Northland news in brief: funeral service for George Phiskie, car crash in Whangarei

Police attend to a two-car crash at the intersection of Walton and Cameron Sts, opposite the Whangarei police station. Photo / John Stone

Crash disrupts traffic

No one was injured when two vehicles collided at a notorious Whangarei intersection. A Ford Ranger heading north along Walton St collided with a VW Beetle turning into Cameron St, opposite the Whangarei police station, about 12.35pm yesterday. Both vehicles sustained moderate to severe damage and had to be towed. Traffic was disrupted for a short time.

School of Hard Knocks screens

The third season of TV show School of Hard Knocks, where All Blacks great Sir John Kirwan mentors a group of Northland youth by tackling some of life's tough issues through sport, screens tonight. The 53-year-old is a coach and mentor with charity School of Hard Knocks, which held a course in Whangarei with 16 young men and women at Te Wananga o Aotearoa this year.

The charity, which originated in the UK in 2007 and began in New Zealand last year, uses sport to tackle unemployment, crime and health in communities. This year the charity is working with Te Wananga o Aotearoa, so participants can gain an NCEA Level 2 qualification. As well as classes in fitness-related subjects, they have two rugby training sessions a week and a gym session. The course will screen on Duke TV over eight 30-minute episodes from 8.30pm tonight.

Service for blind advocate

A funeral service for well-known Northland blind advocate George Phiskie will be held in his beloved Waipu tomorrow. Phiskie died on Monday aged 96, and was well known around Northland, especially among the blind community.

He was a life member of the Blind Foundation. A service will be held at the Waipu Celtic Barn on Caledonian Park, from 1pm tomorrow. The family has asked that people make a donation to the Blind Foundation guide dog appeal in lieu of flowers.

Man leaps from car

A Whangarei man had to pull over and jump out of his car after it caught fire on his way to work just before 7am yesterday on Porowini Ave. One fire appliance from Whangarei responded but the car was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived. The car owner was the sole occupant. It's not known how the fire started in the car's engine.

Wrong map printed

Keen weather watchers will have noticed only the Far North's weather details were published in yesterday's Northern Advocate. A production error meant the weather page from the Northland Age was published in the Northern Advocate instead of the Northland-wide weather details. We apologise for the error.