A new playground nearly ripe to be built in Lyndhurst has a green-thumb namesake.
Retired Hastings nurseryman Lawrie Cooke established fruit tree nursery sites for the orchard industry for nearly 60 years in Lyndhurst and the wider Frimley area.
Lawrie first established his company, L.E. Cooke Nurseryman Ltd, in 1956. His wife, Jan, began to help run the business in 1959.
Their son, Martin, and daughter-in-law, Kelli, now run the business, which is one of the longest-surviving fruit tree nurseries still operating in New Zealand.
Lawrie was recognised for his contribution to the industry in 2004, when he was made a life member of Summerfruit NZ and in 2008 when he was awarded life membership of the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers Association.