The Star chief reporter Brenda Harwood shares the stories behind her favourite photos of the past year.
Dunedin Senior Chinese Association members (back from left) gathered in February to rehearse their traditional dance for Chinese New Year Celebrations.
It was a delight to meet this fun and dedicated group, which works very hard to prepare for its appearances — always in beautiful costumes — during Chinese New Year celebrations at Lan Yuan Dunedin Chinese Garden and at other events. The organisation, which has been a fixture in Dunedin for decades, has provided opportunities for local Chinese seniors to gather, socialise, learn and perform traditional dances, and work on their English.
Playful 7-week-old rescue kitten Holly enjoyed her first experience of the Cat Rescue Dunedin clinic just before Christmas, in the care of vet nurse Brenna Gould (right) and volunteer Jordan Cuttriss. It was great to see this dedicated organisation achieve its goal of establishing a clinic to help desex cats and kittens, and help prevent cats from breeding and creating colonies around the city. Now that it has employed its own vet and vet nurse, on a part-time basis, Cat Rescue hopes to expand the service to help the wider Dunedin community access affordable desexing this year.
Dunedin artist Sam Foley (right) gives his wife Emily Lucas and daughters Lulu Foley, then 19 months at left, and Frankie Foley, 6, a push on the accessible roundabout at the new Dunedin Botanic Garden playground in October, as workers put the finishing touches on the bespoke climbing frame donated by the Friends of Dunedin Botanic Garden. To acknowledge the personal financial contribution of Mr Foley of $15,000 towards the Friends of Dunedin Botanic Garden’s $100,000 contribution to the new playground, the family was granted an early visit. They were impressed by its cheerful colours and exciting play equipment. "Having seen it up close, we are very excited about this playground," Mr Foley said.
