Suzanne Williams

Unusually, I find myself in 100 percent (that overused term) agreement with Keith Melville in his well-written letter which appeared in Wednesday’s Beacon, regarding the lovely Otarawairere Bay walk and the risk-averse mentality prevailing today.  He is absolutely right.

However, with a memory stretching back a bit further than most, I, predictably, see it as an indictment of modern society as a whole, and would call it fear, combined with political correctness.  One has to ask, “is a fear-ridden life a life worth living?”

As 1940s kids in the weekends, my brother and I were shooed out of the house with an apple and a sandwich, not to return until around four; we climbed trees, built huts, rode horses, drank from the creeks and generally had a great time (with a few tears, bruises and broken bones as well.

Of course, we were luckier than most, and things could have gone seriously wrong even in those innocent days, but I am sure this sort of thing does still happen today in some enlightened places.  

Children need to experience widely to find their boundaries.

The risks then for us cannot be compared with that of walking on a live volcano with a heightened warning already in place. Thank heaven for the heroic volunteers on that dreadful day.

I have worked as a volunteer several times in my life;  loved it, but was left with the feeling that we were under-appreciated.  

In the early 90s, fresh from a dairy farming career, I wanted to work on clearing some of the walking tracks around Kaitaia, which were in a very bad state.  I was told by the under-staffed Department of Conservation that this was not possible for health and safety reasons;  so when I did my walks, I just happened to have my secateurs with me.

Austin Oliver is with one of the wonderful volunteer groups trying to persuade the Whakatāne District Council to allow them to remove pest plants and trees on council land and to replant the bare land on Valley Road.  

I notice seedling privet, pampas and other pests coming in again on the bare ground there and the eucalyptus trees shooting madly away from unpoisoned stumps – pathetic;  from a council which seems to require ever-increasing numbers of workers, who are doing what?

Good luck Austin and friends.