How else are we going to pay?

Borrowing billions of dollars to stay still isn’t good economics.

The government can change that by spending less or taking more tax and it’s making progress on both those fronts.

But there are limits to spending cuts if it’s to keep its election promises - and it is determined to do that.

It has also said any tax changes will be fiscally neutral.

That leaves finding new ways to make money and extracting some of the mineral wealth which lies under our land could be part of that.

That idea isn’t universally popular and it’s no surprise that the leaked cabinet papers on possibilities for mining have been greeted with shrieks of outrage.

But a lot of that opposition is based on emotion not facts. If there is any mining it will be on a tiny amount of land and any applications will be subject to the safeguards of the resource consent process.

As Grey Distrct mayor Tony Kokshoorn said:

. . . there were “huge areas of the DOC estate that could be mined.

“The bottom line is that we are not going to let anybody ruin the West Coast, and the RMA [Resource Management Act] protects it,” he said.

Applicants will have to go through the consent process and that will ensure that any economic and social benefits from mining don’t come at the expense of the environment.

Emotion put an end to sustainable logging on the West Coast.

I hope it doesn’t put paid to new jobs and other wealth creating opportunities which could come from mining a small amount of land with low conservation values there. 

Because if we’re not allowed to mine then how else are we going to pay for the services which we’re borrowing so much to fund?

March 19 in history

On March 19:

1279  A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen eneds the Song Dynasty in China.

1687 Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, was murdered by his own men.

1813 David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer, was born.

1821 Richard Francis Burton, British explorer, diplomat and author, was born.

1839 Bees were introduced to New Zealand.

1848 Wyatt Earp, American policeman and gunfighter, was born.

1853 The Taiping reform movement occupied and makes Nanjing its capital.

 The Heavenly king’s throne in Nanjing

1861 The First Taranaki War ended.

 

1863  The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.

1865  The Battle of Bentonville started.

1866 A hurricane caused major damages in Buenos Aires.

1906 Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official, was born.

1915 Pluto  was photographed for the first time but is not recognised as a planet.

1916 Irving Wallace, American novelist, was born.

1916 Eight American planes took off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history.

1918 The U.S. Congress established time zones and approved daylight saving time.

1921 One of the biggest engagements of theIrish War of Independence took place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped an attempt by more than 1,300 British forces to encircle them.

 1921 Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician, was born.

1921 Italian Fascists shot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children were killed, two mangled and three wounded.

1931  Gambling was legalized in Nevada.

1932 The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened.

1933 Philip Roth, American author, was born.

1936 Ursula Andress, Swiss actress, was born.

 

1941 The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, was activated.

 

1944 Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize, was born.

1944 World War II: Nazi forces occupied Hungary.

1945 A dive bomber hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13), killing 724 of her crew.

1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issued his “Nero Decree” ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.

1946 Jayforce landed in Japan.

1946 French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.

1946  Ruth Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters), was born.

 

1947 Glenn Close, American actress, was born.

1952  Warren Lees, New Zealand Test wicket-keeper, was born.

1953 Ricky Wilson, American musician (The B-52′s), was born.

1954 Willie Mosconi set the world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio.

1955 Bruce Willis, American actor, was born.

1958 The Monarch Underwear Company fire left 24 dead and 15 injured.

1962 – Algerian War of Independence: A ceasefire takes effect.

1965 The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 was discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.

1969 The 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, collapses due to ice build- up.

1972 India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.

1982 Falklands War: Argentinian forces landed on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.

1989 The Egyptian Flag was raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Peace negotiations in 1979.

1990 The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureş began.

2002 Operation Anaconda ended (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.

2002 – Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of election tampering, following a turbulent presidential election.

2004 Konginkangas bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people were killed and 13 injured.

 

2004 A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea was recovered after years of work.

2004 Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot just before the country’s presidential election on March 20.

 Chen and Lu minutes before the shooting incident

2008  GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye was briefly observed

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Long Train Running

Happy birthday John Hartman – 60 today.

Heartaches By The Number

Happy birthday Charley Pride – 82 today.

Policy making in a sieve

One of the clauses in the employment contracts our staff signs deals with confidentiality.

It’s a standard clause which most private businesses require of their staff.

That requirement is even more important in the public service so I am pleased the States Services Commissioner has been asked to investigate leaks of cabinet papers about mining on conservation land and changes to the state sector:

 Commissioner Mr Rennie said the unauthorised release of Government information has the potential to seriously undermine trust in the Public Service.

The government ought to consult its ministries when developing policy.

But if Ministers can’t trust staff to maintain confidentiality during policy development they are going to be much less willing to consult and much less open when they do.

That is not good for government or democracy.

Turn public service fat into muscle

The Public Service Association won’t be happy that the number of  number of full-time equivalent staff positions in the core government administration has fallen 1,480 or 3.8% over the 2009 year (from 38,859 to 37,379).

But the general public is unlikely to be concerned.

That doesn’t mean that bureaucrats don’t do important and necessary work. But the steep increase in the core government administration from 1999 to 2008 was unsustainable.

The public service became bloated and the fat needs to be cut out of the system - not so deeply that it gets to the muscle, just deep enough to  give front line staff the support they need without dragging down the economy.

Less fat and more muscle in the public service will be better for it and the country.

11/15

This week’s Dominion Post political quiz  was longer and harder. It had five extra questions and I got four answers wrong: 11/15.

This is how it works

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples was moved to give Labour a lesson on MMP government:

“In Parliament today, Labour MPs asked why I, as Associate Minister of Corrections, was not consulted about the three strikes policy.

“The reality is that I was given briefings, I saw Cabinet papers and attended Cabinet meetings as Minister of Maori Affairs,” said Dr Sharples.

“In that capacity I have a very close relationship with Dr Sharples as Associate Minister of Corrections and with Dr Sharples the Co-leader of the Maori Party,” he said.

Had Labour invited the Maori Party into government they might already have understood how it works.

March 18 in history

On March 18:

37 The Roman Senate annulled Tiberius‘ will and proclaimed Caligula emperor.

1229 Frederick II,  Holy Roman Emperor declared himself King of Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade.

1241 Kraków was ravaged by Mongols.

1314 Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake.

Born

1438 Albert II of Habsburg became King of Germany.

1608 Susenyos was formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.

1766 The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, which had been very unpopular in the British colonies.

 American newspapers reacted to the Stamp Act with anger and predictions of the demise of journalism.

1781 Charles Messier rediscovered global cluster M92.

1834  Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle were sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.

1837 Grover Cleveland, 22^nd and 24^th President of the United States, was born.

1850 American Express was founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.

1858 Rudolf Diesel, German inventor, was born.

1865 The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourned for the last time.

1869 Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born.

1871 Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, ordered evacuation of Paris.

 

1893 Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledged to donate a silver challenge cup, later named after him, as an award for the best hockey team in Canada - the Stanley Cup.

1893 Wilfred Owen, British poet, was born.

1906 Traian Vuia flew the first self-propelled heavier-than-air aircraft in Europe.

 

1913  King George I of Greece was assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.

1915 Richard Condon, American novelist, was born.

1915 Three battleships were sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

1921  The second Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union.

1922 Mohandas Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.

 

1922 – The first public celebration of Bat mitzvah, for the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, was held in New York City.

1923 Mathrubhumi one of the largest Malayalam daily started to publish from Kozhikode in Kerala.

1925 The Tri-State Tornado hit the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695 people.

1928 Fidel V. Ramos, 12^th President of the Philippines, was born.

1932 John Updike, American author, was born.

1936 Frederik Willem de Klerk, President of South Africa, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born.

1937 The New London School explosion killed three hundred, mostly children.

 

1937 –  Spanish Republican forces defeated the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.

1937 – The human-powered aircraft, Pedaliante, flew1 kilometre (0.62 mi) outside Milan.

 

1938 Charley Pride, American musician, was born.

1938  Mexico nationalised all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.

1940 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass and agreed to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.

1941 New Zealand troops arrived in Greece to bolster Allied defences.

1944 Dick Smith, Australian Adventurer and Businessman, was born.

 

1944 The eruption of Mount Vesuvius  killed 26 and causes thousands to flee their homes.

1945 Joy Fielding, Canadian novelist and actress, was born.

 

1945 World War II: 1,250 American bombers attacked Berlin.

1947 Patrick Barlow, English actor, comedian and playwright, was born.

1949 Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player, was born.

1950 John Hartman, American drummer (Doobie Brothers, was born.

1951  Ben Cohen, American co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, was born.

1953 An earthquake hit western Turkey, killing 250.

1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law allowing for Hawaiian statehood.

1960 James MacPherson, Scottish actor, was born.

1962 The Evian Accords put an end to the Algerian War of Independence.

1965 Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonovleft his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes to become the first person to walk in space.

 

1967 The supertanker Torrey Canyon ran aground off the Cornish coast.

1968  Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.

1970 Lon Nol ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

1971 A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashed into Lake Yanahuani killing 200.

1974 Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

 

1980 At Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, 50 people were killed by an explosion of a Vostok-2M rocket on its launch pad during a fueling operation.

1989 A 4,400-year-old mummy was found near the Pyramid of Cheops.

 

1990  In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $300 million, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.

1996 A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines killed 162.

1997  The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 on board and leading to the grounding of all An-24s.

2003 – British Sign Language was recognised as an official British language.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

No Matter What

Stephen Gately would have been 34 today.

Unforgettable

Nat King Cole would have been 91 today.

Where have all the tussocks gone?

If you’re as casual about details as my farmer and I are and travel a route often you don’t necessarily register changes.

But for several months now every time we’ve gone over the Lindis Pass we’re sure that we’re seeing fewer tussocks.

The hills we remember being covered in gold are rapidly going bald.

This can’t be blamed on stock. The land was retired under the tenure review process and is now part of the conservation estate under DOC’s stewardship.

Is this a conincidence or the cause?

Could it be that the stock, rather than harming the tussock helped preserve it?

Did sheep and cattle graze species which compete with tussock and/or did their dung provide nutrients for the tussocks themselves or bugs which fostered tussocks and frustrated competitors?

Is something attacking the tussock?

Or are our memories faulty and were the hills never gold?

Newsflash – MP’s rude – UPDATED

And the finalists for the inability to distinguish between news and nonsense category of the Mediocres are: the newspapers, radio stations and televisions channels which covered the non-news that an MP was rude.

Why am I not including bloggers in that roll of dishonour? Because blogs are the personal views of the people who write them, most don’t try to be balanced, some break news, some are written by journalists but they are not main stream media. 

The MSM is supposed to be objective and to differentiate between what’s in the public interest and what the public might be interested in.

If journalists have to cover stories like this they could at least do it properly and give their readers/listeners/viewers some idea of what the children were doing and how loudly they were doing it when Charles Chauvel was moved to wish they’d shut up.

It would have been better still if that idea had been an objective one rather than a did-didn’t exchange by Chauvel and the children’s mother.

From any of the reports I’ve seen it’s impossible to know how disruptive the chidlren were and if Chauvel’s comment was just a quiet aside to his partner or whether he deliberately said it loudly enough for the parents to hear in the hope they’d quieten the kids.

But whatever the truth is it’s not something which needs or should be covered by the MSM.

They should concentrate on news and leave the nonsense to bloggers who are having a field day:

Kiwiblog posts on winning over the voters one at a time

Keeping Stock thinks Chauvel should stop digging

Roarprawn says stfu noisy kids are not okay

Cactus Kate writes Charles Chauvel chucks a Galdys

Dim Posts posts on Nemesis :

I hope the Speaker takes another look at charging rent for the press gallery offices, just to see Lockwood try and keep a straight face when the political media insists it ‘fulfils a vital role in our democracy’.

Oswald Bastable posts on the subject of MPs and kids on aircraft

Whaleoil says Charlie Shovel hates kids pisses off blogger

At Pundit Andrew Geddis writes I love the news it’s my favourite show

PM of NZ posts Move along, nothing to see here

Fairfacts Media reckons he’s only a bit of a Charlie

Crusader Rabbit says so control them

Alf Grumble reckons that’s what comes with flying your family to see pixies you end up in flak

And Poneke justifiably despairs with Stop the presses Finance Ministers wife buying junk food for her children in Thorndon New World

UPDATE:

Andrei posts on yesterday’s storm in a tea cup at NZ Conservative.

Kiwiblog has more thoughts on the Chauvel story

Whaleoil writes keep digging Charlie

and Brian Edwards scores parents nil, media nil MP 8 out of 10

Sláinte

Sláinte, top o’ the morning, and happy St Patricks Day.

March 17 in history

On March 17:

45 BC Julius Caesar defeated the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.

180 Marcus Aurelius died leaving Commodus as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

624 Led by Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeated the Quraysh of Mecca in the Battle of Badr.

 

1337 Edward, the Black Prince was made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy made in England.

1473 King James IV of Scotland was born.

1756 Saint Patrick’s Day was celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).

 

1776 American Revolution: British forces evacuated Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington and Henry Knox placed artillery overlooking the city.

1780 American Revolution: George Washington granted the Continental Army a holiday “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence”.

1805 The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.

1834 Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and inventor was born.

 

1845 The rubber band was patented.

 

1846 Kate Greenaway, English children’s author and illustrator, was born.

 

1860 The opening shots of the first Taranaki War were fired when imperial troops attacked a pa built by the Te Ati Awa chief Te Rangitake at Te Kohia.

1861 The Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) was proclaimed.

1864 Joseph Baptista Indian Home Rule founder was born.

1880 Lawrence Oates, English army officer and Antarctic explorer, was born.

1919 Nat King Cole, American singer, was born.

1920 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Founding Leader of Bangladesh, was born.

1938 Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer and choreographer, was born.

1938 Zola Taylor, American singer (The Platters), was born.

1939 Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan started.

1941 The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC was officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1941 Paul Kantner, American musician (Jefferson Airplane) was born.

1942 The first Jews from the Lviv Ghetto were gassed at the Belzec death camp (eastern Poland).

1945 The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany collapsed, ten days after its capture.

1947 First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.

1948 Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels.

1950  Researchers at the University of California announced the creation of element 98, which they name “Californium.”

1951 Scott Gorham, American musician (Thin Lizzy) was born.

1954 Lesley-Anne Down, English actress, was born.

1957 A plane crash in Cebu killed Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.

1958 The United States launched the Vanguard 1 satellite.

1959 Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled Tibet for India.

1960 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action programme that led to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

1966  Off the coast of Spain, the Alvin submarine found a missing American hydrogen bomb.

 

1967 Billy Corgan, American musician (Smashing Pumpkins), was born.

1969 Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer, was born.

1969 Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

1970 My Lai Massacre: The United States Army charged 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.

1973 The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy was taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family.

 The photograph Burst of Joy. From left to right, Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, Lorrie Stirm, Bo Stirm, Cindy Stirm, Loretta Stirm, and Roger Stirm. (© Slava Veder / Associated Press)

1976 Stephen Gately, Irish singer, musician, and actor (Boyzone) was born.

1979 The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.

1988 A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashed into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.

1988 Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, was attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.

1992 Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Suicide car bomb attack killed 29 and injured 242.

2000 More than 800 members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult.

2003 Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigned from the British Cabinet over his disagreement with government plans for the war with Iraq.

2004 Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 killed, 200 wounded, and the destruction of 35 Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.

Sourced from NZ History and Wikipedia.

Rumpole v Bullingham

Leo McKern would have been 90 today.

Who would have thought the man who brought the quintessential English lawyer to life was an Aussie?

Whoops

A friend talks about having one of those fortnights this week.

I’m having one of those years this month – things to do, places to go, people to see, alterations to oversee . . . which is why I didn’t realise I’d started today’s history post and scheduled it without finishing it.

Whoops, sorry.

Will do better with tomorrow.

Tuesday’s answers

Monday’s questions were:

1. Which country produces and consumes the most sheep meat?

2. Who has won 16 Golden Shears open contests and who won this year?

3. What is antimetabole?

4. Who is the only woman to have won two Nobel Prizes?

5. Pogonophobia is a fear of what?

Andrei got three right and gets a bonus for knowing Greek.

JC got one right and a half for Fagan.

Gravedodgerand David  got three right.

PDM got two right with a bonus for extra information ont he shearers and lateral thinking with his answer to #5.

Rob got two with a bonus for confusing me with his answer to #2 and for trying with his answer to #3.

Tuesday’s answers follow the break.

Sunflower season

 One of the many benefits of living in rural North Otago is that from late January we’re treated to spectacular views of sunflowers :

They’re grown by Mitchell and Webster, New Zealand’s largest producers of snuflower seeds and they’re used for bird feed.

This photo was taken a month ago, the sunflowers are now drying off, ready for harvest.

Bill King – a good man

The lovingly tended garden always caught my eye when I walked past. Sometimes the gardener was there and we exchanged a smile and greeting.

One day I stopped for a longer conversation and introduced myself.

“I know who you are,” he replied with a grin.

I soon learned this wasn’t surprising because there was very little which happened in Wanaka which Bill King didn’t know about. This wasn’t because he was nosey, it was because he genuinely and passionately cared about and for his community and its people.

He was a successful businessman and in spite of the time and energy that required his community service was notable for depth, breadth and length in a variety of organisations.

I had most contact with him through the National Party which he joined more than 40 years ago after the local MP helped him with a problem.

He said that showed him that politics was really about helping people and being Bill he wanted to be part of that. He joined the party and became a dedicated, loyal, committed, active and involved member.

If there was a need for volunteer assistance, Bill was always willing. 

Putting up a tent at the annual A&P show, manning it and helping to take it down; collecting subs, selling raffles; encouraging others to support meetings and fundraisers; taking people to and from meetings and polling booths; helping with special votes; putting up, looking after and taking down election hoardings; delivering election material; helping candidates and MPs with local knowledge and contacts . . . if there was a job for a volunteer in Wanaka or further afield, Bill was there to do what is required and more.

This was only a small part of his voluntary work which was notable for the length, breadth and depth of his service in a variety of organisations.

These included the church, Fire Brigade, Wanaka Promotion Association, Grand Lodge, volunteer ambulance driver, Justice of the Peace, Wanaka Pony Club, Wanaka Coroner, Queenstown Lakes District Council, deputy mayor, Chairman of the Wanaka Community Board, ex-officio on Guardians of Lake Wanaka, member of Friends of Dunstan Hospital, Upper Clutha RSA co-ordinator, responsible for placing and instructing mobility scooters,  Masonic Lodge and Hospice Appeal co-ordinator.

Bill’s selflessness was recognised when he was awarded a Queenstown Lakes District Council Community Service Award in 1998 and a QSM in 2000.

However, he never sought the limelight nor expected thanks, he has just quietly noticed when something has needed to be done and done it. Had it not been for his illness he would still be doing it.

He developed cancer last year and not wanting to wait until it was too late, Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean organised a function to honour him.

It was humbling to be there, to learn more about what Bill had done and to see the high regard in which he was held in his community.

The evening wasn’t without hope, because that day he’d received news that the tumour in his lungs was getting smaller.

Sadly that was a reprieve, not a cure and last Wednesday he died.

He wouldn’t have wanted to take anyone away from the weekend’s show so his funeral was delayed until yesterday. Family and friends, among whom were representatives of the many groups and organisations he’d helped and supported, filled St Andrews Presbyterian Church and the hall then spilled out on to the lawn. 

We laughed and we cried as we listened to tributes to Bill the husband, father, friend, businessman, bus driver, cook, colleague, councillor, and volunteer extraordinaire.

At the end of the service anyone from a group he’d been associated with was invited to join the fire brigade and ambulance in forming a guard of honour. The lines stretched down the church drive and in to the street.

It was a fitting farewell for a very fine man.