Thousands connect online to remember the old days
Photographs, stories and names reminiscent of the good old days in New Plymouth have been blowing up people’s newsfeeds during the Covid-19 lockdown.
In the past week, a Facebook group called ‘‘You know you lived in New Plymouth when . . .’’ has garnered about 4000 new members.
The group now has more than 4800 followers and continues to grow as people near and far use it to connect and reminisce during life under lockdown.
The page oozes New Plymouth nostalgia, with people sharing photos taken through the decades, some dating back to the early 1900s.
Images of old businesses, such as Colliers Music House, Anderson Car Sales and Ping’s Pie Cart, the Devon Mall with the prized fountain, and the popular pub Hotel Tasman were among the many to jog people’s memories.
A photo of Nga¯motu Beach circa 1950 showed cars parked close to the shore, while the Kawaroa Baths hydroslide, a picture of people fishing at the wharf (now closed to the public) and a Christmas parade at Pukekura Park have garnered many comments.
Photos of old staff, school, sports and music groups have also been shared, sparking conversations between people with mutual memories and those who wanted to track the whereabouts of old friends.
The group’s creator, Gordon Burnside, said he was blown away with the rise in membership, which he puts down to people being at a loose end during lockdown.
‘‘It’s just gone berserk. I couldn’t have predicted it.’’
The sudden spike in followers was sparked last week by a shared photo of Devon Intermediate under water following a flood in the late 1960s, he said.
‘‘It just sort of took off from there. That seemed to be the trigger.’’
Inspired by a similar page based on the township of Waitara, Burnside started the page in 2015 and said it had been ‘‘just ticking along’’.
He wanted to create a space for people to share ‘‘chit-chat’’ about the district.
While a few of the new followers were ‘‘young’’, Burnside said most were of the baby boomer generation and "substantially older". All have had their imaginations captured by the page, he said.
He has received messages of thanks from people who have reunited with buddies from as long as 30 years ago.
‘‘Nostalgia sells. I think the page will continue to snowball, not at the same pace, after lockdown. It might be somewhere where people continue to make contact and look up old friends.’’