Shane Jones, master speechmaker and collector of hats. In Kawakawa at the train station he chose to wear a railway cap for his political announcement.
If there's a traditional pathway to becoming an Anglican priest, Stan Pilbrow doesn't appear to have followed it.
He was 27 years in the New Zealand Army, rising through officer ranks to Lieutenant Colonel. He had command and staff appointments in New Zealand and served in the Middle East with the United Nations as a military observer on the Golan Heights, South Lebanon and Jerusalem.
He was posted as a tutor at the Jungle Warfare Centre in Malaysia and has worked in the South Pacific on army and church projects.
He has a NZ Operational Service Medal, a Long Service and Good Conduct medal which he suggested is for "undetected crime". He has a United Nations Truce Supervision Medal and in 2014 was awarded the New Zealand Defence Service Medal.
It seems a contradiction that a career soldier trained in the art of warfare is now a priest. But Rev Pilbrow said that "art" involves teaching leadership, organisation, problem-solving and logistics.
"They are skills that come in handy in a church setting and when you've helped move 100 people to Namibia for peace-keeping duties, organising a church fete is not such a difficulty."
His ties to Northland are extensive. His iwi is Ngati Kahu through his mother and his Pākehā father is from the Bay of Plenty. His primary schooling was at Rangiawhia on the Karikari Peninsula, followed by Taipa District High and Kaitaia College.
He thinks Pilbrow Hill just north of the Brynderwyns "might be named after a rellie". As for his Anglican faith, that began early.
"I attended Sunday school every week until I began high school. The church and karakia were important parts of Māori rural life and very few of our life milestones occurred without prayer, a service or celebration at our marae."
He has worked in a gym, became a probation officer in Kaitaia, served as a Corrections service manager in Kaikohe, Whānganui and Dargaville, and was the programmes manager at Northland Region Corrections Facility at Ngawha.
And along the way he produced a son. Justyn Pilbrow is a founding member and guitarist for rock band Elemeno P.
He says a powerful influence on his life came through five years at Auckland's College of St John the Evangelist. He has a Bachelor of Social Services and needs just four more papers to complete his Bachelor of Theology.
On September 10 he will be inducted as the new Priest-in-Charge at St James Anglican Church in Kerikeri.
When the new function centre in the Waitangi Treaty Grounds was opened in February this year, it immediately increased the Far North's conference venue capacity.
Previously the largest conference centre was at the Copthorne Hotel next door. Waitangi's Learning Centre could hold up to 90 people but with Tahuaroa's hosting capacity of 150 people, the new venue literally opened the door to new business.
Tahuaroa means large open space and the first event hosted was a VIP gala dinner for 200 guests to celebrate Waitangi Day. The additional 50 guests were seated under marquees outside.
Then came level 4 lockdown, but when that was lifted in early June the centre immediately received 19 bookings. It helped that the Copthorne Hotel was closed for refurbishment but the timing coincided with Waitangi's new domestic campaign.
Marketing manager Nineke Metz said under Covid-19 lockdown the visitor demographic changed dramatically from international to domestic.
"We were in a good position with the recent opening of two new museums – Te Kōngahu Museum in 2016 and Te Rau Aroha in early 2020 - and these offerings fitted with Tourism New Zealand's 'Do something new, New Zealand!' campaign."
With the recent level 3 status for Auckland, bookings for Tahuaroa from there have had to be either postponed or cancelled but bookings from other regions can still be accommodated. All other venues at Waitangi Treaty Grounds remain open, with social distancing in force for guided tours, cultural shows, museum visits and at hospitality venues.
There has been a car dealership on Kaikohe's Broadway near Routley Ave for 75 years but by the end of August that part of local history will be no more.
Petersen Motors is closing. Staff have bought the parts and service department, which will move to Raiharo St, while the car sales department will cease altogether.
The first dealership on the site opened just after World War II and sold Morris, Austin, Triumph and Leyland cars. In 1973 Peter Petersen bought the business as a Morris dealership under the Motorcorp banner.
A few years later Motorcorp dropped some of the smaller dealers from its network and this was one. Petersen was left without a franchise, so he began selling Hyundai and Lada cars which were new to the country and considerably cheaper than most other new cars on offer at the time.
Both were spartan vehicles but price drove their popularity. What eventually affected sales was the introduction of Japanese used imports, which although second-hand, had higher comfort levels. Hyundai have gone from strength to strength and Ladas are virtually extinct outside Russia.
For 25 years from the early 1960s this part of the country was considered the thriving commercial centre of the Far North.
"Kaikohe was a bustling little town back then," said Petersen. "In my time there have been some significant changes to rural areas, starting in the mid to late 80s when the economy began to change."
In 1989 Petersen was approached to become a Toyota franchise and so the dealership changed brands. He continued with Toyota until 2003 when in a deja vu moment, Toyota chopped small dealerships around the country and Petersen Motors was again without a franchise. Since then, the yard has successfully concentrated on second-hand cars under $10,000 but now, even that is coming to an end.
Peter Petersen said he's well past the "normal time" for retirement. He has a collection of increasingly rare car manuals and will look at selling those to collectors.
The land where Petersen Motors stands, and next door where once stood a second-hand clothing shop, is believed to have been bought by Far North District Council. Land on the eastern side, where the Kaikohe Hotel used to stand, is owned by Te Rūnanga ā Iwi o Ngāpuhi.
If there's a prize for some of the more amusing political speeches it might go to the boys from Northland - Winston Peters, Kelvin Davis and Shane Jones. In the Far North they're sometimes flippantly called the Ministry of Bros, although that moniker may change after September.
Peters advised Judith Collins not to leave the Chamber during his final speech before Parliament closed before the election "because it's your only chance to learn something".
Kelvin Davis advised those in Kawakawa that his only claim to fame at Bay of Islands College was as captain of the first XV.
Of the three, it's arguably Shane Jones, the self-styled "boy from Awanui", who has a purchase on rhetorical wit and occasional oratorial obfuscation.
During his speech to locals at the Kawakawa Railway Station he told of a one-legged gymnast who ended up at the Hunter Star Hotel across the road. It wasn't called that then because he was harking back more than a century, but apparently the young lady's reputation was in danger of being damaged by a member of the local iwi.
The way Jones told it, the "rellies" and the "local cuzzies" sorted the problem outside in time-honoured fashion and everyone settled down. As to the moral of the story, that was obscure.
At yet another PGF announcement in Paihia a few weeks later, Jones reminded the gathering that "the aunts, great-aunts and uncles were capable of walking at the right tide from the head of Nihonui Point across to Motumaire Island".
"That's not because they were of biblical character and could walk on water," he said, "but was related to the fact there was a line of rocks there but thanks to the NZ Military and the port or the navy, it got blown to smithereens."
In Paihia, he again referenced history and advised the gathering that his aunt and uncle were once the publicans at The Duke of Marlborough Hotel.
"I won't talk about the current culture of Kororāreka because I still need to be friends with you over there," he said.
In summing up the July PGF allocation to Paihia for major maritime enhancements, he exhorted Far North Holdings to use local firms where possible "so we can drag the 'nephs' off the couch". And with that, he left.
• Email Sandy Myhre at mywordmedia@yahoo.com if you have any news you'd like to see in Bay News.
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