“Flowers have always made me happy so when I saw an ad for an introductory course in floristry, I thought it was time for a change. I completed level 1 and kept going. I was hooked. Aside from being able to play with beautiful flowers all day, the best part of my job is the people I meet. I’m so lucky and I’m so grateful for all the support from this wonderful community.

“Violets are one of my favourite flowers. They remind me of my mum who used to pick them for me from our garden when I was a child and pop them in a vase by my bed. She inspired my love of flowers and she always had blooms growing, regardless of where we lived and sometimes in spite of it.”

— Nicole Birch, Ivy & Birch

Nicole Birch regularly donates surprise bouquets of flowers to unsuspecting people in the community who are going through a rough time or deserve recognition and thanks for acts of kindness. She’s the flower fairy godmother.

Ron child is turned 101 in May and he still manages to climb the stairs at the RSA in Victoria Road twice a day without missing a beat. He drinks only pre-boiled water, prefers a Mediterranean diet, and swears by a cap of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water every day as one of his secrets to longevity. That and banishing the negatives. Ron says he still lives by his mother’s adage when the going gets tough - “Come on, we’ve got to rise above it.”

Everyone who’s been to New World knows Sam. He’s out there, rain, hail or shine – helping customers with their shopping, protecting them from the elements with his big New World umbrella, tirelessly collecting abandoned trolleys from all corners of the carpark. He even gives advice on local landmarks to passing tourists. Nothing’s too much trouble for Sam.

He’s been doing his 5-day-a-week stint at New World for six years, and spends his days off volunteering at the SPCA and walking local dogs. He loves animals as much as he loves his regulars, but he doesn’t particularly like lockdown – he says it stops him being able to chat with customers, and it’s the people he enjoys most about his job. And something else he doesn’t like about his carpark domain? “The skateboarders,” he says. “They can be troublesome…”

Aatoru Sawaki – or ‘Sasee’ to his friends - has an impish grin that was always going to take him places. From his birthplace in Tokyo where he cooked as a youngster, across our TV screens as the face of Asahi Beer, to The Food Truck where he taught Michael van de Elzen how to make sushi, before landing finally in Devonport as one of Auckland’s top Japanese chefs.

What Sasee masterfully crafts with his Musashi knives is a visual feast and a taste sensation – a veritable sculpture garden of vegetables, tofu, fish, lamb, venison and wagyu beef. His favourite fish to work with is the romantically-named Alfonsino, while his favourite dish is nigiri sushi which he prepares using seven different types of freshly-caught fish. And just as he used to please his mother by taking over the cooking duties at home, his desire to bring joy to his customers is paramount: “I want to see them smile,” he says.

-- Sasee, Chef/Owner Danyru

“If we can survive this, we can survive anything. The impact of Covid on the travel industry has been massive, but things are starting to come back.

“The onset of lockdown in 2020 was just the start of our journey. While everyone else was enjoying walks on the beach, all of my team were fighting fires every single day.

“I had to get my father on a plane to the UK last year just as the borders were closing around us. He’d lost both his parents - my grandparents - to Covid. That was tough.

“One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was to make half my team redundant over a Skype call. All I wanted was to be with them. They were vulnerable and emotional but they understood. Not one of them argued or fought the situation. Honestly, I couldn’t wish for a better group of people.

“Now it’s just me on my own at the Devonport store – down from 11 staff and two stores before Covid. As borders now slowly open for travel, I’d encourage people to come into the store or get in contact – I’d love to help. I can’t thank my communities enough for sticking by me over the past three years.

“I first came to New Zealand on a two-week holiday when I was 16, and never went back. That was 20 years ago. This is home now, and I’m in it for the long haul.”

• Andy Thompson, owner/operator, House of Travel Devonport - Travel Agents North Shore

“She’s a twin-screw, coal-fired steam tug who’s been in service for nearly 90 years. A grande dame, that’s for sure. She’s a working museum – everything has been carefully preserved and restored.

“It takes 17 people to operate the boat, a maximum of 40 tons of coal and 20 tons of water per boiler. Added to that you’ve got two 11-foot propellers, two engines with a total of six cylinders and a maximum cruising speed of 12 knots. She wouldn’t win any speed competitions, but she gets you there in style.

“The boilers take three days to warm up, and then once we’re underway, we’ve got two stokers in the boiler room, keeping everything going. It gets up to 40 degrees in there sometimes – it’s a great way to lose weight working down there and shovelling coal. We’ve got three engineers in the engine room – the chief’s keeping an eye on the water levels – while the other two are manning the engines.

“The Daldy’s the best way to cruise the harbour – there are no noisy diesel engines and you really feel like you’re experiencing a piece of history.

“She’s one of Auckland’s hidden treasures and we’d love to keep her going.”

- Ian Langley, President, William C Daldy Preservation Society

Please see www.daldy.co.nz for more information about hiring, sponsorship and volunteering.