Charles Edward Hore - Chap

Chap Hore passed away just days after his 82^nd birthday, and with him have gone many stories and a great deal of unrecorded history of the Maniototo. He was born, bred & lived in the district all his life, at Stonehenge until 1988 and thereafter in the Patearoa Township, with his wife Donella of 50+ years, until his death.

Chap could relate to young and old and in his quiet unassuming way, possessed with a dry sense of humour. He was a practical person never over estimating any situation, a hard taskmaster and known to enjoy to a whiskey or two.

As recalled by Dick McArthur in his tribute, Chap was known as a boss who had a fine way of putting words together, as illustrated in some of his sayings:

• "I've been opening gates for 30 years. Now its your turn",
• "Milking cows is fun, one of the few jobs on the farm you can sit down to do",
• "Any fool can break a shovel handle - it takes a good man to keep it sound",
• "I'm not interested in how fast you can get a mob of sheep from place to place, rather how slow and how much weight they putt on the way",
• "There's never a day goes by that you don't learn something",
• "Always wear your warm clothes, and take wet weather gear on a fine day on the hill. Please yourself when it's raining and cold".

From age 17 Chap was in the Otago Mounted Rifles, serving in the Pacific during WW2 on Mona Island, he played rugby, served the local community on the school committee, Lions club and member of the RSA. Chap was involved in dog trialling as a judge, clerk becoming a life member and patron of both the Patearoa and North Otago Association. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge.

Chap was a good judge of stock, a gift that has passed on to his farming sons Jim & Neville and grandson Andrew.

Chap is survived by his wife Donella, their four children and families: Jim & Sue, Charles and Andrew; Neville & Mary, Annabelle and Gretchen; Isabel & Bryce, Jane, Margot and Lizzie; Bruce & Sally, Sam and Anna.

The MOST SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL FALL for 61 yrs fell in late May over a narrow band of Otago which included the Styx area and back blocks of Stonehenge. This necessitated snow raking, an energy sapping task, for several days to extricate stock and led them from snowdrifts to clear areas in order to feed. While much of the rescue effort was conducted on foot, access to the area was by 4WD vehicles and helicopter as opposed to the horse and dray of the previous events in 1918, 1939 & 1943.
Quick response on Jim's part, in moving stock when the snow warning was forecast, kept stock losses to a bare minimum - just 10 from the wether flock. Just a week later there was no evidence of the emergency, NW winds having melted the snow.