Jeremy Dwyer – Cynthia Bowers & Colin Hosford

Jim Newbigin: [Background audience noise] It’s 9th May [2017] here at Landmark[s]. We’ve got Cynthia Bowers talking about Jeremy Dwyer, who was a former mayor of Hastings.

Cynthia Bowers: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen – welcome to this Landmarks history talk. Lovely to see you all here this evening. I do just want to make a couple of introductions; firstly Ruth Vincent, who’s the president of the Landmarks Trust; we have Colin Hosford, who’s the Assets manager for parks and properties [at Hastings District Council]; and a number of former councillors who were part of this Landmarks journey right from the start, so we’ve got Megan Williams, Norm Speers and Richard Jones.

What we’re going to do tonight is, firstly I’m going to talk about Jeremy Dwyer, and just give a background and some history about him, and then I’m going to talk about the reason that he developed his Landmarks vision. And then Colin’s going to go on and show a presentation which talks more about Landmarks as it is now. So thank you all for being here to listen to this story.

Firstly just to talk about our friend, Jeremy Dwyer. Jeremy was born in Waipawa in 1947. He was the youngest [eighth] of ten children to Sam and Lillian Dwyer. He attended Pukehou School and for a short time, Waipawa Primary School, and he then went on to Central Hawke’s Bay College and then Ardmore Teachers’ College. As a child, he contracted polio and that left him with medical problems that plagued him for the rest of his life, and kept him in hospital for long periods. And it was during his long stays in hospital that he developed his dream to be a writer; sadly something that he never ever fully got to realise. It was also in hospital, though, that he formed his basic philosophy on life, and that was, ‘Walk the Talk, however you want to put it.’ In later years he went on to say that this was also his philosophy for Hastings. It was very straightforward – ‘lie down, or get up and walk.’

I’m giving you this background because it demonstrates Jeremy’s wonderful capacity for getting stuck in and fixing things. He often used to quote Sir James Wattie, who in the 1930s, when he saw fruit rotting on the ground, said, “We’ll have to do something about it”, and opened his first cannery. So when I talk about the Landmarks’ philosophy shortly, you’ll see this philosophy shining through in Jeremy’s vision and his actions.

In 1972, Jeremy became a teacher at Te Aute College and he was the third generation of Dwyers to do so. His grandfather, E G Loten, was Principal of Te Aute from 1929 [1920] to 1951, and his father, Sam, taught there for thirty-seven years, serving as Deputy Principal for much of that time. During his time at Te Aute, Jeremy became involved in many organisations supporting the College, including a group that campaigned successfully in 1973 to stop the school closing down.

In 1976, during his last year of teaching at Te Aute, he was elected to its newly-established Board of Governors and went on to serve as Board Chairman from 1979 to 1981. And when he retired from the Hastings Mayoralty in 2001, he took on the job as the Statutory Manager for Te Aute College and helped that school, and Hukarere, draw up plans to thrive and survive. So, tremendous history there.

During the early to mid-1970s, and many of us will remember him from these days, he became active in the Social Credit Party. He was the Party’s Deputy Leader and he was the Hastings candidate for Social Credit for the 1975 and ‘78 General Elections. In 1978 he tripled Social Credit’s vote for Hastings. In 1977, when he was twenty-nine, he became the youngest person ever elected to Hastings City Council, and he was re-elected again in 1980. He stood down in 1981 for a period of about five years and went back to teaching, but re-emerged into the political spotlight again in 1986 when he was thirty-eight, and he won the Hastings Mayoralty; and I understand that that was quite a shake-up for the Establishment at that time.

These were incredibly challenging times, though, for Hastings. Jeremy’s election coincided with the shock closure (it wasn’t the reason for the shock closure); it coincided with the timing of the closure of Whakatu Freezing Works, and as we know from our recent history lecture, Morrison Industries closed around about the same time.

In 1989 Jeremy became the first mayor of the new Hastings District Council and as we know, he held that position until 2001. He also served on the first term of the Regional Council in 1989 – back in those days you could serve on both; and he went back on to the Regional Council for a further term from 2001 to 2004.

He was a leader in his field in many, many ways. He was a strong supporter of a regional approach to local government; he established Hastings District Council’s first position for a Māori liaison officer; and he had a huge enthusiasm for nurturing harmony between people of all nationalities and ethnic groups. He and Marilyn hosted many, many AFS [American Field Service] students at their home and he was made an honorary citizen of Guilin in China in 2000. After leaving the mayoralty, he went on to become National President of Sister Cities New Zealand.

It was in 1996, though, that he visited the United States for a study tour at the invitation of the American Ambassador, Josiah Beeman. On this trip, Jeremy studied several cities that had suffered economic adversity, and his visit to Santa Barbara became a catalyst for Hastings Landmarks, and I’ll go on to talk about that in just a second.

Most of us who worked with Jeremy remember him for his energy, his absolute passion for Hastings and his determination, as I’ve said, to fix things. I can vividly recall my first meeting with him after I had been elected to Council in 1995, and I suggested to him that with my style of doing things was to take things quietly for a while while I got the feel for the job. And I was told very, very firmly that there was no time for that; there was too much to be done. And in hindsight I guess he was quite right; but it was a shock to my system, I can tell you.

He also had a wicked sense of humour – I can’t let tonight pass without mentioning that. And those of us who worked with him have got many, many happy memories … some of which I can’t share with you tonight, probably … of socialising with him as well as travelling to Guilin on Council Delegations and other things. It was a really, really sad time for everyone when he passed away in December 2005. But the purpose of tonight’s talk is to tell you all about Jeremy’s Landmarks legacy. But I did first want to give you this overview just to give you a feel of the man.

I just want to go back now and just give you a little bit of a background as to why Landmarks was developed. So Hastings in the 1950s and ‘60s – it was the fruit bowl of New Zealand. It was a market town, or a city actually, in 1956. We had a very strong economy based on the rural sector and Hastings people back then had a very strong sense of identity, purpose and self-confidence. [Shows a series of slides] And we all have seen many, many of these wonderful pictures of the likes of the Blossom Festival, which was just one of the stunning events that we used to have back then. This is just a shot that Ewan [McGregor] found for me last night, of Heretaunga Street in 1955 – lots of vehicles, lots of people – pretty vibrant. And of course back then we had two freezing works, Tomoana and Whakatu.

Then in the 1970s through to the 1990s, things started to change. We had the oil shocks in the mid-1970s; the economic and social reform in the mid-1980s, and we all remember how devastating that reform was on our rural sector … flowed through to the town; and climatic disasters – Cyclone Bola, drought, and hailstorms. And of course, by the 1990s, not only Whakatu but Tomoana closed. And there are various figures quoted about how many jobs were lost, not only with those two businesses but related jobs as well. I’ve got four thousand there; some people say five thousand. Who knows? But Hastings has never ever really properly recovered from it.

This is not a good photo, but the negative impact on the town centre and throughout the district was shocking. This photo was taken in 1995; it’s in the East 100 block of Heretaunga Street, down near the cinema. And that was quite a common sight, really; it was a sad place.

You will remember this building just down in Southampton Street; broken windows, graffiti; and it’s where the Hire Centre was. But, you know, that was the sight that greeted people coming into the town from the south.

So Jeremy went to the States, as I’ve said – went to Santa Barbara and got inspired, because they’d had a history where their city had been devastated, and they’d rebuilt themselves and retained some of their heritage. And so this is what he came back with, and this is a statement he made in 1998 when he talked to our Council and convinced us that we should all get on board with this Landmarks idea that he’d had. And it was pretty powerful stuff, really; it identified what we now call the four tenets of Landmarks – our architecture, our arts, our history and … landscape; [chuckle] thank you, Joyce.

So I just had to put this next photo up to show you, so this is the Council in 1998 that made the decision to embark on the Landmarks journey. We haven’t changed a bit, really. [Chuckles]

So there was tremendous political support actually, for Landmarks, ‘cause I think the Council at the time realised we needed to do something differently, and they bought into what Jeremy was suggesting. So this is what the Landmarks concept was about then, and it’s what it’s still about; so its overall objective is to increase the community’s self-image and our sense of pride and identity. It’s about having a cohesive, quality, long-term planned commitment, and Colin will talk about some of that later. And it’s about building on the strengths of those four tenets that I mentioned earlier. Most of all it was about creating an environment for making people want to be in Hastings, and so we went on and established the Landmarks Commission.

This is a photo that was taken at the Community Arts Centre on the night that we launched Landmarks, which was a pretty significant moment for us. And by 2001 we had two arms of Landmarks in place, so we had the political arm; the committee that I’ve already talked about; and we also set up the community arm – the Landmarks Trust – and that’s the reason that we’re here tonight, actually. The Landmarks Trust back then was chaired, I think, by Kevin Watkins; and then Joyce [Barry] went on to chair it for many years; and then Anthea [Bailey], and now Ruth [Vincent].

I just want to give you a couple of quick shots of some of the things that we achieved back in the earlier days … just some quick before and after shots. This is York Street when that was upgraded, and we tried to do things in a really comprehensive way and to do a really thorough job with whatever we did.

The next one is Heretaunga Street West. That was in the mid to late 90s, I think, but this after-shot was taken not long after the street had been upgraded. It looks even better now of course because all the trees have grown, and it’s significantly different to what it was back then.

And then buildings like this one, the old Post Office, which you’ll all remember, sat on that corner sad and empty and shabby for many, many years until the Health Centre came along. And through Landmarks and our Facade Enhancement Scheme we managed to help them, and came up with that stunning result that you see there. So that was just the beginning of us making a difference, and I’ll hand over to Colin and he’ll carry on the story. [Applause]

Colin Hosford: Good evening, everyone. I will make a comment to start with just to prove there was no collusion; there is a little bit of overlap here. Really, my talk is probably more Council-centred. When Landmarks first started … I suppose you could say in its infancy … I had the honour of being the first full-time Landmarks manager; my predecessor, Mark Clews had been a sort of .5 until Council … and especially under Cynthia’s guidance and pressure … got that position made full-time so that we actually had a dedicated person within Council who would fight the good fight day in, day out. So it was a great pleasure that I actually won that role, and walked into a job that was really just opening up for Hastings. It was a time of great optimism within Council about what we could do and what we could achieve, but that’s not saying it was easy; there was a lot of convincing that had to be done and getting money out of Council to do things. But the testimony to a lot of that stuff that was achieved is out there now.

So this really is a talk about how far we’ve come, so again, the poor state of the economy and of course Jeremy talking about the need to lift the community up and make it feel proud again, and Cynthia talked about that. And of course the Santa Barbara model gave a key to that level of revitalisation that was possible; it gave a blueprint that he brought back to this Council, and he then requested that beginning of the Landmarks Commission.

Okay. So the key four elements – and these, from a Council perspective, really can’t be stressed enough. They really are the key things that we look to when we’re undertaking projects now; they’re the key things that all … or certainly all my staff and my colleagues … we kind of hammer into them. So if you’re doing something, if you’re undertaking a project, look to the landscape, ensuring that we actually do things that actually are important. So what was first identified [was] that Flaxmere and Havelock [North] were actually quite well treed at that time. However, Hastings was poorly landscaped, so there was a focus put on actually turning the Hastings urban area around. Again, in architecture, there was that recognition of Spanish Mission and Art Deco architecture that is so abundant in Hastings, and actually turning that potential for an image and creating a sense of place that would be important to the Hastings community.

From that we looked at architectural colour and signage guidelines, and things that would preserve those buildings; enhance those buildings; as development pressures came upon them. Again, a place of public art. It was well-known that artists abound in Hawke’s Bay and they’re everywhere out in our … if you like … in the hinterland, yet when you came back into the Hastings City public places and in Havelock – but not so much in Havelock, more so in Hastings – there was a real lack of that sort of vibrant energy that artwork creates as talking points; of things that make people sort of proud of the place they live in. Again, creating that sense of place.

And of course the other key issue was in relation to history … how we need to look back to our history. And the comment about Sir James Wattie’s absolutely bang on the mark – look to the people and the things that have shaped Hastings and use them, if you like, as sort of touchstones to give us some strength and solidity and foundation to where we’re moving forward. We need to be proud of our history, and respect it.

So the key element that was developed just before the year 2000 was the creation of the Landmarks Development Plan. And I have got a copy here, and this is our latest version, which is a lot easier to handle. But this plan here creates a blueprint or a framework for ensuring that Landmarks is delivered and can be delivered across the whole district. And what it did is it promoted and enhanced the strengths of the district, but it also recognised weaknesses that we should be addressing so that the bar is continually raised. And the plan not only talks of Hastings, but it’s Havelock, it’s Flaxmere, it’s the Plains area, it’s the rural areas – it’s a total district-encompassing plan that actually says that when we’re doing anything out there, we should be looking at raising the bar. And that really is the sort of key blueprint, for staff in particular, and people we work with in the community, to integrate art and design into their development processes.

Okay. So Jeremy’s goals for Landmarks Commission, and there was [were] quite a few, as we’ve said:

• Establish a database for trees; built heritage
• Provide education; information;
• Institute annual awards so that we can engender recognition and incentives to people, to actually raise the bar
• Facilitate meetings – those quarterly meetings – so that Landmarks stays in the Council’s eyes; it stays aware in the community’s eyes
• Ensure that the regulatory environment of the District Plan is actually responsive to Landmarks’ aims, so that we’re actually integrating all the things we do. (There’s no point in Landmarks fighting for something out in the CBD [central business district] if the District Plan allows the total opposite to happen, so that we try to get a unification in aims, and use the District Plan as a tool for improvement)
• A Landmarks Community Panel, which of course was put in place, recommend character precincts in the District Plan (again, that’s been another goal of Landmarks)
• Develop the colour and design guidelines, which we have, of course
• Undertake facade enhancement
• Plan and implement street tree planting plans – one of the big, big projects of Landmarks
• Commissioning of art in public places, which is out there now, obviously, for all to enjoy, and it’s an on-going process
• Plan traffic corridor beautification;  and as we said earlier, my colleagues [are] at a meeting today about the upgrade of Windsor Ave [Avenue]; out there meeting with the local community about when their street’s being upgraded; what are we going to do in terms of car-parking, and more trees on Windsor Park; those opportunities to change but enhance are there all the time, and we need to be responsive to it
• CBD lighting enhancement programmes
• Identify responsibility on Council-owned buildings
• In our parks, the development of sign guidelines – just to ensure that when Council’s doing things in its own backyard, it’s actually singing from the same song sheet; we’re not expecting just the Community to do stuff – it’s actually us raising the bar as well.

So the Landmarks philosophy for enhancing the District suggests that every time we undertake a project or task, we should consider whether the final outcome can be improved with the consideration of those four key areas of landscape; history; architecture; art in public places. In terms of the structure, the structure in place at the moment is very much a shared structure. There’s the Landmarks Advisory Group which sits in the middle and it has councillors involved in it, and Landmarks Trust people. The Landmarks Trust – it’s really a three-way action where the Trust gets to talk to Council, and does have sway in Council, and also it has a role in actually being involved in Council projects.

So how far have we come? There’s been huge investment by the ratepayer, and Council commitment. This here [shows slide] is just a little map showing the street trees in Hastings in 2000, and this is our latest one. And that’s what Landmarks has done, if you like, in the greening process. It’s quadrupled the amount of trees, because just that raising the bar from what people had talked about, saying it was such a barren city, that Landmarks vision said, “Let’s get the street trees into place”. And that continues to the day, where we’re putting on an average [of] about four hundred new trees into Hastings, Havelock North and Flaxmere every year.

Again, the CBD upgrades – they’ve been a cornerstone strategy when Landmarks first started. And some of you, and particularly the councillors, will remember those early meetings where the returning of traffic into the 100 East Heretaunga Street block was really that sort of starting point of completely changing the look of Hastings’ downtown from a very drab CBD, where the comment was ‘you could fire a bullet from one end to the other and no-one was going to get hurt because no-one was there’; to turning it into a place that people would want to go to; people would want to do business, and people would want to visit.

So part of that key strategy, though, was the reinforcement of the six key blocks of Heretaunga Street – 1, 2 and 3 East and West – so that core retail area has been all upgraded to a high standard, all of the streets are now complete; an emphasis again on Russell Street, which was a special street in terms of its heritage buildings and its overall look; enhancement of central carparks and the railway corridor; and the other key aim was to tie Civic Square green space more strongly into the CBD. And of course that has been a project that has stuttered for some time now. I’ll start with a very positive comment, that the removal of the old bus shelters which were a huge barrier to that linking of Hastings with Civic Square, has seen a marked change where you can actually see into Civic Square now. Unfortunately, the upgrade of Civic Square has sort of got to the point on three occasions of taking off, and then other priorities have taken over; but we’re back on it again now, so hopefully in the next couple of years … well, we can see that happening, and that’s probably one of the big missing pieces at the moment.

So just some before and after shots; this is back in 2000, 2001; and of course the introduction of public art – that was a key … the Dawson Hanging Sculpture was a pretty bold step in its time; no-one around here had ever dreamt of the idea of putting something in place. And I’ll just digress slightly – at that time we were using an Arts Advisory Panel, and some well-known local artists who were also Landmarks foundation members were the ones who came forward with this very sort of teasing idea of saying, “Why don’t we actually put art into Hastings and actually make it the focal point, rather than just a sort of a [an] add-on at the end?” And that’s when, realistically, they came along and said, “You put an artwork there – people’s eyes will be dragged up. If you’re walking from the west to the east, your eyes are dragged up and you look towards Te Mata Peak; that stunning landscape.” These were subtle things that … I guess the artists in our community talked about doing things that would change how we viewed our own town; change the dynamic of the Hastings City Centre, which quite frankly was totally dominated by the trains that sort of went backwards and forwards all the time. So really, it might have started with the little sheep that were well-loved, but of course art became a key cornerstone of that project of the CBD. [Showing more slides]

Again, up-lighting on buildings and on public buildings; just changing the look, giving us something new to enjoy; changing the focus.

Okay. The other key one that Council has operated since 1998 has been the Facade Enhancement Scheme. And this is a scheme where Council actually works alongside building owners and actually makes money available to help them paint their facades. It’s not a free painting service – what we’re saying is, “If you’re going to make an investment, we’re going to help you make it possible. We’ll help you get a colour scheme that will be appropriate to your building.” And since that time over a hundred and fifty buildings in the CBD have been recipients of grants, and some of them have been pretty stunning. But in doing so, we say, “You’re not going to do things that are going to wreck those facades; you need to enhance them.” And we’ll give them a little bit extra money for instance, if they’ve got some things that are bolted on to the front of the building that detract from the building; we’ll help them get rid of those things so that that will add to the look. And a comment here from a conservation architect in Wellington, and well-respected in New Zealand: “Our rich fabric of heritage buildings sets the Hastings CBD apart from most other town centres in New Zealand. It is important that we value and protect these buildings for the enjoyment of future generations.” That kind of comment really comes after Landmarks stepped in and said, “You need to look after your built heritage. You don’t just sit there and knock buildings down and let development take over. Use that heritage, use that architecture, use your history to your advantage.” All part of Jeremy’s legacy, really.

And this is some other buildings that we’ve worked on. In Queen Street … Dominion Building. And it takes all types – really small, large; and often it’s not until some of the stuff’s taken away that people start to realise, “Wow!” You know, “What a fantastic building just sitting under there.”

In Heretaunga Street again – the Medical Centre. In fact, that was one of the first enhancements we did, but they were not too willing on getting rid of signs.; it was probably the best we could do. But I’m proud to say that sort of ten years later the officers have been more persuasive, and you can see all the medical stuff’s been removed and just some simple signage – again, guided by the guidelines that Landmarks has promoted and produced. So it’s all continually looking at changing our streetscape, but raising the bar.

And of course, Art in public places has been a major thrust for Landmarks over the last twenty-odd years now. Some beautiful bronze sculptures have gone in in William Nelson Park; again, in Civic Square; and of course the pou have been a marvellous addition in Civic Square as well.

Another project at the moment where we’re recognising Hastings icons: people who in the past have been important or come from our district; people who’ve made a difference. And these are just really ethereal pieces of art that are put up – they won’t last forever. But such has been the interest in them that people have said we need to capture those images so that we can actually keep them long term, because they might only last a couple of years on a building, and they haven’t been expensive, but such is the imagery and the artistry that comes through that people have said, you know, “They are so special.”

Again, the transformation of power boxes and Telecom boxes and the like; tidying up of Albert Square.

Okay. Into the landscape – Roy’s Hill … Landmarks – really one of their key projects. And to give credit where it’s due, starting with Cynthia’s vision of changing that. So that’s the old dump site which has now been turned into a fantastic park that you can walk around. Landmarks Trust members have had working bees for several years, going out … I was going to say digging holes, but digging’s probably an understatement to be honest … sort of smashing our way in through the surface to find a bit of soil. But the outcome has been fantastic; a successful transformation.

These are some quick transformations that we’re hurrying you through. [Chuckles] Again, Landmarks Square; the Frimley Rose Garden with the new building working; of course Stoneycroft Homestead itself – some of you will remember that old building, and what it looks like now. These have been all driven by Landmarks … opportunities that Landmarks people and Council – and outside Council – have said, “Let’s go and do something.” And of course coming down to your History Talks, which goes to show when you look at the turnout here, how fantastic it is.

These are just some brochures that Landmarks produced over time.

So Jeremy Dwyer’s goal for the Landmarks Commission: we talked about them at the beginning, and I know Landmarks is going through a bit of a thing, you know … “Where are we? What’s our relevance? Where are we heading? What’s our role? What are we going to do?” But if we go back to those goals that were set for Landmarks:

• Establish a database for trees; built heritage – I mean, absolutely smashed it, and it continues. That job is not stopping, it just keeps going.
• Provide education material – as I said, there’s design guides, there’s sign guides, there’s heritage guides, so if people want to do things in our town, in Hastings in particular, or in our commercial centres, there’s actually help there to do things. There’s help within the Council to make sure we give you every chance … or give developers every chance … of getting it right. We do try to make that difference.
• Institution of Annual Awards – again, that’s been done.
• Quarterly meetings – they’re in place.
• Design and consult on a regulatory environment – the District Plan is something that Landmarks has put in changes within parks areas, within the CBDs, in colour schemes and fencing of parks – a whole range of initiatives. Landmarks has been solid, and sort of banging on Council’s door, saying, “These are important”.
• The Landmarks Panel – obviously that’s in place.
• The Character Precincts in the District Plan – they’re all locked in. They’re absolutely locked in, and the Historic Places [Trust] say, you know, we’ve actually got some of the best protection of heritage precincts in New Zealand.
• Guidelines we’ve talked about.
• Facade Enhancement Scheme – that’s going well. It just continues to go well.
• Street tree planting.
• Commission of Art in public places – again, numerous artworks have been commissioned and continue to be worked on. Recently Landmarks set aside money for a pou at Whakatu near the Karamu Stream, which was done by local artists. And of course, probably in the last year we’re doing probably one artwork a year, so that continues to be a real success.
• Traffic corridor beautification – as I said, we’re at a meeting tonight making sure that those opportunities aren’t missed.
• CBD Lighting Enhancement Programme – Council’s set aside money at the moment to actually do more in terms of lighting up the CBD buildings so that we actually get a place that’s more vibrant. And again, identifying themes.
• The responsibility for Council-owned buildings.
• The Parks and Gardens – develop sign guide[lines] – that’s about making sure our parks and public buildings, when Council’s doing upgrades, we are actually aware that we have a responsibility.  And I know we’ve been working on an upgrade – they want to do air-conditioning units here and they came through with the plans which showed air conditionings that are visible from Civic Square, sitting on top of the roof. And the answer was quite blunt; “Go and find somewhere else to put them. You’re not going to make this building – a key building, civic building, beautiful heritage architecture at the front here – and it’s going to have its face smeared by some air-conditioning units that just sit boldly above.” So the air-conditioning engineers have been told, “Go and find somewhere else to put it where you can’t see it.” So years back, it would have been the total opposite. It would have been, “No, it has to be done; you just get on with it.” So the attitude has certainly changed.

So where to in 2017? Again, when we undertake every project, we should consider whether its final outcome could be improved through consideration of those four key areas: Landscape, History, Architecture and Art in Public Places. They still stand as important today, for us in Council, and for Landmarks as it goes about its work. Even down to our public conveniences. These have won Resene Architecture Awards, our public toilets now; because the reality is you can build something that is, just functional and nice, and the community enjoys it. You don’t get the tagging; you don’t get the graffiti or the vandalism anywhere near when you’re doing things that actually have some aesthetic appeal.

And finally, our aim within my team – and there’s my team putting in their final dig – we want to retain our title as New Zealand’s most beautiful city. And Landmarks is a cornerstone in achieving that.

Thank you. [Applause]

Colin and Cynthia, thank you; fantastic. It’s given Jeremy’s background. We need questions, but please before anyone asks, we really, really tried to not have a McDonalds’ sign going into Havelock. [Chuckles]

Comment: Colin, you didn’t mention the fantastic flowers … you know, bowls … under the eaves there, which has created an amazing difference.

Colin: Oh, you’re absolutely right there. They’re that well-loved that now we do them in winter, all through the year. They trial different plants; it gets feedback. And all the time you get, “I’ve just been visiting Hastings – what a beautiful place!” That’s lovely words for Council, and especially, it’s lovely words for our leaders; that they’re actually on the right track, they’re hitting the mark.

Comment: Can I just say I have a lovely memory of Mr Dwyer. I started teaching, first of all Heretaunga Intermediate, and then Hastings Intermediate as a specialist art teacher, and I was invited to join the Community Arts Council. Twenty-seven years I was on that council. But anyway, Jeremy approached me; the Blossom Festival was just re-started, and he had been behind Keith Dawson’s idea of resuming that wonderful Blossom Festival. And so he asked me, “What about children’s art? Let’s have an art show.” And so he gave me Hastings Sports Stadium in Railway Road for a week, no questions asked; it was just there for us. And so we invited fifty schools – preschools, primary, secondary – and Jeremy always came and opened it; and he said it was his favourite function of the Blossom Festival, to come and see wall-to-wall children’s art. And that just lives on. He was such a gentleman, and so encouraging and enthusiastic about the art of our children, who of course now are adults and doing their own art around this great, wonderful place that we call home.

Colin: It’s interesting, kids’ art, ‘cause in Flaxmere when we upgraded the park, they did all the tile designs. And the ownership has been fantastic. And the banners that run through, they’ve done all of those; and we’ve kept … there must have been about three hundred, and we picked the first fifty, but we printed the others as well. So some will go down when they become tatty; other kids will have their sort of chance to shine. And the level of vandalism is negligible.

Comment: And of course the Community Arts Centre … we’re the envy of most other cities in New Zealand.

Colin: Absolutely.

Comment: Colin, I wonder if you’ve heard of this urban ecological renewal thing that’s going world-wide. The Royal Society has a person in New Zealand who’s an expert on it and is talking of doing a tour, but unfortunately not in Hastings or Hawke’s Bay. But the idea is that instead of having, you know, [coughing, inaudible] a National Park, all the cities around the world are actually trying to introduce ecology; that is to say, clean rivers, clean waterways; also native growth, getting back insects, birds, that sort of thing into the city, so that you don’t have to go on a great tour of a National park to find out what nature was really like in your country.

Colin: I think what we’re doing within our parks at the moment is we’re doing a system where we’re doing Reserve Management Plans for our key urban places, and that’s starting to drive those kind of responses. The Cape Coast Reserve Management Plan which we’re working on at the moment, is the Te Awanga-Haumoana area; and part of the response there with the locals has been improvement of the waterways. And actually a lot of that sort of brackish area that’s been considered by many just a wasteland, is actually an absolute opportunity. Now admittedly, that’s not deep here in the CBD, but the other thing we’re working on in all our parks is the pest destruction as well, where we’re working with the Regional Council which, certainly the return of a lot of native wildlife, especially in Havelock North, has been a key bonus. But Tainui Reserve, again in Havelock North – we’ve just had a planting day with the community; some three hundred-odd mainly native plants going in there. So I guess we can’t say, “Yes, we’ve embraced it wholly”, but there is certainly a move within Council to up the ante in actually improving the quality of our ecological biodiversity. That’s a key aim within our Reserves Plans.

Gordon Vogtherr: Joyce, I’d like to speak for a while please. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The opportunity was too good to miss. Landmarks – Joyce, you will know what I’m talking about – the Cornwall Park gates. [Chuckles] In 1986 our then mayor, Jimmy O’Connor, actually took the gates away altogether. We were in South Africa at the time and I came back, and I was horrified! And a few years ago I took it up, and nothing’s been done about them. And with some help of the staff and Joyce Barry here, we made an application to the Council, and they said no, they wouldn’t do it. But they donated $5,000 which hasn’t been uplifted. Now, the gates were sold off; they were on the hills at Poraiti at one stage, and I believe now they’re in Florida. So they’re gone. But the Council did a good job. The replica gates – I’ve got the plans of it – and I’ve got the pricing: $22,000 I think, to do the whole job; to put them back and make it what it should be. So, what better place to do it than Landmarks here? And having a member of the Council, too.  So, speaking of Hastings and things like that – oh, by the way, the two bronze plaques – the Council still has them. They’re engraved plaques; they were I think for the Duke of York was here when they visited in 1927. Do you know where they are?

Colin: I know you know where they are. [Laughter]

Gordon: That’s more to the point. So, we’ve got the bronze plaques, we’ve got the plans for the gates, we’ve got the pricing; what about that $5,000?

Colin: I could go to Florida and check them out? [Laughter] No, the $5,000’s still there.

Gordon: I’ve just gotten a bit too old to get on and do these things, but could someone please take up the cudgel? I can give you all that’s necessary; the plans … they were wonderful gates, those, they’ve been used many times. You’ve offered me a wonderful chance [cough, chuckles] to get back onto it, and I want to see those gates in place.

[Applause]

Joyce Barry: I’d also add that Gordon’s instrumental in protecting and regenerating the wonderful stained glass of St Matthew’s.  That was a big project which was driven by Gordon.

Sandra Hazlehurst:  Good evening everyone; I’ve just come from the Federated Farmers as a guest speaker on the Havelock North water contamination, so I think this is quite an easy question actually. [Laughter]

We are having a massive workshop on 31st May. The CBD is very, very much a priority for our Council and we’re looking at opportunities with blocks, and as you say, Joyce, reducing retail; introducing business like we’ve done with Kiwibank. We’ve got a whole economic development team around bringing more of those sorts of business into town; and looking at the heritage buildings and making it easy for landlords to turn them into residential inner-city living. So there is a massive team actually, and I see there’s a new one just about every day. So we’ve got the whole focus around CBD; bringing people into actually look at this big project, and it’s a fabulous opportunity, with the Opera House re-opening at the end of next year; all sorts of accommodation, whether it’s visitor, whether it’s student, because there is the FutureCOL moving into the city. They will be bringing … well, at the moment a hundred and fifty students, but they plan to have five hundred students in Hastings, so that’s bringing young people in. And then there’s the opportunity of looking at buildings that have been vacant for a very long time, and opportunities to turn them into greenspace like we’ve done with Albert Square, and that sort of thing; and turn them into spaces that people can just come and enjoy and hang out, until they need another purpose. So there’s lots and lots of ideas, and as I say, a very committed Council now to make it all happen.

Anthea Bailey: So if you’re wondering just who are the Landmarks people, we’re all people just like you. Nobody is there paid; we’re all there on a voluntary basis because we have a great caring about our district. Landmarks people are interested in a whole realm of things; we’re not important people necessarily, but as a group, and working with Council as we do so closely, we make a difference. We’re not a monetary organisation, so – the little $20 subscription is always useful – however, we do work with Council in governing things like the Ebbett bequest, which in the past has provided funds for the statue of William Nelson. Our meeting[s] four times a year with Council, allow us to be very much informed about what’s going on, and bring a community voice to Council.

[Applause]

Joyce: Thank you, Anthea, that’s well-put.