Current and former Southland Times staff members return to sign facade
As the rain was sprinkling down on a Sunday morning last December, passer-bys would have noticed a crowd gathered in front of Kelvin Hotel on Esk St.
The swarm were all former and current Southland Times staffers, having returned to sign the old facade of The Southland Times building, before it was plastered to become an entrance for the new inner-city development.
The horde seemed to take no notice of the dreary weather, as they all cheerily greeted and hugged former colleagues they had worked alongside for years and even decades.
Jillian ‘‘George’’ Allison-Aitken said the old Southland Times building used to be her home away from home growing up.
Her mum, dad and brother worked for the paper in the past, and she joined in 1981 at 15 years old.
Jacky Kilkelly got almost teary-eyed when she spoke fondly of her time at the paper from 1974 to 1976.
Kilkelly shared the secret of how the huge walk-in safe at the old building used to be where the women would drink sherry secretly during Christmas time, when the men had made their own excuses to go to the pub.
‘‘It was the best job I ever had.’’
Those who could not make it to Invercargill were able to send a high resolution photo of their signature to be added to the wall.
The facade of the old Southland Times building – which was constructed in 1909 and housed newspaper staff until 2016 – was one of three that were retained for their heritage status when 43 buildings were demolished to make way for the new CBD development.