NZ in the safe hands of our young people
I ATTENDED Anzac Day services in Clyde and Alexandra last week. Both services were very well attended, with a high proportion of young people in a variety of roles.
The primary school children, young people with friends and relatives, secondary school pupils and those in cadet uniform standing to attention for several hours were all respectful, alert and behaving sensitively and appropriately to the occasion.
The speech delivered by Ella Creagh, Head Girl of Dunstan High School, was exceptional, both for its composition and content, as well as the totally professional and sensitive manner in which she delivered it. As was the beautiful song Memory
composed and sung by Beau Meehan, head boy of Dunstan High School.
Well done to all those young people.
So often one reads negative and unhappy stories of today’s youth — drinking, drugs, poor driving and general inability to live productive, positive lives in ‘‘normal’’ society.
Occasions such as this Anzac Day clearly show the vast majority of our young people are fantastic.
I am confident New Zealand and its future are in very good hands.
Pat Braddick
Clyde
WE would like to congratulate the Dunedin RSA members for the excellent Anzac concert on Wednesday.
The members had been up early to attend the dawn service plus other events during the day, but were still able to give a marvellous show together with their invited guests.
It is a pity more Dunedin people did not support them in attending the show. Those that did let the members and guests know how much we all appreciated their hard work.
M. and J. Cox
Waldronville
Well done, DCC
The Dunedin City Council has nearly completed listening to what people have to say about the future of the city over the next 10 years. This public consultation has been extremely wellmanaged by council staff in my opinion and you can read all the written submissions on the council website and even see the videos of the submitters in action on the DCC You Tube channel.
However, one sour note for me was Mayor Dave Cull’s insistently stopping some (not all) submitters when they went over the allocated five minutes speaking time but had not yet completed all they had to say and really wanted to continue. Local government is required by law to be genuinely participatory.
I regularly attend council meetings as an observer and the councillors never restrict themselves to an arbitrary five minutes speaking time but talk for as long as it takes, according to the complexity and importance of the subject matter under deliberation, something which makes sense to me.
But apart from the arbitrary speakingtime limit, this has been the best local government public consultation I have ever seen in Dunedin. Diane Yeldon
Wakari
Keep reviews coming
IT was a real treat to hear soprano Anna Leese and pianist Terence Dennis at Marama Hall at lunchtime on April 18.
Such occasions are further reasons why Dunedin is a good city to live in, when we have such worldclass performers among our fellow citizens.
We have looked in vain, however, for the ODT to review this recital, as it would have done as recently as last year. We trust this was only an oversight.
We need to cherish our artists and pay them the compliment of critical appreciation in their own newspaper, as well as encouraging musical talent in the university and our community.
Alan Roddick, Peter Matheson, Heinke SommerMatheson, Brent Southgate and Mary Atwool
Dunedin