Reporter's Diary

Press, 7 November 1978, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

B /io’x ahead? HOW can Europeans discuss racehorse champions with Americans when they have an alleged champion -nd America has an affirmed champion? The answer to that riddle, posed by a keen follower of the sport of kings, lies in the two possible contenders for the “world crown.” The European champion would naturally be the recent winner of the Prix de I’Arc de Triomphe, a horse named Alleged; the American contender would have to be the winner of the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, Belmont, and Preakness races), which was named Affirmed. Shriek! A SIGN of the times arrived in the mail yesterday — a little alarm sounder, about the size of a throwaway cigarette lighter, which a woman can carry in her pocket or handbag to scare off attackers. The device, named the SOS Shrill Alarm, is an aerosol tube which produces an ear-splitting shriek when squeezed — much louder than even the most frightened woman could manage. The distributors say that it is so

high-pitched and painful that it can literally daze would-be attackers. What they do not say is that the woman pressing the button will be just as dazed, if not more so, through proximity. One wonders who might recover first. Help for children CHRISTMAS card sales and a $6OOO programme to help intellectually handicapped pre-school children in Canterbury will begin tomorrow. The Society for the Intellectually Handicapped still needs helpers to run selling booths for the cards in Cathedral Square on Wednesday, and at the A. and P. Show on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The society’s preschool centre in Avonside costs about $l4OO per child per year to run, and in spite of Government assistance the society is in the red. to the tune of $BOO per year per child. The scheme to raise more than $6OOO over the next three days will go a long way to helping more than 50 children who receive help and encouragement at the Avonside centre. Members of the public who might be able to help with Christmas card sales are asked to telephone Mrs

Barbara Allardyce (325293) or Mrs Alison Macmillan (34-962). Knocking newspapers THE JOB appointments pages of Britain’s “Financial Times” newspaper are being advertised by a $20,000 poster campaign at 300 suburban railway stations throughout the country. According to the posters, you won’t be able to get a better job by “Watching the News,” or by “Calling on your Guardian,” by “Worshipping the Sun,” or even by “Listening to Bush Telegraphs.” The newspaper’s advertising agency, Streets Financial, said that the posters were “a bit of a knock" at Britain’s betterknown national dailies. Shakespeare on Tl ALL OF Shakespeare’s 37 plays will be televised over the next six years, the British Broadcasting Corporation has announced. The project, which will cost SI4M, will start in December with “Romeo and Juliet,” “Richard II,” and “As You Like It.” Craft shop THE combined churches of the Bishopdale district have established an arts and crafts shop in Meecroft Street, and are sell-

ing cottage-industry wares on commission, any leftover proceeds to go _ towards a church project. The shop, which opened on October 30, sells pottery, woodwork, paintings, needlework, crochet, soft toys, and a variety of other home-made goods. Bale of wool AMONG the 145 people who attend the Canterbury Sheltered Workshops in Kilmarnock Street are 20 or so who turn out the lovely hand-woven woollen rugs, cushions, and blankets that are so popular with the people of Christchurch. These 20 skilled workers, however, need a lot of wool to produce their craft, and so it was with immense gratitude that the workshops received a gift of a bale of wool from the Cheviot Lions recently. Vintage strength A READER who attended the Vintage Car Club display at McLeans Island recently tells us about an amusing sight on the road after the display. On the way back into town he and his wife had stopped their car at the end of the airport runway, to watch the aircraft land and take off, when they saw a vintage Model A Ford chugging towards them. It was towing an almost-new Mercedes Benz.

—Felicity Price