Money in a savings bank earns 1.5 per cent per annum.
Money invested in a house earns 9.1 per cent so where does one put one’s money?
It doesn’t take rocket science which one to invest in, that is if you can afford it.
Government statistics show 51 per cent of New Zealanders are low wage earners beholding to the rich above them and so the rich, in leaps and bounds, get richer. Likewise the poor keep getting poorer, all the while the Government – feathering [its] own nest or, in some cases, several nests courtesy of the tax-funded gravy train – make noises about our wellbeing.
Just 0.17 per cent. 0.17 per cent. 0.17 per cent is the contribution that New Zealand makes to the world’s total CO2 emissions.
It is ridiculous to think this small amount has any sway when compared to China’s 30 per cent, USA’s 11 per cent or India’s 7 per cent.
Yet here we have the Labour/Greens pushing to collapse our fragile economy with a shutdown of oil and coal as part of their support for an ideology fraught with division and naivety.
Congratulations to councillor Sharon Stewart for voting against the Mayor’s proposed 5.9 per cent rate hike to fund climate control.
I strongly disagree that is a responsibly for councils to be adding to rate demands, considering inflation and the increased cost of living we are currently experiencing.
With regards to Councillor (Paul) Young, he voted for the increase clearly believing it is affordable for his constituents. Well Mr Young, you have read this wrong. The latest poll has 53 per cent of voters opposed to the increase.
Auckland is so spread out that the cost of getting a useful public transport system will be prohibitive.
To get out of Auckland to most places in New Zealand on public transport will be difficult if not impossible especially over holidays. Cars are useful for carrying stuff, holidaying, recreation, emergencies and staying sheltered. Why should city dwellers forgo their cars and town and rural dwellers have all the fun.
New Zealand’s population is low, let’s keep it that way and keep our relatively high standard of living and keep our electric vehicles [EVs]. Why pander to the politicians and wealthy who want to “grow the economy” by importing immigrants and artificially raising GDP as the Key government did. By keeping our population steady, healthy and stable we will advertise to the rest of the world what can be done. We are lucky to have this opportunity, let’s not throw it away.
The pandemic has shown we can do this as our population growth in Auckland has almost levelled off despite Kiwis coming home. Possible future viral and bacterial pandemics due to resistance to anti-bacterial drugs along with hot climate deaths may sadly help reduce our population. Once we overcome the immigrant-induced housing shortage and convert to EVs, there will be no need for denser housing along with its considerable GHG [greenhouse gases] emissions.
The building industry is responsible for 20 per cent of our GHG emissions. Why introduce more?
Sure, there will measures to discourage the overuse of petrol cars but all that stuff will only be a temporary measure once we have converted to EVs and everyone understands a model that people will want.
This makes the steady population model more politically attainable and acceptable. No problem with overseas seasonal workers or students providing they don’t stay. We have to educate the family planning deniers as we simply can no longer have large families. Some would say its cruel but so is nature with over-population, global warming, starvation and wars. We also need to give most living organisms the chance of a good life, providing Putin does not nuke us all.
Automation of industry is the other world problem existing and worsening because of over-population. There will be fewer jobs available with an increasing number of people on the dole and the political right will not like that.
Because of constant lockdowns, I became a voluntary journalist and notice all too often people slip through each day without being mentioned in a complimentary way – men in particular.
What better way to start than with our own Blue Bubble Taxi drivers in their immaculate one-of-a-kind uniform.
One in particular is not just a driver but a bodyguard as well.
Rising daily at 4am to any and all places, he excels at what he does and drives in an excellent manner at taking one shopping after he’s opened doors for you. He uses his umbrella when necessary – follows you close by in a caring manner – never embarrasses, is most respectful to all and one doesn’t have to wonder where he is at all times as he’s always near, ready to help without being asked.
He is well-informed and his diction is excellent.
During long distances he’s responsive to interesting language and is easy with humour and laughter.
He is a gentleman with motorway traffic, not a risk-taker. He is extremely well-mannered and focused. He is also chef and recently had his own restaurant.
A person died after the boat they were in capsized in water at Bucklands Beach on June 18. Times file photo Wayne Martin
A coroner will determine the circumstances that led to a fatal boating accident in east Auckland.
The incident unfolded when police said they were alerted at about 8pm on Saturday, June 18 to reports a boat had capsized at Bucklands Beach.
Two people made it safely to shore but one person remained unaccounted for, police said.
The boat involved in the incident was then located and recovered at the northern end of Musick Point.
Police boat Deodar continued searching for the missing person the following day, June 19.
Shortly before 6pm on June 19 police said they had located a body on the shoreline in the Bucklands Beach area.
“While the formal identification process is yet to be completed, it is believed to be the person missing following an incident in the sea off Bucklands Beach on June 18,” police said.
“Police and Victim Support are providing support to the families of those involved in this incident at this difficult time.
“Police will conduct enquiries on behalf of the coroner, who will release their finding in due course.”
Shane van Gisbergen won last year’s Battle of Jack’s Ridge rally sprint race last year and now he’s set to compete in this year’s Repco Rally New Zealand. Photo Geoff Ridder Photography
Kiwi motorsport ace Shane van Gisbergen has announced he’s set to compete in the 2022 Repco Rally New Zealand later this year.
The 33-year-old former pupil of Saint Kentigern College in Pakuranga is well known to motor racing fans in this country and overseas as a two-time V8 Supercars champion, the 2020 Bathurst winner, and a competitor at the world famous Le Mans 24 hour race in France.
He’s also the current leader in the ongoing V8 Supercars Championship series based in Australia.
Van Gisbergen is now eyeing success in Rally NZ set to be held in and around Auckland from September 29 to October 2.
The motorsport star showcased his high-speed talents locally when he won the sold-out inaugural Battle of Jack’s Ridge rally sprint race, held last year in Whitford.
He says he’s amped to compete in the New Zealand stage of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Rally NZ organisers say it will feature the best rally drivers on the globe including Kiwi Hayden Paddon, who’s set to compete alongside van Gisbergen in the WRC2 category.
The event’s final day will be held at the Jack’s Ridge venue in Whitford.
Van Gisbergen says it was childhood memories of Rally NZ that led to his involvement in the series.
“I’ve been around it a long time and going to all the rallies when I was young and watching Rally NZ.
“It’s always been a dream to do it but I’ve never really had the chance.
“My favourite memories were as a young kid.
“Before the Manukau Super Stage was built they had it up the road at Totara Park which was not far from where I grew up.
“It was in the early 1990s and it was at night.
“I remember being on dad’s shoulders watching the cars go through there.
“For me it’s cool that I will be on the other side of the fence.”
A series of videos centred on Howick Historian Alan La Roche were filmed in the first half of 2021, with one interview or subject covered each month.
The Howick & Districts Historical Society has sponsored a series of videos by Howick Historian Alan La Roche in recognition of his expertise and dedication to heritage and historical matters in and around east Auckland with a focus on Howick.
Society president Marin Burgess said La Roche’s development of the Howick Historical Village in Lloyd Elsmore Park, which opened 1980, cemented the story of the arrival of the Fencible families to Owairoa/Howick 175 years ago and provides a huge legacy for the local and wider Auckland population.
“The Howick community does not fully understand the debt it owes Alan for the many years – far in excess of 50 – he has spent researching, recording, painting, sketching, talking, writing, walking, placing historical plaques and generally making sure Howick’s heritage, both Māori and European, is acknowledged and remembered,” Burgess said.
“It is a fortunate community that has such an active and engaged historian in its midst and Alan relating his history in the series of videos commissioned by the society is a fitting tribute to such an unparalleled contribution.”
Recorded locally, the videos offer a unique and personal perspective of La Roche’s life and how his interest in history, archaeology, geology and, most of all, people translated into a life-long commitment.
PJ (Phil) Taylor, who interviewed La Roche through the video series, said Coralie La Roche, Alan’s wife, project-managed the production. “She worked very hard with Alan and for many hours prepared the research material and scripts,” said Taylor.
“Alan has done something every day for this Howick community since he was able, which is going on 80 years.
“He is the epitome of what is great about community, with the philosophy of doing good and right for his fellow citizens and environment. He is the greatest volunteer this area has known.
“He has preserved and recorded Howick’s history and our community should be forever grateful, especially when strolling and learning at the Howick Historical Village, or when admiring trees in our many public reserves. Chances are, he probably planted them.”
Dion Edwards, of Digital Mix, a Howick business, filmed the interviews with two cameras, lighting and set up the recording desk and equipment for Ashleigh King to record. Ashleigh had just graduated from Botany Downs Secondary College.
“It was an absolute pleasure to work with Alan, Coralie, Phil, Ashleigh and Marin to deliver this project,” said Edwards.
The videos, “Alan La Roche – My History” can be viewed on the Howick Historical Village website www.historicalvillage.org under ‘About’
Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown opposes a plan to install a raised pedestrian crossing on Pakuranga Road. Times photo Wayne Martin
A pedestrian crossing Auckland Transport (AT) is proposing to build across one of the country’s busiest roads is set to cost almost $500,000 if it goes ahead.
Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown strongly opposes the plan to install a raised pedestrian crossing with traffic lights on Pakuranga Road immediately west of Grammar School Road and Johns Lane.
As the Times has previously reported, the project includes the relocation of two bus stops, upgrades to kerb ramps and adding tactile pavers.
AT spokesperson Natalie Polley says it’s designed to make Pakuranga Road, which is New Zealand’s sixth busiest road, safer and easier to cross.
Brown has labelled the project “crazy” and says the raised crossing will cause significant disruption to traffic flows and frustrate motorists.
“There is no doubt the Johns Lane and Grammar School Road intersections are dangerous, and I am open to ideas about what could be done to reduce the potential for accidents here, but a raised crossing will result only in a significant and unnecessary slowdown of traffic.”
Brown filed a request with AT on May 18 for the proposed cost of the project.
A response he received from AT group manager network management, Melanie Alexander, on June 16 says the crossing was identified due to the crash record and the pedestrian demand generated by the nearby land use.
“The adjacent bus stops and a college in the area are the main generators for pedestrians to cross Pakuranga Road,” Alexander says.
“A recent pedestrian survey showed 37 pedestrians crossed Pakuranga Road between 7am and 9am and 68 between 2.30pm and 4pm, [of] which the majority were school children and bus commuters.
“The combined patronage of the two nearby bus stops is approximately 200 per day.
“The estimated cost to design and construct the proposed crossing is $450,000, which also includes a new pedestrian refuge on Grammar School Road, the relocation of the existing bus stop and shelter, and improvements to the existing pram crossings on Grammar School Road and Johns Lane.”
Alexander says in the five-year period from 2016-2020 there has been two serious and five minor injuries at that location and a further seven recorded non-injury crashes.
The average social cost on urban roads in 2020 was $844,000 per serious injury and $80,000 per minor injury, she says.
“The location of the proposed crossing therefore has a social cost of $2,088,000.”
In response, Brown says $450,000 is an “extraordinary” amount of money to spend on a “speed bump on Pakuranga Road”.
“Not only is this a waste of money but it will slow everyone down trying to get in and out of east Auckland on one of the busiest roads in New Zealand.
“It will not solve any safety issues at that intersection as there is a safe crossing only 300 metres away.
“AT should drop this proposal before going ahead with wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars of ratepayers’ funds on a project which will do nothing to make our roads safe.”
Raining Rabbits Rescue is struggling, as more people dump their pet rabbits. Photo supplied
By Georgia Whitehead, AUT University Journalism Student
A rabbit rescue organisation is struggling to stay afloat as the number of pet rabbits being dumped by their owners in east Auckland surges.
Raining Rabbits Rescue NZ founder Jojo Nally says the not-for-profit group is facing the difficult task of turning away multiple rabbits each day due to a lack of funding to support its work.
She says the public’s generosity has been “outstanding” but is not enough to give all rabbits the veterinary care and homes they need.
The lack of laws protecting rabbits in New Zealand has created a dumping and negligence issue in the country, Nally says.
“In this week alone, I’ve had to take in a blind baby rabbit, two bunnies that had been shaved and had bite marks all over them, one that was being kept in a box and another that had a collar so tight it was nearly choking, and they were only the emergency cases,” says Nally.
“You tell me how I’m supposed to say no to those rabbits.”
With 71 rabbits in the rescue’s care and more expected despite reaching capacity, the rescue has found itself battling to stay on top of vet bills, the costs of food and enclosures for the rabbits.
“Since January this year Raining Rabbits has spent $18,684 on vet care and well over $20,000 in total,” Nally says.
The SPCA, New Zealand’s largest animal welfare group, says it’s concerned about the oversupply of companion animals.
“The excessive, uncontrolled breeding of companion animals is an important factor in creating widespread stray and unwanted animal problems which leads to negative welfare impacts”, says its scientific officer Dr Alison Vaughan.
The SPCA recognises that all animal shelters in New Zealand are struggling but says “animal shelters must work together towards our common goal to improve the welfare of animals”, she says.
People who are interested in supporting Raining Rabbits Rescue and its work can visit the rescue’s Facebook page online by going to www.facebook.com and searching for “Raining Rabbits Rescue NZ”.
The Howick Local Board plans to create a dog park beside the volleyball sandpit at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga. Times photo Wayne Martin
Opponents of a plan to construct a dog park in east Auckland say the site chosen is inappropriate and the process was rushed and not sufficiently transparent.
Late last year the Howick Local Board asked Auckland Council staff to investigate, design and deliver a dog exercise area within Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga.
A council presentation seeking feedback on the proposal was sent to members of the Lloyd Elsmore Park User Group in early March.
It sought direction on three preferred options, being close to the cricket nets, or in the identified events space or next to the volleyball sandpit in front of Pakuranga Croquet Club.
The presentation says the council’s community facilities team recommends the third option, next to the sandpit.
“The local board direction is to have a fenced-off dog park with double-gated pedestrian access as well as a double access vehicle gate for servicing,” it says.
An email from the dog park’s council project manager to the user group on March 17 said the local board gave direction to seek feedback on the option of placing the dog park next to the volleyball sandpit “as their preferred option”.
The project is now going ahead, but several organisations and clubs that use the park are opposed to the move, including Pakuranga Croquet Club president Neal Henderson and Lloyd Elsmore Park User Group secretary Alison Mudford.
“We don’t think that area is suitable mainly because it is used by the people who play volleyball there,” Henderson says.
“They play quite regularly and are family groups, or it might be a group of a dozen young men or 60 to 100 young people.
“They set up barbecues and gazebos and the kids play touch football [on the adjacent grass area].”
Mudford says she regularly sees large groups of people playing volleyball at the sandpit.
“When the council project manager raised the subject in February she said the council didn’t believe it was being used because no one had booked it officially since 2018 or 2019.
“So that seemed to be behind the thinking of why they thought this would be a good place [for the dog park].”
Henderson says he sent a submission on the proposed site of the dog park to the council but received no reply.
He and Mudford also say parking in the area can be congested and people driving there to use the dog park will make the problem worse.
“This area is completely overrun with cars, often at night and especially on the weekend,” Mudford says.
“One recent Saturday there were vehicles parked on the grass. They were absolutely everywhere.”
She says she asked the dog park’s project manager for time to canvas the park user group’s members for feedback on the proposal and then have a meeting with her to discuss it, but that request was not responded to.
She and Henderson are also disappointed they didn’t have a chance to present to the local board about the issue before it directed council officers to progress with the dog park at the preferred location.
Other sports clubs in Lloyd Elsmore Park feel the same way as she and Henderson in their opposition to the dog park, Mudford says.
“Once it goes in it will be too late” she says.
Council manager area operations, Marcel Morgan, says the council consulted with the park user group about the preferred location of the dog park upon direction from the local board.
Council staff presented on the subject at the group’s meeting in late February before consultation opened.
Morgan says the presentation detailed a number of options and the user group was invited to discuss them and given the chance to give feedback via email. Feedback was open for about a month, he says.
“While a follow-up meeting with the group could not be facilitated, a reminder was sent out to interested parties on March 17 requesting any final feedback for presentation to the local board on March 24.
“Though the majority of feedback received focused around car parking provision, we can confirm there were also observations from the user group about informal activation of the volleyball pit.”
Morgan says the last formal booking to use the volleyball pit was made in 2018.
The board acknowledged feedback received on the location and the “agreed footprint” for the new dog exercise area will allow for the use of the volleyball pit and surrounding area, he says.
“The car parking concerns were also considered by the local board and while it was acknowledged there are certain days and times where the car park can be busy, it was agreed there are also periods when the car park is not fully utilised, which would allow for use by other groups.
“It was also thought it is not uncommon for pet owners to walk their dogs to an off-leash dog exercise area as part of their wider daily exercise routine.”
Board chairperson Adele White says: “The Howick Local Board has received requests for a dog park in our area for some time.
“We look forward to this being constructed and seeing Lloyd Elsmore Park activated by the wider community.”
Macleans Primary School students participated in a jump course obstacle as part of the fundraising efforts. Photo supplied.
Each term at Macleans Primary School the school leaders and school decide on a fundraising project for the community, whether it be a small ‘food can’ for the foodbank or a big project.
This term was a big fundraising project for the Heart Foundation NZ.
The Macleans Primary School values of learning to be, learning to learn and learning to grow were on full display on Friday June 17 as all of the children had to work through a jump rope obstacle course as part of the fundraising effort.
The school raised a total of almost $12K for the Heart Foundation NZ.
Leading up to the big jumping day, each child had a skipping rope and practised, practised, and practised.
“Thanks to all the children, parents and teachers for coming together and making this happen,” Matthew Cooke, Macleans’ principal, says. “(It’s) a great reflection of Macleans Primary School as we work hard to ensure that we are true to the Macleans Primary School mission of ‘together the best we can be – mahi tahi.’”
Graham Jenkins has seen it all, he’s an optician after all – excuse the pun – and is looking back at 50 years of working in Howick Village.
He’s proudly viewing a career of accomplishment, professionalism, community service and friendships, albeit in his modest, low-key and happy relaxed style.
“It’s a very pleasant occupation. You see a lot of people extremely pleased being able to see,” he says.
The owner-operator of Howick Village Optometrists says, understandably, his profession has undergone major transformations over five decades.
“Where dispensing opticians have changed is the actual hands-on laboratory workshop is nowhere as important to them as the optical side, which is about the lens and frame choice,” Graham says.
“Measurements for fitting. Accuracy and knowledge of lenses is vital. Where my old-school training comes in is the fitting of the spectacle frame.
“Little kids, especially, are an absolute delight when they get their first pair of glasses. To see their faces just change, that’s a thrill.”
There are countless optical experiences that have delighted Jenkins, none more so than enabling the daughter of friends a transformation in her young life.
“She was about three years old and would not stand. Just crawl. We put glasses on her and within a week she was up walking. In a month she was flat out running around. Her parents were just blown away. They couldn’t believe the complete sudden change in their little girl.”
The business known now as Howick Village Optometrists in Picton Street started in 1960. Graham’s father Bryan worked there in 1964-65, when the then owner was overseas.
“Then Dad left and we went back to Britain in 1966. We kept the house in Howick. Upon return, we came back to Howick and purchased the business in 1968.
“I joined in 1972, which was a complete surprise to me,” he says, chuckling. “I was on summer holidays, from my job at Clark and Matheson. Bryan’s receptionist went sick and he asked me to step in and assist. I quite enjoyed it.”
To be a dispensing optometrist in that era, when Norman Kirk was to become prime minister, was by British qualification. Graham applied for membership of the British association and sent the correspondence course. “It took up a heck a lot of my time.”
After a couple of years of focused part-time study, word was circulating that the New Zealand parliament was going to enact a law to register dispensing opticians.
“Do I need a British qualification, enabling me to work in Britain? I don’t think so. I’ll just sit tight, drop this course. And through right of practise I qualified as a dispensing optician.”
Born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, in the lush West Midlands of England – Shakespeare country – the Jenkins family arrived in New Zealand in the Christmas of 1962-63.
“My father was an optometrist. His father was a chemist optician. My cousin, in Britain, is a dispensing optician. And my brother ended up being a dispensing optician. I guess it ran in the veins of the family.”
Those who know Graham will recognise he’s a sincere and jovial man who wears his dress shirts well, maybe a throwback to his surfing days. When surfers weren’t tattooed and wearing baseball caps backwards. So it comes as no surprise that he’s always had an eye for fashion in optics, with the dare to take a chance.
“In the late 1970s, an American company came out with their brand of spectacle frames. In this period [the protectionist Muldoon years], we were under licensing, so importing was very tight. It was very hard to get your hands on anything.
“This company did an evening consisting of banners and posters of film actress Sophia Loren and her range of spectacle frames. The event was foreign to little old New Zealand. They said, to get in you have to take the whole range. I said, I’m interested, asking, ‘how many have you sold?’ They said, none. They’d done the whole country and were very disappointed. Nobody was interested in putting in the money involved to take the whole range.
“I said, ‘I’ll take it’. Got it for a deal, because I was the only one at that point, and all their display material. At that time, officially, we could not have signs on buildings, posters on display to the public, and display glass frames. We had a separate room. I kitted up that room so people got invited through the door to see the glasses on display. I was one of the first, if not the first, to do this. To get around the Opticians’ Board requirements.
“Now we’re into a fashion industry,
which really started in the 1980s. People are quite grateful to have a pair of glasses which look hot. Glamorous, to offset their look.”
Two areas to have undergone huge advancement in technical development is lens designs and styling, Graham says.
“Glasses have always had a fashion aspect. Pictures in the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, of the stars, they wore glasses. A certain panache about them. Everyday people just wore spectacle rims without much thought about fashion.
“The French and Italian – that’s where our main fashion industry is in optics. I was the first with the Sophia Loren look, which was very different.”
He describes the accepted method of fitting glasses five decades ago was conducted in the “dark room”.
“Women stood in the examination room and the optometrist would come out with a box of frames and they’d put them on without a mirror. Then they’d eventually decide if the frame fit the patient, who was told they could have it in blue, maybe brown. They never had a chance to look at frames.”
“I built a cabinet, which I still have, that contained drawers filled with frames. I’d bring out a drawer that I thought was the right sizing for the customer, leaving them with a couple of dozen styles to select.
“The women were thrilled. ‘What do you mean? I can choose?’ They said. ‘I can try them on in front of the mirror? Wow.’ We took off.”
An early mentor for Graham was Ken Payne, who he was guided to by Bryan, for a six-month apprenticeship in Newmarket.
“He was an excellent technician, teaching me all the basics of optics. How to etch lenses, solder frames,” Graham says, of Ken.
“The growth of lens designs has been enormous. When we started it was glass. Plastic was in its infancy. In the 1970s, they were extremely scratchable. Very soft material. Their bonus was they were lightweight and impact resistant. Glass now, literally, is a dinosaur material.
“We get one or two people a year who insist on getting glass. The number of glass lenses available now is probably 0.5 per cent. Many lens manufacturers just simply do not have glass in their offering. And we call them glasses.
There’s also the upskilling aspect to his healthcare practise to be maintained.
“You have to acquire your education points every year. Even 50 years in, I still don’t know everything. Apparently.”
The Jenkins family first lived in Mt Albert when settling in Auckland and it was a gentleman by the name of Eric Norman that guided them to Howick, where Graham schooled at Owairoa and the Intermediate.
“Howick’s a village and proud. I’m into my fourth generation in some families looking after their sight.”
Howick Village Optometrists has grown from three family members to a team of 12 staff.
There’s a strong dedication to provide a continuity of service to customer clients, because they know their history and understand the specific sight requirements.
“Due to Covid-19, we’re way behind, fully booked for a month. Most people are pretty understanding. Regarding Covid, Auckland and Auckland businesses really got hammered,” Graham says.
“The industry has lost a few wholesalers. Some smaller businesses have had to give up. The little guys are an important part of business life in New Zealand.”
He has a clear view on the optical franchises that have emerged on the retail scene over the past two decades.
“The difference between my business, an independent, and a chain store, is we believe advice comes first, then if needed, product to suit the client’s budget and requirements. The patient is enabled to hear the differences and make an educated decision.
“We’ve definitely come a long way in other aspects. In 1972, our uniform made us look like a dentist. We wore white coats. It was regarded a healthcare-focused profession. While it still is about healthcare, it’s now more orientated around the focus on customer care.”
Bryan has just passed on, at 90. He was cavalier and adventurous, mates with Graham’s friends and they’d all go on surfing safaris up north. When it comes to being workmates, he says: “That was an interesting relationship.
“We had differences in opinions on occasions, understandably, as all fathers and sons can have, but he was a great bloke.
“He involved me financially fairly early on. We ran a separate little business – the laboratory side. He took on a partner in the front business and to make things all square we incorporated the laboratory business into the front business, so I became a partner.
“In 2003, Bryan retired and at the time we had two other partners. One of them retired as well and the decision was made to buy out the final partner and bring the business back into the family.”
That is when Graham’s wife Frith joined the business. “She’s been a huge benefit. She knew nothing about the business but has managed it and kept up to date with innovations and optical developments. A real asset.
“We’ve got a very strong team. Virtually no staff turnover for the last 20 years. As my wife says, we have two families.”
– By Phil Taylor
The sunflowers in Fencible Walk, Howick, are giving the area some colour. File photo supplied
By Adele White, Howick Local Board chairperson
Kia ora!
How lovely to see the beautiful display of sunflowers bobbing away in Fencible Walk, Howick.
A lady passing by commented on how she saw them as a garden full of happy faces!
Perfect as we encounter the winter months.
Whilst the Howick Local Board continues to carry out business meetings and workshops online, it has been good to get out and about again to meet with local groups and attend their events.
Auckland’s best half-pipe
Scooters and skateboarders from far and wide came to try out this new addition to the Lloyd Elsmore skate park, opened recently.
It was fantastic to see our young people enjoying this facility amid a happy atmosphere complete with live band and a sausage sizzle onsite to celebrate.
Spending a penny
Toilets at Grangers Point in Bucklands Beach and Rogers Park at Eastern Beach have recently undergone refurbishment.
Each has been given a smart coat of paint with new stainless steel amenities installed.
New play spaces
This month we will officially “open” new play spaces at Earnslaw Park and Cockle Bay Beach.
We are sure that local youngsters will enjoy these lovely new places to play. Plan a school holiday visit!
Coming to Barry Curtis Park
Barry Curtis Park in Flat Bush has become a popular gathering place for outdoor events.
Improvements are being made to a dedicated events area which will provide power supply, and eventually shade for users.
We are thrilled to advise also that works are to begin in July to construct a long-anticipated second shelter in this park.
These serve as a resting place for walkers and are popular as a “meet and chat” spot for many elderly residents in the area.
Howick 175 years celebration
Howick is certainly alive with excitement as groups, businesses, schools, enthusiastic locals and a dedicated steering group plan events and activities to take place over the coming months.
It is wonderful to see the interest from many sectors of our wider community, with some events having already been held.
Keep up to date with the news, celebration programme and some great stories on www.howick175.co.nz.
Graham Jenkins has seen it all, he’s an optician after all – excuse the pun – and is looking back at 50 years of working in Howick Village.
“Measurements for fitting. Accuracy and knowledge of lenses is vital. Where my old-school training comes in is the fitting of the spectacle frame.
