Letters to the Editor
Memories of Cambridge
Barbara Fisher, the last president of Lyceum House in Cambridge. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
In researching some articles recently I came across a story in the Cambridge News about the closing of the Lyceum Club.
My grandmother Evelyn Rishworth was the club’s first president and the story brought back many memories of time spent in Cambridge in the early 1950s. My grandparents lived on a farm across the road from Karapiro School where my mother and three sisters were all pupils. In those days a trip from Auckland, where we lived, to Karapiro was a four-hour journey on largely unsealed roads — a far cry from a trip I made a couple of years ago in under two hours — but the chance to visit our grandparents was well worth it.
My grandfather, injured at Gallipoli in WW1 did not drive but my grandmother did and I can remember going the five miles into town to Walsh Motors with her to get her car serviced. While waiting she would take me and my brother to the nearby library which was not far from from “the white church on the corner” where my parents were married and I was christened.
She also treated us at the cafe wedged on to the corner of Victoria and Dukes Streets which, in a much-changed form, remains today. The dam needed behind the hydro power station in the late 1940s meant the Waikato River backed up and took part of the farm which my grandparents eventually sold and moved into town.
I can remember swimming in the lake above the power station and as a sports reporter later marvelled at how the lake became one of the premier rowing courses in the world.
Cambridge might still be considered a “sleepy New Zealand town” but it is much, much more than that as one of the real sporting hubs in New Zealand but still with a wide main street most towns and cities would die for. The loss of institutions like the Lyceum Club are, sadly, a sign of the times but the memories linger on and, hopefully, will never be forgotten.
Terry Maddaford
Gold Coast
Terry Maddaford, left, with siblings Wendy, Rex and Tony with mum Pam.
Three into one
Susan O’Regan, Mike Pettit, Clare St Pierre.
So, three have put their hands up to be mayor: the incumbent (Susan O’Regan), Mike Pettit and Claire St-Pierre. I made the mistake of voting for the incumbent last time solely because she promised to improve communication with residents. And look how that turned out. Not this time. I was enthused reading Pettit’s pitch for the role but that quickly turned to scorn when I saw that he would, “prioritise partnerships with mana whenua to strengthen the Māori economy”. Since when has that been a core function of council? Pettit would be well advised to take a look at Tainui’s accounts over the last few years and the financial clout they have to expand and build the Māori economy here rather than use rates, most of which are paid by non-Māori So that rules him out. St-Pierre’s pitch looks reasonable on the face of it but we have heard it all before. I might have to vote for her just because I reject the others. Not the best reason… but the alternative is not to vote at all.
Kelvin Dunn
Cambridge
LGNZ decision
It is astounding that mayor Susan O’Regan has not even had a discussion with the council about leaving the LGNZ. (The News, July 17).
With council expenditure requiring a rate rise, and already having executive positions, one wonders how the council can justify also subscribing to LGNZ at a rate of supposed $122,000.
Furthermore, I thought it would be the people that the council represents that should influence policy, not a left-leaning agency that tells the council what to do. One of the roles of LGNZ, according to Google, is to provide policy advice and support to member councils. What input does the voter get on this policy advice?
(Abridged)
Delwyn Smith
Cambridge
Letters to Editor. Photo: Pixabay
