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Wednesday 27 April 2022
Remembering World War 2 MaX FretHey John Beeching wasn’t even 18 years old when he signed up to the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1941. When asked why he joined, John’s answer was straight forward: “Because the war on.” After training and working as an engineer for a few years, John eventually made it into the air as part of RAF Bomber Command in the final six months of the war. “I was flying on operations over Germany when I was 21.” John remembers his time in the RAF fondly. “They were probably the best years of my life, really truly,” he says. “It was all fun, even though it was death. You had the best of mates, the best of equipment, well-fed, everything was going for you.” John says there was a real sense of comradery amongst the enlistees. “It was great, really great… There were so many blokes of your own age.”
Nelson’s John Beeching served in the Second World War as part of RAF Bomber Command. Photo: Evan Barnes.
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Building sites targeted Sara HollyMan
sara@topsouthmedia.co.nz
Local builders have been left thousands of dollars out of pocket after a flurry of thefts which have been labelled a sustained attack on people’s livelihoods by those in the industry. Local Master Builders approached Nelson Weekly after a
spate of thefts, fearing that the prevalence of site thefts could become the new norm. Stonewood Homes managing director Brent Stewart, known by many as Stu, says after a few weeks of increased thefts, tradies are rallying together to increase security in new subdivisions. He says Berryfields in particular has been hit hard by theft over the
locally owned and operated
past few weeks, with some tradespeople seeing thousands of dollars of tools and materials taken from construction sites. Inhaus managing director Russell Campbell echoes Stu’s concerns, saying a recent theft from a site of his resulted in around $45,000 worth of products being cut from a steel container. “I know one company had six sites stolen
from, another had four, another got hit a number of times over a period of time,” Russell says. He says the industry is under immense pressure with delays in consents, struggles to get materials in a timely manner, and increasing costs since Covid arrived in the country. Products such as plasterboard are becoming an item that is impossible to replace
quickly and as such has become a target for thieves. They say they have heard of an instance where someone in highvis clothing, like a tradesperson wears, arrived on a site during the day claiming that they were swapping out an incorrect plasterboard order.
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