Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 36, September 1992
For several years our bakery supplied bread to Whangamata Bakery as well as the Beach and our usual rounds of Paeroa, Kerepehi etc. This particular Christmas the first several hours of production was wasted owing to poor flour and the bread collapsing on entering the oven; it then became pig food. After much soul searching and phone calls to Christchurch as to what to do about the situation we finally produced a reasonable product. Of course by this time we were well behind schedule and one is governed by oven capacity as to the amount per hour one can produce. The decision was made to supply the furthest away stores first and ration the local stores with further deliveries later in the day. Our own shop was to be left till last.
Fancy bread and sliced bread was produced first. Having made the error of letting some customers in to purchase the fancy bread it was difficult to reopen the doors to let them out so the back door was useful. It was midday before we had sufficient goods to open the shop, which was then like a sauna with the crates of steaming bread. Most of the morning there was a queue stretching the length of Rosemont Road from Clarks corner to Gambles. This is when you find out your true friends. The pastry cook who had earlier completed his shift came back to work to see what he could do and a very well known local plumber, on finding the shop closed, realised that there must be something very wrong and came to see what he could do to help. True friends in need. However all's well that ends well. We supplied the stores for the four day break in those days, finishing the last delivery at 5pm Christmas Eve.
The bakery used pink colouring in the course of cake production. This powder was highly coloured and a little went a very long way. Periodically a friend from the mine would acquire some of this powder in order to play a trick on someone at the mine. The powder would be sprinkled inside the hat bands, I understand, and, with the heat, this red colour would run. The last time I can recall this being done I think the person with the powder got a bit heavy handed the result being a phone call from one of the bosses requesting "no more" as the changing room was like a slaughterhouse.