Articles by Rebecca Glover

Every year we celebrate the attempt by a group of English dissidents to blow up the English parliament over 400 years ago. · Every November the letting off of fireworks results in a flood of claims to ACC, sends horses through fences and terrorises cats and dogs, keeps fire brigades busy battling blazes and has insurance companies running for cover. Why do we do it? Well, fireworks are fun, as the Chinese discovered centuries ago. Many of us…

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

Every year we celebrate the attempt by a group of English dissidents to blow up the English parliament over 400 years ago. Every November the letting off of fireworks results in a flood of claims to ACC, sends horses through fences and terrorises cats and dogs, keeps fire brigades busy battling blazes and has insurance companies running for cover. · Why do we do it? Well, fireworks are fun, as the Chinese discovered about 2000 years ago. Many…

John Bell's dental specialty doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but the difference he can make to your smile could be life-changing. In past times, damaged or decayed teeth were either ignored or removed. But now the range of solutions available in the hands of a skilled professional like John means teeth can be restored to look and perform just as they should. · Prosthodontics is a specialist area of dentistry using specific techniques for…

Cats have a habit of popping up into people’s lives at the right moment. Mary Medricky and her husband David had been thinking of getting a feline friend after being catless for a while. David favoured the Maine Coon breed, a large and handsome long haired pedigree cat who can grow to 10kg in weight. · What they ended up with was quite the opposite. Instead of an enormous, finely bred prince or princess, they found themselves adopting two tiny…

There’s never been a better time to be old in New Zealand. Baby boomers, the generation born after WWII, are enjoying longer and better twilight years than ever before. And they are enjoying those years thanks to better health, better living conditions and greater wealth than their predecessors. Courtesy of government-provided, universally available superannuation, today’s elderly have a basic income enabling them to live in relative comfort,…

Managing director Andrew Butts spends all his spare time chasing big game fish, but the catch he's most proud of is the stash of awards the company netted from the Master Builders' House of the Year awards. Already successful in 2015 and 2017, last year they scooped the pool by not only winning gold and gold reserve in their category but also taking out the national title for new homes in the $450-550k price range. Not bad for a little company…

A few months ago elocal brought you the little-known story of Port Waikato's 1891 earthquake. Now a local woman has done a bit of moving and shaking of her own with her history of the sleepy seaside town. Actually it's the author herself, Glennis Paton, who's been shaken up the most. The success of her newly published book, The Way We Were - Port Waikato, has taken her completely by surprise, with the initial print run quickly sold out and most…

Making those big financial decisions can be easier than you thought with Counties Home Loans and Insurance. Making those big financial decisions can be easier than you thought. Okay, hands up who loves supermarket shopping! Hmmm....thought not. So much choice, so many products, what's on special and what's not, what's the best deal, can I afford it and do I really need it anyway. Nothing is as simple as it seems and often it's easiest to…

Friday, April 13th didn't seem a particularly inauspicious date to Irene and Marinus van Wijk, but it turned out to carry all the traditional bad luck for their Jack Russell terrier, Roxy. “We were up north, leaving neighbours to keep an eye on our property and feed the animals,” says Irene. “But on the Saturday morning the neighbours rang us, very concerned that they hadn't seen Roxy.” The van Wijks live on a rural block near Patumahoe. It's…