Welcome to our August 2025 issue of Channel Mag, your free community magazine that unashamedly highlights positive things happening in our little slice of paradise. Not too much comes free these days, but your 100-page Channel Mag does, thanks to the commercial support of our valued advertisers.
What we love about putting Channel Mag together is it keeps us involved in our community – interacting with people doing wonderful things.
On a sad note, this month we learnt of the passing of Tim Bray, QSM. As is covered by Gail Rotherham’s tribute in this issue, Tim was a wonderful man who leaves a massive gap and a big legacy. The Tim Bray Theatre Company was based on the Shore, and their children’s shows at The PumpHouse were extremely popular. I was personally captured by Tim’s goal of giving as many young people as possible the opportunity to experience their kids shows – even those who came from backgrounds where the cost or disability was a barrier. RIP Tim.
Peter Wolfkamp features on our cover this issue with our focus on building, renovation and related things. Christine Young has done an interesting feature with Peter. Paula Arblaster talked to Chelsea and Lily, who are two of our North Shore Youth MPs, getting the opportunity to taste national politics, understand what our elected MPs do, and how things happen at The Beehive in Wellington.
Our aim with Channel Mag has always been for it to be a ‘people’ magazine, and with that in mind, I enjoyed the two interviews I did with people from my 'hood for this issue. Bob Gentil is an interesting fellow, and you couldn’t meet two more positive and community-minded people than Sharon Boyd and Nick Farrelly of Edgecity Builders. The catch-up with them tied in nicely with our building and renovation focus; the added and very special ingredient is how passionate they are about their industry and community.
Enjoy your free August Channel Mag – it’s just one of 22,000 we produced and distributed this month.
Aidan Bennett, QSM
Publisher, Channel Magazine
Founder & Managing Director, Benefitz
Email: aidan@benefitz.co.nz
