A Wave in Time

Today's the day .................... to be a celebrity

This morning, Will and I went for a guided tour round the wonderful Art Deco buildings of the town of Napier.

The reason that these buildings are here is a direct consequence of the disastrous Hawkes Bay earthquake in February 1931. In addition to the high loss of life, the central business district of the young town was demolished and required complete rebuilding. This re-building was carried out in the Art Deco style current at the time.

In 2010, the City Council unveiled its first public Art Deco sculpture - a bronze statue,entitled ''A Wave in Time', which depicts a woman of the Art Deco era with a greyhound. We stopped at this statue and our tour guide told us that the woman was modelled on Sheila Williams, daughter of architect Ernest Williams, a key figure in the rebuilding of Napier after the 1931 earthquake. Sheila led the ‘New Napier Week Carnival’ in January 1933 to celebrate the town’s recovery.

You may or may not know that Sheila Williams is my name?! and so it was very strange to hear about my namesake. The tour guide was delighted when I told her - and everyone wanted to take pictures of the two Sheilas.

And I have to say that - I quite enjoyed my unexpected celebrity status ...............!