words: Pattie Pegler I’ve always sent my mother flowers or chocolates or something on Mother’s Day. But this year, for the first time, I’m also going to be on the receiving end of the event. If you’d told me that eighteen months ago I’d have laughed out loud. I’d never been the broody type [...]
The Hermits of Cooper’s Creek
Take a step back in time with JO BAILEY as she investigates the story of Rose and Joe Langer, the great niece and nephew of the famous composer Franz Schubert, who were driven to lead an impoverished, isolated life in a clay cottage on a bleak Oxford hillside. In March 1936 a reporter from the [...]
A day at the Museum
Words: Lynn Mortimer Nestling serenely beside Northbrook Stream on the outskirts of Rangiora, is ‘Rossburn’ – a treasured family farm that’s been in the Spark family since 1942. Today part-owner Richard Spark and his wife of 47 years, former kindergarten teacher Dawn, still live in the original house where Richard and his siblings were [...]
A Classic Story
Behind nondescript doors at the old Mill building in Waikuku is a treasure trove of classic vehicles that literally transport visitors to a bygone era. There is the luxury black Rolls Royce with 1950’s movie star glamour; a powder blue Austin Healey that screams ’Shagadelic’ in Austin Powers fashion; and the 1963 Humber reminiscent of [...]
The Good Life
The Good Life Jo Bailey talks to super-talented Hawarden artist Sharon Earl, who lives a “haphazard life” full of creativity and resourcefulness. Sharon Earl’s excuse for not collecting her three children from an after-school swimming practice is definitely in the strange but true category. She was sound asleep inside a life-sized steel cow sculpture called [...]
Climbing through the pain barrier
Photos: Supplied by Pat Deavoll Fifty-three-year-old mountaineer Pat Deavoll, who grew up on a farm in North Canterbury, has been climbing for more than three decades in the Southern Alps, the Canadian Rockies and Alaska, and the Greater Ranges of Asia. In spite of severe osteoarthritis and two bung knees, her will to take on [...]
King Of The Con Men
For a few weeks in 1944, Oxford was taken in by one of New Zealand’s most notorious con men. Jo Bailey investigates the story of Murray Beresford Roberts. Oxford, 1944. The Second World War is in full swing, and Dr William Minty, Oxford’s hard-working general practitioner hasn’t had a break for months. It is almost [...]
Cyber Safety
Should we be concerned about the growing number of pre-teens hitting social media websites? Kim Newth puts the question to local police and cybersafety organisation, NetSafe. As parents like me will tell you, children in the middle and senior years of primary school find that peer pressure to join social media websites really starts to [...]
Our Writers!
Lynn, Jo and Kim are our three contributing writers. This month we turn the tables, put them in the interview chair and discover they’re a fairly interesting trio in their own right. They have interviewed famous film directors, prominent authors and global high achievers, but also have boundaries when it comes to interviews they’d rather [...]
Fingered
Countless Kiwi criminals have found themselves behind bars thanks to the meticulous forensic work of Trevor White. He tells Jo Bailey about some of his most high profile cases. Trevor White is not a big fan of television crime dramas. “I know it’s purely for entertainment but I find it hard to watch when [...]
