Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Mel Powell is not standing for re-election in the upcoming local body elections. Her surprise move leaves deputy chair Terence Harpur as the only sitting board member on the A Fresh Approach ticket of six candidates for the six board seats.
The group’s third current board member, Peter Allen, has also chosen not to stand for a second term. He says he intends focusing on his businesses.
Powell told the Observer she was returning to community development work.
“It was a difficult decision to make and it has been a privilege to serve the community,” she said.
Flood recovery advocacy almost convinced her to stay, but she had decided her skills were better deployed in issues, including homelessness, off the board.
To page 2 Focus goes on flood risk at rest homes... p4-5 Departing
Poster children join blue-and-yellow invasion
True colours... Josiah Hughes (12) and Marley Gaite (10) ventured into enemy territory to support their team, when Takapuna played North Shore in Devonport at the weekend in two big finals of the North Harbour club rugby competition. Edged in the premiership, Takapuna did not leave empty handed. Stories, page 10-11.
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Harpur stands with five new faces
page 1
A Fresh Approach won a 4-2 majority in the 2022 election, but was left with three members when Toni van Tonder, who had been chair, stood down to move to Australia at the beginning of this year. Powell became chair on her departure and had the casting vote.
Despite losing three of its four successful candidates from three years ago, the group, which launches its campaign this week, says it aims to secure all six board seats with a forward-looking, data-led approach.
The five candidates standing alongside Harpur are town planner Scott MacArthur; accessibility advocate Kimberly Graham; environmental advocate Karleen Reeve; community advocate Karin Horen; and business owner Lewis Rowe.
One of them, banker Phil McGivern, has since withdrawn due to a new career opportunity. He has been replaced by company director and chartered accountant Kamini Schoonbee. The other C&R candidates are company director Mike Single, who was the highest polling unsuccessful candidate in 2022; housewife and student Kaumosi Opie; and engineer Neil Zent.
Further candidates have until 1 August to enter the race for board seats. Several independents have signalled that they will stand.
Postal voting forms are distributed from 9 September. Voting closes on 11 October.
Harpur, who is the Takapuna Beach Business Association (TBBA) chief executive, said the A Fresh Approach lineup featured community leaders with experience across varied fields.
Competition for the ticket includes the established Communities and Residents (C&R) North Shore group, which in late June announced a slate of six candidates, sitting board members George Wood and Gavin Busch among them.
No decisions had been made around post-election roles should the ticket win control of the board.
The group was “proudly apolitical”, said Harpur. “We’re not tied to any ideology –we’re accountable only to our community.”
Problem pohutukawa hearing on way
Residents of The Sands apartments in Takapuna are hoping their battle to remove a large pōhutukawa that fell across their lawn three years ago, may finally be sorted after a hearing next month.
The tree is considered part of Te Uru Tapu / Sacred Grove and any action over it has become mired in wider issues of the sensitive ecological and cultural area’s management by council.
After a resource consent for its removal was sought, the application was publicly notified last December, drawing 36 submissions in support and two against.
On 6 August commissioners will hear the
matter, with a reserved decision to follow.
The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board is also expecting a workshop with council staff on Te Uru Tapu on 12 August.
This month, board members expressed frustrations on inaction at the closed-off beachfront site, where weeds and litter are an issue and seawall work has been called for to prevent tree roots eroding. Tree tending and plans for a path outside the closed area to a viewing platform have also stalled.
Members unanimously called for updates, on plans and costings. “I feel like we’ve been banging on about this for years and years,” said deputy chair Terence Harpur.
Authorised by Hon Simon Watts, Parliament Buildings, Wgtn.
Long-time
Young Shore singers enjoy supremo’s winning swansong
Five former students from the Westlake high schools and two from Takapuna Grammar were among members of the New Zealand Youth Choir judged “Choir of the World” in a top international competition in Wales.
The choir was led for the last time by its music director David Squire, who was named Most Inspiring Conductor at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen this month.
Squire has been at the choir’s helm for 15 years – and been involved for twice that time in fostering musical excellence at North Shore schools, particularly the two Westlake schools.
He was himself a singer in the 50-strong national youth choir from 1985 to 1991.
“Sadly, I’m too busy conducting now to have time to sing,” he told the Observer from London at the weekend.
After a short break, Squire will soon be back at Westlake Boys to work with its Voicemale choir, which in late August will compete at the Choral Federation’s Big Sing Finale, the pinnacle of national secondary school choir competition.
Before then he will conduct the combined Westlake Symphony Orchestra which will compete at the KBB Music Festival midmonth. He is also choir director for Euphony at Kristin School, juggling these and other roles with his own company Schoir.
“We are all proud of him and the NZYC,” said Westlake Girls head of music, Fiona Wilson, who as the choir director for the girls
school’s Finale-bound Cantare and combined choir Choralation, works closely with Squire. They two were vocal coaches for the hit New Zealand film Tinā, which was partly inspired by footage of a Westlake choir singing in Samoan more than a decade ago.
Squire said his swansong northern hemisphere tour with the youth choir was his most successful in terms of international awards.
“But the highlights are often less glamorous or tangible than that – sharing music onstage with singers from other choirs, doing school workshops with young kids and watching their eyes light up, seeing audiences moved by your performance... those are the real highlights.”
The choir auditions singers aged 18 to 25 for three-year terms. Its number includes Squire’s eldest son, William, who like fellow member Sam Nicholson, was a past Westlake Boys music and culture captain; and also Blake Scanlen, a current music teacher at the school. Westlake Girls alumni are Althea Tarrosa and Alanah Jones; the former TGS students are Matthew Spooner and Tausala Faulalo.
Wilson, herself a Youth Choir member from 1991-1996, said: “I am incredibly proud that so many of our past Westlake students come through our choral programme and continue to this national level of choral singing.” It was fitting that Squire’s lengthy legacy of musical education should be celebrated with what was an outstanding
international achievement, she said.
North Shore resident Squire was head of instrumental music at Westlake Girls from 1996-2001, before a stint at Manurewa High School as director of music. Since 2006, he has been an itinerant music teacher, mostly based out of Westlake Boys’, but he has also taught at Kristin, Rangitoto, Long Bay and Orewa colleges.
His individual award in Wales was presented by the widow of opera giant Luciano Pavarotti.
The youth choir last won the Choir of the World title in 1999. This year, it was also judged first in Mixed Choirs and the Folklore category and third in Open Choirs.
This followed accolades a week earlier in Aarhus, Denmark, at the European Choir Games, where the choir won the Grand Prix of Nations in the Folkore category and was second in Musica Sacra A Capella. Judges praised it for representing the spirit of Aotearoa, with a repertoire including waiata and Pasifika songs.
The choir flew to the UK the next day, to perform in London and Oxford before travelling to Wales. A final UK date was at St Albans Cathedral before members dispersed. On the way over, it also performed in Singapore. But Squire said another highlight was having first been farewelled for the tour at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell by more than 800 people. This was among the biggest local audiences the choir sung to in his time.
On tour...
Westlake Boys choir director David Squire and members of the New Zealand Youth Choir
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Focus goes on flood risk to lives
Flood risk to life in Wairau catchment retirement villages is being assessed.
Auckland Council is studying sites hit by the 2023 floods, including private care villages Lady Allum in Milford and Parklane in Forrest Hill and Haumaru housing’s pensioner courts at Milford’s Alma Rd and Stratford Ave, where people were forced to leave some units by rising flood waters.
It will produce reports to give villages a better understanding of the the risk profile inside and outside their buildings, said council’s Healthy Waters and Flood Resilience Head of Network Planning, Nick Vigar. “Whether it’s a private board or the Haumaru board, they can make some decisions on it.”
Following the initial focus on residential property assessment, the council had looked
to retirement villages, due to their having the most vulnerable, least mobile residents.
Based on managing risk to life, an interior depth of flooding of 0.5m from an extreme weather event was considered a maximum, Vigar said.
“For residential properties a 1.2m depth of flooding for adult able-bodied people might be tolerated, but for a responsible decision to be made it was landed at 0.5m,” he said. “In a residential situation you could argue if people are vulnerable or not. In a rest home 100 per cent of them would be in that situation.”
He hopes other smaller retirement villages and rest homes might be assessed too, saying he was not 100 per cent sure all in the area had been captured.
“If we find any others then it’s an open
Golfers face long hiatus – at best
Takapuna Golf Course will likely be closed for two to three years when flood remediation works begin from mid-2027 – if the course even gets to stay on AF Thomas Park.
Extensive earthworks will be required at the council-owned park to create massive water detention capacity to protect 250 homes down the Wairau catchment in Milford.
Although a nine-hole course is included in latest Auckland Council proposals shown to local boards this week, there is no guarantee that golf will stay among the recreational options for the 46ha park. But council and golf schemes have come closer together.
Community feedback will help the landholder, the Kaipatiki Local Board decide recreational usage in February next year, along with the fate of the golf lease.
Council has already decided the park’s
Skin Cancer: Like Icebergs, Most Danger Lies Beneath the Surface
primary future is to deal with stormwater. Around one-third of its area will be remodelled to become wetland, another one third becoming a dry detention zone and remaining land to be used for recreation. From local-board members’ questioning, it emerged neighbouring Eventfinda stadium and the nearby commercial area will gain little flood protection from the detention plans, whichever proposal progresses.
Council staff said more protection would come from later work downstream, easing waterflow to the Milford estuary.
Members of the Devonport-Takapuna board emphasised the urgent need to progress later so-far unfunded work stages for the added safety of Milford residents.
Council’s Healthy Waters head of sustainable partnerships, Tom Mansell, repeated that the planned water detention was needed to deliver the best results for later work.
Skin Cancer Specialists www.skintel.co.nz 0800 SKINTEL 11a Apollo Drive, Rosedale
Flood Recovery
of vulnerable Milford, Forrest Hill village residents
offer to them.”
They too could get a report outlining risk to life. “But we don’t go beyond that – it’s up to their boards.”
He expected assessments would be provided to the organisations’ boards within a month or so. “From what I’ve seen, they’ve taken a very responsible response to what happened, he added.
Lady Allum has terminated accommodation in some lower apartments in the Inverlochy block (see story, below). Parklane did the same for some freestanding villas near water channels. Parklane’s central communal facilities and kitchen block required extensive renovations and was out of action for over a year.
A number of Haumaru units also required refurbishment, but even the worst hit four
creekside units at Alma Rd were back in use after nine months. “The tenants who were impacted all choose to move back in,” said Haumaru chief executive Gillian Schweizer.
Haumaru would review and act on any advice it got from the council report, she said. “We would be foolish not to.”
Conversations about flood recovery had been ongoing for some of its properties across the city.
Vigar said the approach for the assessments was similar to that used in the voluntary residential property buyout scheme in terms of the framework for assessing risk to life. But there would be no categorisation process, because the joint government and council buyout scheme was funded solely for private homeowners.
Retirement villages, childcare centres and
commercial property owners sit outside the buyout programme.
The assessments cover both current risk and how it might change following planned flood resilience projects.
“These assessments do not include considerations or recommendations for any requirements of additional land,” Vigar said. But they might help inform the concept design of stage two of the remediation project, which would get underway next year.
“What we’re trying to do now is to have a better idea of where our risk is,” he said. Water depth and velocity assessments and building exits were among matters assessed, he said, with this made more complicated in large operations with facilities such as lifts. Evidence from floods and modelling was being used.
Lady Allum aims to convert flood-susceptible units
Lady Allum retirement village in Milford is seeking consent to turn the lower level of a block into non-habitable usable space to boost the building’s flood resilience.
This would reduce risk to residents and staff from future flooding events, a planning application to Auckland Council says.
Ground-floor apartments in the Inverlochy block above the Wairau Creek concrete channel had to be abandoned when they were inundated in the floods of 2023.
Occupants, who were independent village residents, initially had to fend for themselves on the evening of 27 January, with office staff having gone home and only the village’s care units staffed. Several elderly residents who spoke to the Observer over that Auckland Anniversary Weekend were badly shaken by the experience and the aftermath of losing their possessions and homes.
Village owner Oceania this month had resource management consultants Bentley & Co lodge an application for internal alterations. This would reduce the number of units in the three-wing Inverlochy building from 72 to 56. Former ground-floor apartments would be converted into communal spaces.
Critical building services (electrical outlets, data points, cables etc) would be relocated to parts of the three-storey building not susceptible to flooding.
The application acknowledged that due to the fixed level of the ground floor and the inability to reduce the building’s exposure to flooding, it was “subject to an ongoing risk of flooding in severe rainfall events of up to 500mm, however, this is mitigated by the proposed relocation of habitable spaces and key building services”.
Oceania also wants to build a new carpark with 21 spaces at a neighbouring property it owns on 10 Napoleon Ave. It wants to integrate this into the existing village site, which is at 12 and 20 Napoleon Ave. The two homes
Adapting... The Lady Allum site, bordered by flood-prone Wairau Creek. Its Inverlochy block (top of the light village area) is to be partly reconfiigured.
at 10 Napoleon Ave have been demolished.
Oceania’s proposal includes earthworks, retaining walls, footpaths and lighting. Fill will raise the new car-park, in the floodplain area, by up to 2m. “The retirement village operator will ensure that no staff or residents use the carpark during a severe flood event, and therefore no persons are considered at risk,” the application said.
Work would be undertaken during typical construction hours of 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday, the application said. An erosion and sediment control plan would be implemented for the work. Riparian planting of the creek would be undertaken.
Removal of one street tree, a bottlebrush, is proposed, to allow for a wider vehicle crossing. Because the tree’s height is over 4m, permission is needed. It would be re-
placed with a 3m-high magnolia.
The application should proceed without public notification, the submitters say. Planners will rule on the application.
• Lady Allum is undergoing substantial other redevelopment, with its central former care facility having recently been demolished. Another care facility in a southern section of the site opened in 2022.
The Inverlochy building in the northern part of the property was built around 2008. That, and the neighbouring Attwood block, opened over seven years ago, were the start of adapting the village, founded in the 1960s, into more modern retirement living.
Oceania has also separately sought upzoning of the village to Terraced Housing and Apartment Buildings, allowing for greater intensification.
Vibrations vex residents
A Castor Bay man is angry he is being kept awake at night due to a drain installed for stormwater from a nearby housing development.
Peter Hutchinson (pictured) and wife Lois, who have lived on Esplanade Rd for 12 years, are having their sleep broken by the vibration of vehicles driving over a new drain installed under Beach Rd in early June to remove stormwater from a five-house development.
The drain had slumped and “every time a car goes over it a shudder goes through our house”, he said. Buses were worse.
Hutchinson has taken his concerns to the Castor Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association and also the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, speaking at its public forum last week.
Rather than have contractors redo the work, he wants Auckland Transport to reinstate the road and drain to “a full road standard – and send the developer the bill.”
Board members have forwarded Hutchinson’s concerns to AT and called for council to get tougher on errant developments.
• Auckland Council’s compliance team confirmed it received a complaint on 5 June 2025 alleging discharge of sediment-laden water from the 76 Beach Rd site. The Pollution Response Team confirmed the discharge occurred. Abatement and infringement notices were issued.
Bayswater School Board Election 2025
Nominations are open for three Parent Representatives and one Staff Representative to the Board. Any member of the school electoral roll may nominate themselves or another elector. Candidates do not need to be parents of the school. Nomination forms (with a brief candidate statement) are available from the school office or Returning Officer and must be returned to Bayswater School by noon on Wednesday 6 August 2025.
If more than three parent nominations are received, an election will be held on 10 September 2025, with voting papers posted to all electors. Enquiries: Amelia Peihopa, Returning Officer meelsc2@gmail.com Phone: 021 260 6564
Crumbling surface prompts action
Attempts are being made to stop micro particles from a Takapuna Beach Reserve playground installation (pictured) entering the sea.
After being alerted to the problem by the Observer, Auckland Council staff “have inspected the playground and found that some of the synthetic rubber surface was crumbling,” said Eloi Fonseca, manager of area operations for Devonport-Takapuna and Kaipātiki parks and community facilities.
Contractors have removed loose particles, and are scheduled to apply sealant to the affected area this week to remediate the problem.
“We are also investigating the installation of drain filters to help prevent any further loose particles entering the stormwater network,” he said.
Some degree of surface wear and crumbling is expected in high-use areas, Fonseca said.
“Given this playground’s popularity and high foot traffic, we’re also considering increasing the frequency of vacuuming in that area as part of our ongoing maintenance programme,” he added.
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Recycling operation bounces back after blaze
Abilities Group staff are settled back into their normal recycling routines after moving into a new warehouse in Wairau, following the huge fire that destroyed their Hillside Rd premises on 24 April.
Thanks to community support, the 110 disabled workers employed by the not-forprofit enterprise were paid throughout the search for a new home.
Teething problems aside over the last month – such as the challenge for some of finding their way to their new work location on Kaimahi Rd – the staff, who mostly live nearby, are happily settled back into routines.
“For them it’s a home away from home, where they’ve got friends and purpose,” says Abilities general manager Michael Van Der Merwe.
Keeping the workers together, while searching for a suitable new location, had always been the aim. Meetings to arrange this were organised with the help of Rotary.
Tears came with the trauma of losing their workplace, but workers’ spirits were buoyed by knowing they had community support, Van Der Merwe said.
More than $280,000 was raised through a fundraising campaign, allowing the wages to keep coming during the weeks out of operation.
“If it wasn’t for Givealittle, that would have been very difficult,” he said.
Operationally, securing a two-year lease on the new warehouse meant commercial operations had resumed, but taking community drop-offs is on hold for now.
Inside, the warehouse is equipped with new compacting machines and workbenches.
The work being done includes paper recycling and contract packaging jobs, such as a longstanding contract with Fonterra under which plastic inners are removed from faulty paper milk-powder sacks, so both the plastic and paper can be baled up and compressed for recycling.
The staff enjoy the teamwork involved, standing around more than 20 timber workbenches made by volunteers after the fire.
This came from a project initiated by local company Edgecity Builders, run by Nick and Sharon Farrelly. Members of the Certified Builders Association, which Nick chairs, gathered from across Auckland for a day, building replacement benches needed for sorting work.
Timber and equipment was donated by Mitre 10 and Hirepool.
“Everything is donated,” says fundraising manager Katie Christoffersen, gesturing at office desks and computers.
Clients had been very supportive, she said. More than 100 companies offered donations and grant providers pitched in, including major supporter Foundation North.
Back in action... Abilities workers (from left) Michael Oram from Forrest Hill, Irene Johnston from Sunnynook and Michele Sadler from Hillcrest are happy to be reunited at the not-for-profit group’s new premises in Wairau
Among other activities during the hiatus, workers went go-karting at Mt Smart with members of the Warriors rugby league team.
Media coverage had drawn offers of help, she said.
A thank-you day will be held for customers and other key supporters in late July.
Christoffersen reflects: “It’s been the busiest two months of my life – exhausting, but so worthwhile.”
Van Der Merwe said the aim was to purchase Abilities Group a “forever home” down the track. This would allow it to employ up to 200 people and save more of the city’s waste from landfill.
The organisation processes 20 tonnes of e-waste a week. For now, this is being done from temporary premises in Henderson, and another satellite base still operating in Poland Rd, Wairau.
The Wairau location is constrained for space, but is where donated electronic goods are assessed, with the likes of computers from companies which have upgraded their technology being checked and onsold or donated to others in need.
The aim is for no more than 5 per cent of the waste being processed to go to landfill.
Some of the materials Abilities’ five trucks collect is from council-backed resource recovery centres, including in Devonport.
Due to space constraints, Abilities has had to pull back on some work, such as Tetra Pak and plastic lid handling.
It has plenty of work to be going on with,
as some companies stored their waste, waiting for it to resume operations.
“Because we deal in bulk, we can usually find markets,” says Van Der Merwe. The likes of batteries are sent to South Korea.
“If you have enough of something, you can trade.” But he adds: “You’re always at the mercy of international commodity values.”
Fundraising is always required, but the group does have some assets, owning two smaller buildings in Rosedale which it leases out to help pay its warehouse rent.
Any new base it can afford one day will be in Wairau, Van De Merwe says. “It’s our community, we’ve been in the area for 65 years and we’re embedded in it.”
The organisation’s longest-serving worker has been on the job for 42 years. Others have also been there for decades, some transitioning from the Wairau Special School, which was opposite the Hillside Rd site.
The operation was begun initially by Takapuna Rotary in Barrys Pt Rd, but as it grew and became an independent entity it has moved premises several times.
It occupied the Hillside Rd site for 15 years.
For now, Abilities is open only to commercial customers.
It is hoped community drop-off days will resume soon, at a location to be advised.
The group’s website will offer updates and provide email notifications on request.
Van Der Merwe said a report on the cause of the fire was still awaited.
J-El sinks Shore in thrilling
The magnetic rugby personality that is Jon Elrick was on full display in the Takapuna Rugby Club premier two side’s thrilling 27-24 win over North Shore in their North Harbour championship final last Saturday.
Known as J-El, 41-year-old Elrick has played senior rugby for Takapuna for more than 20 years, notching more than 250 games for its premier side.
As first five-eighth he extinguished many a North Shore championship run with his game control and pinpoint goalkicking.
Last Saturday, Elrick, playing at centre in the premier reserves final, still seemed to be at the centre of everything. He was even team captain in the absence of injured Jimmy Taufa.
Shore scored four tries to three, but Elrick’s goalkicking – two conversions and two penalties – was the difference between the two sides. He was involved in several Takapuna attacks and burrowed under a Shore goal-line drive to save a try.
He was also in one of the more dramatic moments of the match – his sin-binning for a high tackle mid way through the second half.
“It put the boys under a bit of pressure, but I was pretty sure they could respond,” Elrick said after the match. And respond they did, on the back of great performances by forwards Sam Pulini and Atunaisa Hafoka and first five Dave McMurtie.
Takapuna led 10-7 at halftime. The thrilling end to the match, with Shore pressing for the win, sparked a rush of Takapuna fans onto the Vauxhall Rd pitch and celebrations worthy of a grand final, such was the quality of the game and passion shown by both sides
New Zealand’s media continues to undergo massive change with job losses in all sectors.
The common reasons for the media cutbacks and closures are declining advertising revenues and rising costs. Newspapers across the country have faced print bill increases of 56 per cent over the last five years.* (Our print bill has gone up $6000 per month during this time.)
At the same time, New Zealand companies are spending millions of dollars on Google and Facebook advertising. This money goes offshore, with massive impacts on New Zealand journalism and jobs. Journalist numbers in New Zealand have dropped from 4000 to 1700 in the past 20 years.*
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Victorious veteran… Jon Elrick celebrating with daughters Ashley (8) and Jordan (10), and in finals action (top, right)
Plucky Takapuna
premiers go down fighting against old foe
Takapuna lost the North Harbour Rugby championship final to North Shore 33-15, but until deep into the second half the result could have gone either way.
Takapuna beat Shore 22-20 in pool play a month ago, but without star players Lotu and Fine Inisi and Sam Moli – all Moana Pasifika professionals – and centre Tika Lelenga, it was always going to be a tough ask to dethrone the defending champions.
But with young lock Tristyn Cook, flanker Gage Jackson, and number 8 Junior Simi leading the charge up front, the Takapuna pack mostly held their own against the bigger and more experienced Shore eight.
Shore led 14-8 at halftime but slightly
against the run of play Takapuna scored straight after the break to jump to a 15-14 lead with the conversion.
An upset looked a possibility, with Takapuna putting everything on the line, but Shore, with a strong bench which included North Harbour prop Sam Davies and the highly promising flanker Liam Sturm held them out and gradually gained ascendency.
At 26-15 down Takapuna were still in the match before a late runaway try gave Shore the win and a flattering scoreline.
The performance and victory by Takapuna’s premier two side in the earlier final augurs well for the 2026 season – and no doubt more rugged battles with Shore.
Tight at the top of schoolboy table
With two rounds to play before the finals, the North Harbour schools rugby competition is one of the most hotly contested in years. Rosmini and Westlake are joint leaders, ahead of Whangarei Boys and Rangitoto College. The closeness of the top four teams has been illustrated by Rangitoto’s results. The co-ed school has beaten Westlake and only went down to Rosmini 10-0 last Saturday.
Rosmini play Whangarei Boys away this weekend while Westlake are away to Massey High School.
The final round on 2 August offers some intriguing matches, with Rosmini playing Westlake in a top of the table clash and hoping to avenge a loss to its arch-rivals earlier in the season. Rangitoto College is at home to Whangarei Boys in a third vs fourth clash.
Committed... Takapuna never gave an inch in the championship final
Title winners... the Takapuna premier reserves team after their victory
Music man’s footpath gripes strike a chord
Lake Rd music store owner Bruce Farrell has walked the footpaths of Takapuna to work for 45 years. Now he has taken added steps to have their bumpy old paving replaced.
Farrell appeared at the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board’s July meeting last week, urging action to rectify trip hazards from broken surfaces.
“The footpath is past its use-by date. It has small pavers and they’re uneven in places and dangerous,” he told the board.
Tree roots were pushing up the footpath, and splitting tree surrounds contributed to problems.
Farrell said he and other passersby had picked up a shaken woman who fell on the uneven pavers outside Westpac Bank about three months ago.
“I’ve tripped several times, but managed to right myself,” the owner of Farrells Music House said.
Such incidents were common. Other than Auckland Transport patching around tree roots and replacing the odd paver, he doubted much had been done on the western side of Lake Rd in around 20 years.
The block from Westpac on the Huron St corner to the former ANZ Bank premises on the Northcroft St corner was particularly bad. This was tough for elderly people to navigate when they had to go to the bank.
“When you’re walking, you have to look all the time for uneven pavers,” he said.
The footpath on the next block south, where his shop is sited in an arcade, was also broken up in places.
Larger pavers and levelled surfaces, like those on Hurstmere Rd, would be safer and more presentable, he told board members. Maintenance was a minimum requirement.
Members were sympathetic, having previously called on AT for town centre upgrades.
“I completely agree, that footpath needs a full renewal,” said deputy chair Terence Harpur, who in his other role as Takapuna Beach Business Association chief executive has repeatedly called for improvements.
He acknowledged that AT “patch occasionally”, but said some previous work around tree bases had created new trip hazards.
Harpur said he would talk to AT to see if it had any scheduled renewal work in the pipeline and if this might be sped up. But due to cost, a full repaving any time soon is
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considered unlikely.
Board chair Mel Powell said residents could help reinforce the case for improvements by logging incidents or issues.
Meanwhile, playwright and Takapuna resident Sir Roger Hall has alerted the Observer to uneven surfaces and a loose drain cover on The Strand.
Mind your step... Bruce Farrell on bumpy ground near his Lake Rd shop
Sell-out show marks intermediate’s return to stage
The sell-out success of Takapuna Normal Intermediate’s colourful production of the Wizard of Oz (pictured) was a welcome return to the school staging shows.
Deputy principal Andrew Milne said the junior musical version of the classic story was the first production the school had put on since before the arrival of Covid in 2020. “It was well received, and we are very proud of the learners,” he told the Observer.
Four performances were staged over two days using rotating casts. Clever backdrops, achieved through sets and lighting, enhanced the atmosphere for the production held at the end of last term.
The school partnered with Artz on Show theatre facilitators, with the company supplying a director who worked with the students after school for 10 weeks. The school hopes to return to more regular productions.
Milford / Takapuna Tides
PumpHouse will honour children’s theatre stalwart
Children’s theatre mainstay Tim Bray will be honoured with a place on the “Champions of the PumpHouse” wall at the Takapuna venue.
Bray, who died this month after a battle with cancer that led to the winding up of his company, would be recognised for his long-standing connection with the theatre, its business manager James Bell said.
More than 300,000 tickets to Bray shows had been sold at the PumpHouse alone over the years, noted North Shore ward Auckland councillor Richard Hills.
The last Tim Bray Theatre Company production – its annual Santa Claus Show – was held at the PumpHouse before Christmas.
The show was among the 100-plus original and adapted scripts he wrote and staged.
With PumpHouse trust chair Peter Burn, Bell was among theatre staff and North Shore supporters who attended Bray’s funeral at Kāhui St David’s in Grafton on Sunday 12 July.
Talk of a memorial get-together at the PumpHouse had circulated, Bell said, but this would wait for conversations with his family and friends, as would the choice of a suitable photograph to put on display on the theatre’s memorial wall.
Bell said the funeral was a celebration of Bray’s life and attended by around 300 people.
Since word of his death has spread, further tributes have been made.
Across 113 productions, Tim Bray Theatre Company shows reached children from three generations.
Terence Harpur, who knew Bray for 15 years and whose children had attended Bray shows, moved an acknowledgement of his significant contribution at a Devonport-Takapuna Local Board meeting last week.
“A highlight was the two of us working together to host the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall (now our King and Queen) in 2012, when they attended a special performance of Lynley Dodds’ Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy (the Duchess’s favourite children’s book) along with almost 1000 local children at the Bruce Mason Centre.”
In 2023 alone, the company performed to 36,420 people, 7398 of them children attending free thanks to the company’s highly successful Gift a Seat programme.
Hills also acknowledged Bray’s contributions outside theatre, particularly to the Rainbow community. Bray created the Big Gay Out, presenting the idea for the event to his fellow Hero Trustees 25 years ago.
Bray left a partner, Bryce, and children Caellum and Brooke.
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