Peter Brown, president of Piha surf club with author Sandra Coney at her radar station talk

Over 60 turned up at the Piha Surf Club on Saturday night to enjoy an evening of conviviality and Sandra Coney talking about her now book – On the Radar: the Story of Piha’s WW2 Radar Station.

Many of the older Piha residents well knew of the existence of the radar station – it was not finally removed until the 1960s – but few knew about why it was there, the role it played and the detailed history of the site.

An attentive audience heard about this from Sandra, this being her third book about Piha.

There was particular interest in the role of the Piha Campground cookhouse, which was formerly the most important building at the station, the radio house, containing the transmitter and receiver of the radar signals. There was discussion about the need for interpretation on the station site at the end of Log Race Road, and also information in the cookhouse so that campers would understand why the building was so important.

The event was organised by Protect Piha Heritage, and guests were able to enjoy an affordable meal from the kitchen chefs and buy drinks from the bar. Finally, one of PPH’s patrons, Shirley Atkinson, made two of her famous passionfruit sponges and a pile of cinnamon oysters, which were much enjoyed by the crowd.