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Otago Daily Times
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Craft beer godfather brings 'something a little bit different'
By Eva Kershaw of Frank Film Richard Emerson is lauded as the godfather of New Zealand craft beer. His name may ring a bell – 'Emerson's' is branded on the red-banner logo that sits on the label of some of this country's most loved craft brews. Emerson's has been a paragon of the Dunedin brewing scene since it was first founded in 1992. From its conception on a kitchen stovetop to early production using repurposed dairy vats, it's not just the brewery that has an interesting history. The founder himself has a pretty good story too. Emerson was nine years old when his grandfather, a Dunedin home brewer, came down the path of his backyard garden carrying a jug of beer with a large, creamy, frothy head. 'I'll never forget the memory of that,' says Emerson. Decades later, his own brewery was sold to Lion Corporate as a standalone business unit for $8 million, with Emerson remaining involved in the company as head brewer. How has he done so well? 'I'm not just an ordinary guy,' Emerson tells Frank Film, pouring a pint of London porter, 'I'm someone with something a little bit different.' Richard Emerson wears his heart on his beer. His latest offering, a heavy German Weissebeir, is named Ingrid, after his mother who died last year. It was Ingrid who taught Emerson, who was born profoundly deaf, to lip-read. From a very young age, Emerson learned to watch peoples' faces and track their muscle movements while they talked (this was long before the 2006 passing of the New Zealand Sign Language Bill). 'Mum was doing the hard yards in getting me to speak,' says Emerson. 'Not many people realise the amount of effort it takes to learn. So, it's a good tribute to my mother, doing a damn good job of bringing me up, not only to be a speaking person in a hearing world, but also to make beer.' Emerson's spiced ale is called Taieri George. The name mimics a misspelling by the Dunedin city council in honouring Emerson's father, George Emerson, former associate professor of biochemistry at Otago University and co-founder of Taieri Gorge rail journey, while also acknowledging George's support for his son's brewery dreams. Even Emerson's popular 1812 pale ale takes its name from the last four digits of the Emerson's phone number. 'We thought it had a good ring to it,' quips Emerson. As a teenager, Emerson began brewing beer on his mother's stove top – producing 4.5 litres at a time. In 1992, after being kicked out of his mother's kitchen, Emerson began setting up his own brewery. He spent three months fitting out the brewhouse with borrowed, restored, and re-purposed equipment where possible – which included modifying dairy vats to save on costs. He took his first barrel of London porter to the happy hour at his father's Biochemistry department. 'They were my very first customer,' says Emerson. The brand grew quickly, from producing 3000 litres per annum in its first few years to 14000 litres per annum in 2003, by which time the brewery was required to shift to a larger site for the second time. By 2012, Emerson felt it was time to give back to his shareholders, as 'they were in their golden years.' He had been shoulder tapped by a number of larger businesses, but Lion stood apart because it vowed to keep the brewery based in its hometown. 'Lion realised that Emerson's was part of Dunedin,' says Emerson. 'There was no point taking it somewhere else.' Emerson remains involved with the company as head brewer and chief taste tester. 'Quality control,' he says, 'is such a hard job.' Emerson's sales and marketing manager Greg Menzies estimates that Emerson's now sits amongst the top four craft breweries in New Zealand volume wise. 'When Lion purchased Emerson's, we were brewing about 900,000 litres of beer, and now we brew in excess of 2.5 million litres,' he says, admitting that the demand for Pilsner has grown so much that some of it must now be brewed in Auckland. In 2016, Emerson's opened a brewery and taproom in central Dunedin. Emerson insisted that, to honour Dunedin tradition, the official ceremony involved bagpipes. 'Fine for him,' states the inscription on the plaque. 'He didn't have to listen to them.' 'We had to have a home for the brewery so people could come and have a beer, have a meal,' says Emerson. And beer, he says, is class-less. 'It's not like wine, that people are a bit snobby about. People just want to get together and have a beer and enjoy life.'
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Meet the 86yo sensei who can 'take someone's knee out'
By Eva Kershaw of Frank Film From her backyard in one of the poorest parts of Christchurch, 86-year-old Mary Patu teaches martial arts for $2 per class. The price of Mary's classes haven't changed since she opened her Okinawa te Aranui dojo (practice room) almost 40 years ago. In that time, she estimates having shared the art and discipline of Okinawa-te with about 3000 students. 'We do everything to help this community,' said Mary from her home in Aranui. 'They say it's a poor area, but it's what you want it to be.' Mary Patu outside her home. Photo: Frank Film Mary has lived on the same street for 60 years – 48 of them in her current home, which she renovated with her late husband, Rawiri David Patu (Putt). Along the front fence are painted metal sunflowers that Putt bought from The Warehouse. Inside the property, designs of butterflies, geckos and angels cover the sides of the buildings, the tops of the gates, and even the tree trunks. 'He just liked them,' says Mary. 'But sometimes he put too many up.' Just four years shy of ninety, Patu is sharp as a tack. She's bright-eyed, quick-witted, loves to tell a story and, with her soft face and a warm smile, she appears harmless. 'But I can take someone's knee out,' she told Frank Film. 'I can still take a person down.' Patu has seven children and picked up martial arts after two of her sons joined a karate dojo. 'I'd be sitting in the dojo watching, and I'm not a sitter. I can't just sit there and watch,' she says. 'So I said to sensei Lee is 48 too old to start doing karate?' Mary was told she would get as much out of the practice as she put into it. Mary Patu teaching a class last year. Photo: Geoff Sloan Two years later, she had saved enough money to take herself to America, where she spent three weeks learning with shihan (master instructor) Gordon Doversola – the founder of the Okinawa-te karate system. In Okinawa-te, a student becomes a sensei as soon as they earn their black belt. However, as a purple belt, Mary received a special letter of permission to teach classes for seniors in the Aranui town hall. After securing her black belt several years later, Mary realised she could offer cheaper classes if she built a dojo on her own property. 'We paid $50,000 for the materials to do it, and it took us about 15 years to pay off that mortgage,' says Mary. 'That wasn't from the class fees. We paid it off ourselves.' Photo: Frank Film Mary's husband Putt, who was a carpenter, built the dojo by himself with the help of his sons. Today, in the window of the office, a wooden sign hand-made by a student commemorates the man who brought the space to life. Putt's dojo – fitted out with an office, bathroom, and weapons room – welcomes students of all ages, starting at five years old. 'Big ones, small ones, you name it – they're here,' says Mary. In teaching Okinawa-te long after the age of 'retirement', Mary has found a sense of pride. 'You can see [students] slowly building confidence, but also a little bit of discipline, which will carry them through a lot of other things ... it helps with everything.' Donna Boese, who started out as a student at the dojo in 2016, says Mary's classes turned her life around. 'I used to be a self-harmer, until I came here. Mary is the one who made me stronger,' says Boese who has gained her black belt and now teaches at the dojo. Six other members of her family have also joined classes. Mary says enabling entire families to join the dojo is the reason she keeps her fees so low. 'I look at other places – they're charging $15 a class, and it's only for one person. But, you see, ours is about the community,' she says. 'It's never been a money-making thing.' Mary Patu demonstrates the dragon claw. Photo: Geoff Sloan Mary says taking classes has kept her mentally sharp and physically fit. She has never had to use the skill for her own self-defence, but says the effect of Okinawa-te on her reflexes and bracing has been worth its weight for 'self-protection'. 'Because you're trained to be able to fall, when you do slip over, it comes straight to your head,' she says. 'It stops you breaking bones.' Mary plans to continue running classes for years to come, and doubts she will ever increase their price. 'At my age, you have to adjust to what you can do,' she says. 'As long as I can give the right instructions, I think if I had to be in a wheelchair I'd still teach. I'd get a ramp made into the dojo. 'Do you know what was one of the last things Putt said to me? Dear, I'm so glad I built that dojo for you.' -Frank Film
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
'The first time I had a firearm pointed at me was when I was 14'
By Eva Kershaw, for Frank Film Jacob Bryant is drawn to danger. 'I think you're born with it,' says the intrepid cinematographer, renowned for his work in some of the world's most volatile environments. Bryant grew up causing trouble in Le Bons Bay, Banks Peninsula, shooting possums and rolling cars in the surrounding hills. 'The first time I had a firearm pointed at me was when I was 14-years-old,' says Bryant, 'so suddenly, you're in Kabul and you've got someone coming up with an AK47 and putting it through the car window... I was able to deal with it more rationally, I think.' 'I always knew that if he survived, he'd be great,' his mother, Louise McKay, tells Frank Film. And he is great. Having filmed in Iraq, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and beyond, Bryant's work with leading documentary makers has been nominated for multiple screen awards. Bryant attributes his success to skills he wasn't taught at school. Rather, it seems the kids who cannot sit still in a classroom are often perfect for the jobs that rely on instinct more than instruction. At a young age, Bryant inherited his father's '22 gauge rifle. 'I could only carry 2 or 3 possums at a time because I was so little,' says Bryant, 'but that physicality - running around these hills, climbing, walking, building things - that stuck with me my whole life.' Sitting still was (and continues to be) almost impossible for Bryant. He struggled with academics, and his tertiary education ended after his first year of highschool. 'It was deeply unpleasant - the idea of just sitting in one place,' he says. 'I was really driven to do as much as I could in my life, and school really got in the way of that.' By the age of 18, Bryant had written off eight cars, was barred from every pub on Banks Peninsula, and had been arrested. 'I had such a reputation. For being a fuckwit actually,' he says. But as Bryant's mother puts it, whilst he had a knack for causing trouble, he was always polite. Bryant realised while sitting in the holding cells of the Christchurch Central Police Station at the age of eighteen that it was not his place. 'If this was my future, this was absolutely not who I was,' he recalls thinking. Bryant moved to London in his early 20s, and bought a Super 8 camera from Portobello Market. From there, he forged a career in cinematography, working on stories for the BBC, CNN, TWI and Insight during his first three years of work. 'That that's all I ever wanted to do,' says Bryant. 'To shoot pictures and be able to show the world – the world that I was experiencing – to other people.' 'He certainly has an eye for beauty,' says McKay. 'He has empathy for people that he feels are being treated wrongly.' Countless times, across three decades, Bryant has visisted the world's trouble-spots and put himself at risk to tell the stories of others. The most notable occasion, perhaps, was in 2015. Māori Television was pursuing a story on the Israeli blockade on Gaza. A flotilla of vessels was trying the break through the blockade, and Bryant was employed as the cameraman. 'There were definitely risks attached to that,' says Bryant. He had heard of instances where Israeli military had boarded flotilla vessels and shot several activists onboard. 'We were gonna have to do some pretty drastic things to get those pictures off [the boat].' -Frank: Stories from the South episode three
Otago Daily Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Canterbury artist raised in the shadows
By Eva Kershaw for Frank Film When Sheelagh McHaffie draws, she uses white pastel on black paper. 'I'm drawing the light,' says the Canterbury artist, from her studio in the Christchurch Art Centre, 'instead of the shadows.' Over the past three years, McHaffie's work has featured in exhibitions, magazine articles, and the World Art Awards, garnering attention for its moody, largely black and white figurative illustrations. But the light McHaffie draws is born out of darkness. The 43-year-old says her childhood was 'adult-centric and pretty tough at times.' 'Everybody else's needs were my priority and they kind of had to be,' she tells Frank Film McHaffie grew up as the only child of a solo parent. Her mother, Julia, struggled with mental illness. '[Mum] was diagnosed correctly when I was about 15, with bipolar, and finally got the help she needed. But the road in-between was very, very hard.' McHaffie says her mother was 'amazing' when her condition was stable. Julia was a motorcyclist, wrote poetry, spoke three languages fluently, and was incredibly social. 'She was a girl boss,' says McHaffie. But her mother's 'highs' were often met with intense lows. 'Some of her lows would go on for a long, long time, and she didn't even feel well enough to get out of bed, or have a visitor, or eat,' says Sheelagh. 'Sometimes it got so bad that she didn't even know who I was, but I would look after her and make her food, and pay the bills.' How does a child cope when faced with raising a parent? McHaffie had three jobs by the time she was fifteen – working at a dairy, a hair salon, and washing dishes at an Irish pub. Most mornings, she got up and made her mother tea before getting herself ready for school, where she says she was 'horrifically bullied.' McHaffie was sent to Cholmondeley Children's Centre in Governor's Bay for respite care. It was here, every second weekend for five years, that she could simply be a kid. 'I was able to play, and I found my childhood here,' she says. 'It was always safe.' On turning 12, McHaffie was no longer eligible for the respite care service but she returned to Cholmondeley for an extended period when she found herself homeless at the age of fourteen. She was allowed to stay there, in the staff quarters, until she found somewhere else to go. When she was eighteen, Sheelagh had her daughter, Maxine. Her mother died just four years later. It wasn't until her daughter started school, and was clearly struggling in the new environment, that McHaffie realised her daughter had autism. 'She needed me to interpret the world for her... I provided continuity and consistency and pace and security,' says Sheelagh. In still living with her two children – Maxine, now 24, and Boston, age 12 – McHaffie remains passionate about learning and advocating for the needs of children with autism. Still, she says, it is 'quite terrifying to be that powerless in your own life, and especially when you're doing it on your own'. She credits herself for having a lot of hope for the future, and an ability to always see circumstances as temporary, but at times she felt her efforts weren't enough. There have been moments, she says, when she thought 'it doesn't matter how hard I try or what I do, things are still really, really tough.' When she has felt helpless in her own life, helping others has certainly helped McHaffie. Over the years, she has run school programmes and puppetry groups. She's door-knocked for various charities, sometimes carrying Maxine on her hip. She's spent five years working for the Salvation Army, and almost 10 years for World Vision as a regional representative. She worked with the Red Cross, providing social support to those in elderly homes, and was a team leader for Tony's in Australia, feeding the homeless. Three years ago, Sheelagh decided to try her hand as an artist. Although she loved drawing from a young age, her life had afforded little time to chase her passion. With enough extra time now to explore her art, Sheelagh says her world is opening up again. 'Through all the darkness, there's always that light,' she says. 'That's part of the reason I celebrate my art to the degree that I do... I'm not ashamed to enjoy it and appreciate it, and I don't take it for granted. And it might seem arrogant, but I'll shout it from the rooftops. Because I'm so bloody happy with where I'm at.'
RNZ News
08-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
When will Christ Church Cathedral and Square be rebuilt?
By Eva Kershaw of Frank Film It's a story that does not retire. Since the Canterbury earthquakes, the future of Christ Church Cathedral and the surrounding Square has occupied hundreds of newspaper columns, and every camp has expressed their views. Fourteen years on from the quakes, as the cost to rebuild the Cathedral has ballooned to $219 million, leaving an $85m gap in funding, the reinstatement project is at a stalemate. As well, a now seven-year-old plan redesigning Cathedral Square has not been implemented. Many would say it's time to accept defeat and demolish the Cathedral completely. But with the $85m already spent on the Cathedral rebuild, chair of Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Ltd (CCRL) Mark Stewart said it was too late for that. "You can't go forward, you can't go back," Stewart tells Frank Film. The city was preparing to open a $683m first-class stadium next year. "We're basically showcasing Christchurch as a new city," Stewart said. "But yet this [Cathedral] sort of has 'shame' written all over it because we haven't funded it enough." [picture id="4K7OJD6_Mark_Stewart_Frank_Film_png" crop="16x10" layout="full"] Photo: Frank Film The Stewart family was among the wealthiest in Canterbury, and alongside donating two bells to the Cathedral in the 1970s, they had been the top donors to the Cathedral reinstatement project. When asked if he could fund the shortfall himself, Stewart said he's "not prepared to entertain that". "I am the largest donor. I'm giving all of my time to this project. Just to write a cheque and give Christchurch the benefit of it... We're all in this boat together." Stewart said the people of Christchurch had forgotten how important the Cathedral and Cathedral Square were to the city's civic activity. There were people, however, who wanted to restore the space as the heart of the city. Last April, when the government declined to provide an additional $60m (on top of $25m granted already) for the re-build, Finance Minister Nicola Willis reasoned it was "a project that is not owned by the public, and where public use would be limited due to the cathedral being a private, religious space". "It's very easy to just label it as a religious building," Stewart said. "It's actually a civic building, even though it's owned by the Anglican Church... It was used extensively prior to the earthquakes for things other than religious ceremonies. "We've even been demonstrating in recent times how we can use this space for other community activities." CCRL project director Carolyne Grant is committed to keeping the Cathedral alive inside. Having secured a certificate of public use from the council, which allowed groups of 50 people to enter at a time, Grant had taken people through the Cathedral doors for concerts and exhibitions. Outside in the Square, veteran urban planner James Lunday longed to see people using the space again. Veteran urban planner James Lunday wants to see people using Cathedral Square again. Photo: Frank Film Lunday was employed to produce the Regenerate plan for Cathedral Square in 2017. This plan reshaped the Square into separate areas designed for diverse activities; featuring a green space, a covered market area, an outdoor concert venue and an existing underground stream resurfaced. "Remember that before the earthquake, the Square wasn't working either," Lunday said. The opening of malls throughout Christchurch in the 1960's had finished the "all roads lead to the Square" plans of the city forefathers. No longer did the Square boast half a dozen movie theatres, nor gain the foot traffic once attracted by the bus stops, which were removed in 2000. "This [plan] was an opportunity to get it to work again," Lunday said. The Regenerate plan was never implemented by Christchurch City Council. While Lunday said it wasn't about defending a design that was done in the past, he worried there was no proper plan for Cathedral Square. "They're just doing ad-hoc repairs on pavement around the edges of the Square. There's no major inventive and creative moves." General manager for city infrastructure Brent Smith said the council was working with multiple developers "as they develop around the Square". Cathedral Square as it is now in 2025. Photo: Frank Film Smith said Christchurch City Council had a budget for the Square in the Long-Term Plan but he could not recall how much. Council chief executive Mary Richardson said the council wanted the Square to become the heart of the city again. "So, while it's important to work in with the developers, it's also for the people of Christchurch." Stewart said a clear solution required the church, council, and central government to work together. "Right now everybody is pointing at each other saying 'It's your problem to solve'. "It's just not right for Christchurch to leave this structure in existence, in perpetuity, as it stands," Stewart said. "We have to finish it in some way, so without that support from the authorities, then we're just not going to get there." As for Cathedral Square, time will tell whether the bustling crowds of the past return. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
