On a Saturday Night is a warm and colourful celebration of the strength and spirit of small towns all around New Zealand. From Whakapara in the north to Mossburn in the South, community halls have been the focal point of small towns for as long as the towns have been on the map. These halls have hosted school classrooms, general elections, stag parties, birthday parties, film screenings, Rabbiters’ Balls, flag euchre evenings, farewells and welcome-home parties for servicemen from both world wars, memorial events for those who did not return, farm auctions, clearing sales, weddings, Christmas parties, Civil Defence teams, mayoral celebrations, church services … Some halls have been demolished and rebuilt over the decades, others have been lovingly restored several times and are still going strong. Some halls have been transported on the backs of trucks to new locations as towns have grown and changed. Fires and floods have taken their toll in more than a few cases. Michele Frey and Sara Newman visited these halls with photographers John Maillard (North Island) and John O’Malley (South Island) to talk to the locals and try to capture the essence of what each hall has meant – and means – to its community. In these stories and pictures they have recorded an aspect of New Zealand’s unique culture that seems to be passing into history.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 260

Publication Date: 01-11-2012

Over six to seven hundred years, Maori burned about one third of New Zealand’s ground cover. In the following 70 years, and at a devastating rate, European settlers burned about another third as they cleared and ‘improved’ the land. All too frequently, burn-offs became uncontrollable conflagrations that swept through thousands of hectares, destroying cattle, fences, homes and livelihoods, and burning mills and much-needed timber. Townsfolk, blanketed in dense, acrid smoke needed lights at midday; ships, unable to pick up landmarks, sat marooned in harbour – yet the burning, as in other frontier societies, remained unabated and largely unquestioned. It is against that background that Helen Beaglehole sets the fascinating and previously unexplored history of how settlers’ random and careless burning led, in 1921, to legislation that still underpins New Zealand’s official policy on wildfire. She explores the huge public education campaign that sought to convince all sectors of the public that mindless burning had to be restrained, and traces how increasingly sophisticated fire-fighting technologies, coupled with developing knowledge of weather and fire behaviour, were used to prevent, contain and extinguish fire. Finally she looks at the early Forest Service employees who in effect became the nation’s first rural firefighters, their skills honed in the vast controlled burns of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, and describes the regime established after the Service’s demise and the issues faced today. As with Helen Beaglehole’s two books on New Zealand’s lighthouses and lighthouse keeping, Fire in the Hills is grounded in detailed and extensive research. Information from historical records is incorporated with material from interviews with past and present rural firefighters and administrators, bringing vividly to light the times, the people and the problems they faced. Some 200 photographs further broaden our historical understanding.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 324

Publication Date: 01-07-2012

Peter Morath is a notable New Zealand scenic photographer. He has an eye for colour and vibrancy and his work has been in demand for several decades.
The breathtaking scenery of the South Island has been captured by Peter's lens and each photograph has been captioned. In addition, each area has a small history and things-to-see text to accompany the stunning photographs.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 152

Dimensions: 286 x 245 mm

Publication Date: 30-08-2012

‘People never grow up, they just learn how to act in public.' - Bryan White

TIMELY ADVICE FOR A MILESTONE BIRTHDAY
So what if you’re now a proper ‘grown-up’; after all, with age comes new opportunities, new adventures and a massive reduction in your car insurance bill – and you’re still nowhere near 30!

This book is packed with celebratory quotations to help you shrug your shoulders, blow out the candles and Keep Calm.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 95 x 130 mm

Publication Date: 05-09-2012

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. ’Twelfth Night Act 1, scene 5’ Whether you are in need of inspiration, advice, or an insult clever enough to floor your foes, this little book is sure to hold the answer. This collection brings together the finest witticisms, musings and words of wisdom from Britain’s greatest wordsmith.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 79 x 102 mm

Publication Date: 05-09-2012

It is amazing that in these times of passion for the food from every corner of the globe, the cooking of Portugal remains unexplored by so many, especially given its vibrant flavours and simple domestic style. In this authoritative and fascinating book, Edite Vieira traces the rich legacy of her country's culinary excellence from medieval through to modern times lacing it with history and anecdote and a collection of authentically delicious recipes. From simple and wholesome peasant fare to elaborate celebratory meals, ingredients include salt cod (bacalhau) in all its myriad variations, and cumin and oranges which are both remnants of the voyaging past, with green coriander the main flavouring herb; essentially the food is the food of a country which grows grapes, peppers, melons, quinces and apples, and few other countries have such a repertoire of pork dishes. Fresh pork is much in evidence as well as ham (presunto), pork and red pepper sausages (chouricos) and black pudding (morcela), all foods are very much to contemporary taste.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 256

Dimensions: 189 x 246 mm

Publication Date: 21-09-2012

Blenheims In Action From The Phoney War Through The Battle Of Britain
In 1940, the defense of Great Britain rested with a handful of volunteer aircrew, Churchill's 'few'. Overshadowed in later folklore by the more famous Spitfire and Hurricane pilots, there were other pilots, observers and air gunners - just as courageous - flying the Bristol Blenheim MKIV-F. The future of the country and arguably that of the free world depended also on their skill, morale and sacrifice.Remarkably little has been chronicled of these men and their aircraft - the 'Trade Protection' squadrons formed by Hugh Dowding - allotted to 11 Group in October 1939. The aircraft's range and endurance made it suitable for defense of coastal shipping against attack on the southern and eastern shores of Britain, and for operations further afield. Indeed during bitter fighting casualties among Numbers 235, 236, 248 and 254 Squadron Blenheims were high on operations over Norway, Holland, France, Dunkirk and then the Battle of Britain where the Blenheims were completely outclassed by Messerschmitt 109 and 110 fighters and fell easy victims, scythed from the sky.
But the record of the aircraft and their crew was an immensely proud one. Drawing on contemporary diaries, periodicals, letters, logbooks, memoirs and interviews with survivors, lauded historian Andy Bird reassesses the vital role they played and repositions it in history. In doing so, he justifiably embraces the heroes we have left behind.

Pages: 224

Publication Date: 15-09-2012

As one of the most successful German fighter pilots of World War I, Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold was victorious on fortyfour aerial combats. He was also shot down and forced to land after six fights and survived crash landings in every case.
Early in World War I, when only fighter pilots were awarded the Kingdom of Prussia's (and de facto, Imperial Germany's) highest bravery decoration, the Pour le Merite, Rudolf Berthold became the tenth recipient of the honour. Of that early cohort of air heroes, only Berthold and one other pilot survived the war. This book tells his remarkable story.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 170 x 246 mm

Publication Date: 21-09-2012

With humour, wit and insight David Carter provides an account of the mixed fortunes of the Nobel Prize in Literature, together with tongue-in-cheek guidelines for the would-be laureate.
There are acclaimed writers - James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain - who never won the Nobel Prize - and others, less well-known, such as Henryk Sienkiewicz, Paul Heyse and Wladyslaw Reymont, who did. What do you have to do to impress, or be snubbed by the Nobel Committee? Using the device of a set of guidelines for the would-be laureate, the book explores many of the unusual and controversial decisions made by the committee over the years. The reader can discover the many quirky considerations that hopeful writers must bear in mind. Certain factors always help, such as 'being a man', and 'having your work translated into Swedish'. Presenting interesting quotes from the presentation and acceptance speeches and from other sources in the writers' works, David Carter provides answers to some intriguing questions, such as: why did some writers refuse to accept the prize, and why were others rejected? Is there evidence for political, ideological and geographical bias in the selection? Why was it sometimes awarded to two writers and sometimes not at all? What does it actually take to win?

Bind: hardback

Pages: 200

Publication Date: 20-09-2012

Look at me, I'm a clown! But what sort of clown am I? Quiet or noisy? Happy or sad? Silly or sensible?
This unique book format that's also a mask, will encourage and develop role play, which stimulates your child's imagination and aids social growth and development.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 10

Dimensions: 160 x 160 mm

Publication Date: 31-07-2012