TOAST: Celebrating the end of a long battle were June Tainsh (left), Mavis Newland, Barbara Knight, Jenny McKenzie, Richard Dahlberg, Lorraine Crothers and Gloria Chamberlain. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA
TOAST: Celebrating the end of a long battle were June Tainsh (left), Mavis Newland, Barbara Knight, Jenny McKenzie, Richard Dahlberg, Lorraine Crothers and Gloria Chamberlain. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA
The corks were popping in Archer St yesterday as a small band of people, who joined together to fight for what they saw as a big cause, celebrated a win over bureaucracy.
Richard Dahlberg and his inner circle of Archer St cemetery gate fighters gathered in the shadow of thereinstated gates to toast the outcome of their three-year battle.
Mr Dahlberg said the intention had been to unlock the gates but the group had been beaten to the punch, presumably by council officers who had turned the key before the group got there - "depriving us of our moment of glory".
Masterton District Council voted earlier this year to re-open the Archer St entrance to cars and pedestrians, after a prolonged dispute that has raged since the entrance was narrowed to allow foot traffic only. The vote to re-open the gates did not have an easy passage either, as the first deciding vote ended in a draw, which meant the status quo remained.
That was overturned when the issue was revisited and the second vote narrowly favoured returning the gateway to its original width.
