Western News: June 27, 2017

8 Tuesday June 27 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
WESTERN NEWS
News
FLAME FILES
RECOGNITION:
Kendo coach Karl
Hitchcock with
Fashion
TV3’s news anchor
Mike McRoberts
receiving his
award. Right: He
is pictured with
members of the
Canterbury Kendo
Club.
Gardening
Film inspires volunteer’s
30 years of kendo
• By Julia Evans
WITH A name like Hitchcock, it
Motoring
doesn’t come as a surprise it was
a film that inspired the Merivale
coach who received an award for
his volunteer work.
First seeing kendo on
television in the early 70s, it
wasn’t until Karl Hitchcock saw
the first Star Wars film in 1977
that he began practising the
sport himself.
Tasty Bites
“When I saw it first, it was
something I wanted to do and
then when the Star Wars movies
came out, it made me want to do
it even more,” he said.
Although he did admit the
early Star Wars films didn’t
really get kendo right – it was
1999’s The Phantom Menace that
was choreographed by a kendo
instructor.
“It was the only good thing
about that movie,” he said.
Fast forward 11 years and in
1988 Mr Hitchcock co-founded
the Canterbury Kendo Club –
Sei Tou Ken Yu Kai – with Alex
Bennett.
Last week during Volunteer
Week after almost 30 years and
12,000 hours of dedication to
kendo, Mr Hitchcock received
an award for his service.
When it began, Canterbury
Kendo was one of the first kendo
clubs in New Zealand and the
first in the South Island.
“Back in the early days there
weren’t many people doing it,”
Mr Hitchcock said.
Now the club has up to 40
regular members, which the club
puts down to his commitment to
the sport.
Mr Hitchcock coaches both
children and adults classes for
eight hours a week on a Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the
club’s Sockburn dojo.
For Mr Hitchcock, there is
a very deep connection to the
sport – he finds it centres and
relaxes him, helping with his
bipolar disorder.
“I use kendo as a mirror for my
mental health … kendo evens
me out,” he said.
BLAZE: A
man died
after a fire
in the City
Central
Motel
Apartments.
Wild weather puts
firefighters to the test
• By Mark Thomas - Specialist
fire investigator
JUNE 14 was quite a busy day
for city firefighters.
Early morning the call came
in to what eventually turned
out to be a fatal fire on Barbadoes
St, not far from the city
fire station.
Two fire appliances attended
and while they managed to
rescue the occupant alive,
his injuries were such that he
passed away a few days later.
Within a minute of this incident,
a house fire was reported
in Peverel St, Riccarton.
A candle had been lit for a
religious rite but the occupant
had fallen asleep with it still
burning.
A wall display ignited, in this
case setting off a smoke alarm.
No real damage was done
here but both house occupants
were taken to hospital with
smoke inhalation.
For the rest of the day, wild
weather caused power lines to
fall in several parts of town,
trees to fall and in one instance
in Spencerville, a trampoline
went walkabout on to the road.
Wild weather, or alternatively
still, cold weather with associated
frost will be the norm for
the next eight to 10 weeks.
This means home heating will
at maximum usage.
Things like the metre/heater
rule where nothing combustible
should be placed closer than a
metre from a heat source, care
with fire ash – which burns
down woodsheds, porches and
garages every year, and not
leaving the house while the
dryer is operating all become
more important than ever.
Money
Visit www.star.kiwi
anytime, anywhere!
Breaking news,
delivered to
your pocket.
Fire rages, homes at risk
•news •CTV •sport •districts •schools •lifestyle •opinion •what’s on
www.star.kiwi