles they had been travelling in convoy with.

The 19 and 20-year-olds were treated in the hospital's Accident and Emergency department and discharged.

A witness said it had appeared that the vehicle rolled several times before coming to rest on its wheels.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10856348 (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10856348)

from The Gisborne Herald....

War plane over Gisborne

By MARK PETERS | Tuesday, June 04, 2013

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A MEETING OF ERAS: New Zealand's only operational
Grumman Avenger World War 2 dive bomber waits
for the Wa165 to pass as it crosses the runway at
Gisborne Airport. — Photo: Paul Rickard.

EXHAUST FUMES coughed from the World War 2 Grumman Avenger’s 2000-horsepower engine as pilot Guy Stevenson prepared for a fly-over at Gisborne airport on Saturday.

Owner Brendon Deere and Mr Stevenson flew the restored dive bomber from Ohakea to Gisborne to commemorate the 70th anniversary of 30 squadron.

“The squadron was formed here on May 28, 1943,” said Gisborne Aviation Preservation Society (GAPS) committee member Paul Corrin.

“Most, if not all, of this squadron’s members have gone now. They used to have reunion dinners here until there were too few of them to continue.”

The fly-over was timed to coincide with a wreath-laying ceremony at the flagpole in front of the Aviation Museum.

Sunlight flashed on the war plane’s underbelly as it turned above the airfield.

At the moment of the wreath-laying, the Avenger thundered low over the hangar.

“It’s a beautiful sound,” said one bystander.

The war plane landed and taxied back down the airfield. Its wings dropped, then folded back along the fuselage like a bird at rest.

This feature is unique to Grumman designs, said Mr Deere, who brought the American-built plane in Australia.

Last year he and Mr Stevenson flew it across the Tasman to the Biggin Hill hangar at RNZAF Ohakea.

“That flight was quite an experience,” he said.

“You got a sense of what it would be like to fly across the ocean into the Pacific war zone.”

Mr Deere has also experienced sitting in the confined space of the bubble-like machine-gun turret during flight.

“There’s not much room in there. It’s pretty spooky. The turret gunner was also the bombardier. They were pretty exposed. A lot of them were lost to attacks by Japanese Zeros.”

The Grumman Avenger was originally designed as a carrier-based torpedo bomber for the United States Navy. Mr Deere’s aircraft was built in 1945 and served with US Navy units, including carrier-based operations.

“The original of this aircraft was shot down in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, and the crew were lost,” said Mr Deere.

His Avenger is the only operational aircraft of its kind in New Zealand.

Mr Deere repainted his Avenger in Royal New Zealand Air Force colours. On the fuselage is a picture of a winged, beer-spouting barrel called Plonky.

“We painted that up in honour of pilot Fred Ladd,” said Mr Deere.

“He was a teetotaller so he thought it would be funny to have a barrel spouting beer on the enemy.”

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=32708 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=32708)

from the HERALD on SUNDAY....

Less is best in Gisborne

By SHERIDAN GUNDRY | 5:30AM - Sunday, October 20, 2013

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David Timbs enjoys an outing at Wainui Beach with his dog, Bosco.
— Photo: Alan Gibson.

IT'S ONE OF the most beautiful regions in the country — and the only one to be losing its residents. As this week's Census results revealed, Gisborne has 840 fewer people now than seven years ago, a fact the beachside city's fans can't fathom. Local Sheridan Gundry offers 10 reasons why Gisborne is better than Auckland.

1. Actually, Gisborne doubles its population every year. Beat that. Okay, it's only for a week as the Rhythm and Vines festival brings in 30,000 extra people for New Year — but that's more than Auckland grows by each year. The difference is that the crowds are soon gone.

When the visitors move in, locals not winning from the welcome surge in retail trade rent their houses and shift to freedom-camp beside the beach.

2. How do we look? Think unpretentious, laid-back and lifestylish. We've got sunshine, the world's best surf, clear skies, stars and no SkyTowers.

3. Gisborne has affordable housing with gardens ... and we're all happy to mow our own berms. There's room for development. Aucklanders, sell your million-dollar homes, buy in Gisborne and you'll still have $700k or so to live off. Decent houses for less than $200k? Tick. A Wainui Beach house for $300k? Tick.

4. Then there's our rush-minute traffic. Our money helps build roads for Aucklanders to drive to their weekend baches, but here in Gisborne you can walk or bike to the beach. Less travel and traffic means more time with family.

How often do successful big-city business people say that if they had their time again they would spend more time with family and less working? It's not too late in Gisborne. And lunchtime surfing is no dream in this five-minutes-to-anywhere paradise.

5. This city is a great place to raise families — with easy access to a remarkable range of cultural and sporting activities and high-calibre tutors.

6. Creativity is a big part of Gisborne's charms thanks to our splendid, character-building isolation. Isolation builds creativity. Ta moko artist and All Blacks' kapa o pango haka composer Professor Derek Lardelli is thrilled that several national politicians send their children to Gisborne to study Maori arts and design at Toihoukura where he teaches.

"Big cities have big lights but when you come back down to Earth, and see the raw talent here, you can't beat the Tairawhiti," he says.

"It must be something in the water."

7. Our small community builds connections that are difficult to replicate in a big city. Random acts of kindness continually astound newbies. It's hardly surprising, then, that Gisborne led four of nine categories in New Zealand's first happiness survey — we're best connected to the community, most active, most mindful and have the most women with high self-esteem.

New Zealander of the Year Professor Dame Anne Salmond, who will return to live in Gisborne, highlights its advantages: "Meetings with neighbours on a dead-end valley road. Stop car, hop out, have a chat. Next car stops, next lot of neighbours join the conversation ... and there's a deep sense of belonging, quintessentially Kiwi, and a pace of life that lets you smell the roses."

8. Environmental warriors abound in Gisborne. The National Arboretum of Eastwoodhill has the largest, most comprehensive collection of Northern Hemisphere trees south of the equator. Then there's Douglas Cook, Dame Anne and Jeremy Salmond's Longbush Ecosanctuary and John Griffin's Te Kuri a Paoa at Young Nick's Head where robins breed, grey-faced petrels return, and gecko, skink and tuatara saunter.

9. And who could go past the food? Gizzy milk and cheese; beef and lamb, crayfish, paua, beer and, of course, wine.

Auckland winemaker Nick Nobilo chose Gisborne to grow his gewurztraminer and now bottles of his Vinoptima fetch three figures. Eighty percent of it is sold overseas.

10. In Gisborne, even our politicians are happy. Our mayor has Hong Kong connections through his parents and has been happily married for more than 30 years.

Maori-speaking, Chinese-singing Meng Foon has been returned for his fifth term with, he says, a surprising majority.

"We are resilient," he says.

"We have to be, living out east."

"We fend for ourselves, make our own fun."

"We are a big, small city without the traffic, noise and people problems of Auckland."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11142904 (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11142904)

GARY McCORMICK: Politicians fail our heartland

HERALD on SUNDAY (http://www.nzherald.co.nz) | 10:27AM - Sunday, October 20, 2013

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202013/nzh_GarryMcCormick_20oct13_zpsd665b5e6.jpg)
Gary McCormick as a young man at Gisborne in the 1970s.

I MOVED to Gisborne in the mid-'70s. It was the wildest and most brilliant decision I have ever made.

I went there purely and simply to go surfing. My mate Dave Timbs from Titahi Bay, with whom I had learned to surf on some of the first fibreglass surfboards, had gone there fresh out of teacher training college in Wellington.

I remember the first freezing old house we lived in. And the first freezing surf in a huge winter swell at what is known as Pipeline on the main City beach. I subsequently lived at Wainui Beach, just north of Gisborne city, and surfed the famed Makarori Point on a daily basis.

Then, by enormous good fortune, the ultimate wave of 70s rock civilisation swept over us. We were California.

You could get a job at Watties (factory now closed) or in the burgeoning wine industry, or clean pub toilets and work as a part-time school caretaker (like me) and surf to your heart's content. We had live music, ranging from Dragon, Hello Sailor, Mi-Sex, Herbs and nearly every other wonderful rock band New Zealand has ever known, in local pubs six nights out of seven.

It was heaven!

There was an ugly interlude when Diesel Maxwell and his merry band of Rastafarians started burning down East Coast farmhouses, and then the trial of six local detectives accused of kidnapping Diesel. (Case dismissed.)

The future of Coast employment was supposed to lie in the "wall of wood".

That never happened. The wine industry took a huge hit with the glut of wine. Watties in effect closed down. The freezing works closed down. The rail link (which is how I first got to Gisborne) is now closed.

There are some lovely cafes and restaurants, new accommodation and the town itself has been spruced up and looks great. But the streets are all but empty on a Friday and Saturday night. A silence hangs over the town.

Gisborne is the victim of the same policy of provincial neglect that has affected many small towns in New Zealand. The town has worked hard to recreate itself and, from outward appearances, has succeeded.

It suffers from the "tyranny of distance" and a failure of political will to preserve our heartland.

That said, my mate Dave Timbs still lives in his bach on the seafront at Wainui Beach, still surfing along with all the other guys and girls.

He, like many other Gisborne folk, made the reckless decision to have a good life — and I have some doubts about what I've done with mine.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11142905 (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11142905)

Classical music ‘helped cannabis flourish’

High culture helped for a high-quality crop

By TRACEY CHATTERTON - The Dominion Post | 1:19PM - Wednesday, 22 January 2014

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202014/9637550sr_22jan14_zps56654dba.jpg)
CULTURED CROP: Some of Verdun Stergus Kemp's cannabis operation.

A GISBORNE MAN played classical music to his cannabis plants to encourage the crop to flourish.

Police uncovered the sophisticated growing operation with the potential to earn $500,000 annually late last year.

Verdun Sturgus Kemp, 21, controlled the lighting, temperature and ventilation to grow 287 cannabis plants in his spare room, the police summary said.

A radio was set up to play classical music to the plants, Detective Sergeant Wayne Beattie said.

Kemp told him the plants responded better to classical music.

He also kept rubbish bins of plant nutrients in the bathroom and measured the acidity of the liquid to make sure it was at its optimum level.

At the Gisborne District Court yesterday Kemp pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis. He was jailed for two years and one month.

Beattie told Fairfax Media it was a "well-orchestrated growing operation".

Kemp anticipated harvesting one ounce off each plant and expected $400 per ounce. He was four weeks off full production which he estimated would harvest $30,000 every three weeks. It cost Kemp $17,000 to kit out the spare room, just a week after he began renting the Gisborne property last July.

Kemp believed he would have made $525,000 a year but was "cagey" about who he would sell his produce to, Beattie said.

He told police he was not going to sell it "gang members, people under 20 and anyone that didn't have a job".

The crop had been destroyed since his arrest.

Beattie told Fairfax Media it was great Kemp's cannabis had been taken out of circulation, but it was not even the tip of the iceberg.

He urged people to tell police about growing operations or leave anonymous information via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9637397/Classical-music-helped-cannabis-flourish (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9637397/Classical-music-helped-cannabis-flourish)

Quote from: nitpicker1 on December 12, 2014, 07:37:25 am

I've still got friends in Gizzy who move to Pouawa Beach for the summer every year.

I 'spose they use one of these?

http://www.smfforfree.com/gallery/xtranewscommunity2/97_11_12_14_2_26_19.jpeg

Nope.....Gizzy and the East Coast is the original home of freedom camping. I lived in Gisborne from March 1978 until October 1998 and although Gisborne City Council had restrictions about camping on city beaches, it was open slather on country beaches. Likewise, Cook County Council and Waiapu County Council also had open slather with regards to freedom camping on beaches. Prior to the earlier merger when Cook County swallowed up Uawa County Council (centred at Tologa Bay), Uawa County likewise allowed unlimited freedom camping on their beaches. It was never a problem as, apart from Gisborne, the rest of the region was off the beaten track as far as overseas tourists were concerned, and with a low population base, the open slather freedom camping was one of the best kept secrets around. Local people living in Gisborne/East Coast didn't tend to talk about it too much with outsiders, keeping their favourite beach camping spots to themselves. Around in the eastern Bay of Plenty (east of Opotiki), freedom camping was likewise allowed virtually everywhere.

After Gisborne City, Cook County, Waiapu County and Waikohu County merged to form the Gisborne District Council unitary authority, some restrictions were placed on freedom camping closer to Gisborne, with camping only being allowed during the summer months and about half-way through autumn (the end of Easter weekend was generally the cut-off point). It is only in more recent years that Gisborne District Council have required permits for camping as the area has become more discovered and outsiders have flocked to freedom-camp on the region's isolated beaches. However, there are still plenty of places you can camp up the coast without the council knowing about it, if you are in-the-know. A lot of isolated beautiful sandy beaches are only accessible by crossing Maori land, and if you know the right people, it is easy to get access and the council never know about it.

My friends have been freedom camping at Pouawa every summer (virtually living there for the entire summer, driving to & from there to work each day) since the late-1980s. Other people I know up there have been camping since before I moved to Gisborne in 1978. They were kids back then and now they camp at Pouawa with their kids and grandkids, except that they need a permit now.

with vid

Six hurt but speed limit reduces impact in crash

Thursday, January 8, 2015

by Murray Robertson

THE temporary 70kmh speed restriction during the freedom camping season “made a difference” yesterday when two cars collided head-on at a bend on SH35 between Tatapouri and Turihaua.

One of the cars was towing a caravan.

Emergency services were called to the crash at about 3.30pm.

“We transported six people to hospital, two women aged in their 40s and another in her 30s, three children, aged 8 and 14, and a two-week-old baby,” a St John spokesman said.

“They had a range of minor to moderate injuries, mainly seatbelt bruising, with some sore heads and necks.”

Two ambulances were used to get them to the hospital’s emergency department.

The fire service attended and a fireman drove one of the ambulances to the hospital while the St John crew worked on the patients in the back.

“The eight-year-old child and the infant were admitted to Planet Sunshine children’s ward for observation overnight,” a hospital spokeswoman said this morning.

“The other injured people were treated and discharged.”

The accident happened on a bend just north of Tatapouri Beach.

“We are investigating the probability that one of the vehicles involved crossed the centre line to go into the beach carpark and went into the path of the oncoming vehicle,” said Senior Constable Mike Schultz.

“The 70kmh speed restriction in place along the Turihaua-Pouawa freedom camping area definitely made a difference in the crash because both vehicles were travelling slower.

“If the south-bound oncoming vehicle had been going faster, the outcome could have been very different.

“As it was, the people in the cars were very lucky to have escaped with just minor injuries,” Senior Constable Schultz said.

The accident happened just outside a family caravan.

“We were on the beach so saw nothing but we heard a loud bang as the collision happened,” the campers said.

Both vehicles were extensively damaged.

“It is likely charges will be laid as a result of the crash,” Senior Constable Schultz said.

State Highway 35 remained open during the emergency.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_14208637139967&key=c7a018f99a67aaac33a35421e795cdf3&libId=41cac741-9212-4805-8cca-743d44d7652e&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fxtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com%2Findex.php%2Ftopic%2C14523.0.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gisborneherald.co.nz%2Farticle%2F%3Fid%3D40081&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fxtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com%2Findex.php%2Fboard%2C1.0.html&title=meanwhile%20in%20Gisborne&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gisborneherald.co.nz%2Farticle%2F%3Fid%3D40081

from The Gisborne Herald....

One dead, second is missing at Makorori

By MURRAY ROBERTSON and KAYLA DARYMPLE | Saturday, January 24, 2015

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202015/20150124_MakaroriBeach1_zpsxchhbyg3.jpg) (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/image.aspx?type=article&id=7982)
Police and St John ambulance at Makorori Beach, where one man was found dead and another is missing.
— Photo: The Gisborne Herald.

A YOUNG MAN has drowned and another young man is missing, presumed drowned, in the surf at Makorori Beach after they got into difficulties while swimming there this morning.

Police, St John Ambulance, the ECT rescue helicopter, Coastguard and surf lifesavers with an IRB received the emergency call at about 9.50am.

“The two who did not make it ashore were with a third man aged 20, who also got into trouble but was able to make it safely back to the beach,” police said.

“The other two were not able to swim ashore.”

The emergency occurred about half way along the beach between Makorori Point and the housing settlement.

“The body of a man aged in his early 20s was recovered from the water near the shore by someone on the beach at about 10.25am,” police said.

St John ambulance officers at the beach pronounced the man deceased.

A search was started for the third man, also aged about 20, using the Gisborne rescue helicopter and a surf club rescue boat.

Several surfers also joined in the search.

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202015/20150124_MakaroriBeach2_zpslgamc50i.jpg) (http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/20154/Makorori_Drowning_5_620x310.jpg)
Police at Makorori Beach, where one man was found dead and another is missing.
— Photo: The Gisborne Herald.

At the time The Gisborne Herald went to print today, the third man was still missing.

“When the three men got into trouble the surf was running at about a metre,” a witness said.

They had been at the beach fishing.

“They had their longlines out and decided to go for a swim,” another witness said.

“The current and undertows on that section of the beach are quite dangerous at present.”

Police said the intention was to continue the search for the third man through the day.

“It is believed the men were staying at a campground nearby.”

Police are still in the process of contacting the men’s families.

A boat involved in the Bay Bonanza fishing competition has joined the search and three others are on stand-by.

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?type=article&id=40282 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?type=article&id=40282)

...great to see the residents opf Gizzy out enjoying themselves...living on the edge

Beach life in Gisborne makes for a Sunsplash
Friday, January 23, 2015
by Kayla Dalrymple

TWO days down and three to go, the public has been treated to a range of surf and coastal-themed events since Gisborne’s Sunsplash Summer Festival started on Wednesday with a powhiri.

Wahine on Waves got Sunsplash rolling, followed by twilight golf and a surf lifesaving board series at Midway. Wahine Movie Night at the Dome Cinema rounded out Wednesday’s events.

Thursday’s programme started at 1pm with Matt Smith’s kitebaording demo at Stock Route, Wainui. A fun water day at the Olympic Pools and a wine-making competition for surfers concluded yesterday’s events.

One event today will be a carnival outside the H.B. Williams Memorial Library at 2pm. There will also be a have-a-go session for waka ama and stand-up paddleboarding this evening. The Tairawhiti Museum will welcome the Original Wailers at 5.30pm, to open the Smile Jamaica Bob Marley exhibition, and The Dome will host a screening and Pecha Kucha tonight.

Tomorrow’s festival programme includes the Have A Go Waveski event at Waikanae Beach from 10am till 2pm, stand-up paddleboard surfing championships and the Kick Push East Coast Skate Comp at Alfred Cox Skatepark. East Coast Vibes kicks off at 1pm.

Sunday will see the Makorori First Light Longboard Classic, a waveski competition, and the Sand Warrior event on the beach alongside Centennial Marine Drive. On Monday the city’s tidy Kiwis are being called on to participate in a beach clean-up, before the winner of the surfer wine-making competition is announced.

Beach events are subject to weather conditions, with locations to be advised on the day. Sunday is forecast to be sunny with a high of 23C. A south-east swell with one metre waves on coast beaches and north-easterly winds are expected to roll in.

For more information go to:

www.gisbornenz.com

....Great to see child abuse in Gisborne being addressed....

Community needs to act over high incidence of child abuse here
Friday, January 23, 2015
by John Jones

The fact child abuse figures in Gisborne have increased, albeit very slightly, while those for the rest of the country have fallen is extremely disappointing. It shows the need for a greater, community-wide focus here on this vexing, distressing issue.

Nationally substantiated cases of physical, sexual or emotional abuse fell by 12 percent or 2306 to 19,623 findings of abuse — involving 16,289 children — in the year to June 2014.

In Gisborne the confirmed number was 424, three more than in the previous 12 months. That puts our child abuse rate per capita at twice the national rate.

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says that while New Zealand’s child abuse remains appallingly common, it is pleasing to see the numbers going down for the first time in 10 years.

She claims good progress is being made in implementing the Children’s Action Plan and that with 30 specific measures designed to prevent abuse and neglect, it will make a real difference in reducing child abuse.

She also says that New Zealanders are becoming more intolerant of child abuse and that the more people are willing to report their concerns, the better chance the country has to keep children safe and protected.

How much the Government can claim for the reduced figures is debatable. While it is early days for the action plan, this subject, along with the wider issue of family violence, is one in which the whole country wants to see a turnaround. Mrs Tolley has a key role to play as one of the three ministers John Key has tasked with addressing these problems.

The big issue that needs to attract concern here is why the Gisborne figures are not following the national trend.

How much of its perpetuation is related to the low socioeconomic status of the district, dysfunction, inter-generational violence and dependency, alcohol and other drugs, or cultural attitudes?

In the long-term emotional abuse can do even more long-term harm to a child than actual physical abuse. No child in Gisborne, or anywhere else in the country, should suffer either.

EXCELLENT..it will be great to see part of the line reopened ;)

Plan B for Napier-Gisborne rail

By Harrison Christian harrison christian@hbtoday co nz

10:59 AM Tuesday Jan 27, 2015Add a comment

Hawke's Bay Regional Council will consider alternatives to leasing the Napier-Gisborne railway line, such as re-opening the line's Wairoa-Napier section in a joint venture between KiwiRail and Napier Port.

The Napier-Gisborne Railway Shorthall Establishment Group (NGR) is using a project team to develop a business case to be considered by the council next month, after KiwiRail made an offer to lease the damaged railway line.

A progress report by council chief executive Liz Lambert outlined several concerns about the draft business case. KiwiRail had imposed "tight timeframes" on the investigation, requiring a decision by March 1.

The freight forecast to travel on a reopened Napier-Gisborne railway line was "just not sufficient" to pay for reconstruction, but there was a "significant opportunity" to re-open the Wairoa-Napier component.

There were also "significant trading losses" projected in the line's first four years of operation, which "could make finding private investors challenging".

The rail line has been mothballed since late 2012.

The Government has indicated it will not fund its repair.

Ms Lambert said estimates for the reconstruction of the Mahia-Gisborne section of the line were currently between $3.5- $5 million, and the forecast volume of freight from Gisborne was not adequate.

For that reason, $125,000 of funding earmarked for an engineering design study to better quantify the costs of reconstructing the line had been put on hold.

The other half of the business case costs comprised $75,000 for personnel and $50,000 for strategic advice.

No major capital investment in the Napier to Mahia section of the line was required initially and a Wairoa service could run on the track in its current condition, according to KiwiRail sources. "A significant volume of logs from Wairoa are exported through Gisborne, so there is a cargo-gain opportunity for Napier Port."

She suggested KiwiRail and Napier Port could negotiate an agreement, which would not involve the council directly, that would provide for the hubbing of logs in Wairoa and their subsequent transport to Napier Port at the optimum time for the port. "This has the potential to meet the need of ensuring that the line does not close, while providing a much lower barrier to entry and exit for any agreement than a full lease of the corridor."

- Hawkes Bay Today

from The Gisborne Herald....

The end of an era

By JOHN GILLIES | Wednesday, February 04, 2015

(http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/image.aspx?type=article&id=8001) (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/image.aspx?type=article&id=8001)

RAEY WHEELER kept filmgoing alive in Gisborne through its darkest days, but yesterday she, herself, succumbed to continued ill health.

She died in Gisborne Hospital after her latest setback, which included a bout of pneumonia. She was 85.

Mrs Wheeler was perhaps the last active theatre operator from the heyday of the Kerridge Odeon national cinema chain.

She turned around the fortunes of Gisborne’s Odeon theatre by investing $2.25 million and transforming it into a multiplex with three screens in 1995.

To do this, she and her advisers had to convince bankers that a woman past retirement age had the energy and business acumen to make it work.

As patrons responded to the greater choice of films, Mrs Wheeler continued improvements to the multiplex and added two more auditoriums.

But any prospect of such development looked to have been taken away from her in August 1991, when two Pacer Kerridge representatives came to Gisborne to tell her she was no longer required. She had been offered a franchise for the theatre but rejected the terms.

At that stage she had been with the Kerridge organisation for almost 32 years and been Odeon manager for nearly 21.

Two weeks later, she had bought the building.

At the time it was acquired by Pacer, Kerridge Odeon was debt-free and owned prime sites in nearly all major centres. But after the sharemarket crash of 1987, the Odeon theatre was among the properties sold to repay debt.

In 1991 it was on the market again, and Mrs Wheeler bought it and the neighbouring Quillars building on the Peel Street-Gladstone Road corner.

In April the following year she was back as manager of the theatre and before long was its independent operator.

In 2003, Mrs Wheeler was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal.

Contributions as a district councillor, Vanessa Lowndes Centre board member, Greater Gisborne committee member, and Business and Professional Women’s Club stalwart were the more obvious examples of her community service.

Less obvious were the children she had taken home “all over town” when they had no ride or the film had finished earlier than expected, or the youngsters she took a chance on and gave work in the Odeon.

For many years she kept an “emergency kit” on hand at the theatre — jumper leads for vehicles whose lights had been left on, a coat-hanger for opening cars locked with the keys inside, and a tow-rope.

Mrs Wheeler was an ardent champion of Gisborne. She and her friend and workmate Grace McGaveston collected the Alfred Cox fleamarket fees for Gisborne’s information centre for 15 years.

As gentlemen’s clubs opened up their membership, she was the first woman to be a member of the Poverty Bay Club.

Doreen Raey Jackson was the youngest of four daughters of Ted and Kathleen Jackson, who farmed two properties, one at Puha and the other at Te Karaka. She and her sisters milked the cows and helped with the cropping.

As a young woman, she worked in Te Karaka’s Lane’s Bakery and sold sweets at the picture theatre. It was at the theatre she met Ernest Wheeler.

At the urging of his aunt, Gertrude Wheeler, “Ernie” had learned to be a projectionist. Impressed with what Robert Kerridge was doing in the theatre industry, Gertrude Wheeler had another nephew, Wilfred, buy theatres in Hicks Bay, Te Araroa, Ruatoria, Tikitiki, Tokomaru Bay and Te Karaka. The chain was called East Coast Theatres.

After World War 2, Ernie Wheeler went to Te Karaka to be the manager/projectionist and married the young woman who sold the sweets.

Mr Wheeler took a position as theatre manager for Kerridge Odeon in Otorohanga. He and Mrs Wheeler stayed there for six years and had two children, Selwyn and Karl.

On their return to Gisborne, Mr Wheeler worked for the New Zealand Forest Service. Mrs Wheeler got a job as an usherette at the Regent a week after they arrived back. Grace McGaveston had started in the same role two months before. Another long-serving staff member, projectionist Darrol Walsh, had joined the Kerridge organisation four years earlier, as a tray boy serving ice creams and sweets inside the Regent Theatre.

The other Kerridge theatre in Gisborne, the Majestic, was modernised and reopened as the Odeon in 1969. Mrs Wheeler went there as cashier and within a year was offered the job of manager. She asked her husband what he thought and when he expressed doubts, it gave her just the incentive she needed.

She kept the theatre running when the film industry fell on hard times, particularly the 1980s.

She had already endured loss — Ernie had died in 1976 at the age of 58 — and she would know it again. Her younger son, Karl, died in 1997, aged 39.

In good times and bad, the Odeon sustained her. Family members pitched in as her health deteriorated in later years but, after a couple of hours on the oxygen bottle in the afternoon, she was usually ready to greet patrons for the evening session.

Her interactions with the public were sometimes terse — it seems everyone has a Mrs Wheeler story — but she came to be a Gisborne institution whose achievements were, at least, respected and often admired.

She is survived by her son Selwyn and sisters Doris and Ruth. Another sister, Mary, predeceased her.

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=40408 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=40408)

from The Gisborne Herald....

‘May the film keep rolling’

By MURRAY ROBERTSON | Thursday, February 05, 2015

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202015/20150205_RaeyWheeler_zpsngviujlv.jpg) (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/image.aspx?type=article&id=8002)

TRIBUTES have flowed across the community and the country for Gisborne movie matriarch Raey Wheeler as preparations are made for her funeral service on Monday.

Mrs Wheeler passed away on Tuesday. She was 85.

Bob Kerridge, son of movie mogul Sir Robert Kerridge who started the movie chain she became part of, has described Raey as “the perfect citizen.”

Her funeral service is to be held in Holy Trinity Church from 1pm on Monday afternoon.

Odeon Multiplex staff say a steady stream of people have called into the theatre since Tuesday to offer condolences, and some have left floral tributes.

A large number of tributes have been made by many people on social media.

“Rest in peace Mrs Wheeler. You struck fear into my heart when I was young and earnt my respect as I aged. You will be a Gisborne icon forever xx,” said one person on Facebook.

Raey Wheeler was a district councillor in the 1990s and John Clarke — the mayor at that time — is among those who have paid tribute to her.

“Raey was passionate about Gisborne and made a real contribution as a councillor,” he said.

The Gisborne Herald has received a number of Letters to the Editor about her, among them one from Marlene Andrew.

“Sad news that such an icon and champion of Gisborne has passed on,” she writes.

“I remember this woman from being a toddler going to the movies with my parents and as I grew being dropped off to the movies by myself in school holidays, and Raey keeping an eye out for me until mum arrived to pick me up.”

“Sometimes I believe she could be terse but she firstly had seen many generations enjoy the picture theatre and the attitudes of the young deteriorate as time went on.”

“She called a spade a spade, took on the big boys and won doing things her way. Raey Wheeler kept the entertainment of going to the pictures alive in Gisborne when it became so close to being lost to a whole generation. Rest in peace Raey ... may the film keep rolling.”

William Babbington wrote: “This is such a shock. I remember my days of going to the movies and getting told to spit my gum out in her hand or even whistling out to other people because she thought they hadn’t paid.”

“Such a staunch and classy woman of Gisborne. The Odeon will never be the same without her.”

Other comments made on Facebook have likewise paid tribute.

“RIP Mrs Wheeler — You provided my parents with their first date in 1963, two tickets to The Sound of Music.”

“As the number one date venue for our town I can’t help but wonder how many other families were forged under your roof.”

“Thank you for the movies that gave us wonderful memories which has carried us all through for generations, you were a true pioneer for our beautiful city,” said another on Facebook.

“Your whistling will be missed. Haha No. You are our Gizzy icon,” said another.

“Raey, you never said NO to me, always donated to various fundraisers, Matawai School and squash club, dressage group, Matawhero sports. Shared stories of your jewellery and seeing your chandeliers. Your kindness was appreciated. RIP.” was another message left.

“I knew you in my teens. You saw something in me that not many others could see. Thank you for taking me under your wing.”

“Such a strong woman, but so soft on the inside.”

Long-time friend David Hall has suggested her funeral service be held outside the theatre.

“Close the Odeon block off — It would be a great send off for our wonderful Raey and the weather forecast looks good. I think Holy Trinity will be too small.”

Fellow theatre owner Allan Webb, from Te Awamutu, says Raey was well-known and respected by all members of the New Zealand cinema industry.

“She was an icon and we never believed she would leave the Odeon. We thought she was invincible.”

Another letter writer to The Gisborne Herald put it this way.

“No matter what, whether you were grumpy or not, you earned your place in Gizzy history. So many remember back in the days getting caught in the pictures and at Spaceworld doing stuff we shouldn’t.”

“But it wasn’t just all grumps. You also cracked a joke or two with us. I’m so glad my daughter also grew up going to the pictures with you at the helm, you’re also embedded in her memories!”

“Many prayers and condolences to your family ‘Ma Wheeler’.”

“You are so, so, so going to be missed.”

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=40420 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=40420)

from The Gisborne Herald....

Raey the ‘last bastion’ of cinema operators

By MURRAY ROBERTSON | Thursday, February 05, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL47aAB2360 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL47aAB2360)

RAEY WHEELER was the “perfect citizen” and Gisborne was so very lucky to have her as part of the community, says the Bob Kerridge, eldest son of Kerridge Odeon theatre chain founder Sir Robert Kerridge.

Mrs Wheeler died on Tuesday at the age of 85.

“There won’t be many in Gisborne who won’t be sad about Raey’s passing,” Bob Kerridge said. “She was known by everybody and, I think, loved by everybody.”

Mr Kerridge said Mrs Wheeler was one of the last old-style cinema people.

“She really was the last bastion of the true cinema operators as we know them.”

“Things are quite different now and I feel the cinema industry has lost some of its charm because of it.”

“The owners and managers don’t stand or sit at the front door and welcome you into the theatre anymore, but Raey did.”

What impressed him most about Mrs Wheeler was just how strong she was as a person in every respect, he said.

“The way she hung on to the movie theatre complex in Gisborne demonstrated that strength.”

“She did everything with a real business sense and, quite honestly, she ran rings around a lot of other business people — both men and women.”

“Raey was as strong as anyone you would ever meet.”

Mr Kerridge and his wife came to Gisborne when he launched his book Father and Son and called in to see Mrs Wheeler at the Odeon Multiplex.

“The first thing that struck me was her tiny little office and in a place of prominence in it was my favourite photograph of my late father.”

“She did have tremendous respect, admiration and, I think I can say, affection for my father.”

“It was lovely to see that photograph and of all the theatre managers and owners I have visited over the years, I’ve only ever seen it displayed on someone’s desk once before.”

“That told me heaps about Raey.”

Mr Kerridge said he would also remember her “sense of community”.

“Raey knew everything and everyone and she helped people wherever she could.”

“I would have to class her as a perfect citizen and Gisborne was very much richer for having her in the community.”

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=40421 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=40421)

from The Dominion Post....

Soldier statue returns to Gisborne Cenotaph

2:35PM - Friday, 10 April 2015

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202015/20150410_1428633302592s_zpse3tykwz3.jpg) (http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/4/a/t/d/l/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.14arku.png/1428633302592.jpg)
The soldier on top of Gisborne's Cenotaph has returned to his vantage point.

THE SOLDIER on top of Gisborne's cenotaph has finally returned to his vantage point.

The three-metre-high, 1.2-tonne marble statue was removed in 2013. It was removed to repair structural damage caused by the December 2007 earthquake.

The statue was loaded into a protective cage before a crane lifted him to the strengthened foundations on Friday morning.

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Gisborne's soldier is loaded into a cage
before being lifted onto the cenotaph.

A blessing was held to mark the soldier's return, which signals the final stage of the cenotaph's restoration project.

Project manager Kylie Cranston said landscaping work was also under way around the cenotaph, including adding new lighting, pavers and bollards, and a riverside cycle and walkway.

Work was on track to be completed in time for Anzac Day.

The cenotaph, located on the banks of the Turanganui River, was unveiled in 1923 to honour servicemen from the Gisborne district who lost their lives during the First World War.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/67686942/soldier-statue-returns-to-gisborne-cenotaph (http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/67686942/soldier-statue-returns-to-gisborne-cenotaph)

from The Gisborne Herald....

End of story … the Dom is going

By MARK PETERS | Friday, July 17, 2015

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202015/20150717_JohnGrantDomPost_zpsbxowgrig.jpg) (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/image.aspx?type=article&id=8395)
Retailer John Grant reads The Dominion Post while seated in one of his barber's chairs.

GISBORNE subscribers to The Dominion Post are shocked to hear their daily read of the print edition is about to end.

Avid reader of The Dominion Post, The New Zealand Herald and The Gisborne Herald, James Forbes says The Dominion Post's decision to terminate deliveries of the national newspaper to Gisborne subscribers and retailers from August 3rd will leave a gap in his reading.

“I was shocked when my caregiver said there would be no more Dominion Post after August.

“I don't just read the paper — I digest it.”

The decision to stop home and retail deliveries of The Dominion Post to this region from August 3rd was made after a review of the newspaper's circulation in the area, says an email from the national newspaper.

“A new digital edition of The Dominion Post is available online, and can be accessed via desktop and as an app on iPad and Android tablets.”

“Subscribers and retailers have been informed of the changes.”

Mr Forbes says the thought of reading The Dominion Post online does not appeal to him.

“I’m not into these modern devices. A lot of people at my time of life like to read the paper page by page.”

Gisborne subscriber Barbara Barwick also says she will miss her daily read.

“I do look forward to the thunk of The Dominion Post in its 100 percent biodegradable bag as it is thrown over the fence.”

“Reading it online will not be the same as walking out in my nightie to pick up the paper and open it up.”

“There’s something about the newsprint edition. The feel of the paper, the smell of it, the pictures. You are not tied to a machine. You have the freedom to read it whenever and wherever you want.”

Part of the reason The Dominion Post is unable to continue deliveries to Gisborne is because the press used to print the Wellington-based newspaper is also used to print New Plymouth and Palmerston North newspapers, says The Gisborne Herald's managing director Michael Muir.

These go to print before The Dominion Post, so home delivery cannot be guaranteed by 7.30am. The newspaper also faces aggressive marketing here by The New Zealand Herald.

Retailer John Grant says The Dominion Post's decision is a sign of the times.

“We have already cancelled The New Zealand Herald because over the winter months only a couple of customers came in to buy it. There were no returns with The NZ Herald so we lost money over unsold papers.”

Grant Brothers shop assistant Ollie Griffiths says she and many others will miss the print edition of the national daily.

“Everyone enjoys sitting down to read the newspaper. When I go home from work I have a cup of tea and read the paper. Nothing is more relaxing.”

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=42368 (http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=42368)

from the Sunday Star-Times....

New Zealand space industry prepared for takeoff

The country's conditions just so happen to be exactly what you want to launch rockets.

By HAMISH MCNICOL | 5:00AM - Sunday, 18 September 2016

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New Zealand is about to become just the 11th country to put a satellite into orbit.
— Photograph: NASA.

NEW ZEALAND, seen as the nation of cows, could soon become the nation with the highest frequency of space launches anywhere in the world.

A clunky way for it to be framed, maybe, but this was Rocket Lab boss Peter Beck's vision for the country, about to become just the 11th to put a satellite into orbit.

It sounded ambitious: “If you look at the other 10, the majority of those are super powers,” Beck said.

But support for a New Zealand space industry has grown, and some have suggested all systems are go for its takeoff.

And with it already estimated to have a potential economic impact worth $1.5 billion over the next 20 years, the call has gone out for other companies to take advantage.

This month, state-owned Airways, the provider of air traffic control services for the country, and Rocket Lab signed a deal to ensure regular rocket launches here could be safe.

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Airways chief operating officer Pauline Lamb says space companies just need to
take a “deeper look” at New Zealand. — Photograph: Iain McGregor/Fairfax NZ.

Rocket Lab planned to do up to 100 launches into space a year, and Airways chief operating officer Pauline Lamb said at the time the country was positioning itself as the ideal place to access space from.

“Hopefully it's the first of many.”

This week, Lamb said other space companies just needed to take a “deeper look” at the country for its appeal to become obvious.

A relatively uncongested airspace and an appetite for new technologies, meant Airways had already helped about 120 near-space launches in New Zealand airspace, and NASA and Google had both chosen the country for balloon launches.

“I think the industry's changing from the days where you had NASA launching rockets, now other people launch rockets and it's not one size fits all,” Lamb said.

“We recognise that here in New Zealand and we can adapt to whatever the requirement is.”

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New Zealand could soon be the country with the highest frequency of rocket launches
in the world. — Photograph: NASA.

This meant balloons, drones, rockets, whatever — although how the local industry would expand was difficult to predict.

She mentioned Airways had been approached by a few drone companies to try things here, but overall her message was clear.

“Please come here and try it out.”

Lamb also pushed the work of the Government, which in June said it was putting in place a new regulatory regime to enable safe, secure and responsible space launches from the country.

Economic Development minister Steven Joyce said the space economy was becoming immensely important.

“There is the opportunity to build New Zealand's capacity and expertise across a broad spectrum of space and high altitude activities, from rocket technology to the use of satellites to perform functions that benefit our economy, environment and society; as well as attracting offshore talent and investment.”

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Lane Neave corporate solicitor Maria Pozza, a specialist space and aviation lawyer,
says New Zealand is set to become a space-faring nation.

Lane Neave corporate solicitor Maria Pozza, a specialist space and aviation lawyer, said the new legislation regarding activities in outer space and launching from New Zealand not only safeguarded the country's interests, but also demonstrated to the world the infrastructure was in place for space businesses to come here.

Foreign companies would therefore “seriously begin” to consider New Zealand, she said.

“It is realistic that New Zealand will become a space hub, especially for small satellite launches and operations as a result of its geographical location, excellent governance structures and reputation for technological ingenuity.”

“New Zealand is set to become a space-faring nation.”

Beck from Rocket Lab has a slightly different take on what a New Zealand space industry looked like, and it was not necessarily one which had competing operators.

“That's not what we want, that's the opposite of what we want.”

But he conceded he has fielded a “number of conversations” from some very large companies, and said his company had “certainly paved the way” for others.

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Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck says the growth in space for New Zealand will
come from the utilisation of space and space assets, not launching them.

The company's site on Mahia Peninsula, which is on the East Coast south of Gisborne, was the first private orbital launch range in the world, licensed to launch every 72 hours for the next 30 years.

There was a strong geographical reason for the United States company to base itself in New Zealand, he said, which basically came down to it being an area quiet enough to allow regular commercial launches.

But the launch site it settled on, having flirted with one in Canterbury, also provided it with a wide launch range the equivalent of the West and East Coast of America combined.

“When you go and put a satellite in orbit it's not just about going to space, you've got to get it exactly in the right point.”

“It's the one advantage of New Zealand being a small, island nation in the middle of nowhere — that just happens to be exactly what you want when you go to launch rockets.”

(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/RasputinDude/News%20Story%20Pix%202016/20160918_15958519sr_zpsanvflxi2.jpg) (https://static2.stuff.co.nz/1474171735/519/15958519.jpg)
New Zealand's features are exactly what you want for launching rockets.
— Photograph: Robert Kitchin/Fairfax NZ.

In July, Rocket Lab signed up United States technology company Planet for at least satellite launches, using Rocket Lab's Electron rocket.

The 18-metre tall Electron rocket was designed to send satellites into orbit for as little as US$50,000 (NZ$68,000) — “materially” cheaper than the alternatives.

“When we launch later this year and early next, as a company we'll become only the second private company in the history of the planet to have ever put a satellite in orbit,” Beck said.

This was where he saw the real growth opportunity for New Zealand — not more launch sites, but around what launches enabled other businesses and people to do.

A report from Sapere Research Group in June found Rocket Lab's establishment of a rocket launch industry in New Zealand would contribute between $600m and $1.55b to the economy over the next 20 years.

Beck said the small satellite industry was the highest growth area in the space industry at the moment, with many people unaware how much it influence their daily lives — from television to communications.

Rocket Lab was fully-booked for launches next year, and 2018 was headed the same way.

“Satellites are geographically agnostic so all you need is a bunch of smart guys with a good business plan and you can really go after some big markets in the satellite industry.”

“The growth area for New Zealand is going to be around the utilisation of space and space assets, not launching them.”

• ROCKET LAB (https://www.rocketlabusa.com)

__________________________________________________________________________

Related stories:

• Airways hopes Rocket Lab launch will be ‘first of many’ (http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/84057531)

• Rocket Lab signs Planet satellite company as new launch customer (http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/82051625)

• ‘Time is right’ for New Zealand to launch space science technology centre (http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/81094186)

• New Zealand's space policy: Government lays out rocket rules and United States pact (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/81041705)

• Rocket Lab reaches satellite launch milestone (http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/80200048)

• Rocket Lab signs satellite company Spire as customer (http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/76908423)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/84299891 (http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/84299891)

from STUFF/Fairfax NZ....

Rocket Lab ‘still testing’, expected to launch on Monday

By ANUJA NADKARNI | 4:49PM - Saturday, 09 December 2017

(https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/n/4/0/m/7/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1ncz2x.png/1512862152886.jpg) (https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/n/4/0/m/7/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1ncz2x.png/1512862152886.jpg)
Rocket Lab will launch the Electron rocket from Mahia Peninsula between 2.30pm and 6.30pm.

THE LAUNCH of Rocket Lab's second Electron rocket is expected to take place on Monday.

The launch over the Māhia Peninsula will be the first attempt to put satellites into orbit from New Zealand.

Rocket Lab spokeswoman Morgan Bailey said there were positive signs Monday would bring ideal technical and weather conditions to green light the take off.

The company opened the 10-day launch window last week but cancelled its launch on Friday due to high altitude winds.

Last month the company's Kiwi founder, Peter Beck, said the best way to watch the launch would be online, rather than in person.

“If it was me, I wouldn't drive for eight hours, I would stay at home and watch it on the internet. We are still in the testing phase so there is not really any infrastructure there for people to view it from,” Beck said.

A live video stream will start about 15 minutes before the launch, which could be any time between 2.30pm and 6.30pm.

STUFF intends to publish a link to the video stream on the day of the launch.

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Rocket Lab built its 23-metre-long carbon-fibre Electron rockets to put satellites into orbit.

Over the 10 minutes of the rocket's flight, people should be able to see images from cameras on board the Electron which will be making its first attempt to deploy three satellites into orbit.

The 23-metre carbon-fibre Electron rocket is capable of carrying a 150 kilogram payload into orbit and has been dubbed “Still Testing”. This time it will mostly be carrying equipment to test its performance.

Three satellites will be on board, rather the previously planned four.

Two satellites are owned by United States company Spire Global, which is mostly in the business of tracking ships and planes, and the other by fellow US firm Planet Labs which is for aerial photography.

Each is about the size of a shoebox.

Although Planet Lab's biggest customers are in agriculture, it also markets its services to defence and intelligence agencies.

Images from one of its satellites were used by US-South Korean academic institute 38 North (http://www.38north.org) to analyse the deteriorating condition of North Korea's Mount Mantap nuclear test facility and were circulated in the media in September.

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Three satellites will be on board to track ships, planes and one for aerial photography.

Beck said he would be watching the launch from “mission control”.

“At ‘T minus 10 minutes’ we go into an automatic sequence that is computer controlled, so the vehicle takes control of itself at that point.”

“Once it is launched there is no command that we can give apart from ‘flight termination’.”

Earlier this year Rocket Lab successfully launched its first rocket but fell short of orbit.

Bailey said Rocket Lab held a “wet dress rehearsal” launch last week on Friday that went “very smoothly”.

A wet dress rehearsal plays out the launch day without a lift-off. The rocket was filled with fuel, rolled onto the launch pad and all data points were tested.

Beck said his team had put their hearts and souls into this project.

The main purpose of this launch was to learn, he said.

“Obviously we want a completely successful mission and we want to deploy the payloads [satellites], but the point of it is to learn and to gather more data from the flight.”

• ROCKET LAB (https://www.rocketlabusa.com)

__________________________________________________________________________

Related to this topic:

• Wind delays Rocket Lab's ‘Still Testing’ launch (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99667633)

• Rocket Lab to stream next month's Electron launch over the internet (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/99383181)

• Rocket Lab successfully launches first test rocket but falls short of orbit (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/92922533)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99702681 (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99702681)

Xtra News Community 2

General Category => General Forum => Topic started by: Kiwithrottlejockey on April 10, 2010, 01:00:18 pm