Kawakawa crash victim, 87, was former Mount Maunganui man

Friends of the former Mount Maunganui man killed in a Northland crash on Sunday have remembered him for his dedication to the local country music scene.

Phillip Edward Pratt, 87, of Maromaku, died at the scene of the head-on crash on State Highway 1 near Kawakawa on Sunday.

His wife Lois, 75, who was driving, and a female passenger, 67, were critically injured.

The 32-year-old driver of the other vehicle suffered moderate injuries and a passenger, 32, was seriously injured.

Janice Roughan and Barry Cooper, both of Tauranga, knew Phil Pratt in the 70s and 80s when they were all members of the Tauranga Country Music Club.

Pratt also started the Mount Maunganui Country Music Club, which had since disbanded.

Roughan and Cooper travelled in a group with Pratt to the Tamworth Country Music Festival in New South Wales in 1981.

Cooper said Pratt was an excellent organiser for the clubs and an "enthusiastic" singer, always willing to perform.

He understood Pratt owned an engineering business in Tauranga and raised his family here.

Roughan said she last saw Pratt two years ago at the 40th anniversary reunion of the Tauranga Country Music Club.

Pratt later moved to Kamo, Whangārei, before moving to the Far North.

He became a mainstay of the Whangārei Country Music Club, and a life member of the Kawakawa-based Little Tennessee Country Music Club.

The police were investigating the crash.

A memorial service was to be held for Pratt in Whangārei yesterday.