My Account
2 February 1928 – 20 May 2023
The New Zealand fire service and the Puhoi Heritage Museum lost a champion with the death of 95-year-old Norman Golding on May 20. Golding was a firefighter for more than 40 years, retiring as an Auckland divisional officer in 1988, and was the museum’s patron.
Born in Christchurch, he was the son of a railway worker. The family moved from depot to depot including Helensville, Tauramanui and Hastings, but after his father was killed in a railway accident in Wairoa, they settled in Auckland. The story goes that in Helensville, the train firemen used to drop coal to Norman when they saw him near the tracks with his trolley; coal that was used on the home fire.
He was a butcher’s delivery boy while still at school and then started as a plumber’s apprentice.
However, during World War II he put his age up to 16 and joined the NZ Air Force. He was in Darwin when it was bombed and also spent time aerial mapping the islands of the South Pacific.
But it soon emerged that his real passion was the fire service and he joined the then Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board in 1947. In an interview given a few years ago, he said, “There was nothing better than hearing the alarm bells screaming, jumping out of bed and into my protective clothes, then sliding down a wooden pole and into a fire truck.”
In 1963, when he was on duty at the Central Fire Station, a fire broke out in the Farmers Trading Company in Hobson Street. While extinguishing the massive flames, he fell four storeys. He was rushed to hospital and took a long time to recover from his injuries. The fire took 20 hours to extinguish and 32 firefighters were injured.
Norman and his wife Norma lived in the married quarters at the Pitt Street station and raised their children there. On his days off he worked from time-to-time as a chimney sweep and piano mover, and while employed by Auckland City Council, he painted all the fire hydrants and the road markers pointing to them.
However, his world came crashing down when Norma, the love of his life, was killed in a car crash. He took a sabbatical and joined the London Fire Department. One of the call-outs he remembered was to Buckingham Palace when the royal stables caught alight.
When he retired, Norman moved to Puhoi where he energetically and wholeheartedly embraced life in the community, serving on almost every committee, opening and closing the church across the road each day, noticing what needed to be done and arranging working bees. He was also an enthusiastic member of the Bohemian Dance Group until mobility issues brought his dancing days to an end.
His storytelling was legendary and it was noted during his funeral service that although many of these stories seemed too incredible to be true, they often were. It was observed that almost any topic mentioned would bring out a story and he made friends whereever he went.
A Requiem Mass was held at St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, in Orewa, followed by a celebration of Norman’s life at the Puhoi Centennial Hall.
He was the loved husband of the late Norma and the late Margaret, and father of Sue, Jeff and the late Robyn and Paul, and a special friend of Jenny Schollum.
