Raetihi printer closing

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 30, 17 December 1985, Page 8

Raetihi printer closing

A long history of Raetihi printing will end when Trevor Ede leaves the area early in the new year. Trevor has been in Raetihi for nearly five years and is sorry that he has to be the one to close down the Raetihi Printing Company, which has been responsible for a wide range of work including the Bulletin in its first year. "There has been a printer in Raetihi since the early 1900s and I am really sorry that it has to be me to break that long history," he said. Trevor is very grateful for the local support he has had, from the whole Waimarino district and from the military camp at Waiouru. "You hear these stories about communities not supporting their local industries but it has not happened to me," he said. Trevor has work to last him through until January or early February and then plans to have some wellearned rest and recreation on a lonely Coromandel beach for a few weeks before heading back to his home area of the Bay of Plenty "where he hopes to pursue an interest in horticulture. Most of his family live in Tauranga now but it may not be generally known that Trevor was born in Raetihi. His father was a railwayman and they lived in a house which still exists in Railway Row. "Two of my sisters worked in the refreshment rooms at Ohakune station, another sister was housemaid at Kings Court, and

my elder brother worked in forestry near Pokaka." The family left the Waimarino when Trevor was three and moved to Tauranga where he eventually did his printing apprenticeship. Trevor joined the army in 1956 for "a bit of a change," and stayed four years. "I never guessed when I was marching up the Desert Road that in a few years I would be printing booklets for the army!" he said. Trevor has not been able to sell the business and will instead sell the machinery,

fittings and type, some of which is very old. "This is the sort of business which needs a young keen guy who can do everything, printing, artwork, layout, the lot, but you don't get that experience these days, and with high interest rates people are not interested." Trevor has been 30 years in the printing trade and is sad to be leaving it behind. "It is going to be hard to get the smell of printer's ink out of my nose after all these years but you have got to move on," he said.