December 18, 2025 • 3 mins
In what is quite possibly the most heart-warming story of the week, Luke caught up with Timaru Mayor Nigel Bowen to learn how locals have come together to replace the town Christmas tree after an arson attack.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Nigel Bowen is the mayor for tomorrow morning morning. About
a week back, we had that crazy overnight storm and
in all fenus sounds like something similar could be coming
our way this afternoon. The next morning, down in your
neck of the woods, that Christmas tree on the Bay
Hill was found to be burnt to bits, and at
first we thought it was due to the lightning, but
(00:22):
that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
No, that's correct. Yeah, no, we did think it was
connected to the lighting. Lightning, but happened to be asked
and unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So that's cool, Yeah, so croc. Yeah, but that's not
the thing. I want to hang on, not to go
without this season. Your community has stepped up in the
most wonderful way. Please share the tell us about this.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, certainly. Yeah, I know happened in the morning and
I was thinking, who's going to be the first person
to call me? And it was sort of a fifty
to fifty chance. Gordon Handy used to be sort of
John Dealership down our way, real good community guy, involved
with everything, and he was the first person ring me
and said, look, Nidge, I've got a solution. Sure enough,
(01:04):
within a few days where we had a tree back
up and it's a real cool collaboration. Lots of businesses
supporting initially and then community and other businesses getting involved
to decorate. So really cool story.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What sort of tree are we talking?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, it ended up being a tree, just a pine
tree off, yeah, you know, real tree. So we happened
to be on one of our forest plantations, so it
was a Tamoru District Council tree and seen a bit
of weather so it's pretty sturdy and it was about
the right size and fit it on a ten meter
(01:40):
truck and away they went, oh.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
My gosh, I love that it's number eight. Well that
sort of stuff, it would have been pretty neat sea
go up and then but wait these more are you
calling on locals to help trace it up to contribute
some decorations.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, that's great. So most of the decorations went up
yesterday to be year. I think if there's any small
child out there that's pretty keen to put a Christmas decoration,
you can probably just sneak your hand over the fence
and put one on. But most of the decorations are
up now. But here we asked as for donations into
the library. Again, businesses helped support decorating the tree in
(02:20):
the community just was fantastic as far as the support
they offered.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know what, this reminds me of that scene from
the Grinch who Stole Christmas, when he's done raising the
town of all the gifts and decorations and then he's
up on the mountaintop like this one here every hole
done in Hullville.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The tall and the small was singing without any presents
at all.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming. It can shove how
or are just show just the same? If not, I
think my heart's the one that's gone three times bigger
this morning listening to this, Nigel, you must be so humbled.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, very much so. Yeah, it's a really cool story.
Obviously individual have stepped up, but the community have absolutely
loved it and it's really important. Amazing how many you
know families went up on the Bay Hill and Samaru
to have that you know sort of Christmas photo and
what have you say? Yeah, set us up for the
holiday season. So where well, I'm certainly very thankful of
you know, Gordon, the wider business community and how the
(03:18):
community stepped up down tomorrow. It's at some fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Neat sense of ownership. Merry Christmas from your northern neighbors mate,
and good on you for bringing it all together.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeahs, really appreciate your support as well, and then Merry
Christmas to you.
Nigel Bowen is the mayor for tomorrow morning morning. About
a week back, we had that crazy overnight storm and
in all fenus sounds like something similar could be coming
our way this afternoon. The next morning, down in your
neck of the woods, that Christmas tree on the Bay
Hill was found to be burnt to bits, and at
first we thought it was due to the lightning, but
(00:22):
that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
No, that's correct. Yeah, no, we did think it was
connected to the lighting. Lightning, but happened to be asked
and unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So that's cool, Yeah, so croc. Yeah, but that's not
the thing. I want to hang on, not to go
without this season. Your community has stepped up in the
most wonderful way. Please share the tell us about this.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, certainly. Yeah, I know happened in the morning and
I was thinking, who's going to be the first person
to call me? And it was sort of a fifty
to fifty chance. Gordon Handy used to be sort of
John Dealership down our way, real good community guy, involved
with everything, and he was the first person ring me
and said, look, Nidge, I've got a solution. Sure enough,
(01:04):
within a few days where we had a tree back
up and it's a real cool collaboration. Lots of businesses
supporting initially and then community and other businesses getting involved
to decorate. So really cool story.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What sort of tree are we talking?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, it ended up being a tree, just a pine
tree off, yeah, you know, real tree. So we happened
to be on one of our forest plantations, so it
was a Tamoru District Council tree and seen a bit
of weather so it's pretty sturdy and it was about
the right size and fit it on a ten meter
(01:40):
truck and away they went, oh.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
My gosh, I love that it's number eight. Well that
sort of stuff, it would have been pretty neat sea
go up and then but wait these more are you
calling on locals to help trace it up to contribute
some decorations.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, that's great. So most of the decorations went up
yesterday to be year. I think if there's any small
child out there that's pretty keen to put a Christmas decoration,
you can probably just sneak your hand over the fence
and put one on. But most of the decorations are
up now. But here we asked as for donations into
the library. Again, businesses helped support decorating the tree in
(02:20):
the community just was fantastic as far as the support
they offered.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know what, this reminds me of that scene from
the Grinch who Stole Christmas, when he's done raising the
town of all the gifts and decorations and then he's
up on the mountaintop like this one here every hole
done in Hullville.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The tall and the small was singing without any presents
at all.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming. It can shove how
or are just show just the same? If not, I
think my heart's the one that's gone three times bigger
this morning listening to this, Nigel, you must be so humbled.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, very much so. Yeah, it's a really cool story.
Obviously individual have stepped up, but the community have absolutely
loved it and it's really important. Amazing how many you
know families went up on the Bay Hill and Samaru
to have that you know sort of Christmas photo and
what have you say? Yeah, set us up for the
holiday season. So where well, I'm certainly very thankful of
you know, Gordon, the wider business community and how the
(03:18):
community stepped up down tomorrow. It's at some fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Neat sense of ownership. Merry Christmas from your northern neighbors mate,
and good on you for bringing it all together.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeahs, really appreciate your support as well, and then Merry
Christmas to you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.