The Star: March 03, 2022

The Star Thursday March 3 2022
10
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Polarising Cave Rock lights
could stay on year round
• By Kristie Boland
THE CONTENTIOUS lights on
top of Cave Rock can be turned
on 365 days a year.
The issue of when the lights
can be turned on has been a
subject of debate, prompting the
Linwood-Central-Heathcote
Community Board to get
answers from the city council.
The board has been told the
lease for the lighting, which is
solar-powered, does not limit the
number of nights the lights can
be turned on.
Board member
Sara Templeton
said: “This is
different to what I
had expected.”
Templeton
said she had
Sara
Templeton
originally
thought the
lighting would
only be turned on
at Christmas and Easter, as it was
in the past.
Templeton requested
information on the lease terms
from the council after several
members of the public indicated
to her that they were going to
approach the board with their
concerns.
But no one came forward with
concerns at the latest meeting
said Templeton.
“I’d encourage residents to get
in contact with the board if they
have concerns about the lighting
and at that stage we’d be able
to ask for further advice,” said
Templeton.
It is the cross shape of the
lighting that has caused an ongoing
public debate.
A photo of the mast posted to
the Sumner Facebook community
page on Saturday sparked a
heated discussion.
Some comments said the
lighting was “stunning” while
others were unhappy with it,
calling it “a Christian beacon.”
The lighting is a navigational
VIVID:
The Cave
Rock signal
mast was
constructed
in 1864 and
was used
to alert
ships of
dangerous
conditions.
mast put up in 1864 to guide
shipping.
The mast lighting in the past
has been used to celebrate Easter,
Anzac Day, Christmas and
significant national events such
as the coronation of King George
VI in 1937.
The community tradition
of lighting on the mast
continued until the February 22,
2011, earthquake damaged the
signal house.
Following its repair in 2016,
the lighting was not reinstated
until December last year.
Sumner-Redcliffs Historical
Society members and the
Sumner Community Residents’
Association lobbied and raised
funds for the lights to reinstated.
Christchurch City Council COVID-19 update
New headstone
for solider’s plot
to be unveiled
• By Chris Barclay
A WORLD War 1 veteran
who committed suicide after
returning home from the
Western Front seriously wounded
has finally had a headstone
designed in his honour.
The granite memorial for
Sergeant Thomas Wilson, which
also commemorates the service
of his brother-in-law Private
Robert Moore, will be unveiled at
Linwood Cemetery on April 23,
Anzac weekend.
Wilson, who had an arm
amputated while fighting at
Passchendaele, hung himself in a
Moorhouse Ave property on his
44th birthday – May 9, 1919 –
having been unable to overcome
his wartime experiences.
He was buried without recognition
in the Moore family plot.
Robert Moore was interred
in the same plot when he died
in October, 1960 aged 74. His
name was also not recorded – his
mother Sarah Moore, who died
in 1913, is the only occupant with
her name etched in stone.
The New Zealand Remembrance
Army, a trust devoted to
restoring war graves, will rectify
that oversight after tracing the
history of the two New Zealand
Rifle Brigade soldiers, who fought
in France and Belgium after enlisting
on the same day in 1915.
Remembrance Army chief
executive Simon Strombom
believes Moore decided Wilson
should be buried in his family
plot, which was subsequently
damaged by earthquakes more
than a decade ago.
“He’s done that because of the
bond forged in combat. It’s a real
bond of brotherhood, they would
have been through the Somme
and Passchendaele together,”
Strombom said.
The headstone has been
designed and will be placed
alongside Sarah Moore’s, which
will be righted after toppling in
the 2010-2011 quakes.
Descendants of Wilson and
Moore are still sought to take
part in the ceremony.
There are 13 restored
headstones nationwide to be
unveiled during Anzac weekend.
They were either broken or did
not have the veteran’s name
recorded before being restored by
Remembrance Army volunteers.
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