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“Dad was 68 when he married Mum. She was a herd tester he met on the farm – she was 28. He had been married before but his first wife died and they had no children. He was born in 1886 in Wiltshire, one of a family of 14, leaving school at 10 to make wag…

The general feeling of the time was that it would all be over by Christmas. For four long years the people of Papakura waited for that end and when it came on Armistice Day 11th November 1918, the final tally of the roll of the dead for Papakura and Kar…

Every now and then you hear about a story that totally captivates you… that takes you away and leaves a lump in your throat. This is a story of enduring love, tragedy, broken families, separation, war…. It sounds as if it Shakespearean, but I can tell y…

The men of Franklin’s Home Guard had a busy war, as the country prepared the best it could to defend itself. From all walks of life, people rallied to the call, leaving farms, market gardens and businesses to take part in training and the laying of traps…

Feeding those on active service was vital during the war and by 1944 one of four vegetable dehydration factories nationwide was in full production in Manukau Road, Pukekohe. The factory was in constant operation, processing produce from extensive market …

Officially, Kepa Kepa of Mercer is almost 90 years old, but the Maori Battalion veteran could be much older. When he was born, there were no birth certificates for Maori. Kepa speaks mainly in Maori and his memories of the war years are sketchy, but seve…

While local men donned uniforms and trained in the Home Guard, women too were marching. The Women’s War Service Auxiliary drilled in the hall on the corner of Edinburgh and Harris Streets once a week and were instructed on how to handle and fire a gun. T…

Pukekohe local Shane Snijder has a whale of a tale to tell. When Shane’s dad joined the Dutch Navy during World War II, he never expected that he would live through the Battle of the Java Sea, a Japanese prisoner of war camp and the atomic bombing at Na…

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 …

Project Face Shield NZ is an online community of over 200 NZ based 3D Printer owners who through the Covid19 Lockdown, started to see unprecedented demand from front line agencies for Personal Protection Equipment, (PPE equipment) including Face Shields.

As a 10 year old, standing with several hundred other airforce kids and servicemen among the hangar line, I watched one of the best emergency landings witnessed at Ohakea for many a year. For the young Vulcan crew it was to be the landing of their caree…

There’s only one show in town right now, and it’s a chart-topper. I’m actually somewhat loath to launch into coronavirus, given that it’s such a rapidly-moving piece of theatre and I’m writing this a week ahead of publication; but regardless of how the s…

Waikaretu in 1920 was the back of beyond – an isolated place with a single, often impassable, unmetalled road to connect it with the outside world, no power, no telephone and no school. It was a long way from the high society of Sydney, the Paris fashion…

With the Corona Virus pandemic sweeping the world it was only a matter of time before New Zealand would be affected. Since the first confirmed case in New Zealand we have had constant media thrashing on the subject and as the world has started shutting d…

He was recognized for his method of spontaneous prose covering topics from catholic spirituality, drugs, poverty and travel and best known for his novel, On The Road, he was a pioneer of the Beat Generation movement alongside Allan Ginsberg and William B…

I am not a Prepper; although I have, unfortunately, seen firsthand the devastation an epidemic can cause, I have never resorted to prepare for what seemed inconceivable. Duly ignoring the advice from friends and colleagues on the front-line. And it’s thi…

Day 7 Update: Good progress with local community response teams contacting the most vulnerable, distributing full face shields to pharmacists, doctors, dentists and trying to use fresh produce grown in Franklin to help feed our most vulnerable.

New Zealand has changed dramatically in a week in response to Covid-19. Fundamental rights and liberties have been curtailed to assist in suppressing the virus. From a legal history perspective, this is similar to what New Zealand experienced in World Wa…

The Free Speech Coalition is preparing to launch an urgent judicial review of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s decision to deem non-daily newspapers and publications not an essential service for the purposes of the COVID-19 Level-4 nationwide shutd…

From this Saturday 28 March, the Downstairs area of Pukekohe Family Health Care (PFHC), West Street, will operate as aCovid-19 Community Testing Centre. All appointments for Pukekohe Family Health Centre on West Street will now be upstairs. Please be…