Is this The Press’ oldest subscriber?
Pauline Valentine knows what she does and doesn’t like about her newspaper.
And so she should. As she turns 100 today, she will be heading into her 79th year subscribing to The Press.
Valentine believes she may be the longest continuous subscriber to Christchurch’s daily newspaper, having signed up with husband Harrie when the two moved from Timaru in 1938.
‘‘I must be one of the oldest customers . . . I think it’s time they gave it to me now, after all these years.’’
As the world has changed, Valentine has witnessed changes to the writing style, design and content of newspapers.
Not all of the changes are appreciated either.
‘‘Sometimes I do dislike The Press when you open it up and there’s just great big pages of colour adverts, especially on a Saturday.
‘‘I think a newspaper should be news and not all these extras. They put in all sorts of things now, looking for the best photograph for the summer.’’
There was no edition of The Press issued on Valentine’s birthday in 1938, a Sunday, but the following day readers were offered ‘‘Hoity-Toity’’ at the Theatre Royal, a list of passengers by air and ‘‘News for Women’’.
Such snippets included partygoers ‘‘delighted with the views of the ocean and estuary from the garden’’.
Many of the stories were simply one paragraph amid separate columns, listed throughout the newspaper’s entirety.
Valentine still enjoys the similar aspects of modern papers, favouring news briefs and ‘‘In a few words’’ columns over longer stories.
But when she unrolls The Press each morning, she first flicks to the weather page. She also keeps an eye out for Joe Bennett’s column and the cartoons of Al Nisbet.
Reading the paper was a way to keep informed, and being required to leave school at age 12 would not deter Valentine from turning its pages daily.
‘‘I missed out in schooling because of the Great Depression . . . So I’ve educated myself ever since.’’
She also attended Hillmorton High School in 1991, at the age of
‘‘I missed out in schooling . . . so I’ve educated myself ever since.’’ Long-time reader Pauline Valentine
74, where she was the oldest student that year and ‘‘one point below top girl’’.
The Valentines moved to Christchurch for Harrie’s work – a mason who would go on to work on the Ballantynes building.
Work with Hohepa Homes Valentine, said she was ‘‘distinctive in a number of ways’’ and drove until the age of 95 before deciding to give it up.
‘‘She’s very proud to be turning 100 . . . As a side, she has better eyesight than I do and I’m in my early 70s.’’