Pretty in pink to fight breast cancer
For the past 14 years, the memory of her great-grandmother has driven Becky Scott to volunteer for the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand (BCFNZ).
On Friday, the BCFNZ Timaru area coordinator was giving up her time again, taking to the streets to collect money during the foundation’s annual Pink Ribbon Appeal.
Scott said her greatgrandmother Jessie Kearns passed away from breast cancer when she was in her early 50s.
Although she never got the chance to meet her, it was through stories from her grandmother that the passion to volunteer for the cause was ignited.
‘‘Hearing stories from my grandmother about her mother dying was pretty awful.’’
Scott said the stories of her great-grandmother ‘‘tugged on the old heart strings’’.
This motivated her to volunteer.
‘‘It is one in nine people in New Zealand [diagnosed in their lifetime], and if it’s one in nine in New Zealand women then that’s at least one in nine men who are affected by this, by their partners, sister or mother [having breast cancer].
‘‘It’s always nice when you see a little old gentleman stop and slip a $20 bill in the bucket, you know they have been through it.’’
Last year $4000 was raised in Timaru, which went into the national pool for research and treatment for patients.
Scott was hopeful the community would pull together to raise more that $5000 this year.
South Canterbury businesses and organisations also threw their support behind the cause on Friday.
The Timaru District Council, BNZ, Timpany Walton Lawyers, Hilton Haulage Transport, RSM Law, and Quantum Advantage Chartered Accountants had shown their support for the appeal by having a pink mufti day on Friday, Scott said.
As well as Friday’s collections, volunteers in South Canterbury will be out and about on Saturday.
Building fire
A commercial building suffered ‘‘considerable damage’’ in a fire in Fairlie early on Friday morning. Fairlie chief fire officer Phil McKay said two of the town’s fire crews were called to the blaze at Mackenzie Laundries Ltd, on Princes St, just before 1.30am. A crew from Pleasant Point and another from Geraldine were also called to assist, he said. ‘‘Considerable damage was sustained to the building, it was well involved.’’ McKay confirmed there had been no one inside the building at the time of the fire. Fire safety investigation officer Craig Chambers was at the site of the fire on Friday morning along with the business owners. Chambers said the cause of the fire was not thought to be suspicious. He was still working out an exact cause of the fire.
Live streaming
The Timaru District Council is happy with how its first foray into live streaming went, with playwright Glenys Whittington’s play In Flanders Fields Passchendaele: Swear You’ll Never Forget streamed on Facebook Live on Thursday night. It attracted about 150 viewers. Council communications manager Stephen Doran said not everyone would have watched it in its entirety, and people ‘‘popped in and popped out’’. The play was posted on the South Canterbury Museum and council Facebook pages afterwards, and had been viewed about 270 times by Friday. Museum director Philip Howe said on the museum’s end everything seemed to function as it should have. However not everyone was able to watch it, and he wondered whether there were issues watching it on different devices.
Police notebook
Incidents reported to police include:
A 28-year-old Timaru woman and a Timaru man were arrested on warrants and violence charges following a car crash in Winchester on Thursday. A car crashed into a bank on State Highway 1, and when members of the public came to assist they were assaulted. A police constable was also assaulted at the scene. The man and woman were charged with common assault, assault with intent to injure and assaulting police.