Life + Style - 21 December 2018

The Weekend Sun 1

21 December, 2018

Berry heaven Page 2

THE WEEKEND

Maurice Greer and Human Instinct

The wonder of Christmas

Behind the scenes

Christmas gift ideas

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 20152018 21August, December,

A family business Somerfield Berryfruit Farm The sweet fragrance of roses and strawberries wafting across the fields is the unmistakable smell of summer. Large trees burst with bird song, and all around the Somerfield Berryfruit Farm in Oropi, rows of plants are dotted with juicy red berries.

Valerie, Richard and Trish Somerfield

At the main packhouse, Richard and Valerie Somerfield have just said goodbye to two minibus loads of people from a local retirement home.

Nearby, their daughter Trish is topping cones with fresh fruit ice cream for eager buyers.

It had been an unusual morning so far. The day started out with the expectation of freezing much of that morning’s picking, as the local markets didn’t want any fruit. That quickly changed with one phone call. The markets were running low on strawberries and needed to replenish.

Richard and Valerie started the berry farm around 45 years ago.

Berryfruit growing commenced at Somerfields in 1970, when Valerie and Richard planted boysenberries on their farm. Two years later, they planted strawberries, and over the following years have also planted blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Family owned and operated, many of their grandchildren enjoy working on the farm over the summer holidays.

“The strawberries are Trish’s now,” says Richard.

“When we started, I had met a strawberry grower who said he was going to plant some boysenberries.

“So I went home to Valerie and said I think it’s time we planted. We’ve been growing strawberries ever since. We started off the first year with 12,000 plants, and for many years we’ve been growing 75,000. We haven’t thought of getting any bigger, because it’s enough for a family group to handle and we quite like being a family business that employs mostly local people.

“At one stage we were thinking of getting out of it because we got too old, and we asked Trish if she’d be interested.

“She sort of said ‘no’, but it wasn’t many months before she came back and had changed my mind.”

Richard and Valerie, their son Mark who grows kiwifruit, and Trish, all live within about a 300m radius of the farm. Another son, Rob, arguably New Zealand’s top rose breeder, lives in Te Puna.

There are about 27,000 roses - about half of what Rob produces each year - also growing at Somerfield.

Growing along the driveway to the berry packhouse are more than 20 rose varieties that Rob has bred himself.

During the berryfruit harvest season, which runs from Labour Weekend to around mid-January depending on the weather, the farm is open from 8am to 5pm, seven days a week.

“People come all day long,” says Richard.

“They can buy or pick.”

The Somerfields grow the Camarosa variety of strawberry.

“It’s a beautiful strawberry. It’s red right through, keeps well, you can pick it when it’s ripe and it will keep for days. And they’re huge.

Baked cheesecake with berry topping

Recipe

250gm ricotta cheese 250gm cream cheese 250gm sour cream 3 eggs 1 cup sugar 2 tbsp cornflour Grated rind and juice of ½ lemon Mix all ingredients together with an electric beater or food processor. Pour into a well-greased 20cm flan tin or round pie plate. Bake at 160°cfor about 1 hour. Cool.

Can be removed from dish or served straight from it.

To make topping Warm 2 cups of frozen mixed berries in a saucepan with 2/3 cup of sugar. Mix 1 heaped tbsp of cornflour with a little of the juice. Continue to heat and stir gently until the mixture thickens. Cool and spread over cheesecake.

Serve with cream or ice cream.

Recipe from Valerie of Somerfield Berryfruit Farm

21 December, 2018

life+style The Weekend Sun 3

“People come all day long,” says Richard.

“They can buy or pick”

Before the war their property was owned by Arnold Shanks, who went off to fight in World War Two and was captured and spent five years in a prison camp.

The original house, which has since burned down, was the social centre of Oropi.

“We bought the place before the new house was finished, just in time to choose the wallpaper and carpet,” recalls Richard, commenting that their carpet came from a young Barry Muir. at Greerton Furnishing.

The berryfruit farm is open right up to the evening of Christmas Eve, and Valerie, who makes and sells jams, has put her own favourite recipes into a brochure for people to take away. Ambrosia, cheesecake, mixed berry cheesecake – there are so many delicious ideas.

During winter, Trish works as a contract grafter for avocado, feijoa and persimmon orchardists, but loves working back on the family farm.

She smiles at her parents.

“I have two experts to teach me how to do it, I get to work with mum and dad, and my brother is a local so it’s really good.”

She has grandchildren herself, with another due this week. Until Richard’s mother died, there were five generations of this remarkable and well-loved Somerfield family helping bring strawberry delight to Rosalie Liddle Crawford the community.

Photos: Bruce Barnard

“Years ago, people used to grow Captain Cook and Talisman. When we started, the main ones were Cambridge Favourite and Red Gauntlet, which were nice strawberries but very rain tender.

“A shower of rain and the skin could go soft.

“Then we went through a whole lot of others, like Pajaro, before we got into Camarosa.”

Richard and Valerie first met when Richard’s dad, a bank manager, got a job for Richard with Valerie’s parents in Nelson. She was 17 and he was 18.

They were married three years later.

“We had Rob, and then Gary, who was born with Downes Syndrome,” says Trish. “Mark came next, and then Trish. I had three sons within two-and-a-half years, then I had a gorgeous daughter and the boys thought she was just Christmas.”

Sadly, Gary died at the age of nine, due to a hole in his heart and leukaemia.

“He woke up one morning with bruises on his arms,” says Richard. “Valerie took him to the doctor, they put him in hospital and he died that night.

“We didn’t know there was a thing wrong with him until we saw the bruises.”

“He wasn’t in pain,” adds Valerie. “I would have known if he was in pain. I boiled him an egg for breakfast and that particular morning he wanted another one, so I made him one. It was the last thing I did for him. I often think of that.”

Richard was president of the IHC for 15 years, and a member for 49 years, only stopping because the Oropi community wanted him to chair the Oropi Hall refurbishment project. He’s also been the Berryfruit NZ president for about four years.

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21August, December, life+style The Weekend Sun 21 20152018

Legendary NZ rocker Mr Human Instinct Maurice Greer I phoned Maurice Greer about his upcoming gig in Tauranga, thinking he probably lived in a rock legend haven somewhere in the hinterland outskirts of Auckland.

Photo: Colin Lunt

As it turns out, he just lives down the road in Papamoa. It was a beautiful day when I popped by, and we set off for a coffee at none other than Phil’s Place at the Bridge Marina.

Phil Rudd’s touring drum kit is on display there, and it was certainly surreal to be sitting below it chatting with another legendary drummer.

Maurice is Mr Human Instinct, and is set to light up Tauranga on January 13 with a high-powered night of rock. The stand-up drummer and lead vocalist will be joined by fellow Human Instinct band members Phil Pritchard on lead guitar, and Tony Baird on bass.

“We’ve also got Josh Durning – he’s playing second guitar,” says Maurice, “and I’ve got Bill Ward in the show. He’s from the Four Fours and an original Human Instinct member.

“I‘ve got mystery guests being plucked out of the crowd. There’s some real heavyweight legends going to be there that night.”

The buzz of excitement is high around this January gig at The Entertainers Club. Located upstairs at Tauranga Citizens Club, the show will also provide the opportunity for event-goers to enjoy dinner.

Play Misty will open the show, followed by Human

Instinct, featuring Maurice and friends, playing a cross section of material from their earlier years through to their latest album, Midnight Sun. “There’s going to be a lot of pop songs from the 60s, then we’ll bring it up a bit and get it moving,” says Maurice. “We’ll come back a bit more full-on in the second set.”

He reflects on some of their more recent concerts, including playing in Seoul in front of 30,000.

“We’ve played there three times. They liked us so much in 2005 that they had us come back.

“It was just fantastic.”

Human Instinct played the main stage at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival in South Korea in 2007, in a line-up that included Fall Out Boy and Muse. The three-day rock festival, held annually at the end of July, is considered one of the largest live music events in South Korea.

“It was beautiful, with a mountain backdrop,” says Maurice, who burned up ears with his legendary drum solos.

The band returned in 2009, this time playing the Jisan Valley Rock Festival, performing alongside Oasis.

The New Zealand blues rock band, has been active since the late 1960s.

“I think we were the first band to leave New Zealand shores, even before Split Enz,” says Maurice. “We went (to the UK) in 1966 and were there until late ‘69.

“It took us a while to get off the ground. We were starving in a flat in the middle of London.

21 December, 2018 21 August, 2015

“We got there and found all these bands lined up against the wall also waiting to audition. They all had their Volkswagens and Austin vans painted up in flower power”

“Then we played at the Zebra Club in Soho on New Year’s Eve, from about six at night until six in the morning. I think we got five pounds each.

“We then had an audition, but had to drive about 150 miles from the north of London to a hall for the audition. We’d had no sleep, and it was all about the rock and roll.

“We got there and found all these bands lined up against the wall also waiting to audition.

“They all had their Volkswagens and Austin vans painted up in flower power.”

It was the Woodstock period, and Human Instinct found themselves quickly booked and touring.

“We played at the Isle of Wight Festival - it was their own sort of Woodstock.

“We did a six week tour with Small Faces and Roy Orbison, and played support for Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart at the Marquee Club in London.

“We also played support for Cat Stevens and did a six week stint at Hugh Hefner’s Park Lane Playboy Club. And I sat in for rehearsal drumming, playing with Mark Knopfler when Dire Straits rehearsed for their Western Springs concert.”

Human Instinct emerged from 1950s pop band The Four Fours, formed in Tauranga in 1958 by drummer Trevor Spitz. The foursome rapidly became one of the most sought-after bands in the country.

Maurice had his first band at the age of 14, and set up a popular nightclub, The Pink Flamingo, in Palmerston North. Known as ‘the teenage wonder drummer’, he converted his drum kit into a stand-up unit, which he felt was better for his

vocals and drumming. In mid-1966 he joined the Four Fours, just in time to record their biggest hit Go Go/Don’t Print My Memoirs.

The band toured as support for The Rolling Stones on their 1966 New Zealand tour and sailed to the UK in the August, changing their name en route to Human Instinct.

“We thought our name didn’t sound cool enough, so we each wrote a name on a piece of paper, put it in a hat, and I drew out one. It was Human Instinct, so that became our name,” says Maurice.

The band has had more than 25 members and has changed line-ups several times since its formation under Maurice’s leadership.

They have released seven albums and 30 singles, with their most recent album, Midnight Sun, released in October 2010.

Burning up Years, Stoned Guitar and Pins in it were produced under the Pye record label; Snatmin Cuthin and The Hustler with Zodiac Records; and Peg Leg - The Lost Tapes in 2002.

The band is best-known for their single and signature song Black Sally and their album Stoned Guitar.

“We did the first album in 1969 when we first came back from England,” says Maurice, “and I’m starting to record a new CD now.”

Tickets to the Human Instinct show brought to you

by The Entertainers Club are available via Tauranga Citizens Club on 13th Avenue. Copies of the original albums will be available to buy on CD. Rosalie Liddle Crawford

life+style The Weekend Sun 5

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December, life+style The Weekend Sun 2121August, 2015 2018

The wonder of Christmas Tauranga Christian writers The Tauranga Christian Writers group is part of a nationwide collective of authors, editors and writers.

Ruth Linton

Ruth Jamieson

Founded in 1983, NZ Christian Writers groups meet monthly to encourage and help up-skill people’s writing. This month, instead of writing about the Tauranga group, I asked four members to reflect on their own experience or memories of Christmas, and what it means to them.

What Does Christmas Mean To Me? - Ruth Jamieson

For one day of the calendar year, the world seems to stop – well at least slow down.

So what makes that day so special?

To some, it’s a celebration, to party, or to gather with family and friends. For others it is a day of remembrance for varied reasons.

I like to think on the wonder of it all. Wonder, not in the mystery of a child thinking how an oversized Santa Claus could fit down their chimney – should they have one – or the wonder of what is in the large parcel under the tree.

No, wonder that the God of creation left the grandeur of heaven, coming down into our world to be a babe in a young mother’s arms; that a manger rather than a palace crib was his bed; that his birth was announced to shepherds and not the temple priests; that he willingly came fully

knowing his destiny.

Oh the wonder of it all.

Preparing for Christmas - Ruth Linton Shopping in places such as The Warehouse can stir up a frenzy of emotions. Why the Christmas paraphernalia so soon? My response is to keep out of these retail outlets as much as possible.

Nevertheless, my thoughts about Christmas are largely positive.

I remember my childhood; unwrapping gifts - none of which were expensive and many were practical, like clothes. Sometimes several families got together which increased the fun, and there was always plenty of food. Too much in fact!

I still love presents, only now I prefer to give than to receive. I am content with my new diaries for the coming year which I lovingly wrap for myself—a family joke. With children, spouses, grandchildren and now a great-grandson, I feel inadequate. My income is not elastic.

Last year I decided to cultivate a more positive attitude. In this increasingly secular world I wanted to make a statement about the real importance of Christmas. As usual I put my ‘stick-it’ Christmas panorama up on the glass front porch. But I also made a display on my fireplace. It was the first time I had used my Christmas lights for many years. I painted a bright sign about the meaning of Christmas and

21 21 December, 2018 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 7

Carol Oliver

“I asked four members to reflect on their own experience or memories of Christmas, and what it means to them”

attached it to my front fence. I felt content in God’s love.

Christmas Day is usually quiet, as my family live a distance away. If I’m asked I will host a table at the free Community Christmas Dinner run by St Peters Church. It’s a chance to share some of the joy and hope of Christmas while enjoying an ample nourishing meal. Satisfying!

Christmas Caroling – Carol Oliver Pews roped to the truck’s deck, the band sit tight whilst driven around Tauranga’s suburbs.

Coming to a halt, the band master calls out “number… Away in a Manger”. There is a rustling of pages, and on the count of three the band blasts out the age old familiar tune.

Before long, a small crowd gather. “Any favourites?” the band master asks. “Amazing Grace?” - The band do their best to oblige without sheet music.

Older children like myself are given small collection boxes to take door to door.

“Good evening, I’m collecting for the Salvation Army. Would you like to give a donation?”

Most are happy to contribute towards the good work the Sallies do. I only had one bad experience, when a fox terrier bit me on the rump. The man sitting on the doorstep laughed.

At least he was having a merry Christmas.

Bravely, I soldiered on.

Preparing for Christmas - Dorothy Finlay In Jerusalem, preparation for Greek Orthodox Christmas Day is not about presents, decorations or mistletoe. Christmas Day is instead a time to pray, to heal the soul. It is also a time of peace and unity.

White cloth used on dinner tables symbolises purity and the cloth that the baby Jesus was wrapped in. Straw may be placed on these tables to symbolise the simplicity of the place where Jesus was born. Candles may be lit to represent the light of Christ.

My experience of Orthodox Christmas is an allnight affair. The extended family visits and enjoys eating special food together.

Late in the evening they attend Mass at the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A wonderful Dutch hymn has always touched my heart and helps me prepare for Christmas: “When you come to Bethlehem this time, Kneel a little longer at His feet, See God’s Gift of Love, Sent from heaven above, Oh the wonder of His Love.”

As Advent comes closer, take time to meditate on what Christmas really means; the miracle of the Birth of Jesus, born of a virgin, on time for God’s plan of salvation. Share with others who may have long since forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.

Dorothy Finlay

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December, life+style The Weekend Sun 2121August, 2015 2018

Behind the scenes Music and people - a recipe for success Back in the summer of 2018, it seemed there was a gig to suit just about everyone’s musical taste buds.

Diehard fans paid witness to a performance from Bryan Adams that was straight from the heart, got right in the middle of the action at Bay Dreams for DJ Snake, and let their hair down for Canadian reggae fusion band Magic at One Love.

That’s only naming a few.

Now, it’s time to do it all over again with a full calendar of concerts, festivals and events locked in for the summer.

And the man behind it all is sharing his trade secrets.“A lot of hard work, dedication, ambition and knowledge goes into it,” says Pato Entertainment director Pato Alvarez.

The successful promoter is the brainchild behind some of the Bay of Plenty’s most anticipated gigs for 2019, some of which include Toto, The Jacksons, The Village People, Shapeshifter, Chase and Status, UB40, Ky Mani Marley and Kolohe Kai. “Finding the right spots, towns, artists and bands that people want to see is always crucial to making summer events successful,” he says.

“There are always long days and hard work involved to ensure we’ve done everything correctly and to a high standard, but staying healthy and focused on the end goals is always a priority.”

Aircon Tauranga

What crowds see on the day is a result of tireless fine-tuning, managing people and - most importantly - communication, says Pato.

“There’s a lot of hard work that goes into securing some of our bigger acts, with many late night phone calls and multiple emails.

“We are always competing against other promoters to secure them.

“This has improved a lot due to our company building bigger events and festivals.

“We have proven to artists and acts that we deliver everything we say, and we always do everything to such a high standard.”

The entertainment business isn’t always smoothsailing and when problems arise, Pato says figuring out the best solution to gain the best outcome is his best plan of attack.

“There will always be complications that arise, and we just deal with them as they come along.

“That is also when we realise how valuable our team members are, as each of them are equipped to deal with certain complications and they always achieve the best outcome.”

One example of this arose when the team lost a truck to fire two years ago.

“It had all of our One Love festival stage lighting on board, but we worked around the unforeseen circumstance by finding a replacement truck and lights within a very short time frame.

“Our team had to work through the night to

New Zealand’s Quietest Heat Pumps

21 December, 2018

“Look after those who are around you, because events do not run themselves”

make sure we had everything we needed for the festival day.

“We have a great team of people who are extremely hard workers, passionate and dedicated to their jobs. They all love what they do and enjoy seeing the end results.”

One of those people is business partner Mitch Lowe. “We both came onto the scene about ten years ago,” says Mitch.

“At the time, I was an eager 18-year-old trying to do club events involving DJs, and Pato was promoting at a bar in Tauranga.

“I wanted to bring some of the DJs to Tauranga so Pato came on board, and we ended up bringing them to his nightclub.”

After that they went separate ways.

“We were running parallel for so many years, but in this game you’re always watching each other.

We realised if we combined what we were doing, it would be the recipe for a festival.”

That’s when Bay Dreams launched.

Music and people are not only at the epicentre of the pair’s jobs – they are their passion.

“I love bringing people together and watching memories being created,” says Pato. “At the end of the day, I just want people to walk away from our events feeling like they had a great experience, which is something they can cherish forever.”

Stress is just something that comes with the job, he says.

“Again, it’s all about finding the best solution and routine to deal with it.

“I find working out and staying healthy is a great way to keep my mind clear and focused.

“We are busy all year round, but I always make sure I find time to have a break and relax.

“This year I managed to go for a few overseas holidays with my family.”

He’s learned a few trade secrets over the years too.

“Always stick to your word, pay your bills and keep the quality,” he says. “Look after those who are around you, because events do not run themselves.”

Sam Gardner

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 August, 2015

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