From snipping tresses to nailing a new future
Apprentice builder Anthony Prince’s first day on the job was an eye opener.
Used to working indoors with central heating and chatting to clients, the 30-year-old former Auckland barber was instead toiling away on a cold windy Taranaki construction site rugged up against the elements.
‘‘It was overwhelming at first working on a large site in New Plymouth with the size and scope of the job to take in,’’ Prince said.
‘‘I spent the whole day grinding holes for eight hours.
‘‘I thought many times to myself, ‘what have I done to get this’.’’
Prince came back to work the next day, and every day thereafter, without a second thought of quitting.
The job improved the more he persevered, he said.
Last month Prince, a Solomon Islander, was awarded an IAG Trade Scholarship, in conjunction with the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO), one of only two in Taranaki to be awarded in 2018.
Prince’s decision to move to Taranaki to find a better quality of life for his wife and three young children has proved a sound move.
When a friend in phoned him about a jumped at the chance.
After settling into the new town he looked at training as a builder.
Though his father was a electrical engineer, and his mother Hawera job he was a chef, strong practical skills had not necessarily filtered down to him, he said.
‘‘I’d always had an idea at the back of my mind I’d like to be a builder because I liked working with my hands.’’
Prince enrolled in a seven month pre-trade course in New Plymouth through the Western Institute of Technology Taranaki (WITT), Taranaki Futures, and Ma¯ ori Pasifika Trades Training (MPTT), to complete the theory assignments.
He was taken on soon after by Clelands Construction as an adult apprentice carpenter to complete the course practical units over the next three to four years.
‘‘Clelands weren’t hiring at the time but I kept asking around and eventually landed a job,’’ he said.
‘‘I was a bit lucky, many of the other people on the pre-trade course still have not found apprenticeships.’’
There had been no regrets with the lifestyle change, he said.
‘‘I was working two jobs in Auckland, as a barber and night duty noise control officer, up to 140 hours a week to pay the rent and living costs.
‘‘There was no choice really for us, it was sink or swim.’’
Weekly rent and commuting costs have halved for Prince since moving to New Plymouth.
‘‘We’re not struggling now as we used to.’’
Being older than most apprentices had also helped Prince.
‘‘He’s smart and he uses his brain, and he has a good attitude, like getting to work on time and self discipline, which some of the young fellas we get don’t have,’’ Clelands site manager Sam Wiringi said.
‘‘He’s here for life if he wants to stay.’’ With two garden festivals, a national art award and a festival featuring an explosion of knitting on its main street, Opunake is set to become Taranaki’s culture capital – for the next few weeks at least.
Various community groups have got together to promote the seaside town on Taranaki’s coastal highway 45.
Monique Sinclair, who is part of Destination Opunake and one of the organisers of the Opunake Yarn Bomb knitting display, said they hoped to get people in the town working together to promote all the events going on and lure visitors away from the main centres.
‘‘It is a true testament of community spirit and people working together. After last year’s event, people were so inspired and enthusiastic to hold it again. We have some surprises in store,’’ she said.
‘‘It was great to notice people slowing down in the street, talking to others and smiling.’’
The Powerco Garden Festival and Taranaki Fringe Festival open on Friday, and the National Art Awards will be announced at Opunake’s Sandford Events Centre later that evening.
Everybody’s Theatre is showing NZ Film Festival movies until November 4 and several Opunake artists will feature in the Arts Fest South Taranaki, which includes open galleries, pop-up shops, workshops and concerts around the district.
The most obvious sign of the festivities will be the Yarn Bomb, which will feature a life-sized knitted cow and displays in many of the shops and around the Sandford Event Centre and the St Barnabas Church.
It is the second year of the Yarn Bomb and the main street will again be festooned with an explosion of crochet and knitted creations in the a community art project, and Sinclair said expectations were very high after the great success of last year.
‘‘We’re all excited, it will be an awesome day,’’ Sinclair said.
The secret clifftop community garden near the main beach entrance is one of the festival gardens, and will also get some yarn bombing treatment.
A town market day is also being held on the main street this Saturday, October 27.
‘‘Opunake may be small in size, but we are mighty in spirit. That’s what I love about this community. People will have an idea and tell others, then everyone gets on board to make it happen. We are a vibrant community with loads of inspiration, creativity and colour,’’ Sinclair said.
She said visitors could also enjoy the year-round pleasures of eating at a local cafe or taking fish and chips to one of the two beaches.