Instead of their only “meet-ups” occurring at funerals, former workers at Wairarapa Electric Power Board (later Wairarapa Electricity then Powerco) decided a “happier occasion” was needed.
Thus was born a staff reunion, organised by Ian Warren and David Barnes and staged in mid-March.
The pair began by sending out email to those former employees whose addresses were known – then word-of-mouth became the main carrier for the proposed reunion. No advertising needed, with 110 old staffers turning up for the event.
As the pair tell it, there were ex-staff from all parts of the organisation: management Board members, retail workers, linesmen and some who had worked on generating electric power.
Martinborough residents may recall the Power Board used to have a retail showroom and lines depot at 35 Jellicoe St until the early 2000’s, when Cotter and Stevens took over the site.
Daphne Fuller and Raewyn Castle ran the Board’s local showroom for many years. Harry Kershaw, another well-known local, was the Martinborough rep, and later, Chair of the Board.
Among the oldest former staffers at the reunion were Colin Houghton, 97, and Ted Colenso, 90.
Ian Warren told of what happened back then when power went out.
In the “early days” the repair crew had to go
“on patrol” searching for the fault site – often a long and tedious process. Now, sensors on the power poles make it relatively easy to pinpoint the problem causing an outage.
A common cause of power failure then – and now – were magpies. But Ian Warren notes there needs to be two of them – one on the wire, one on the pole who make contact – which turns off the juice.
Another feathered problem comes from swans/Canada geese round the Boggy Pond area causing lines to trip out. He said workers always suspected it was the swans but the chief engineer – domiciled in Masterton – said no evidence had been provided that confirmed swans were the culprits.
So one day Warren found a dead swan near an outage site with burn marks across its body. He cut off its beak and feet and left them – with a memo – on the chief engineer’s desk.
“Unfortunately,” he said, the boss was away on holiday for two weeks, producing an office that was a bit smelly on his return.
Warren and Barnes noted the workers’ reunion had been “a great success,” with plenty of Martinborough history recounted and shared by its participants.
