Te Awamutu Courier - Centenary Edition - April 18th, 2011

12 Te Awamutu Courier, Monday, April 18, 2011 Centennial Edition CCentennial
Edition Te Awamutu Courier, Monday, April 18, 2011 13
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Dedicated, longserving staff provide baackbone
to ‘Courier’ for past century
Longserving, loyal staff have been a
hallmark of the Te Awamutu Courier.
Over the years there have been
many staff members who have provided
decades of service.
The Warburton family founded the
paper and have had a 97 year involvement
(see more details page 5). John
Warburton was the last family member to
be part of the Courier, retiring after 42
years.
Staff member Gavin Boggiss
notched up just over 46 years, in a
variety of roles including newsroom
manager, advertising manager and compositor.
Of the current staff, Colin Thorsen
has the longest service at 37 years. He
began as a compositor (putting pages
together manually) and has been on the
editorial staff for just over 30 years.
EDITORIAL STAFF
The late Ted Hunwick was on the
staff of Couriers NZ for a period of 36
years.
He joined the community newspaper
in 1949 after serving with the New
Zealand army’s J Force in Japan.
After completing a three year cadetship
he was called back to the army.
When he returned to the Courier in
1955 he was a reporter under the editor
at that time, the late Fred Cobb (who
took over from founder AG Warburton).
In 1970 Mr Hunwick became Te
Awamutu Courier editor and the paper
changed to a tabloid layout (as it is now)
and went to publishing twice a week
instead of three times.
In the early days Mr Hunwick said it
was a seven day a week job.
‘‘We went to all sorts of meetings.
‘‘The paper concentrated on providing
as much local content as possible
with court, county and borough council
meetings, as well as a variety of sporting
and community clubs getting full coverage.’’
Mr Hunwick took great pride in the
community in which he worked and felt
Te Awamutu and its people were wonderful
TE AWAMUTU Courier editor Ted Hunwick (centre) with
journalists Colin Thorsen (left) and Grant Dixon in 1982.
Over the years he saw many
changes - in printing type and news
style.
When new direct imputing and
pagination practices were being
introduced Mr Hunwick felt it may be
time for him to retire.
Ill-health was the final straw and
at 63 he retired from his position of
Te Awamutu Courier editor.
At his farewell the firm’s Board of
Directors chairman David Sterritt
said his long service was typical of
the loyalty shown by many Te
Awamutu Courier staff.
Grant Dixon took over the
editor’s position in 1987. He had
been on the staff for several years
and worked as editor for a further
three years.
He went on to become editor of
New Zealand Fishing News and
reporter Grant Johnston took over
the editor’s chair in 1990.
He is still editor today and the
four editorial team members (Grant
Johnston, Colin Thorsen, Dean Tay-
lor and Cathy Asplin) have been
together for just over 21 years.
Mr Johnston says he is honoured
to follow in the footprints of these
brilliant predecessors.
He says that having come here in
the fifth form in 1974, he is the
‘newcomer to town’ among the
editorial team.
‘‘Having the same editorial team
of four together at a community
newspaper for over 21 years is
extremely rare. And with Colin, Dean
and Cathy having invested basically
their whole lives in Te Awamutu, the
background knowledge and empathy
and understanding of local
people and issues is second to
none.’’
They have also seen a huge
change in technology - going from
the era of typewritten reports which
were typeset for printing on the
Courier presses to direct input,
computer pagination and sending
pages electronically for printing in
Auckland.
WAIPA POST &
TE AWAMUTU COURIER
STAFF PHOTOS
1911
Back row (left to right): M Andrew, W
Groves, M Teddy, W Stewart.
Front row: D Thompson, AG Warburton, G
Salter.
1939
Back row: Fred Laskey, Howard Hazeldene,
Enoch Hancock, Fred Cobb, Arthur Reese,
George Chalmers, Vic Oates, Harry Davis,
George Warburton.
Seated: Gladys Ryburn, Muriel McGhie,
Muriel Taylor, AG Warburton, Eileen Clark,
Dot Peart, Vida Hutt.
Front: Tom Rushbrooke.
1961
Back row: Sid Carter, Bert Moss, Alex
Thompson, Bill Goldie, Bill Ball, Bruce
Fisher, Morrie Hills, Ted Hunwick, Willie
Marshall, Roy Tyack.
Middle row: Fred Laskey, Dot Watson, Fred
Cobb, Myrtle Baskin, George Warburton,
Janet Easton, Val Nolan, Lyn Dowdell.
Front row: Gavin Boggiss, Rod Petersen,
Doug Montgomerie, Bruce Russ.
1996
Back row: Paddy Coldrick, Bobby Grindrod,
Steven Warburton, Andrew Flay, Henry
Nicholas, Neil Guilford, Tony Linton, BJ
Boggiss, Grant Cotterell, Cliff Gordon.
Middle row: Margie Lasenby, Rachelle
Vincent, Brenda Lynds, Michael Thackray,
Andrew Roberts, Alan Price, Shiree Chandler,
Heather McFarlane, Heather Andrew,
Marj Anderson.
Front row: Dean Taylor, Cathy Asplin, Colin
Thorsen, Gavin Boggiss, Grant Johnston,
John Warburton, Marlene Hansen, Leanne
Davy, Carla Barclay, Tania Young, Faye
Ashmore.
2011
Back row: Dorinda Courtney, Janet
Uttinger, Tania Cortesi-Western, Anna-
Marie Holmes, Rhonda Bird, Kevin Quinn,
Rachelle Vincent.
Front row: Cathy Asplin, Colin Thorsen,
Grant Johnston, Alan Price, Dean Taylor,
Sandy Pepperell.
WAIPA POST STAFF 19111
TE AWAMUTU COURIER STAFF 1939 TE AWAMUTU COURIER STAFF 1961
TE AWAMUTU COURIER STAFF 1996 TE AWAMUTU COURIER STAFF 2011
T Thank You
Te Awamutu
We are so proud to have been your Community Newspaper for the past 100 years and are looking forward to the next
100 with the same excitement and enthusiasm.
We love bringing you the news, your views and what’s happening in our community - local news, sport, politics,
fundraising, weddings, farming, motoring, something for sale, what’s on at the movies etc..... we enjoy it as much as
you do.
To our local businesses, thank you for your many years of support, we are pleased to help your business prosper.
The unsung heroes of the Te Awamutu Courier are our delivery people from Jahntae (9) to Colleen (67) and our 14 RD
drivers. Through rain, hail or shine the paper still gets delivered on time - well done to these 52 people.
To our readers, approx. 30,000 of you, who live in the 12410 homes that our paper is delivered to every Tuesday and
Thursday, a special thanks as it is you that makes us successful.
Every business is only as good as it’s number one resource - it’s staff. To our editorial team, Grant,
Dean, Cathy and Colin, our sales team, Dorinda, Janet and Sandy, our classifi ed team, Tania, Rhonda
and Anna Marie plus our production team, Rachelle, Kevin and Lori. Every one of you contributes
so much in so many ways, Te Awamutu is fortunate to have such a dedicated, knowledgeable and
talented newspaper team.
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