Consenting costs of up to $400,000 would be likely in order to remove two sets of problematic trees in Devonport and Belmont, say Auckland Council officials.
The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board has requested council remove the pair of trees in Anne St and three on Northboro Rd, but Auckland Council’s regional arbori-
Benefactor reveals personal tie to TGS pool... p5
culture and ecological manager, David Stejskal, warned the costs may be substantial. Council planners said resource consents would likely be publicly notified, which could push up costs from an estimated $50,000 in each case to $200,000 apiece due to the need to consult with third parties, Stejskal told a local board workshop.
Arborists had advised against removing the trees in both cases, citing “insufficient reasons” to do so.
Stejskal said the case was the first in the area he knew of in which staff had advised against removal but board members had proceeded to request it.
Hongi and haka at Windsor Reserve
and greet... Takapuna
8-9.
Meet
Grammar School deputy head girl Harmony Wilson-Ngata (right) and Matua Gary Pratt at a ‘Haka Up’ event in Devonport last week. More photos, pages
PHOTO: MONICA SORRENSON
Stabbing in Belmont prompts big callout
A person was stabbed at the Kāinga Ora housing block on the corner of Lake Rd and Bardia St in Belmont on 12 September, sparking a big police callout.
Police were called to the complex around 8.53pm and cleared the apartments.
Detective Sergeant Mark Renfree of the Waitematā East CIB said the offender had fled the scene.
A scene guard was put in place overnight with a scene examination taking place over the weekend.
No arrests had been made but Renfree said police were following positive lines of enquiry.
New pontoons coming, but not by summer
Narrow Neck and Duders Beach are firming as potential sites for new swimming pontoons.
Funding of $53,000 has already been set aside by the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board to investigate and install two new pontoons, with Milford Beach also high on the list being considered.
However, a final decision and obtaining consents to install them is unlikely in time for summer.
Existing Cheltenham Beach and Castor Bay pontoons will be back in the water from Labour Weekend until Easter 2026.
Seven options for new pontoon locations were put to the board for consideration.
Due to the presence of undersea cables, Windsor Reserve and the northern end of Takapuna Beach were advised against.
The beach’s Hauraki end was also considered not ideal, because of wave surge, a cable zone and rocks.
Torpedo Bay also had drawbacks, due to tides and a rocky seabed.
Narrow Neck was “a no-brainer”, said member Peter Allen, with others agreeing, provided the pontoon was sited away from the boat ramp.
Deputy chair Terence Harpur suggested considering options near Bayswater Marina, at O’Neills Bay north of Takapuna Beach, and in Lake Pupuke.
Gavin Busch threw in a left-field suggestion of erecting a water slide at Windsor Reserve, where a slide was a popular feature in the 1930s.
Staff added it to the list of possibilities to report back on.
Devonport Publishing Ltd First Floor, 9 Wynyard St
Bayswater singer Suzanne Lynch says her young grandchildren have been asking why nanny has so many sparkly dresses in her wardrobe.
Answering that leads to why, at the prompting of family, she decided to write an autobiography, Yesterday When I Was Young. It captures her stellar six-decade career from 1960s teen pop sensation in The Chicks with her sister Judy Donaldson, to touring with international stars including Cat Stevens and Neil Sedaka, and still hitting the stage with the vamped-up Lady Killers trio.
The era-defining images she dug out for the book helped take her back. “I count myself so lucky,” she says. “I was having a great time.”
At the book’s launch in Devonport next week, she will discuss it all with broadcaster Karyn Hay, who encouraged her to lavishly illustrate the book. It’s a snapshot not just of Suzanne’s life, but of other entertainers who became household names in New Zealand through television shows like C’mon.
While the book she has been working on for two years has been a stroll down memory lane, Suzanne, aged 74, lives very much in the now. “I still hit top C,” she laughs. She loves gigging with old friends, including Shane, and has summer dates planned with fellow Lady Killers Jackie Clarke and Tina Cross. The trio recently sold out the Bruce Mason Centre with a “Divas” show.
Talking to the Flagstaff at Five Loaves in Devonport, where she often catches up with friends who live nearby, Suzanne says her anchor is very much in this area. She tutors local singers and delights in her inter-generational connections to Bayswater Primary School.
Having her daughter Amy’s children Lily (10), Chloe (6) and Jack (4) living nearby in Bayswater is a boon, and son Andrew is not too far away with Luna (4) in Matakana. Lily and Chloe attend Bayswater School, as Andrew and Amy did.
Having Andrew and an offer for her then husband Bruce Lynch to buy into Mandrill recording studio is what brought the couple back from London in 1980. They bought in Beresford St and Suzanne has remained in the area ever since. Sister Judy lives in Birkenhead. “We walk Narrow Neck Beach.”
Suzanne says Judy, who is two-and-a-half years older, had the rawer end of the deal of being in a chaperoned duo when on tour. “We were always sent to our room, with the Woman’s Weekly and the door was locked, while other people would run down the hall to the party.”
Sometimes their mother went along, which was an eye-opener for her when touring with the notorious Pretty Things. Suzanne says she was an innocent 14-year-old when it all started. With Judy and friends she heard a guitarist playing down the road near where they were growing up in Te Atatū. It turned out to be local guitar legend Peter Posa, and when he asked for a song in exchange for an autograph, his
Suzanne Lynch – still singing and still dressing with pop-star flair. Inset: With sister Judy as The Chicks.
impressed manager wrote their phone number down on the back of a cigarette packet. Before they knew it they were on television. Now her diamond mini-dress is in the collection of Auckland Museum. “People thought I had so many boyfriends, or they would be scared to approach me,” she recalls. Nowadays she enjoys reminiscing when recognised and says it’s the camaraderie of her career that has kept her motivated. The woman who Yusuf Islam (the former Cat Stevens) says has a nightingale voice maintains singing is “the best therapy – all those deep breaths”.
• Suzanne Lynch talks to Karen Hay for the launch of Yesterday When I Was Young, Devonport Library, 7pm, Tuesday 30 September.
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TGS pool benefits personal for benefactor Tindall
Cutting the ribbon to open a redeveloped Takapuna Grammar School pool last week was a special occasion for business leader and former head boy Sir Stephen Tindall, who said swimming at school gave him the confidence to excel in life.
Warehouse founder Tindall, who attended the school from 1964, could remember his mother being involved in fundraising for what was then a new pool.
He wasn’t particularly academic and failed School Certificate at the first attempt, but gravitated to the pool and began to “swim and win races”. He was eventually school swimming champion, captain of the Auckland championship-winning water polo team, and a member of the Auckland team which won a national championship.
His swimming successes transferred into wider school life – he passed School C, University Entrance, Bursary and became head boy. “This pool is very, very special to me and I am very pleased to support it [the redevelopment project].”
The Tindall Foundation is a major donor to public projects but Tindall told the Flagstaff he put money “personally” into the pool development. He declined to say how much, but agreed it was hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was going to jump in the pool himself but his family “didn’t want to see me in my speedos”.
He co-opted Olympic swimmers Erica Fairweather and Lewis Clareburt to take his place. They swam a few lengths and took part in swimming relays with TGS teams.
The $2 million pool upgrade included deepening the pool for water polo, installing heating for year-round use and flood-lighting, refurbishing the changing rooms, and adding a new filtration system with salt-water chlorination.
TGS principal Mary Nixon said as the school moved towards its centenary in 2027,
Making a splash... Olympian and world championship winner Erika Fairweather with the Takapuna Grammar girls’ water polo team.
Below: (from left) head boy Alex Berrux, head girl Claudia Pearce, deputy head boy Hugo Chapman and principal Mary Nixon look on as Sir Stephen Tindall cuts the ribbon to officially open the upgraded pool.
it now had a pool which met the needs of its 2000 students.
She paid tribute to the school’s board of trustees for their long-term commitment to the project, particularly its property manager
Have you got Natural Gas or LPG?
While there is no public access to the
community use is available through mem-
of the
has a lease for coaching and squad
Michael Sweetman.
pool,
bership
Devonport Swim Club, which
training.
Depot fires up new ceramics-painting venture
Depot Artspace is banking on bringing out the creativity in the Devonport community with a new venture giving people the chance to paint pottery.
The arts organisation has set up a ceramics studio at its 3 Victoria Rd hub and bought a kiln, which it launched to the public at a busy open day on Saturday. It hopes the venture will create a revenue stream, tapping into the market for children’s parties in particular, and bring more people into the gallery.
Adult groups can also book a guided session or individuals try their hand, even on a drop-in basis.
Attendees select unglazed “bisque” objects to paint and leave for firing and later collection. These range from coffee cups, tumblers, bowls and vases to decorative items, including cats and dragons.
“Depot Ceramics Studio is about more than painting pottery,” says Depot director Amy Saunders. “It’s about connection, to creativity, to community and to each other. We really want to bring people together through the art of making.”
She hoped it would bring more people into the gallery, already a vibrant space.
One of the resident artists with a studio upstairs in the leased premises, ceramicist Fiona Mackay, has helped guide the project’s establishment and the upskilling of Depot staff. A communal table seating up to 16 people has been installed at the back of the main gallery and a back room for children’s parties can fit up to 10.
For the opening day, the organisation also drew on the talents of participants in the Depot’s Arts Lab programme, which offers professional development and career guidance for creatives. Cellist Esther Lee played at the event. “It was really nice to be able to get them involved,” said Nick Edgar, a local contracted by the Depot to drive the studio’s establishment and initial marketing.
Attention to detail... Vauxhall School students Cami Pracy (10, in foreground) and Francesca McPherson (9) at work in the new ceramics studio
While the concept is similar to that offered by commercial operators, the studio’s aims are wider. “We want to generate revenue – to get it to pay for itself – but that profit would go back into supporting artists,” Edgar said.
The $8000 kiln was in a rear outbuilding, with shelving set up in another shed and the back of the main building for the pottery. Items will be available for pick-up within two weeks. Bisque prices start from $30.
Future workshops could offer the chance to make items from scratch, and the possibility of allowing home potters to use the kiln will also be considered.
Edgar has been in touch with several retirement villages about making a booking and he also sees the opportunity for work groups looking for team-building options. “It’s an all ages thing,” he says. “A place where you can connect or disconnect.”
Council accused of seeking reasons not to act on trees
From page 1
The Anne St street trees have been the subject of complaints from residents for years, due to their leaf litter and fruit causing slip hazards on both of the street’s footpaths and blocking drains. Residents have told the board they live in dread of heavy rain causing more flooding and are forced to constantly clean up outside their properties.
Stejskal suggested the board could ask the Anne St residents to lodge a consent themselves to remove the two trees.
At the bottom of the Northboro Rd dip, a falling tree crushed a car parked on the street in April, just before a nanny and young child were about to approach it. The busy road on a bus route was closed for three hours. The child’s mother wrote to the board seeking action, saying another tree had fallen in 2022, as well as cases of power cuts caused by branches hitting lines.
The remaining trees of concern are a macrocarpa on public land (pictured) and two spindly grevillea on private property. In June, the board asked that the trees be removed, citing safety concerns.
Board member Gavin Busch said he understood principals at Belmont Intermediate and Hauraki Primary School had warned pupils not to walk underneath the trees.
Busch said more large debris had fallen
from the macrocarpa in recent high winds.
Stejskal said experts had ruled the trees were not a health and safety risk warranting removal, which was required for council action on trees on private land. The grevillea
should be monitored for stability by the property owner, and the macrocarpa would be routinely monitored by council every three to four years and might need reduction work in five to 10 years.
He said the city had many large trees but “we act only when we have to”. Safety was taken “very seriously”, he said.
Board members expressed frustration at
the difficulty of having their wishes enacted, saying they were responding to residents’ concerns. Board manager Trina Thompson said extra costs would have to come from the board’s work programme.
Only $7810 has been set aside for a basic consent for removal of the Anne St trees.
Member George Wood said the board was being torpedoed. “You’re saying we don’t have any involvement, but we would pay for the application.” Busch said council was looking for reasons not to act, when the community wanted something done.
He was uncomfortable handing over consent responsibility to Anne St residents and pointed out that if they took action, this would cost council.
Members Terence Harpur and Peter Allen supported lodging initial basic consents for both removals.
Board chair Mel Powell asked staff to get the basic consents underway, adding more advice would be needed on costs if the first option failed. Anne St residents would be sounded out, she said.
Stejskal will write a letter to the Northboro Rd property owner, asking that they attend to tree stability. Busch said the elderly owner had recently gone into care, so a property sale might result in which the grevillea could well be cleared for development.
Meet the woman conquering great walks at 67
Meet the woman conquering great walks at 67
Six months ago, 67-year-old Kathy watched her walking group leave without her. Today, she leads the pack.
“I thought my serious tramping days were over,” she admits. “My knees were complaining with any elevation or distance. It was really tough watching friends go walking without me.”
For decades, Kathy had explored New Zealand’s trails, weekend DOC tracks, South Island summer holidays. Giving up felt like losing part of herself.
She tried everything: rest days, stretching, different shoes. Nothing helped.
Then a newspaper article about Koru FX caught her eye. Well-known Kiwis credited it with keeping them active. Seeing it shortly after at the pharmacy, she decided to give it a try.
“Other gels worried me long-term,” she explains. “This was different, all natural and New Zealand-made.”
She started applying it morning and night. “The cream absorbs quickly. There’s initial warmth, then cooling relief that lasts ages. Within weeks, I was moving more confidently.”
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Now Kathy’s back on the trails, even exploring bush walks with grandchildren, teaching them about native birds, sharing favorite spots.
“I’m not running marathons, but I’m creating memories,” she reflects. “That’s what matters.”
Mass haka by school groups shakes Windsor Reserve
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Hundreds of school children from across the peninsula took part in a ‘Haka Up’ event on Windsor Reserve last week. Tamariki from nine schools performed haka, then joined in a group performance of Ka Mate. Navy cultural adviser Ngahiwi Walker led the event.
With gusto... Bayswater School (above) and Belmont Primary (left) groups perform
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Native keepsake… Hauraki School’s Makaia Anesi (with plant) and Piper Fitzgerald. Right: Stanley Bay School representatives perform with feeling. Below: The Vauxhall School group in action.
By Rob Drent
There’s no such thing as bad publicity they say. The spotlight fell on the Flagstaff a couple of times this month – my ugly mug appearing in the New Zealand Listener for a story on the survival of independent community newspapers and a fictional Flagstaff reporter appeared and was shot as part of a play staged at the Rose Centre by Devonport Drama students.
My grandmother – an irascible old soul who during the school holidays would take her mokopuna to the races instead of kids’ movies – used to say things come in threes.
I’m waiting for the next instalment.
Following the Listener article, figures emerged showing the number of journalists in New Zealand has dropped to around 1700, down from 4000 or so in 2000 – and less than the number of journalists on the New York Times, according to totals collated by Gavin Ellis, an academic and former editor of the New Zealand Herald. It seemed a shocking comparison, but New York City has a population greater than New Zealand, and the
The Flagstaff Notes
New York Times now has a global readership. The decline in the number of journalists in New Zealand does seem unrelenting, however. Once again, thanks to all our donors and advertisers for keeping us going.
Great to see the spring clean up in the Devonport business area of the village well supported last weekend. Despite the wet spring, summer is indeed around the corner.
It’s almost an election tradition – candidates’ billboards go up and local wags deface a few with witty and sometimes not-so-humorous artistic additions. This year Garth Ellingham had one of his Devonport signs graffitied and responded that he was a great supporter of local art, and the Depot Artspace. Bo Burns, a newspaper owner who is standing for the Howick Local Board, has had a bit of fun after her billboards were attacked, launching a “Don’t be a cactus” t-shirt line.
I do draw a line at outright vandalism, however. Last week several candidates’ billboards were smashed up on the corner of Lake Rd and Seabreeze Rd.
These aren’t American presidential elections where a cast of thousands with multimillion-dollar budgets run around promoting candidates. Driving along Lake Rd as the election season began, I saw several of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board hopefuls hammering in their own signs.
Not funny... There’s a big difference between witty graffiti and wanton vandalism
I was disappointed the vandals – likely locals (this type of damage often happens during the school holidays) – showed such a lack of respect for others, who have put their hands up to represent their community.
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Super-spry seniors help launch book on ageing better
Eighty-two-year-old Devonport resident Leigh Elder is an exemplar of active living, but says he is “only a kid” compared with some of the inspiring seniors at his book launch.
Among them was Arch Jelley, 103, master running coach to Olympic gold medallists Peter Snell and John Walker. The story of the Auckland “super ager” who still walks kilometres a day is one of several Elder tells in his latest book Don’t Act Your Age – Living younger can be age defying
Another who attended was former national tennis champion Margaret Borland, aged 99, who came from Dunedin for the launch held at the William Sanders Retirement Village last Friday.
Like Jelley, Borland keeps spry with regular squats. She also gardens and plays golf and bridge. Both were happy to support the book’s health advocacy message, including practical tips on improving fitness and eating. These were shared with around 70 village residents and guests, over low-GI mini scones and muffins. “Swap out half the white flour with rolled oats,” says Elder, who got the chef to make them specially.
He namechecks other inspirations among fellow residents at Ryman, where he and wife Kate have lived for five years. There’s 100-year-old June Watson, a former singer and dancer who swims in the village pool and 96-year-old Vic Murrray, who still strides off to his Ngataringa garden plot. “One of the great things in my life has been meeting those people and hearing their stories,” Elder says. “I take from them that it’s possible to reach super-age and still be active and alert.”
It’s the term he uses for “someone north of 90, who’s fit and well and really engaged”. As much as he believes in making good lifestyle choices, he also knows health can be a genetic lottery. He recommends people
improve their odds and make the most of what they’ve got, while they’re able.
This can be as simple as following his BAFFS principles – standing for Balance, Agility, Flexibility, Fitness and Strength.
Seeing how energetic super-agers also have terrific interest in people and retain a glint in the eye, has helped Elder round out his own thinking. “The Japanese call it ikigai – it means finding your purpose.”
In writing his book, he drew on having founded an “Eat for Keeps” programme for diabetes and weight control, working on it with GPs and corporates, and his experience of writing two previous books. He knows much of the advice isn’t rocket science, but says getting the message through that relatively simple changes can reap big dividends
Expect 50bp cut next OCR
The RBNZ reviews the Official Cash rate next on 8th Oct and many now expect to see a larger 50bp cut due to the very weak Q2 GDP number at -0.9% - that will take the OCR down to 2.50% and the possibility of one further cut after that - short term fixed rates are likely to head to 4.50% shortly from current level of 4.75%
Sadly the RBNZ and many economists have read the economy quite poorly and the RBNZ has been unable to extract itself from the very blunt inflation mandate and inevitable relationship between nominal inflation and interest rates, as much of the inflation is caused by non discretionary expenses such as rates, insurance, energy etc which are pretty much immune to interest rates and are in fact like additional taxes on people reducing their disposable income!
We are seeing increased interest and activity in the property market and many expect things to slowly improve over the coming months as the economy climbs off its lows - we shall see - speak to us about any borrowing requirements as we can invariably help.
needs to be spelled out. “I challenged myself to live like someone 20 years younger – it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done,” he says.
The former sports all-rounder and PE teacher, who has also had stints as a resthome owner and a life coach, had a health wake-up call around 15 years ago, with a bowel cancer scare and high blood pressure. It got him thinking more about what could be ahead. At the time, he and Kate were “living life to the full” in Mt Maunganui, playing tennis and golf and socialising.
The location has changed, but the couple still enjoy those pursuits, plus daily walks up Maungauika. “The payoff is at the top.” • Don’t Act Your Age – Living younger can be age defying ($39.95) is available from Hayward’s opposite Devonport Library.
Inspirational... author Leigh Elder (82) with former national tennis champ Margaret Borland (99) and former top running coach Arch Jelley (103)
Residents of Anne Street seeking to replace two nuisance trees in a council road reserve have experienced a frustrating breakdown of transparent, effective council processes.
After lengthy representations to council and the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, the board made a unanimous decision to have the trees removed and replaced.
The trees are problematic because they were not planted according to the approved council planting plan and council’s contractor planted the incorrect trees.
Previous hearings involving the city arborist and Watercare revealed the trees were causing ongoing flooding of several properties, along with proven property damage amounting to thousands of dollars and personal injuries due to slip hazards.
Watercare confirmed leaves could block drains and declined to install a replacement cesspit due to leaf blockage concerns.
The community board budgeted $7,200 for tree removal, with residents offering to supply replacement trees at their own cost.
However, months have passed with no action. Officers appear to be preparing to present obstacles to thwart the board’s wishes, including with a publicly notified resource consent process, with additional potential costs. Total likely costs could effectively discourage the board from proceeding.
The rationale for a notified application seems questionable. Tree-removal effects are not major, particularly as they are being replaced.
Critically, council officers (specifically, the arborist) determine whether the resource consent is to be notified or not, not the local board. This scenario exemplifies broader municipal governance issues: officers setting community outcomes, ignoring dem-
ocratic processes and wastefully spending unnecessary funds.
While these tree issues may seem minor to many, they represent systemic problems in municipal infrastructure management.
The proportion of project budgets consumed by consultants and management processes is significant, eg, Woodall Skatepark, Takapuna Library, Sacred Grove pōhutukawa, etc.
The result? A city struggling to meet basic infrastructure needs, unable to maintain streets, water, drainage and sewerage, and facing ongoing financial constraints.
The message is clear: residents must critically evaluate governance and consider these issues when voting.
Council officers should be supporting Local board decisions, not undermining them. The tail should not be wagging the dog.
Peter McNab
Positive Leadership for the Shore
Heads Up:
Small-scale dredging work in Rangitoto Channel
Port of Auckland will soon begin small-scale dredging off Rangitoto Lighthouse, with Heron Construction carrying out the work. This is part of a consented project approved in 2022.
Dredging is expected to start late September or early October and take about a month, weather permitting. The material will help complete the Fergusson North perimeter bund.
Thanks for your understanding as we carry out this important work.
Devonport 09 445 2010
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Museum man’s own history started right here
Devonport Museum president David Verran
Devonport-born David Verran has in a way come full circle to become the new president of Devonport Museum.
But it is his experience as a research librarian and historian elsewhere, along with his family links to the early days of the North Shore, that makes him uniquely qualified for the role.
“I was a Pentland’s baby (born in 1951), but we never lived in Devonport,” he says. His mother was quite sick leading up to his birth and she was referred to Pentland Hospital in Devonport’s Buchanan St, due to the quality of its maternity care.
The Verrans came from Cornwall (“in the 1880s it was a common name there, much like Smith”) and after spells in Australia, Hokitika and Thames, the family settled in Birkenhead in the early 1900s.
They were carriers who transported strawberries and tomatoes from the North Shore to the city in a horse and cart carried by vehicular ferry from Birkenhead. Coal and other goods came back to the Shore on the return trip.
Old family connections on the Shore run deep: “[Local-board member] George Wood’s great-grandparents knew my great-grandparents.” The Woods were carriers too.
It was a tough business and the Verran offspring were encouraged to take up trades. David’s father Noel became an electrician with the Waitemata Electric Power Board.
The Verran name is still part of the Birkenhead/Birkdale landscape through Verran’s Corner – where the family sold a site to the Birkenhead Bus Company that remains a bus depot today.
David went to Birkenhead Primary School, Northcote Intermediate and Westlake Boys High School, then completed a BA in history and politics at the University of Auckland followed by an MA (Hons)
under the tutelage of Professor Sir Keith Sinclair.
Verran’s MA thesis was on the 1949 conscription referendum. But interestingly, “in the 1970s New Zealand history was not really offered (as part of the university syllabus).”
It wasn’t until masters level that Verran
studied any Kiwi history at all. That was a comparative New Zealand/Australian history paper taught by Sinclair.
“I’ve done a lot of reading [on New Zealand history since],” he says.
In 1974 Verran completed a librarian’s diploma, which launched a career that took him to Hamilton City, Te Atatū and, from
1977 until his retirement, to the Central City Library in Auckland.
He ran the Auckland Central Research Centre for 17 years, in charge of around a dozen staff.
Verran found time for numerous side projects: he wrote book reviews for the NZ Genealogical Society and newspapers as varied as the Sunday Star-Times and the Western Leader and was editor of the New Zealand History Federation’s magazine from 2006 to 2019.
He moved back to the Shore, first Birkdale, then Takapuna, and was president of the North Shore Historical Society from 2006 to 2023.
He wrote The North Shore: An Illustrated History. “It was 70,000 words built on ten to 12 years of research, but it took a year and a bit to write.”
The book was published in 2010 – “a sort of swansong for North Shore City Council who bought 600 copies as a parting gift to its staff”.
Verran has written a monthly historical column in Channel magazine since 2011 and has published further books: Auckland City Libraries: Another chapter and A Century of Brass: The North Shore Brass Story. He volunteers at the Birkenhead Museum and Auckland Council archives and became vice-president of Devonport Museum in 2017.
His goal for the Devonport Museum is simple: “Making sure I pass the museum on in great heart.”
In the short term, the museum is looking at ways to increase its opening hours. One of the challenges is getting younger people involved – kids and parents alike.
The museum gets a great response from its school visits. “Kids come in and they come back with their parents.”
With Takapuna’s Grammar School’s centenary approaching in 2027, Verran is
hoping to forge a closer relationship with the school.
Another local institution, the Devonport RSA, also celebrates its centenary that year and Verran has committed to writing a “20,000-word book” on its history, which he is aiming to focus heavily on the people involved.
He’s already got 7000 words down and says among the good work of “locals looking after locals”, isolated cases of crime and skulduggery exist: a 1930s club secretary
Verran’s goal for the Devonport Museum is simple: “Making sure I pass the museum on in great heart.”
was “had up for theft, expelled from the club and prosecuted”.
Verran says he’s been lucky that the club minutes from the 1940s onwards are intact.
An interesting aspect of his research for the project is the changing of the club management from World War I veterans to World War II combatants and later to those who served in Malaya and Vietnam.
While the RSA is at the centre of the book, it also encompasses wider aspects of local history, including life in the suburb during World War II, when Devonport had its own home guard and Narrow Neck and Takapuna Beach had barbed wire on the sand to repel potential invaders.
Invasion was a real threat, Verran says. “[Enemy] submarines were in Sydney Har-
bour and the Bay of Plenty – it was entirely possible they were in Auckland Harbour.”
Asked what he is most proud of in his history career, he is quick to say his work on the Symonds St Cemetery and the preservation of the North Shore’s oldest newspaper – the Devonport and North Shore Gazette which published in the 1920s and 1930s.
Since 1993 Verran has guided tours of the cemetery, mainly during the Auckland Heritage Festival, and has been responsible for having the 7000 burial sites digitised and online.
While working at the Central Library, he managed to get the Gazette – “a unique part of North Shore history” – protected and digitised.
“Its last 18 issues came from Devonport Museum.”
The copies will soon be available on the Papers Past website.
Verran’s hands-on, public-facing approach seems well illustrated during our interview.
No moving into a quiet backroom office, he simply pulled up a couple of chairs in the main exhibition hall and off we went, with visitors milling around and Verran happy to answer questions from me and them.
A restored James Turkington mural of a North Shore rugby player was hung in 2024, and holds centre stage in the museum, bringing another special flavour of yesteryear. Verran: “It’s just beautiful isn’t it?”
• As part of the Auckland Heritage Festival, Devonport Museum has set up a special display of Devonport sporting history. Festival opening times: September 20, 21 and 27, 28 and October 4, 5 from 2-4 pm. For other opening times go to devonportmuseum.org.nz
On 28 September from 2-3pm author Dave Veart will give a talk on his research into the history of New Zealand toys and play.
Tours and talks mark Heritage Week on North Shore
Auckland Heritage Festival has an “Auckland at Play” theme this year, marking 75 years since the city staged the 1950 Empire Games.
The annual festival, which opened last week and runs until 5 October, features activities in Devonport and Takapuna including themed museum and library talks and walking tours.
On its opening day last Saturday, a handson session on Maori play was presented at Mt Cambria Reserve by teacher and Maori games expert Harko Brown.
Festival organisers point to the Games, which attracted nearly 250,000 proud Kiwis to watch world-class athletes in Auckland, as helping propel national enthusiasm and confidence in footing it with the world’s best.
New Zealand won 10 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze medals as one of the 12 competing nations.
Festival events in Devonport include:
• New Zealand toy production and children at play, a talk by author Dave Veart at the Devonport Museum to be held on multiple days between 20 September and 5 October at varying times. Entry by koha. Check devonportmuseum.org.nz for the schedule.
• Daldy steam tug tour from Victoria Wharf, Devonport. Climb aboard for a look around this 90-year-old vessel, the last of its kind in the world, with its volunteer crew. Tours available for koha between 10am-2pm on Saturday and Sundays, 27, 28 September and 4 and 5 October.
• The Vic – A Love Story , a short film telling the story behind the saving of the oldest purpose-built cinema in the Southern Hemisphere which is located on Devoport’s main street. Showing at the Vic Cinema, Devonport, on 27 September and 1 October, from 10-10.30am. Tickets $6, book at thevic.co.nz
• Bricks to Swans: The Crown Lynn Story is recounted by Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn Museum director Louise Stevenson, on Sunday 28 September 2025, 11am-noon at Devonport Library. Attendees are welcome to bring an item (or photo) to find out more about the story behind a treasured piece from the back catalogue of this Auckland company (as time allows after the talk).
• Guided two-hour weekend walking tours of the gun emplacements and tunnels of Maungauika, Devonport on Saturdays and Sundays, 27, and 28 September and 4, 5 October, between 10am and 2pm. (Wear walking shoes and bring a torch and dress for the weather). Book through the Navy Museum, ph 09 4455186 or info@navymuseum.co.nz
Local board continues support of environmental initiatives
• Devonport-Takapuna Local Board has allocated $217,400 towards environmental programmes.
• Community groups Pupuke Birdsong Project and Restoring Takarunga Hauraki will be continuing their operations with $80,000 each for the next financial year.
• Planting in the Wairau Estuary and the educational group Noughty Wasters will also be funded.
The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board is continuing its support of trusted local environmental groups to the tune of $217,400 for the 25/26 financial year.
The largest part of the funds goes to green heroes Pupuke Birdsong Project and Restoring Takarunga Hauraki each receiving $80,000 towards their environmental programmes for the year ahead.
Both groups play a huge part in organising residents, volunteers, landowners, community groups, schools, iwi and hapū to protect and enhance native biodiversity in the local board area, providing guidance, support, and resources to remove pest animals and plants, increase native urban ngāhere (forests) and organise conservation education initiatives.
“Thanks again to the DevonportTakapuna Local Board for continuing to support the work of community volunteers and our small team of staff to protect these unique natural areas and diverse wildlife.
“The board has been our foundational supporter from the start, and we are excited to have another year of community-led initiatives ahead of us,” says Restoring Takarunga Hauraki Programme Lead Lance Cablk.
More details on the board’s environmental programmes are available online at tinyurl.com/dt-environment.
CONTACT US:
aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/devonporttakapuna
FOLLOW US: Facebook.com/devonporttakapuna
Events in Takapuna include:
• Lake House arts centre hosts The Collectors , an art exhibition by Jacqui Wilkinson exploring the history of collecting in colonial-era Aotearoa. Daily to 9 October. Several artist talks are scheduled, see lakehousearts.org.nz.
• A Takapuna Fossil Forest Walk, with geology expert Bruce Hayward, explores one of the world’s best examples of fossilised forest along the volcanic foreshore between Takapuna Beach and Thorne Bay on Wednesday 24 September, 2-4pm. Will proceed in all weathers.
• Sports in Takapuna in the 20th Century, with North Shore historian David Verran, who will delve into the history of local rugby, football, tennis, bowling, croquet, golf and other sports on Thursday, 25 September, 11am-noon at Takapuna Library’s Rangitoto Room.
• The Lake House hosts the launch of Our History, Community & Art, a coffee table book exploring the building’s fascinating past as a Victorian seaside boarding house through to its vibrant present – relocated to 37 Fred Thomas Dr as an arts centre. Saturday 11 October, between 3-6pm Bookings are required for some events. Go to Auckland Council’s Our Auckland Website for details.
The board’s environmental funding is also supporting the following projects in the 25/26 financial year:
Wairau Estuary Enhancement
Planting – $30,000
Part of the wider Wairau Estuary Enhancement Plan the board developed to address community demand to improve the health of this highly degraded body of water, this funding will go toward native planting and weed management to improve the overall water quality and biodiversity of the estuary.
Noughty Wasters Zero Waste
Makerspace – $27,400
Based in the recently upgraded Devonport Community Recycling Centre (CRC) since 2024, this educational initiative offers workshops to local school groups to “inspire zero waste practices through the power of play, community, and creativity” often incorporating industrial waste that would have otherwise gone to landfills.
Devonport desperately needs more people – Brown
Mayor Wayne Brown reckons Devonport town centre needs a “good kick along”, starting with some fresh paint. “It desperately needs more people living in it. If you go round behind the shops it’s terrible. You need people living in apartments there,” he told the Flagstaff.
“Shopfronts need money spent on them,” he continued when questioned by the paper after speaking at a Grey Power North Shore meeting for local body election candidates last Friday.
Asked by if he was serious about his recent comments that “Nobody likes Devonport”, made during an election meeting in Hobsonville this month, he said with a grin: “At the end of the boring day, sometimes you say something.” To whether he regretted this, he said: “No, not really”.
But he was quick to add that he actually liked Devonport and often visited. “It’s a lovely suburb.” But it needed a “bit of a reality check,” he said.
“It’s the only part of my city where the population is falling – and that’s no good.”
Brown said he was involved in the building of the apartments beside the Esplanade in the mid-1990s. But he now thought the centre was looking tired and empty.
“I love old buildings,” he said. But he also liked vibrancy, which was why he lived
near Ponsonby. “Devonport should be the Ponsonby of the North Shore.” It was ideally located for easy access to the CBD by ferry, but needed more investment in keeping up appearances and attracting visitors and more residents. New apartments should be built behind the heritage main street.
When asked if he intended to do anything to follow up on other comments he had made at Hobsonville, that Devonport should get higher-rise buildings as per other suburbs with main hubs for buses and trains, he stepped back from further stirring this pot. Brown had told the Hobsonville audience he wanted Devonport also dubbed a transit mainline due to its proximity to the CBD and having a ferry terminal.
At the Grey Power meeting at Netball North Harbour, attended by around 120 people, he spared Devonport from further prodding, instead talking of council’s investment in ferries and his wish to see dynamic lanes introduced on Lake Rd. He said he would push for the latter with Auckland Transport, now he had returned the organisation to more direct council control. Mayoral challengers in Kerrin Leoni and Eric Chuah also spoke, but with less audience cut through, as did council candidates for the North Shore: Danielle Grant, John Gillon, sitting councillor Richard Hills and Act’s Helena Roza.
SPRING CLEAN YOUR PROPERTY
Wayne’s World... Mayor Wayne Brown and council candidate Danielle Grant at the Grey Power meeting
Community activators
The work of council activators at Devonport and Sunnynook community houses got a tick in a review, more than a year on from their controversial introduction – but greater clarity around the scope of what they do was recommended.
“They’ve become everything to everybody,” Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Mel Powell told a workshop.
The two roles were created after the board decided to stop funding events through community trusts, including the Devonport Peninsula Trust.
It opted for the new roles to focus more on building community connections. It also set aside $15,000 to review the change.
Consultants Point & Associates suggested the activators be renamed connectors, as the activator name suggesting their primary role was putting on events.
The review also recommended clearer job descriptions, so the roles were better understood, and funding guidelines.
The activators are able to dispense small grants, capped at $500, to facilitate community-building events and conversations.
Powell said the board had championed something new with the activators and also its Ethnic Plan.
Other boards were interested in the model, she said.
“We wanted a connected community and
it has achieved that.
“They built trust one cup of tea at a time,” she said.
Board deputy chair Terence Harpur said he would like to see the activators able to work more with council communications teams to build awareness of what they did.
Member Peter Allen said the jobs were very people-centric and he worried about staff burnout. It was agreed that job descriptions and job aims should be refined to help with this.
Powell wanted the roles funded through central council as board money was under pressure. “We’re in a financial challenge and I don’t want to see these roles to go.”
Club leases need to be explored for revenue – local board chair
Auckland Council needs to look harder at what it charges sports and other groups for leases, says outgoing Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Mel Powell.
Where commercial operations ran at clubs, more consideration needed to be given to the nature of the lease they were on, she said in a discussion of several lease renewals, including for Belmont Park Racquets Club.
She asked the council’s lease specialist at a board workshop last week if he considered there were opportunities for this.
“Do you think any of them could be on a commercial lease?”
The specialist, Randy Jiang, said in terms of renewals of leases he thought “probably not”. But a quick review of the lease portfolio could be done to provide advice.
Powell said the cash-strapped board needed to be thinking about opportunities for commercial leases. She urged Jiang “to find all opportunities for us”.
Clubs across Auckland have already been moved from a peppercorn lease for their community ground rentals to being charged $1300 per annum, after council decided to claw back some of its costs several years ago.
Most clubs have a 10-year lease with a 10-year right of renewal. Those being discussed at the workshop were seeking their renewal rollover.
Board members, who have to sign off the lease renewals at a formal meeting, indicated no issues in leases for Belmont Park, Milford Tennis Club, Northern Rovers Football Club (formerly Forrest Hill and
Milford United) and Plunket in Sunnynook.
In commenting on Powell’s suggestions, Jiang said the North Shore Cricket Club last month gained board permission to operate a commercial kitchen from its clubrooms in a lease variation, with board members accepting it was a low-level operation.
He said the Belmont Park lease would need to be updated when the club’s extension onto neighbouring land was finalised. Most sports clubs maintain their facilities for the benefit of members and to help with revenue for their operation, saying they are not designed to be profit-making or commercial ventures. However, some sublet space to other businesses which operate from their premises.
No other board members spoke to Powell’s suggestion about commercial leases.
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Sir Stephen Tindall honoured as new pool opens at Takapuna Grammar
The new Sir Stephen Tindall Pool has officially opened in recognition of one of the school’s most distinguished alumni and long-time supporters.
Sir Stephen’s generous donation helped fund the upgrade, but his connection to the school’s pool dates back to the 1960s, when his mother, Georgea Tindall, hosted knitting circles in the family lounge to help raise £2,000 for the original pool.
Speaking at the recent opening, Sir Stephen reflected on how swimming gave him the confidence to overcome academic challenges - from initially failing School Certificate to successfully getting the qualification and going on to become Head Boy. He attended the event with his wife Margaret and three of their five children, all passionate water polo players who have represented New
Zealand. Olympic swimmers Erika Fairweather and Lewis Clareburt performed the first official swim in the new facility, which features salt-water chlorination, upgraded heating and lighting, and a deep end designed for water polo.
Shortland Street the Musical: Teen Issue earns multiple award nominations
Takapuna Grammar School’s production of Shortland Street the Musical: Teen Issue has earned multiple nominations at the 2025 Auckland Live Showdown Awards, including the prestigious Outstanding Musical and Best Vocal Performance categories.
Individual cast members have also been recognised for their standout performances. Ben Young, Kaitlyn Darroch, Milla Rodrigues-Birch, and Ruby Jacobs have all been nominated for Best Performer in a Lead Role in a Musical, while Anna Longley received a nod for Best Performer in a Minor Role. With many strong school productions staged across Auckland this year, being shortlisted is a significant achievement.
The TGS team is proud to see their hard work and talent acknowledged on such a competitive stage. Winners will be announced at the Auckland Live Showdown Awards Night in early October.
Mary
praised Sir Stephen’s legacy, noting his many sporting achievements at TGS, including championship titles in swimming and water polo, and his leadership as Head Boy. The new pool marks a major step forward for aquatic sport and education at Takapuna Grammar. It also stands as a lasting tribute to a family whose support has spanned generations.
Takapuna Grammar Celebrates
50 Years of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori
The tino rangatiratanga flag flew high over Takapuna Grammar School as we marked 50 years of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori with a week of activities.
The school’s Tū Tangata Department held a mini wānanga for staff sharing kai and teaching everyday phrases and pronunciation tips so te reo could be used more around the school. Teachers played games and used resources to help bring te reo Māori into their classrooms. Many took up the “50 Wero” challenge - committing to 50 small acts of reo throughout the week.
The school participated in the annual Haka Up festival with other local schools in Devonport, there was a flash mob style Haka during lunch and staff wore items promoting Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori to celebrate the commitment to the language.
Principal
Nixon
20 years ago from the Flagstaff files
• Plans to install six sets of traffic lights from the SHI Devonport offramp to just past Barry’s Point Rd slip through without consultation.
• The Navy moves to restrict the hours in which Devonport Swim Club can use its pool.
• Yonel Watene is the first exhibitor at the Depot’s new youth gallery.
• A 300-signature petition opposing plans for studio-style apartments on Devonport wharf is presented to the Devonport Community Board.
• John and Penny Ashton celebrate
five years as owners of Devonport New World.
• Historian Rod Cornelius outlines the history of Holy Trinity Church dating back to 1883. Its 150th anniversary celebrations and vicar Murray Spackman’s 25 years with the church will be commemorated in 2006.
• Postal and web surveys plus a focus group are likely to be part of a review of Devonport’s heritage zone.
• Warwick Squire, who protested against the closure of Windsor Reserve Beach during the 2005 Devonport Food
& Wine Festival, vows to be back at the 2006 event with a team of supporters.
• A regular Speakers Corner near the band rotunda is mooted by Marcus Coverdale, who often speaks at the Devonport Community Board public forum.
• A listing page by Barfoot & Thompson shows more than 40 homes for sale on the Devonport peninsula.
• A two-bedroom unit in central Devonport is on the market for $395,000.
• Actress Claire O’Loughlin is the Flagstaff interview subject.
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Gypsy returns with candlelight concert at Harmony Hall
Devonport-raised Gypsy Hyde is back on home ground, organising a charity candlelit concert promising an evening of uplifting melodies delivered by the Zest String Quartet and the singing of Leedia Zaia.
The event at Harmony Hall this Sunday, 28 September is for ME Respite, a group that helps provide support for people living with debilitating health issues: myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long Covid. With a friend facing challenges, Hyde (pictured) was inspired to volunteer for the group, then to raise awareness about what it offers with the concert.
Entry is free but seating limited so bookings are being taken.
Organising the evening in a neighbourhood where she is still active in community events at the hall and the Rose Centre made
sense for the 38-year-old mother.
She hopes locals will come along for an atmospheric evening at the Melodies for Me twilight concert.
As well as the quartet performing, Hyde
Revue gets things cooking at Oven
A blues revue featuring a young boogie woogie piano player and a number of wellknown musicians will be held at the Stone Oven on 9 October.
Fifteen-year-old Emily Chen, who has garnered a large YouTube following, will open the show playing a piano on permanent loan from Warren Sly of Sly’s Pianos.
Doors open at 6pm to allow Emily to fulfil her slot and leave a bit earlier as she has school the next day.
The revue will also star slightly older
musicians Neil Finlay, Craig Bracken, Mark Laurent, Steve Cournae and Pete Farnham.
Organiser Chris Priestley said with the piano on site he hoped it would be the first of many concerts at the venue in the historic Devonport Telephone Exchange building, which turns 100 this year.
Tickets are limited to 100 and expected to sell out fast.
• Do you have any old photos of the Exchange building? email a copy to brendan@ stoneoven.co.nz
‘Appreciation Project’ winners announced
Five winners in the inagural Devonport Appreciation Project, aimed at celebrating local community spirit, were announced at Torpedo Bay Cafe at the Navy Museum this month.
They were David Quinn, Petra Borter, Steve Lyon, Tara Busy and Peter Knowles – who gifted his prize to Samuel Welsh,
who works collecting trolleys at New World. Run by Kim Pausina and Eden Thomson from Ray White, the project offered prizes of $100 vouchers from Torpedo Bay Cafe. Fifty entries were received.
The project’s next initiative will be giving away three $150 Sugar Suite salon vouchers to locals who make a difference.
will be on piano to accompany singer Leedia Zaia.
She has had the hall’s grand piano tuned especially by fellow North Shore resident and piano expert David Jenkin to be in “tiptop shape” for the evening.
As to the musical programme, the 38-year-old Hyde is keeping it under wraps as a surprise to the audience, but it includes classic favourites.
Money raised from koha on the night will go towards the ME Respite charity which provides practical home support including meal deliveries, mentoring and wellbeing checks to make life easier for people struggling with ME. Find out more at merespite.org.nz
• Reserve a seat at Melodies for Me by emailing events@merespite.org.nz
Magical touch
Aspiring young magicians can learn from the experts at a school holiday show by members of the Shore City Magic Club.
Graham Bennett and David Upfold will present two one-hour shows at the Rose Centre in Belmont this Thursday 25 September at 11am and 2pm.
Expect illusions, comedy and magical wonder.
Each A Touch of Magic show is followed by an optional workshop, where children will be given two tricks they can keep and practice.
The local men hope the event will spark more junior interest in the club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
It meets in Takapuna at the Senior Citizens Hall on the first Wednesday of every month.
• A Touch of Magic tickets are $15, with a bonus free ticket for a $60 family booking, providing seats for five people. events@ humanitix.com
Tēnā koutou, and welcome to October!
Join the DEPOT team on Thursday 16 October, 10am-2pm for an incredible fundraising excursion to Gibbs Farm sculpture park – filled with breathtaking outdoor art installations, delicious food, and possibly even encounters with exotic animals – all for a great cause!
We’ve partnered with Chateaubriant to offer an optional catered picnic, and have arranged an optional return bus service departing from DEPOT Artspace.
Head to depot.org.nz for full info and to book your tickets today!
Depot 3 Vic Road
We're excited to announce the launch of the DEPOT Ceramics Studio - the newest addition to 3 Vic Road. Unleash your creativity, immerse yourself and watch your imagination come to life as you create your very own masterpiece.
You can book a session on our website or visit us for a drop-in session today!
Depot Artspace
Siah Finai’s ‘Vānimonimo’ continues in our central gallery until 1 November. This exhibition features a collection of sculptural and painted works that explore the Sāmoan concept of Vā, the sacred relational space that binds people, land, ocean and ancestry.
Visit depot.org.nz for more info and stay up to date by subscribing to our e-news!
Ngā mihi nui, Amy Saunders Director | Kaiwhakahaere, DEPOT amy.saunders@depot.org.nz
Veteran artist paints ‘the feeling’ to
“The rocks around North Head – they must know me by name,” says Devonport painter Graham Downs.
Many of the artist’s seascapes have their beginnings there, in what he sees on his regular walks there and on Cheltenham Beach.
A familiar figure out with his sketchbook or easel, Downs is a master of capturing the allure of the coastline.
In his latest exhibition, At the Water’s Edge, at Art by the Sea gallery in Takapuna, Downs mixes moody scenes with those that tell of sparkling summers.
One painting depicts a neighbour’s daughter swimming at the north end of Cheltenham. He took a photo to capture the moment, but then drew on his knowledge of the look of the sea to work on the piece in his studio. “It’s the spirit you want,” he says.
“I don’t think about what I’m painting.” On his walks something might capture his eye, even though he has passed it a thousand times before.
Downs has been drawing since childhood, building the foundation on which he works today. He advises younger artists that practice is key to finding your flow. “Everything starts with the sketchbook – I tell young people: ‘You just have to draw all the time’.”
Capturing a fleeting impression is also to the fore in imagined images of a woman wading into the water and a young boy paddling in the shallows, bucket in hand.
The drama of his beloved rocks is recalled as he decides to show them.
“They’re not really reality – when I paint water I’m not painting what’s naturally there. You never get it like it is, even if you draw it from life, because the tide goes out in two hours. Instead you’re trying to paint that feeling.”
The fascination with the sea is in the play of light upon it, reflections from the sky and how the light cuts through the water revealing glimpses of what is below. “And it’s constantly moving.”
Being out in nature is a boon. He likes to work nearly every day, either outdoors with pencil or gouache or in his home studio. “I paint very intuitively.
He remembers painting his father’s car at age nine. Unfortunately, the “prettty good” first result isn’t in his collection, thanks to the kid from next door throwing up on his pad.
Over the years exhibiting he has also painted garden and street scenes, but is always drawn back to the ocean.
Downs says he aims to make people’s lives more joyful through his works. At 77, he finds things that were difficult in his younger years have been overcome, but there are new problems with ageing, such as in the flexibility of his hands.
But the need to paint and what he describes as the privilege of exhibiting still drives him. “You come down to the wire with the last few pictures.”
Sorting the dozen or so mostly watercolour paintings on show meant finding new favourites among his works.
Although he sometimes ventures to Waiheke, for the most part his locations are local.
“It’s a beautiful place and my whole thing is about making beautiful paintings,” he says.
“I don’t need to go far to do that.”
• Graham Downs: At the Water’s Edge, until 30 September at Art by the Sea gallery, 162 Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna. 9
capture essence of local coastline and seascapes
Constant movement... One of Devonport artist Graham Downs’ paintings depicts a neighbour’s daughter swimming at the northern end of Cheltenham Beach. Another (inset, opposite) shows rocks and the sea at the base of Maungauika
Chamber orchestra and young guest to play Mendelssohn
The Devonport Chamber Orchestra will play an all-Mendelssohn concert this Sunday 28 September at Holy Trinity Church.
The popular Hebrides Overture and Violin Concerto in E minor are on the programme, conducted by Kaveinga Vaka and with violin soloist Hayden Chiu.
It is a much-anticipated return performance by the 15-year-old, who impressed with the orchestra last September on Max Bruch’s first violin concerto.
The concert begins at 2pm at the church, 20 Church St, Devonport, with tickets available on the door (no eftpos), $20 adults, $15 seniors and students and children under 12 free.
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