Was the Kopu Bridge going to be named ‘The Star’ in honour of the local newspaper? What was the disgusting digestor that caused community outrage? Did the Greymouth ghost pay a visit to Thames? What of the big tycoon who planned a nitrate works for the town? Meghan Hawkes once again dips into the decades to give us a snapshot in time of people and events dug up from old newspapers during 1916 – 1946. Whimsical, trivial, comical, startling and curious – this is what people, the real gold of Thames and districts, once read about themselves.

Meghan Hawkes, author of “The Coming Year – a look back at Thames”, is a freelance writer published in a variety of magazines and is a popular columnist at Peninsula Press, Thames, with her “Hawkeye” and “Dead Cert” columns.