2003
Rebecca is a longtime contributor to elocal magazine. A passionate equestrienne, she enjoys the rural lifestyle that Franklin has to offer.
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 an…
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 hai…
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 a…
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 pro…
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 mu…
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,…
During 2018 there could have hardly been a soul who wasn’t aware that this year is the centenary of the end of World War I. Sadly, and inevitably, it turned out not to be the war to end all wars, but its horrific nature and consequences changed the way c…
When Michael Walters' father arrived home with his son's birthday present, it wasn't just Michael who got a surprise. For his mother, Helen, it was a day she wouldn't forget in a hurry. When Michael Walters' father arrived home with his son's birthday pr…
Not many people have heard of Zonta, but the world is bound to hear about a couple of young women who have just received awards from the organisation. Not many people have heard of Zonta, but the world is bound to hear about a couple of young women who h…
Dogdom's finest gather in a spirit of friendship as much as competition The atmosphere is surprisingly relaxed for such a prestigious event. Some dogs are having a final touch-up, others are resting in their crates. Handlers and owners appear similarly l…
When Tracy Shackleton and her family lost their much loved Jack Russell terrier last July, they were inconsolable. “Isobel was spending a lot of time sleeping, which we assumed was just old age. But when we took her to the vet for a check-up, we were hor…
What do we know about Mycoplasma Bovis? It's probably fair to say there's more we don't know than what we do. Where, when, how are questions that are still not answered, or are given different interpretations every week. And every week more comes to ligh…
Mac's stellar sporting career has been well documented. Not so well known is his heroism in the Vietnam war. Revered in sporting circles as a rugby icon, a hard man who drove his teams to success in the mid-1990s, Mac took the Steelers to heights no prev…
Life hasn't been all plain sailing, but this Papakura pair have smoothed the waters for many. “I was born lucky,” says Colin Topp. Weathering the Depression of the 1930s, a survivor of years of war in the Pacific and now 93 years old, he's been lucky in …