Newspaper Article 2006 – It was a riot – especially in 1960

It was a riot – especially in 1960

They were among the youngest to win the title and more than 40 years later Nicola Radonich and Helena La Hood still love reminiscing over the day they were crowned blossom queens.

Mrs Radonich, then Nicola Hearn, lived in Havelock North and was 18 at the time she and about 20 other women entered the week-long competition to find a new blossom queen in 1964.

Mrs La Hood, then known by her maiden name Helena Hannah, was also 18, from Hastings when she was crowned in 1960, just the third blossom queen for the city.

The two say it wasn’t a beauty competition – rather it was about personality and how well the contestants could prove to be ambassadors for Hastings

“It definitely wasn’t a beauty competition but when you look at the blossom queens, beauty had to come into it,” Mrs Radonich said.

The contestants worked seven days under the watchful eye of judges and were on parade most nights at the Hastings Municipal Theatre.

Mrs La Hood said she remembered well-known entertainers such as the Howard Morrison Quartet and presenter of the television show, It’s In The Bag, Selwyn Toogood also being prominent during the time she contested the crown.

After winning the competition she appeared on It’s In The Bag as a guest.

Mrs Radonich’s mother, Margaret Hearn, recorded many of the blossom parades on film, from 1953 to 1973, including the year when she was crowned.

The 8mm films are now being recorded on to a DVD and will also be used as part of a film entitled, Golden Queens and Silver Tureens.

The film will be showed as part of an exhibition showcasing the period of the 1950s to 1960s from September to March next year, at the Hastings Exhibition Centre. It will include interviews with Mrs Radonich, Mrs La Hood and Margaret Ross – blossom queen of 1973.

Another piece of memorabilia, Mrs Radonich’s collection of gowns and photographs of the times, were stolen when they were part of an exhibition in Hastings in 1999, the last time the blossom queens gathered.

“I had my sash and gown taken. Jeremy Dwyer (then Hastings Mayor) appealed to try and get them back,” she remembered.

“Winning the competition opened up other opportunities for the blossom queens.

Mrs Radonich went on to model for the New Zealand Wool Board and Mrs La Hood enjoyed her 12-month term in the public eye.

“I was quite shy. It opened up a lot of doors, I saw places and met people that I wouldn’t have normally,” Mrs La Hood said.

There was more than one reason to remember the time when she won the competition: Paradise City Princess, Jean Clark, had arrived from Surfers Paradise in Australia to crown Mrs La Hood.

It was also the year of street unrest around Hastings as hundreds of visitors protested at the cancellation of that year’s parade.

Mrs La Hood said about 400 people from Wellington had arrived on trains from Wellington especially for the event, and a riot, nicknamed “The Battle of Hastings,” broke out when rain forced organisers to cancel the parade.

The police and fire department were called in to settle the commotion and “had to hose the crowd down”, she said.

“So the organisers decided to put on an impromptu parade – there were only a couple of floats and two marching bands – usually there were about 10.

“I was on one float, wrapped in plastic to keep my dress dry from the rain,” she remembered.

Mrs La Hood, who now lives in Waipukurau, and Mrs Radonich, who returned to Hastings a decade ago, say people still remember their appointments as blossom queens.

“I lived away from Hastings when I was about 19 and a half and I came back about 10 years ago.

“People still remember me. I was the queen the year they had the Battle of Hastings,” she said.

Photo captions –

TURBULENT REIGN: Helena La Hood, from Hastings, was blossom queen in 1960 during the “Battle of Hastings”.

HAIL HELENA: Helena La Hood (nee Hannah) was 18 when she was crowned in 1960.

FOND MEMORIES: Nicola Radonich, from Waipukurau, was crowned blossom queen in 1964.

HB TODAY PICTURES: PAUL TAYLOR