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1303 days ago

Kung fu dad confronts knife-wielding youth after attack in west Auckland park

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

An Avondale father skilled in kung fu confronted a group of youths who hospitalised his son’s friend in a random attack.

Matua Ngarino had a knife pulled on him in Avondale’s Riversdale Park after confronting a group of boys who he believed had attacked a 12-year-old a few days prior.

The attack had sent the boy, who had been at the park with Ngarino’s sons, to Starship Hospital and made his own sons afraid of going outside, Ngarino said.

“The boys surrounded me, and one pulled a knife. I gave him the opportunity to walk away before they all got hurt.

“With my background in wing chung kung fu I was ready for the unexpected. I warned them a second time to walk away from the situation, they hesitated at first, but they came to their senses and walked away.”

Back in 1989, Ngarino said he had trained in wing chung kung fu in Christchurch, and while he had taught his children to walk away from confrontation, said he knew how to defend himself.

Wing chung kung fu is a form of self-defence requiring quick arm movements and strong kicks to defeat opponents.

While at the park Ngarino took photographs of the boys he believed were involved and sent them to police.


Read more of Melanie Earley's story here:

www.stuff.co.nz...

More messages from your neighbours
3 days ago

Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

This Wednesday, we're having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.

John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!

As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!

John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.

Share your question below now ⬇️

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4 days ago

Poll: Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

An Auckland court has ruled a woman doesn’t have to contribute towards the cost of fixing a driveway she shares with 10 neighbours.

When thinking about fences, driveways or tree felling, for example, do you think all neighbours should have to pay if the improvements directly benefit them?

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Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?
  • 82.5% Yes
    82.5% Complete
  • 14.8% No
    14.8% Complete
  • 2.7% Other - I'll share below
    2.7% Complete
1759 votes
5 hours ago

Move for Good! Peer fundraising to save rescued baby wild birds

Kim Frakes from BirdCare Aotearoa

BirdCare Aotearoa, NZ's largest wild bird hospital and rehabilitation centre, is a special charity based in Waitākere, Auckland providing life-saving care to around 6,000 wild birds rescued by community members each year. Many of these patients are endangered native and endemic species. It’s currently baby bird season, and we urgently need to raise enough funds to cover the significant cost of the specialised care required for raising the thousands of orphaned and injured baby birds we receive in our dedicated nurseries during summertime.

As part of our current fundraising campaign, we have launched 'Move for Good', a peer fundraiser encouraging people of all ages to get out into nature and participate in an event (e.g. a walk, run, cycle or swim) or a hike, bushwalk, orienteering, or other fun outdoor activity (e.g. Birdie Bingo shown on our website) and invite friends and family to join or sponsor their challenge, to raise funds to help our hospital continue saving rescued baby birds.

Move for Good is proudly supported by Allbirds and Tree Adventures, and everyone who registers will go in the draw to win a pair of eco-friendly Allbirds sneakers or a Tree Adventures double pass.
We’ll give away a Give a Hoot tote bag from our Digitees store to the first five participants to complete a challenge before 22nd December.

Further details available in these links:
Givealittle page, for creating a Move for Good fundraising page or donating directly to our baby bird campaign - givealittle.co.nz...

Move for Good page on our website - birdcareaotearoa.org.nz... (contains a registration form for your challenge)

It will be absolutely wonderful if our neighbourhood communities would like to participate in our Move for Good campaign to save rescued baby birds!