petone chronicle may 2014

Petone Chronicle The

www.petonechronicle.co.nz Issue Eight: May 9 2014 562 7500

Ten year-old twins Robert and Joshua Patterson were among a large crowd taking part in ANZAC Day commemorations at Petone Memorial Park. The pair, members of Lower Hutt Scouts, proudly wore replica medals of those worn by grandfather Donald Robert Prior, of RAF bomber command, and carried photos of grandfather Patrick Brian Patterson who served in the British army in WWII and then the NZ Army. Joshua carried a photograph of great grandfather, and some time Petone resident, Bronslaw Nawrocki, who fought in the Polish army in WWII.

Community board set to oppose Arena

by Emily Tilley

The Petone Community Board is adding its voice to growing opposition to the proposed Petone Arena.

The board will move towards formally opposing the proposed Petone Arena at its next board meeting on May 12, chair Mike Fisher says.

“We have listened to public feedback and heard of the many concerns of residents, sporting clubs and community groups both individually and at public meetings on this proposal,” Mr Fisher says.

“There is considerable unease over the impact the Arena would have on Petone Recreation Ground, its current users, immediate neighbours and the wider Petone community.

“Much has been made in the proposal of the importance of “the fan experience” however far more relevant to our Board is “the community’s experience”.

The loss of amenity values and the implications for traffic, parking, noise, and rates have been common themes of people’s concerns said Mr Fisher. “The disadvantages of the Arena being built on the Recreation Ground outweigh the perceived benefits and I personally cannot support the loss of this iconic Petone landmark,” Mr Fisher says.

More on the Arena - pgs 3-4

Grandsons pay tribute to soldiers

The Petone Chronicle, May 9 20142

Need for support prompts group's foundationby Emily Tilley

A n e w g r o u p m e e t i n g f o r t n i g h t l y a t t h e Mo e r a Community House gives disabled people and their caregivers a place to get together and share experiences over a cup of tea.

UPHOLD, standing for Understanding Patience Holistic Ownership Leading Disabled, has now met twice and the response has been very positive, organisers Darren and Trisha Spring say.

Darren has cerebral palsy affecting the right-hand side of his body. His wife Trisha has experience working as a disabled caregiver as well as being married to a disabled person.

Together the couple have started the group to enable people with common experiences to have a break, meet new people and share their stories.

“We wanted to do something that gives back to the community. We’ve had organisations help us… at the end of the day we all need support,” Trisha says. For both caregivers and disabled people, “you can feel alone, but you’re not,” Trisha says.

Working for the community is a passion for both Darren and Trisha and both have previous experience in community work.

Last year they both completed a Certificate in Social Services and biculturalism.

As part of the certificate Darren ran a four week course for disabled people on Local Government. He says the course participants were used to able-bodied people running courses and were enthusiastic to have someone with a disability taking them.

“In some aspects there’s a need for someone with a disability to go in there and connect,” Darren says.

Darren has also attended conferences at CCS Disability Action and, having completed a mentoring workshop, travelled the country promoting the programme.

Trisha has worked as a caregiver for people with disabilities for some time. However, it was

only after meeting and marrying Darren that she really understood how it is to live with and love a disabled person, she says.

“For the first time I saw other people’s reactions as we walked through the mall ... teenagers comments,” Trisha says. “It’s really hard. When your loved one is disabled, the first time experiencing that, it hurt.”

Darren has lived his whole life with those reactions and has developed ways to deal with them. “I challenge them, say ‘how would you feel if the tables were turned?’,” he says. “Some stand there shocked, especially high school kids.”

When you live and care for someone with a disability you have to focus on the positive, Trisha says. “It’s about cherishing the moments you have with your loved one.”

“The good and the bad” of living with and

Darren and Trisha Spring have started a new group for people with disabilities,their families and caregivers.

caring for a person with disabilities is the type of discussion that people can have at UPHOLD in a confidential and caring space, Trisha says. “Like getting together with friends, you can sit and relax.”

At UPHOLD’s last meeting Darren presented an article about a man caring for his wife who has Alzheimer's. “One person took a copy of the article home,” Darren says.

“Seeing people being served - that’s where my heart is,” Trisha says. “It uplifts me. I’ve had my own sickness… it helps me through. I love seeing smiles.”

- UPHOLD, Moera Community House, 107 Randwick Rd, every second Monday 1.30pm-2.30pm. Next meeting May 12. For more information email [email protected]

The Petone Chronicle, May 9 2014 3

Debate continues over Arena proposalA small, but vociferous crowd attended the

Draft Annual Plan meeting in Petone on Tuesday, mainly to make their feelings known about the Petone Arena proposal.

Around fifty people heard concerns from sports clubs and individuals, many focussed on the loss of sports grounds - and from one supporter.

“Fifteen percent of junior rugby is in Petone,” Mark Fairmaid, a volunteer who allocates all the pitches for all the junior rugby draws in the region, told the meeting. Other grounds are already well used and the arena proposal would mean not just some teams having to travel further but games being cancelled. “There is nowhere else.”

Members of Petone Football Club said they had not been consulted yet, and the club's deputy chair Rob Houghton asked why all the sports clubs in Petone weren’t involved from “day one” saying it would have saved a lot of angst.

“There are similar numbers, about 850 juniors for rugby and soccer. There will be a massive impact on rugby and cricket and possibly football,” he said.

He said he had received emails suggesting Memorial Park could be impacted by the proposal.

Paul Coles said, as a founding member of the Phoenix, "I would love to see the Phoenix in Petone, but not at the expense of clubs that have been around for 100 years".

Community Facilities Trust Chair Alister Skene said that in hindsight, “we should have had that conversation with Petone Football Club”, and told the meeting that while it would have been preferable to consult with local groups from the start, this had not been possible due to confidentiality restraints.

Petone Rugby Club chair Gus McMillan, said, with the loss of several rugby and cricket

pitches in the plan, ”can you explain how it [the arena] is a community facility?”.

Mr Skene said he had met with the rugby club board, and that the CFT wanted to leverage the opportunity for the Petone community and community sport.

“If we can’t or the impact caused a great catastrophic effect for sports, clearly the council will consider that.”

Mr McMillan said the rugby club had been waiting for a report from the CFT on how the Petone Recreation Ground had been chosen as the best site for a stadium since emailing after meeting on March 19.

Mr Skene said the Phoenix did their own evaluation of a preferred venue Wellington-wide, which pointed to the Petone Rec. "Their investment offer is solely linked to that site. They’re not interested in Hutt Park. It’s Petone Rec or nothing in their offer,” he said.

He said CFT staff 's analysis looking at criteria for running a successful operation came up with five or six sites, including the NZ Post site, and gave them a rating based on the criteria.

“It’s just a simple evaluation matrix,” Mr Skene said. “I’m happy to put it out there.”

However, when The Petone Chronicle subsequently asked to see a copy of the document, Mr Skene said it is an internal document and will not be publicly released. "I’m happy to show it to the directly related parties.”

Petone Lions Club president Noel Scherp said there would be flow-on effects throughout the community.

“The association has been with the Rec since 1962,” he said. “We’re there every Saturday selling hotdogs, pies and chips. From the profits every cent goes back to the community.” Recently those profits had been used for the purchase of a $32,000 van for Thumbs Up.

“That’s a social impact that can’t be

measured,” he said. Mr Skene said he would give the Lions the

“cast iron guarantee” that they would be the first to get concessions at the Petone Arena.

HCC community services manager Matt Reid said council’s social impact report would be looking at a broad range of issues from the sports clubs to dog walkers.

Concert promoter Phil Sprey said the arena wouldn’t work for concerts as the Phoenix would want the pitch kept pristine for games during the summer months, the only time outdoor concerts would be considered.

“Forget having Christmas in the Park there,” he said.

“So for people who aren’t in sport - what are they getting?” he asked.

However, another promoter, Steve Brow, said while he arena would not work for concerts, “it needs a roof”, he supported the arena proposal. “WestPac is not working,” he said. “You need a smaller space. Rugby’s dying, just take a look at the Hurricanes. You do need an alternative,” he said.

Following Tuesday night’s meeting, Petone Community Board member Mason Branch said he would like to see the arena go ahead. He said even if it meant losing some sports fields, there were plenty throughout Hutt City that could be utilised, “they just might not be at the Petone Rec”.

He said if the borough had not been amalgamated in 1989, Petone would have built its own stadium years ago, and that the impact of sports fans, raised as a concern at the meeting, would not be negative.

He said parking had always been an issue around Petone Rec, and people would soon learn to use public transport to attend games at an arena there. “Petone used to be a place that said ‘yes’ to things,” he said.


Housing New Zealand has given the Hutt City Council an assurance that there are redevelopment plans HNZ properties in Petone West, Mayor Ray Wallace says.

A decision on the future of empty and earthquake prone housing HNZ stock was due to be announced last month, however it has been delayed. HNZ say they are now in the final stages of planning and expect to make an announcement later this month.

Mr Wallace says he met with HNZ last month seeking assurance that properties would be upgraded and “made nicer for the people that

Petone Chronicle The

Editor: Louise GobleNews:Emily TilleySports: Steve McMorranEmail:[email protected]:562 7500Website:www.petonechronicle.co.nz

live there”.“They certainly have some redevelopment

plans,” he says. “They will be back to us in the not-too-distant future with plans and then it will go out to the community.”

“That community has been through hard times and the area needs upgrading, including HNZ property,” he says.

Another stress for the community has been the uncertainty surrounding the local Huchs medical centre which was facing possible closure last year.

Although funding was found as an “interim

tie-over” for last year’s shortfall and the centre is “getting by”, funding is an ongoing struggle, Mr Wallace says. He says he is continuing to meet and work with Huchs. “We’ve got to be working for a more permanent solution for them.”

Mr Wallace says that in the long term if more money isn’t put into primary healthcare, then more people will end up getting admitted to hospital and end up costing the Government more.

“It’s in the Government’s interests as well,” he says. “I’m hopeful that working together we can find a solution to achieve all goals.”

HNZ plans to redevelop East Petone properties

An online petition to stop the possibility of a stadium being built on Petone Recreation Ground has been started by Lesley Kennedy “as another method for the community to be heard”.

- The online petition addressed to Mayor Ray Wallace is at www.change.org.nz, search Petone Rec.

Submis s ions on the Draf t Annual Plan c lo s e 5pm on Friday 16 May.

Concerns over the weight of submissions for and against the Petone Arena proposal would have on the council's decision were raised at a public meeting in Petone on Tuesday night.

Paul Coles expressed concerns over how feedback from the council’s questionnaire was going to be evaluated.

“How are you going to distinguish between 500, 600 or 2000 Yellow Fever fans and 500 or 600 ratepayers from the Hutt Valley? Is there a distinction?” he asked.

Resident Gary Lewis said one of the conditions set down by council for the arena to go ahead was that there is “satisfactory” community support. He questioned, “what is unsatisfactory? … is 20 percent satisfactory?”

Deputy Mayor David Bassett said it was “very difficult” to answer that question. He said every submission is analysed and every councillor gets a copy. “We don’t make a decision on statistics, it comes down to what is right for the city,” he said.

“I’ve appreciated and can see the strength of feeling - I do understand that,” he said. “It will be a factor I take into consideration.”

All things being equal... Yellow Fever’s Guy Smith is urging football

fans to let Hutt City Council know they support the Petone Arena proposal.

The fanclub has set up a “Say No to Nimbys” page on their website to encourage members to make submissions on council’s Draft Annual Plan.

Mr Smith says he will be making a submission as he is excited by the proposal and wants councillors to let it get to a stage where it can be considered in more detail.

“I’ve only moved to Petone recently, I’m personally interested more from a football perspective than a Petone perspective,” he says.

However, he does think there will be benefits for Petone as a whole. “It would bring a fair amount of money… 6,000 to 7,000 passionate football fans spending money before, during and after the game,” he says.

“Wellington Chamber of Commerce are against it because they don’t want to lose that spend,” he says. “It would fill Jackson St every couple of weeks - that can’t be bad for the economy.”

It is also an opportunity for the Hutt Valley to position itself as a sport centre in the same way Te

Rauparaha Arena has worked for Porirua making it a centre for netball and basketball.

“Why not be brave, explore the exciting opportunity it is?” he asks.

But does it have to be on the Petone Rec? “To the best of my knowledge there aren’t any

other proposals to compare,” Mr Smith says. “It’s the only proposal there is - and I think it’s a goody.”

Fans urged to get behind plan

Online petition


Boundary change "quite logical"

by Emily Tilley

New boundaries for the Hutt South electorate are “frankly quite logical”, Local MP Trevor Mallard says.

The new boundary for Hutt South now includes all the Western Hill suburbs from Maungaraki to Kelson, which were previously included in Ohariu and Rimutaka, and loses Naenae which now becomes part of Rimutaka.

Mr Mallard says the boundary change is consistent with community geography. He says Western Hills residents will be found shopping in Pak’N’Save Petone, going to Queensgate and their children going to Lower Hutt schools. “It’s a community of interest … they have almost no relation to Upper Hutt.

The boundary change is likely to see Labour’s majority halve in the electorate, yet it should still be comfortable, Mr Mallard says.

As the Western Hills are known to be more right leaning and Naenae more left leaning, the changes may disadvantage Labour in Hutt South but should be advantageous to Labour in Rimutaka, he says. “Politically, it’s not what I would ask for, but it’s not crisis territory,” Mr Mallard says. He says his “theoretical” majority will still be around 2,000.

Mr Mallard says he already has strong connections with people in the Western Hills suburbs as many of his children’s school friends lived in the hills and he came to know their families.

He says he also came to know Korokoro, Maungaraki and Normandale well while training for a cycling tour a few years ago. “I biked quite often, quite slowly, up a lot of the main tracks up there,” he says.

A former part of the old Petone Borough, Korokoro still retains a sprinkling of Labour Party activists who associate themselves with Hutt South already, he says.

Holly Walker, the Green Party’s confirmed candidate for Hutt South, agrees that the new boundary “makes sense” with the hill suburbs a “natural community” who spend leisure time and shop in Lower Hutt.

Ms Walker says she has already been working with the Green’s Rimutaka candidate Susanne Ruthven, treating the Hutt Valley as a whole and

sharing their resources to spread their message as widely as possible.

As they are focussing on campaigning for the party vote, the electoral boundaries will have little effect on their campaign, she says.

So far there are no other confirmed candidates for Hutt South.

by Emily Tilley

Designing a mural to beautify the toilet block on the corners of Jackson and Fitzherbert Streets has become a history project as well as an art project for local design student Mike Polaczuk.

A second year creative technology student at Weltec, Mike already had his interest in local history sparked, partly through finding out at the Settlers Museum about a book written by his Polish relatives.

Having an idea for a creative history display for the Winter Carnival, Mike knocked on the Jackson St Programme door and found himself drawn into another project altogether.

“Hellen Swales was there. She said ‘we’ve got this corner of Jackson Street we want to do something with, go down, look, think of ideas and meet in a week’,” Mike says. “She said the corner needs to be brighter and have a Petone history theme.”

A week later he produced his first ideas for the corner, Hellen Swales liked what she saw and the project took off.

Ideas came quickly. Mike spent time at the library looking at local history books and through archive photos. When he happened to be by the wharf when it was being renovated, he asked the council if he could have some of the old wharf timbers to use. “I got lots of wharf wood dropped off at my house… that’s when it became wharf focussed,” Mike says.

The timber also led to the project becoming more 3-D rather than just a painting on a wall and the council agreed for some of the land next to the wall to be used as well. Inspired by

1980s style wooden playgrounds, the wood will be used to create posts beside the walkway leading to the block.

Helped by the Petone Library archivist, Mike found a 1960s photo of the wharf which he plans to have blown up to billboard size and printed so that it looks as though it is being viewed through a 1960s style window. “I’ve found that architecture is part of Petone’s history too,” he says.

It’s the first time Mike’s taken his work “out of school” and working with the Jackson St Programme has given him the opportunity to learn from people who know who to contact and how to get the resources needed, he says.

“One of the coolest things about this is having people like what they see and say ‘we will make this happen’,” he says.

Resene are donating all the paint, Mitre 10 Mega have donated plywood to be cut into stars and the council have given the wharf wood and hopefully will help in the landscaping, Mike says. “We’re still looking for someone who will print the photos to billboard size.”

History unfolds for project

Mike Polaczuk.


Contemporary fl owers

and giftware

0800 800 321Ph: 568-7088 Fax: 568-8922

fl [email protected] Jackson St, Petone

"Use it or lose it", says departing co-ordinatorBy Phillipa Webb

Locals must use the Petone Community House or face losing it, was the departing message from the brains behind the revival of the historic community treasure.

Petone Community House office manager and activities co-ordinator Beverley Barclay said she has left the house after more than four years of service, deciding to instead focus on rebuilding her movement-training programme and studio.

“It is a very sad but necessary departure,” she said.

Ms Barclay said that since she started in the role in 2009, the number of groups using the house has increased by half.

“This has meant the rent for these groups has been able to drop, but overall more people are using the house which is fantastic.”

Ms Barclay is also responsible for bringing local identities like ballet dancer Sir Jon Trimmer and actor Geraldine Brophy to house events.

“One of my most memorable experiences would be Sir Jon Trimmer twirling his eye-catching moustache with his eyes twinkling as he recollected his early years in Petone.”

The bright yellow and green of the house were also Ms Barclay’s doing, as she wanted to chose colours that were historically accurate but modern.

“The coordinator hours were also increased to give the house and tenants an ‘at home’ feeling,” she said.

But the Petone Community House board and management needed to continue to promote the house in the community with a website, more visible signage, and more meaningful events, she said.

“Ultimately it is the involvement of the local community that will ensure the house’s survival - use it or lose it.”

Looking back, Ms Barclay said the most challenging aspects of the role were timetabling

noisy and quiet activities together and preventing the “ultimate sin” - room double-bookings.

B u t t h e m o s t rewarding aspect of the role was bringing local history alive in the house, and helping Te Reo Maori teachers bring te reo to the Petone community.

“One of the most beautiful sounds is hearing waiata and music resonate through the wood of the house,” she said.

“ The ro l e wa s a fulfilling way to help build community in the little everyday ways.”

M s Ba r c l a y w i l l study in Germany for a month before returning to Wellington to launch her next big move.

“I plan to rebuild my Feldenkrais Method and Tai Chi practice which stood aside for the Petone Community House,” she said.

Ms Barclay said she was disputing the terms of her employment contract with the house board and had hoped it would be resolved soon.

Petone Community House co-chair Roy Hewson said he was sad to see Ms Barclay leave the house.

“Beverley is great and has done a lot for the house in the past five years, including increasing

the number of people who use it,” he said.Petone Community House co-chair Pam

Hanna said Lyn Duncan was to take over the role in the interim, while the appointment process for a new coordinator was underway.

Departing Petone Community House office manager and activities co-ordinator Beverley Barclay said her decision to leave the house after over four years was very sad but necessary.


Business owner keen to be new face of Hutt Southby Emily Tilley

Jackson Street Programme chair Leonie Dobbs says a passion for connecting people, finding new ways forward and giving hope has led her to put herself forward to stand as the National Party’s candidate for Hutt South.

“Politics was the last thing in my head but I’d like to bring my hands on knowledge and experience,” Ms Dobbs says.

“The timing is right for me… it would be a new chapter in my life.”

Born and bred in the Hutt Valley, Ms Dobbs says she is passionate about a lot of things and brings an attitude of deciding what needs to be done and "get on and do it”.

She says that’s what National is about, “supporting people but allowing all Kiwis to get on and do things… allowing people to be responsible for themselves”.

As a small business owner herself running Style on Jackson Street, Ms Dobbs says she can bring the experience of owning and running a small business.

“I can be another voice for small business which is the backbone of New Zealand,” she says.

“Small businesses employ many more people than big… that’s where the job growth is going to come from.”

Her role with the Jackson Street Programme has also given her the experience of connecting with people, getting people involved and making things happen without much of budget to do it, Ms Dobbs says

The local area is hugely multi-cultural, Ms

Dobbs says, and as around a quarter of Jackson Street business owners speak English as their second language, she has “first hand experience of their issues, problems, what they want from education ... how they value law and order in New Zealand".

Locally, Ms Dobbs would like to see “sensible ideas” for development in the city.

“Over-shopped” already, she believes apartments and office blocks would benefit the Hutt CBD. What is needed most is for projects to be looked at as part of big picture rather than in isolation, she says.

People need to realise that there is only so much money in the pot and identify how that can best be spent, she says.

“I’d take that reasoning and ideas into Parliament,” she says.

“We’ve only four million people and we can’t print money.”

People on benefits need to be encouraged to “get out and have a go”, with help if needed, she says.

“People just sit and do nothing…. I’ve been brought up to be part of a whole society. People should get into the schools, do something for old people, there are lots of things people would love help with.”

Ms Dobbs says she understands life has its ups and downs but it’s about “just getting on and doing it”.

“I’ve done it. I raised my daughter by myself when she was two. I wasn’t eligible for a benefit because I’d had my own business in Auckland. My mum said ‘go out and get a job’ and she looked after my daughter,” she says.

“I’ve gone out and just done it.”Identifying what areas and people most need

help and how they can be helped with a sensible approach to a limited budget is needed, she says.

She says she was heartened by a speech by Bill English at a recent conference about the help being given to those children identified as most in need.

“There are around 2,400 kids who are in poverty, they’re physically going in and helping those identified,” Ms Dobbs says.

“You hear in the media about 200,000 children in poverty, but actually it’s about how

people are describing poverty. Some are saying they are in poverty but they still have a TV in each bedroom, three cars, eat takeaways seven days a week or have Sky TV,” Ms Dobbs says.

“They’ve got to questions like ‘how many cars in the family?’... to get proper data.”

Now that the children who really are in poverty have been identified support people are going in to help, she says.

Ms Dobbs was involved in campaigning for National during the last election when Paul Quinn was the party’s local candidate. Although Mr Quinn didn’t win the Hutt South seat, the National Party won the local party vote.

“That’s more important than the seat, it determines the number of people for the party in Parliament - how Parliament is made up,” Ms Dobbs says.

This year Ms Dobbs would like to see National win the Hutt South seat.

“The Hutt Valley has had Trevor [Mallard] for how many years? I think it would be nice to have a fresh face, someone to help our area,” Ms Dobbs says.

Nominations for potential candidates for the seat close in around a weeks time and Ms Dobbs says she knows of two other people so far who are putting themselves forward. A board selection process will decide who is successful and the National candidate announced shortly after.

Leonie Dobbs.

The Petone Chronicle

Editor/Publisher: Louise GobleReporters: Emily Tilley/ Steve McMorranAdvertising: 562 7500Email: [email protected]. petonechronicle.co.nz562 7500ISSN 2324-5824


Concessions not enough for Ryman neighbours by Emily Tilley

Preparatory work for the construction of a Ryman Healthcare retirement village on the site of the former Petone College starts this month as the Environment Court has given the development the green light.

Neighbours took an appeal to the Environment Court after the multi-building high density development was granted Resource Consent in February.

Avoiding the huge cost of a full Environment Court Appeal, the neighbours have now agreed to a number of changes which were negotiated through the appeal process. “We couldn’t go to full Environment Court, so had to agree to terms,” Graham Street resident Andrea Bolton says.

Ms Bolton says the development will still have a huge impact on residents’ amenities, “and we still think council got it wrong".

The retirement complex will cater for around 440 residents and include four large buildings up to five stories high. Constructed in stages, it is expected to take four years to complete.

The major concerns for neighbours were the scale of the development and the length of time they would be living next to a construction site.

Changes negotiated through the Environment Court include the removal of a third of the fifth

floor of the tallest building and strengthening of service delivery and stormwater conditions.

However, they have had to accept that building work time allowed on a Saturday is now extended by three hours to 7am to 4pm.

Ms Bolton says the neighbours’ “biggest win” was the moving of two buildings slightly further away from the boundary, a concession agreed to by Ryman prior to the resource consent application hearing.

“I guess you could say we have made significant changes,” Ms Bolton says. “But the big thing for us was to get less density and bulk - and that hasn’t happened.” The changes mean a redistribution of the bulk, rather than a reduction.

Fulfilling consent conditions, Ryman have sent a letter to Graham and North St residents offering inspection of their houses as Ryman must cover repair costs to nearby homes if they are damaged due to the construction.

Ms Bolton says she will be encouraging all the neighbours to have inspections carried out.

While it is “time to move on”, residents who took the appeal are still trying to raise the balance of the costs of the appeal including planner and lawyer’s fees. A movie fundraiser last month raised just over $700.

Ryman are talking to the Port Nicholson Trust, who have leased the site to the retirement

ECB member chosen for young leaders course

Petone Community Board member Peter Foaese is attending the Young Aspiring Leaders Forum this weekend.

Nominated by local Green MP Holly Walker, Mr Foaese was chosen to join around 150 leaders from around the country at the four day event.

As well as being in his second term as a member of the community board, Mr Foaese has sat on a variety of governance groups, the Hutt Multicultural Council and the Board of Trustees for two high schools.

He has been actively involved in youth and community development for around eight years, including kick-starting the local Whakaoho programme.

village operator for up to 150 years, to get the site blessed before work commences, Ryman corporate affairs manager David King says.

Remaining school buildings will then be demolished, earthworks should begin by the end of the month and construction will begin soon after.

Mr King says Hutt City Council has identified an unmet demand for 1000 retirement village units in the city and that is “part of the reason” for going ahead with the Petone plans.

“While some residents objected, a lot supported,” Mr King says.

Ryman managing director Simon Challies says 120 people have already indicated an interest in becoming residents of the new Petone site.

“We’ve also been approached by a number of local businesses who are keen to work with us,’’ he says.

Ryman names its villages after prominent New Zealanders with current villages in the region named Shona McFarlane, Malvina Major and Rita Angus.

Ryman has yet to name the Petone village. “The village is set to become a community feature so we want locals to have a say in what it is called. We’d love to honour a local by naming it after them,’’ Mr Challies says.

Suggestions of names for the village can be emailed to [email protected]

Peter Foaese.

The programme includes a day spent in Parliament House, keynote addresses from senior politicians and other inspiring leaders, seminar groups led by MPs, a community service project in Stokes Valley, a sports afternoon and an “epic barn dance”.

The Young Aspiring Leaders Forum is hosted by Members of Parliament from all major parties, and is focused not only on politics but is about encouraging young people to be better leaders in whichever area they are engaged in, including arts, business, politics or sport.


Jewelleryexhibition

now on

Macka and Mum call time on Fireman's Arms

Kevin and Barbara McIntosh, aka Macka and Mum.

by Emily Tilley

Bagpipes, speeches, hugs and tears marked the end of an era as the Fireman’s Arms served it’s last drinks last Tuesday night.

Owners Kevin and Barbara McIntosh say they made the hard decision to close as they had difficulties securing a lease on the building which is up for auction and the expense of their liquor licence due for renewal was ballooning, once $900 it would now cost $4,000.

Kevin and Barbara, better know to pub-goers as “Macka and Mum”, first took on the pub in 1997 because the pub, then the Senator, was closing and local patrons wanted it to stay open.

At the time Barbara was a florist and Kevin was a service station manager. But Kevin did have some bar experience - years before he had managed the bar for the Tairua, Coromandel fire brigade.

A volunteer for the brigade for around six years, Kevin says he was commandeered for the job having racked up the highest bar tab. But his high tab was only due to the fact he was more accurate in recording his drinks using a laissez-faire system of slips of paper, he says.

In his time with the service he changed that system, turned around the profitability of the bar and improved it, building a kauri bar and beer pumps made from old fire service equipment.

That past, combined with Kevin already having a collection of fire paraphernalia that had grown over the years, gave rise to the name the Fireman’s Arms.

Once the pub opened the collection grew. Not only did the McIntoshs add to the hoard, locals with links to the fire service brought in their own pieces for display. The result was a museum-like collection that took over all the walls of the pub.

Even the brass lettering from the old

Petone fire station was “somewhere out back” , a l t h o u g h missing one l e t te r they never ended up on display, Kevin says. They, along w i t h t h e many other on-loan items w i l l m a k e t h e i r w a y back to their owners.

K e v i n s a y s t h e Mc In t o s h s will part with most of the rest of their collection, some of which has already been sold to patrons and some which will probably make its way onto Trade Me.

But it’s not the collection the couple will miss the most, “it’s the people”, Kevin says.

The pub has been a regular meeting place for locals and a place where patrons have got to know each other and staff. There were 150 members in the “Pint Club”, a club for Saturday regulars who had their own pint glasses with their nicknames engraved.

“We cater for everybody… kid and dog friendly,” Barbara says. “We’ve had 15 plus couples who’ve married that we’ve watched get together over the years, a lot of them staff,” Barbara says.

“We’ve had about 350 staff come and go. A lot go and come back. We’ve had some now for six to eight years,” she says.

Many locals have also marked special

occasions at the pub including numerous weddings and birthday parties held in “the cottage”.

For the McIntosh’s the social links extend beyond the pub. Kevin initiated the Petone Liquor Accord, a group of local publicans who get together to discuss issues such as client behaviour, new liquor laws and other common issues.

They also have a few drinks, a laugh and trips out to other pubs where they get to be the customers.

The trust between publicans has grown so much that now if they run out of DB or staff, they will ring each other and share, Kevin says. The accord has also worked so well it has now been extended into Lower Hutt.

What will happen to the Fireman’s Arms now nobody knows, Kevin says. Marketed as a development opportunity the building and 1,808sqm site is up for auction on Thursday.


SCHOOL NEWS

Petone Community House groups:CLUBS and ACTIVITIESAlice Book Club 1st Tue month, 7.30pm 568 7798Acrylic Art Thurs, 7pm 568 7798Bird Society Mon monthly, 7.30pm 568 7798Bluegrass Society occasional weekend 022 583 4727Board Games 1st 3rd Thurs, 10.30am 568 7798Car Constructors 3rd Tue, 7.30pm 527 0335Chess Nuts Mon, 7.30pm 938 3548Trade Drivers licence As reqd by appointment 027 616 9364French Conversation Weds, 6.30, 7.30pm [email protected]

Knit, sew, craft 1st 3rd Thurs, 10am 568 7798Historic Society As required- see Roy 568 6449HV Writers 4th Sat month, 11am 021 0245 9954Pilates Mon & Wed, 6.15pm 021 882 871Sewing Mon term,6.30pm [email protected] Sewing workshop Sat monthly, 10am-4pm [email protected]

SPCA adoption Sat monthly, 12 – 3pm 568 7798Tai Chi Mon, Thur, 1.15pm 568 7798Te Reo beginners Mon & Thur, 9 – 12 027 651 5114Te Reo Adv Beginners Tue & Wed, 9.15 – 2.15pm 027 651 5114Toastmasters Tue, 6.15pm 027 276 2512Toastmasters Sun fortnight,1.30pm 027 276 2512Transform Coaching Mon, 7.30pm 568 7798Walking Group 1st 3rd Thurs, 9.45am 568 7798Piano (Practice & play anytime when the room is free)

CHILDRENBaby Wearing 3rd Wed month,10am 568 7798Musik, German Weds, 10.45, 11.15am www.musikgarten.co.nz

Kids On Foot Mon – Fri after school 027 3100 161Music & Movement Fri classes, 9am – 6pm www.musikgarten.co.nz

SELF HELPAA Tue, 7.30pm 0800 AA WORKSAA Thur, 5.30pm 0800 AA WORKSMens Tues, 6.00pm 027 222 1093SLAA Thur, 6pm 568 7798

SERVICESBudget Advice Mon – Fri by appointment 568 8877Citizens Advice Mon – Fri, 9.30am – 4pm 568 8877Justice of Peace Mon – Fri by appointment 568 8877

SERVICES (continued)Legal clinic Mon – Fri by appointment 568 8877Food Bank Mon, 9.30am 568 7798

CHURCH, SPIRITUALCCJS Sunday, 10am [email protected]

COG BibleStudy Sunday, 9am 021 210 6665New Apostolic Weds, 7.30pm 568 7798Quakers 4th Sunday, 11am 568 7798

Petone Central School

COMMUNITY LISTINGS

Petone Petone

DO YOU KNOW A GROUP THAT NEEDS A SPACE TO MEET?

Petone Community House, 6 Britannia St.

Phone 568 7798

For more information: [email protected]

THE TERM THAT WAS More Science Learning

After the success and the enjoyment the children got out of more science learning in 2013, the staff decided to provide more opportunities in this learning area. The children were given the opportunity to learn different aspects of ‘The Living World’. Students visited Zealandia and the Marine Education Centre as part of the study. The main curriculum event for the school and the community was the school Science Expo held in the school hall on Thursday 10 April.

Sports ParticipationThere was a deliberate attempt to

increase student participation in sports and the school participated in every possible interschool sports event in Term 1. There was noticeable enthusiasm from students with the opportunity to compete against their peers in different sports. The increased interest in playing cricket was pleasing. The children did well in rippa rugby, swimming and athletics.

School Leadership ProgrammeThe Year 7 and 8 students spent a week

at Tongariro National Park as part of the leadership programme for intermediate-age students. Walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was a big part of this programme. This was a stiff challenge owing to the diffi cult terrain and students having little experience of hiking at high altitude. There was a sense of achievement for the whole group as every single student walked the whole crossing which was made possible with the support and encouragement from peers and adult help on the camp. It took them just under twelve hours!

The day at the Park Headquarters included a visit to the Tongariro National Park Centre and a hike to Taranaki Falls. The day in Turangi involved a visit to the Trout Hatchery, abseiling at the Vertical Assault, and a swim at the Tokaanu Thermal Pools.

This camp was sponsored by many local businesses including Label and Litho Limited, Booker Spalding, Petone Rotary, Warehou Trust, Flower Ecetera, Caffi end and Palace Café. The camp staff that made it possible for every student to enjoy the experience were; Raewyn Walker, Meegan Hall, Aurore Charras, Mornain King, Shannon Dryden, Riki Ellison, Rangi Tukukino, Chritoph Huelsmann and Gary Paul.

Up Close with the Cambridge’s Petone Central was one of the five

schools from Wellington to be invited to the powhiri for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Fifteen students were selected to go and most of them were those selected as school leaders for 2014. Despite the wet and cold weather, it was an experience that all the students who went will not forget in a hurry.

Farewell to a Long Serving Caretaker

The term ended in a big farewell for the long serving school caretaker Mr. Peter McKenzie. The farewell involved the whole community including the Lomax brothers who came to present Mr. McKenzie with a Warriors jersey. Mr. McKenzie is a big league fan and

is especially fond of the Warriors. It was a fi tting farewell for Mr. McKenzie who served the school for twenty-fi ve years and deserves his retirement according to the principal Mr. Iosua Esera. Mr. McKenzie was seventy-six years young.

“It was a very exciting term of learning for all students,” said Mr. Esera. “The increased focus on sports participation and Science learning was an addition to the predominant attention on the National Standards and Whanaketanga targets for the year.” When asked of their progress toward achieving the targets in numeracy and literacy in English and reo Maori, he commented that they are tracking well and achieving the targets for Writing in both English and reo Maori is currently a specifi c focus. “Staff are getting a lot of professional development in this area, and we will need the full support of our parents and whanau to achieve the target we have set for writing,” he commented.

Petone Central School delivers learning in both reo Maori and English, as well as teaching both as subjects.


Remembering Petone before the Great Warby Warwick Johnston

With everyone’s attention at the moment firmly placed on the years 1914-1918 it is appropriate to take a brief look at what Petone was like prior to the “great conflict”.

The years 1900 to 1914 can be characterised as the years of urban consolidation.

The time when the township, having dealt with the basic infrastructures of town life such as water, sewerage and roading, could move onto putting in place the more sedate trimmings of urban existence.

With the advent of the railway in the 1870s Petone became the magnet for all sorts of industrial enterprises because of its cheap flat land, its relatively easy access to Wellington, and its abundant supply of fresh water.

Subsequently the population rose quickly from just under a thousand in 1870 to over six thousand by 1890.

By this time the major industries of Gear Meat Company, Railway Workshops and the Petone Woollen Mills were all well established and so steps could be taken to not only increase the housing stock but control and regularise it. By 1905 Central Government had also become involved with the development of Patrick Street as one of the first State Housing Schemes.

The years 1900 to 1914 are marked by the rapid construction and development of crucial community facilities such as a Court House, Municipal Chambers, Upgraded Railway Station, New Wharf, New Recreation Ground and the extension of the rail system along the Esplanade.

Petone in 1900.

Petone in 1910.

D u r i n g t h i s t i m e , as outl ined b y S u s a n Butterworth in her book P e t o n e . A History, the B o r o u g h managed to sustain three Brass Bands, s i x D a n c e bands, two O r c h e s t r a l S o c i e t i e s , an Operatic S o c i e t y, a Va u d e v i l l e C o m p a n y, a C o m e d y C l u b , a L i te rar y & D e b a t i n g S o c i e t y , three Picture T h e a t r e s , and a large number o f s p o r t i n g c l u b s a n d associations.

B y t h e a d v e n t o f World War One Petone’s popu la t ion was just under 9,000.In contrast Lower Hutt was still an area of farms and farming, as one commentator saw it: “In 1900 Lower Hutt was a rustic village.” However its character had also changed by 1914.

Although it had to rely on Petone for its gas and its fire brigade within the decade it had managed to tame the river, improve the road and rail connections with Wellington and have some

of its streets sealed. Lower Hutt’s population hovered around the

two thousand mark, coming into the new century but leapt to over four thousand by 1911.

Change was in the wind especially with the break up of the larger rural estates around Epuni, Waiwhetu and Normandale.

An oil painting by the late John Rundle is a highlight of the upcoming ‘Around the Bays’ exhibition at Alfred Memelink’ Artspace gallery.

The painting depicts the view from right outside the gallery. Before Alfred opened Artspace, John was the second person that Alfred invited to exhibit in the new gallery and says it was “with deep regret that John was unable to witness the gallery opening”.

‘Around the Bays’ will feature impressions of how local artists are inspired by the ever changing moods of the harbour with scenes from Pencarrow right through to Island Bay. “Wellington is magical inspirational place with a wonderful harbour surrounded with hillside suburbs with a million magnificent views of the sea and sky,” Alfred says. A harbour scene created out of textile collage titled ‘Towards Breaker Bay’ by Upper Hutt artist Sue Taylor is another entry. Other artists in the exhibition include Jacky Pearson, John Crump, Heinz Speyer, Sue Taylor, Sue Wild, Sue Lund, Robin Kay and Phil Quinn.

- Around the Bays, Saturday May 17 - Sunday June 29 at Alfred Memelink.

Seaside sparks exhibition


By Phillipa Webb

He left his Petone home aged 20, and died two years later in the mud of the Somme.

Now Petone soldier George Shackleton Hooper will be commemorated as part of a major new exhibition at the Petone Settlers Museum marking the centenary of the Great War.

Petone Settlers Museum senior curator and project manager Emma Bugden says they are looking for memorabilia such as letters, diaries, medals and memories from World War I for an exhibition that will be launched in 2015 called “This is Our War”.

Mr Hooper’s story is to feature. The museum holds a few items that belonged to Mr Hooper, including medals, certificates, notification of his death and a memorial scroll but they want to know more, Ms Bugden says.

Mr Hooper was born in 1893 to parents George Leonard Hooper and Margaret Whitwell, and lived at 3 Buick Street, Petone.

At the age of 20 on August 15 1914, he sailed from Wellington Harbour and served in the Great War.

Mr Hooper began his service in the Samoan Advance Party as a Sapper and was then deployed to the Suez Canal and then later deployed to France, Ms Bugden says.

“Just two years after he left for the war he died at the age of 22 on September 1916 at the Somme as a rifleman.

“We have a postcard he sent home to his sister Florence on July 13 1916, just two months before he died.”

Mr Hooper is commemorated at Caterpillar Valley in France at the New Zealand memorial for the 1200 New Zealand Division men who died in the Battle of the Somme and whose graves are

unknown.By the time he died, Mr

Hooper’s parents had relocated to either Adelaide Road or Riddiford Street in Newtown, Wellington, Ms Bugden says.

One lead the museum has on Mr Hooper and his family is a portrait of the Hooper family and the memorial scroll from a Petone woman Mrs Jones, she says.

“It would be great to find out more about his life, his family, and who deposited all the items to the museum.

“We’d love to be able to tell George’s story, just one of the many young Petone men who went to war, many of whom - just like George - didn’t come back.”

Ms Bugden says the museum exhibition and programme will receive $43,104 from the Government to tell the story of what the war meant for New Zealanders, both to soldiers like Mr Hooper and those who stayed at home.

“As most people with direct memories of World War I have passed away, it is important to have these stories told and shared by living relatives.

“It is really special to hear these stories from people in the community, and celebrate something that is usually quite private.”

The exact number of Petone soldiers like Mr Hooper who served in World War I is unknown but under investigation, she says.

“It is a work in progress because we have a

lot of conflicting information, such as records of soldiers who were not actually from Petone.”

The project is only in the initial research phase, but Ms Bugden says she hopes it will include a rolling bay World War I exhibition at the museum on the Petone Esplanade.

Internal affairs minister Peter Dunne recently announced that the government has approved funding of over $9.1 million towards 80 projects such as this to commemorate World War I.

If you would like to share your Petone stories about World War I, email the Petone Settlers museum: [email protected] or call 568 8373.

Settlers Museum on the lookout for WWI stories

Petone Settlers Museum senior curator Emma Bugden holds a photograph of World War I soldier George Shackleton Hooper.


Next PCB MeetingMonday 12 May 2014 - 6.30pm Te Kakano Marae, 136 Randwick Rd, Moera.Final agenda and papers will go on PCB

website and Council meetings - Home - Hutt City Council

May Petone Community Board

Petone Arena & Draft Annual Plan Process The biggest issue in the draft annual plan for local residents is the Petone Arena proposal on the Petone Recreation Ground - what is your view? This will have far reaching consequences for the area - how do feel about this? If you are for or against let the City Council know your opinion.The Community Board encourages everyone to make a submission. Copies of the draft plan available from the Council offi ces, at libraries or online. Have your say

Members of the public are welcome to attend Board meetings and speak to any item on the agenda.Our next meeting will be 12 May 2014 6.30pm at the Te Kakano Marae 136 Randwick Rd Moera. Please feel free to contact Board members at any stage if there are issues or concerns you would like to discuss.

Board members are:

Chairperson Mike Fisher mike.fi [email protected]

Deputy Chairperson Peter Foaese [email protected]

Mason Branch [email protected]

Gerald Davidson [email protected]

Mike Henderson [email protected]

Matt Roberts [email protected]

Cr. Tui Lewis [email protected]

Cr. Michael Lulich [email protected]

PETONE COMMUNITY BOARD

Profi les of board members and contact info is available on the Hutt City Council website.

Community house in use as a drama studioBy Phillipa Webb

It will be lights, camera, and action when a passionate Maungaraki director brings his culture centre stage in a traditional Sri Lankan performance this Friday.

Wellington Sri Lankan Drama Circle director Asoka Wadduwage said the group used the Petone Community House over the Easter break to rehearse for their performance of Walalu”meaning “Bangles,” which would be held at Little Theatre in Lower Hutt on Friday May 9.

Mr Wadduwage said the group of 15 members all had a hankering for performing arts.

The 78 year-old, with a background in multimedia and design, moved to New Zealand 11 years ago from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

“People these days are so busy with jobs and work, this is an opportunity for people to relax and enjoy another culture,” he said.

The Walalu performance was an adaptation of “Seriwanija Jatakaya” meaning “Seri Trader”, one of 550 stories in the Jakata tales that tells the previous lives of Bodhisattva, who strived to attain enlightenment, he said.

The performance would incorporate song, dance and drama to tell the tale of Walalu, which would see two trinket traders - one being Bodhisattva - meet a poor grandmother and daughter, who wanted to buy ornaments in exchange for an old bowl.

The dishonest trader Seri realised the

bowl was made from gold, but thinking he would trick the grandmother into giving it to him for free, he threw the bowl away.

Then Bodhisattva - in the body of a trader called Kachchaputa - realised the value of the bowl and gave all his ornaments in exchange.

“It shows the code of ethics Bodhisattva lives by, and the difference between honesty and dishonesty,” he said.

There were not usually any difficulties directing the performers and it was good to learn to respect each other’s opinions, he said.

The Petone Community House had spacious facilities and people at the house were always encouraging, he said.

Departing Petone Community House office manager and activities coordinator Beverley Barclay said many drama, dance and performing arts groups had rented rooms in the house for rehearsals in the past few months.

Actor and director Geraldine Brophy and the cast and crew of the play “Grumpy Old Women - 50 Shades of Beige” had recently used the house for rehearsals, she said.

Other groups regularly filled the Petone Community House with music and sound, like

Toastmasters, Te Reo classes, and “Musikgarden” music and movement classes for children, she said.

The Walalu Bangles Drama will be

performed on Friday May 9 at Little Theatre in Lower Hutt at 7pm. Entry is free.

Grumpy Old Women – Fifty Shades of Beige will perform at Expressions in Upper Hutt on May 16, and The Wellington Opera House on May 17. For ticket details go to www.ticketdirect.co.nz and www.eventfinder.co.nz.

For information on other groups using the Petone Community House, call 568 7798.

Wellington Sri Lankan Drama Circle performers Kelum Kotalawala (left) and Hema Gunawardane (right) rehearsing a scene of the Walalu drama at the Petone Community House.


for Petone news and events online

visit www.petonechronicle.co.nzjoin and post on your community noticeboard atwww.facebook.com/groups/PetoneNoticeboard

SPORTby Steve McMorran

White Sox softballer Lara Andrews, whose roots in Petone run deep, has become the first New Zealander to command a place in the United States women's professional fast pitch league.

Andrews, who was educated at Wilford Primary School and Sacred Heart College, had a stellar career in university softball in the United States before joining the Pennsylvania Rebellion, who have are part of the expansion of the National Pro Fast Pitch League in 2014.

The United States has been a mecca for New Zealand softballers for decades and many have been welcomed in various professional leagues but Andrews is the first to play in the NPF.

The National Pro Fastpitch league began life as the Women›s Professional Softball League in 1997 and built a substantial following before being rebranded as the NPF in 2002.

Andrews comes into that rich environment this year as a high-profile signing for the Rebellion who have already built a strong following in the Philadelphia and Washington areas.

She first played in junior college in the United States in 2010 when, as a third baseman, she led the Itawamba Community College in Missouri to the North Division Championships.

Andrews moved to the University of Delaware and, in her sophomore season, was named Alumni Association Team MVP after starting all 55 games as the team’s third hitter in the lineup. She led the Dellaware with 27 walks and ranked second with a .298 batting average.

The next year she started all 57 games, batted .231 and led the team with 21 runs batted in.

That set the scene for the 2013 season when, as team captain, she had a .313 batting average with 28 RBIs and four home runs while ranking second on the squad with 57 hits, 29 runs scored and 11 doubles. That earned Andrews a place on the Colonial Athletics Association All-Tournament team.

Her figures pricked the interest of the

Rebellion who quickly added her to their roster for the 2014 season.

"It’s a giant step for someone coming from such a small place like New Zealand,” Andrews told the Rebellion website. “To sign with a

Petone softballer makes it in the USA

Lara Andrews.

professional team I’m making history.“It’s an awesome feeling to be playing softball

in this league with the best players in the world.”The Rebellion play their first match in the

NPF on June 5.


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More rowers selected for national teamsby Steve McMorran

The selection of several rowers for New Zealand and other representative teams has continued a season of outstanding accomplishment for the Petone Rowing Club, throwing weight behind its nomination as the New Zealand rowing Club of the Year.

After success at the national championships and other major regattas throughout the season, Petone has catapulted several of its younger rowers into national prominence.

Close friends and crewmates Ella Pudney and Beth Ross, who are also schoolmates at Chilton St James, have been named in the New Zealand team which will compete at the junior World Championships in Germany in August.

Both will row in the New Zealand women's coxless four, continuing a remarkable rise a little more than a year after both took up rowing with encouragement from Petone' long-serving president Russell Baxter.

James McAnallen has been named to compete in the heavyweight single sculls as part of the New Zealand under-21 team which will compete against Australia in two trans-Tasman test matches this season. McAnallen has established himself among New Zealand's best young male rowers this year, just as Erin-Monique O›Brien has been recognised as one of New Zealand's best oarswomen with her selection in the elite New Zealand team.

O’Brien is a member of the New Zealand women’s quadruple scull.

Ruby Willis has been chosen for the under-18 North Island team and Phillip Wilson, a recent arrival at Petone, has also stepped into the national selection spotlight.

O’Brien was one of a number of Petone club members recognised in a special way at a recent boat-naming ceremony at the clubrooms on the Petone Esplanade. She is Petone’s most-successful female rower and, to honour her contribution to the club, one of its boats - an eight - was named Erin-Monique.

Ella Pudney and Beth Ross.

Another e ight was named Lyndell after the wife of Dave Pullar, who has been involved with the Petone club since 2003 and whose daughters Alysha and Lauren have both rowed for the club.

Other boats were named in honour of Anne-Marie Rofe, wife of Colin Rofe who has been a co-opted member of the Petone Rowing Club committee for the past ten years and Linda, wife of David Hanley who has been a committee member, coach and competitor for more than a decade.

The contribution of the Bognuda family, whose involvement goes back more than 30 years, was recognised with the naming of a boat after Maurice Bognuda’s wife Judith. Maurice was club president from 1980 to 1984.

The club’s Honours Board was updated at the same ceremony to include the names of some of its most faithful servants: Mike Benge, David Hanley, Hunter Trethaway, Stephen Portners, Craig Waite, Caroline Hodge, Kirsty Ferguson, Camilla Andersen, Erin-Monique O’Brien and Axel Dickinson.

At the club prizegiving special awards for coaching were made to Andrew Bird, Martin Davies, Paddy O'Reilly, Peter Rowbotham and David Hanley and the Committee Special Recognition Award for commitment went to Martin Davies.

The Club Captain Award was presented to Graham Pudney, the Dufus Award (Equipment Breaker of the Year) to David Hanley, the McDougall Cup (Best Behaved Coxswain) to

Zoe Dickins, the Child’s Memorial Cup (Most Improved Novice) to Alec Bach, the President’s Trophy (Most Promising Schoolboy or girl) to Ashley Curtis and the Sam Platt Cup (Most Useful Club Member) to Andrew Bird.

The Ladies Shield (Rower with the Best Club Spirit) went to Caroline Robertson, the Swiggs Cup (Best Club Rower) to Erin Monique O’Brien, the Allan Jones Trophy (Most Successful Coxswain) to Lucy Bird, the Riordan Cup (Most Successful Novice) to Alice Templeton, the Jenness Cup (Most Successful Sculler) to Jamie Saunders, the Dennis Sellers Cup (Best Coxless Pair) to Paddy O’Reilly and Jamie Saunders and the Te Puni Shield (Highest Points Aggregate) to Paddy O’Reilly.

O’Reilly was also the first recipient of the Russell Baxter Memorial Cup, which honours the former president who passed away tragically last year. The award is made to the person deemed to have made the greatest contribution to the advancement of Petone Rowing Club.


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SPORTPetone rugby competing on all fronts

by Steve McMorran

The Petone premier rugby team has safely locked away one trophy this season but its sights remain on a greater prize which it will pursue through the stiflingly close final rounds of the Swindale Shield competition over the next four weeks.

The McBain Shield, for which Petone competes annually with its closest neighbour Hutt Old Boys-Marist, fell into its hands last month when it won an intense and thrilling contest by a single point. That success provided the first tangible measurement of the growth of the Petone premier squad this season.

Petone is currently seventh on the Wellington premier table and can only afford a little erosion of that standing if it is to command a place among the top eight teams at the end of the season's first round, to play for Wellington rugby's greatest prize, the Jubilee Cup.

Head coach Peter Green expects Petone will have to win two of its last four games to remain among the top eight and to play, as the Petone

club has so many times in the past, for the Cup.The challenge of the next four weeks and of

the second half of the season, whatever it brings, will be a stiff one for an exceptionally young Petone team, many members of which are finding their way in their first season at premier level.

Green says the Wellington premier competition is at least the second-strongest in New Zealand and almost the equal of Auckland’s, containing a large number of players with international or top representative experience.

The competition has seldom been closer than it is this year with most matches decided by a handful of points and with at least ten of the 12 teams still strongly in contention for a top six placing. Petone is still only four points or a single win out of third place.

“It’s very nerve-wracking to be a coach,” Green said. “This competition is right up there as one of the toughest in New Zealand. There’s no such thing as an easy game and you have to be right on form every week or you’ll pay.

“Our latest match against Marist-St Pats was a case in point. Their first five-eight Fa'atonu Fili

carved us up a bit in the first half. We knew he'd be a danger and we prepared for that but he was still able to set up three of their tries.

“We were looking down the barrel a bit at 26-10 down but, at the same time, our guys thought if they can do that why can’t we and we came right back at them. We scored a try before halftime and then scored three more into the wind in the second half. In the end it came down to a few points.

“But most games this season seem to be like that. There’s never very much in them. It might be a single mistake that makes the difference between winning and losing.”

Green said that is a hard school for young players to grow up in but he is amazed and inspired by the way his players are absorbing lessons from each match and putting those lessons into practice.

“We’ve been struggling with injuries in recent weeks and that can be costly,” he said. “The way the competition is, if you can’t put your top team on the field week in and week out it can be very difficult.

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SPORT SPORTSuccess not run of the mill for young fencer

by Steve McMorranWhen Isaac Rusholme-Cobb decided at the

age of eight to take a stab at a different sport he literally took a stab at it.

Rusholme-Cobb, 14, took up the sport of fencing - an ancient and venerable martial art but an arcane pastime to many New Zealanders - and he has pursued it right up to national and international level.

The pun about taking a stab at fencing is a tired one, perhaps as old as the sport itself, but in the case of Rusholme-Cobb it describes to some extent his motivation in pursuing a sport which is at some distance from the mainstream.

“Personally, my involvement with fencing began when my mother one day took me to a training session,” he said. “I enjoyed it, I came back and I’ve kept coming back ever since.

“I suppose the appeal as an eight-year old was in being able to use a sword and to stab somebody but in a way which does no harm.”

Rusholme-Cobb trains three times a week at the Campbell Terrace-based club on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at the Hutt Valley Fencing Club under coach Robert Gastaldo-Brac and in the company of several schoolmates who form a small clique of fencing enthusiasts at Hutt International Boys' School.

At present, he competes in both epee and foil - two of the three disciplines which comprise the sport of fencing. At the recent national championships, Rusholme-Cobb won the New Zealand boy's under-15 epee title and was third in the men's under-17 foil. As the Chronicle went to press, he was also named NZ's top-ranked U15

fencer in foil and epeeHe now awaits the selection

of the New Zealand team which will compete at the Australian national age-group championships in July and has a reasonable expectation of selection, as a current national champion and having represented New Zealand at the championships last year.

He finished just outside the top ten in the foil at last year’s championships and in the top 18 in the epee, the discipline he has more recently adopted.

Some coaches discourage their charges from competing at both epee and foil because of the slight but significant differences in the technical aspects of each discipline. But Rusholme-Cobb feels confident and comfortable at present of being able to compete in both.

“It is possible,” he said. “Some coaches believe it’s best to choose one and concentrate on that.

“I feel I’m not at the point yet where I have to choose between the two. I feel able to do both.

“Foil is a lot more restricted in terms of pointscoring than epee because you can only score with a hit to the main body. With epee you can hit anything and if both fencers score a hit and both lights go on simultaneously, both take a point which is not the case in foil."

The under-15 age group is the earliest at

which fencers compete nationally and they then move on through the under-17 and under-20 grades to senior, open competition.

Rusholme-Cobb can continue to compete in the under-15 age group for the remainder of this year but has already made his mark nationally at under-17 level. He expects to continue in fencing for some time to come.

“I should hopefully continue on through high school and in the university stages," he said.

"I'm not sure about what may happen after that. I will probably still compete but possibly not at international level."

The Hutt Valley Fencing Club has regular, free 'have a go' sessions. For more information contact [email protected]

Isaac Rusholme-Cobb in action, right.

petone chronicle may 2014

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