Jan’s win brightens gloom
WHEN we rang Jan Moore in Bannockburn yesterday to tell her she had won the ‘‘My city, my town’’ photo contest — and a chocolate bar! — it was clear we had really made her day.
‘‘Oh, that’s lovely — just what I needed to hear on a day like this,’’ she laughed.
Why? Well, Jan’s winning photo, republished today, showing nearby Cromwell in all its autumn glory, could not have been replicated yesterday, she confessed.
‘‘No, it’s been awful today; a low inversion cloud, freezing cold and quite miserable. We just need a wind to blow it all away,’’ is how she described the weather in her town.
In congratulating Jan for her winning effort, I pointed out my ODT photographic colleagues and I had agreed her picture ‘‘met the brief’’ we set readers last month — capturing the essence of her town.
Jan managed to get Cromwell’s distinctive ‘‘big fruit’’ sculpture, the contrasting colours of the Wooing Tree vineyard and the rugged Central Otago hills as a backdrop, all in the one image, taken on April 28 this year.
‘‘Well, the light was just perfect that morning,’’ she acknowledged modestly.
Jan admits photography is one of her main retirement hobbies. A former radiographer from Dunedin (‘‘I’ve swapped black and white for colour’’), she moved to Bannockburn about 1112 years ago and says she just loves where she lives.
Such was the quality of the other images, I’ve decided to name four runnersup.
Stu Hardisty’s shot of the iconic (and disappearing) St Clair ‘‘poles’’ and the recent aurora was a strong contender for top honours, as was Brian Treanor’s moody shot of the Octagon on a wet night.
Craig Latimer’s eyecatching photo of the ‘‘Roman baths’’ at Blackhead got full marks for its ‘‘surprise’’ qualities, as did Helen Laney’s imaginative take on the portal at Oamaru’s Steampunk headquarters.
So, well done to that quintet and also to everyone else who participated. We ended up with 58 entries (43 published in the print edition), which was a great response. All entries will be published on ODT Online.
Stay tuned for The Wash’s next readers’ photo contest. We’ll give some thought to the topic and let you know. Suggestions anyone?
Manual training memories
The popularity of our topic earlier this week, about manual training, shows little sign of abating.
Here are some more memories from readers:
Lorraine Young writes: ‘‘Hi Dave. Further to your ‘manual’ information, we were transported to Moray Pl for manual in the late ’50s — for our Form 1 Year (from Tainui School). The Moray Place Manual Centre was opposite the Town Hall, probably in the old Otago Education Board Building (can’t quite place exactly where). For our Form 2 Year we went to Tahuna Intermediate (in 1960) for manual even though the school wasn’t open as an intermediate until the following year. The manual block was up and running a year earlier than the school. Thanks for your interesting column.’’
And Annabel Cameron added: ‘‘Dear Dave. I was a Form 1 and 2 (now year 7 and 8) pupil at Maori Hill School in the years 1959 and 1960, before Balmac Intermediate opened. We were taken to Arthur Street primary school for cooking and woodwork. No choice was offered to gender. Girls cooked, boys made stuff! After I brought home Anzac biscuits my mother had me baking them endlessly! The stewed greengages were not so popular! Everything was done by hand. No cake mixers or kitchen whizzes. It was a sound, basic education which has enabled me to feed a family economically for the past 45 years.’’
Facebook readers were also keen on the topic, including:
Blair Campbell who posted: ‘‘I went to Heriot School and we went to Tapanui for manual training. It was one of the highlights of the week, a bus ride and the boys went to woodwork and the girls did cooking. I remember the two teachers we had were Mr Hay and Mr Hoskin and they taught us skills I still use to this day.’’
Shaun Scott who writes: ‘‘ Can remember doing this at Argyle St, Mosgiel in 87 and 88. In those days the boys and girls did the same things, Cooking, Sewing and woodwork. Still have the exercise books somewhere. Can remember making a pencil case with sliding top in woodwork, a pillow case and barrel bag in sewing and, for some reason, scone base pizzas and sultana biscuits stick in my memory from cooking.’’