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“Dad was 68 when he married Mum. She was a herd tester he met on the farm – she was 28. He had been married before but his first wife died and they had no children. He was born in 1886 in Wiltshire, one of a family of 14, leaving school at 10 to make wagon wheels. He later went to Sydney where he had a cousin in the Irish Guards who used to guard convicts. Dad worked in the…

The general feeling of the time was that it would all be over by Christmas. For four long years the people of Papakura waited for that end and when it came on Armistice Day 11th November 1918, the final tally of the roll of the dead for Papakura and Karaka stood at 32. It was billed as The Great War and it was said it would never happen again as the walking wounded and…

Every now and then you hear about a story that totally captivates you… that takes you away and leaves a lump in your throat. This is a story of enduring love, tragedy, broken families, separation, war…. It sounds as if it Shakespearean, but I can tell you no it’s not. This is a true story and it’s about a couple who I admire greatly, my Mother and Father. They have now both…

The men of Franklin’s Home Guard had a busy war, as the country prepared the best it could to defend itself. From all walks of life, people rallied to the call, leaving farms, market gardens and businesses to take part in training and the laying of traps to slow any advancing invader. The service began in August of 1940 and when Japan entered the war, joining the Home Guard…

Feeding those on active service was vital during the war and by 1944 one of four vegetable dehydration factories nationwide was in full production in Manukau Road, Pukekohe. The factory was in constant operation, processing produce from extensive market gardens that were planted on farms all over the district for the war effort, including on part of Pukekohe Golf Club. A large…

Officially, Kepa Kepa of Mercer is almost 90 years old, but the Maori Battalion veteran could be much older. When he was born, there were no birth certificates for Maori. Kepa speaks mainly in Maori and his memories of the war years are sketchy, but several key memories tell a vivid story of ferocious close quarters fighting and comradeship, of valour and loss, of the dedication…

While local men donned uniforms and trained in the Home Guard, women too were marching. The Women’s War Service Auxiliary drilled in the hall on the corner of Edinburgh and Harris Streets once a week and were instructed on how to handle and fire a gun. They marched with the Home Guard around Pukekohe and took a major role in organising the social events held for the troops…

Pukekohe local Shane Snijder has a whale of a tale to tell. When Shane’s dad joined the Dutch Navy during World War II, he never expected that he would live through the Battle of the Java Sea, a Japanese prisoner of war camp and the atomic bombing at Nagasaki. But it never broke him, and after seeing the very worst of the world, he rebuilt his ruined life in the best place in…

In June 1914, when a rebellious student shot a member of the Austrian royal family on the other side of the world, most people in New Zealand would barely have heard of Serbia, the scene of the assassination. Even less would New Zealanders have imagined that within weeks their young men would be volunteering in droves to lay down their lives for king and country as a result of…

Project Face Shield NZ is an online community of over 200 NZ based 3D Printer owners who through the Covid19 Lockdown, started to see unprecedented demand from front line agencies for Personal Protection Equipment, (PPE equipment) including Face Shields. Would be we have enough proper medical PPE shields for everyone? & are there any supply issues for the main health…

As a 10 year old, standing with several hundred other airforce kids and servicemen among the hangar line, I watched one of the best emergency landings witnessed at Ohakea for many a year. For the young Vulcan crew it was to be the landing of their careers. The first inkling anyone at Ohakea had of the unfolding emergency was the air-sea rescue alert sometime around midday. Two…

There’s only one show in town right now, and it’s a chart-topper. I’m actually somewhat loath to launch into coronavirus, given that it’s such a rapidly-moving piece of theatre and I’m writing this a week ahead of publication; but regardless of how the spread of the world’s newest and most popular disease unfolds over the next fortnight, there are truths interwoven through the…

Waikaretu in 1920 was the back of beyond – an isolated place with a single, often impassable, unmetalled road to connect it with the outside world, no power, no telephone and no school. It was a long way from the high society of Sydney, the Paris fashion houses and a finishing school in Belgium. But this was where Clyde Aston brought his new bride Gladys – to a tiny cottage that…

With the Corona Virus pandemic sweeping the world it was only a matter of time before New Zealand would be affected. Since the first confirmed case in New Zealand we have had constant media thrashing on the subject and as the world has started shutting down country by country the media hype has heightened. Is it hype or is it precaution? Is it a virus or is it politics? There are…

He was recognized for his method of spontaneous prose covering topics from catholic spirituality, drugs, poverty and travel and best known for his novel, On The Road, he was a pioneer of the Beat Generation movement alongside Allan Ginsberg and William Burroughs. A former football star turned literary iconoclast and poet, Jack Kerouac. Born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac on March…

If you have been suffering from migraines on a regular basis, then you should know how bad this can affect your life quality because the pain is usually bad enough to stop you from doing anything although the pain killer able to reduce the intensity of the pain but you probably still feel some heaviness in your head, blurry mind and feeling very tired all the time. Traditional…

I am not a Prepper; although I have, unfortunately, seen firsthand the devastation an epidemic can cause, I have never resorted to prepare for what seemed inconceivable. Duly ignoring the advice from friends and colleagues on the front-line. And it’s this advice I have been thinking about, because to be honest, it seems to me that the most basic and effective thing we can do to…

Jason Tabrum has experienced some extremes in his career, most recently from working in and around the city of Perth. Traditionally known for its mining industry, it can be a hard environment. Tabrum though, excelled in his chosen career of real estate, working for a boutique agency in Wembley, selling high end properties and has learnt from the best in his industry. Returning…

Being impartial means not being prejudiced towards or against any particular side, and to be fair and balanced. In the world of media, this used to be a standard that many just accepted to be what happened. These days though, with the advance of digital technologies, the thrust for reporting to in response to things as they happen, and the ease with which it is possible to have…

As this edition goes to press, New Zealand and the world are approaching the anniversary of the horrific events in Christchurch on March 15th 2019. Nearly a year on from that dreadful day, what has changed about New Zealand – both for the better, and more pertinently, for the worse? On March 15th, 2019 I was in a shop in Rangiora. As a Police patrol car went screaming past in the…