Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Laura Barr: 'One step at a time'

By Georgia May
Hawkes Bay Today·
1 Aug, 2018 06:14 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Laura Barr and daughter Asha. Photo / Supplied

Laura Barr and daughter Asha. Photo / Supplied

Life was never the same for Laura Barr after she lost her beloved husband in a freak work accident.

Waipukurau builder Robert Barr, left for work at the usual time on July 2, 2014, leaving Laura and their - at the time - 16-week-old daughter at home.

The 31-year-old died after a freak accident on a rural property in CHB, when a nail gun fired into his chest as he was climbing down a ladder.

The accident turned Laura's life upside down, as she was now alone - a 23-year-old widow with a tiny baby at her side - at least that's what she thought.

Four years on, her husband's death hasn't stood in the way of her ambition to get to Outward Bound - a non-profit organisation helping people reach their full potential through challenges outdoors.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She needs $5000 to get there and friends and family are now asking members of the public to come forward to help her achieve that dream.

A fundraising event (a dinner and auction) is being held at the Havelock North Community Centre at 6.30pm on Friday, August 3.

Tickets cost $55 and those attending are encouraged to donate a luxury item for a raffle.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Owner of fundraising works Bronwyn Harman says one of the All Blacks has even come on board to support Barr's ambition.

"Brodie Retallick (who knows Laura) has managed to get an all black shirt signed by the team plus we have a unique auction item for a group of kids to be picked up by a fire engine, taken to the Havelock North Fire Station and being allowed to play with the hoses etc ( all supervised by real firemen of course) - plus many other things."

Now 27, and four years on from her husbands death, Laura says she's still taking things "one step at a time".

"It's okay to have those days where you just don't want to get out of bed, but remember that you're still here and whoever you've lost, they wouldn't want you to go downhill, they would want you to keep going for them."

Laura says Outward Bound has always been one of her strong ambitions and feels it would be a huge confident boost for both herself and four-year-old daughter Asha Rose.

"I always thought about doing it in high school-but it never really came to anything.

"I think it would be good to prove to myself that I can do something that is going to be quite challenging both emotionally and physically. I feel quite ready to prove to myself that I can do this to show Asha that whatever challenges do come-you can get through it."

Laura says although she was looking forward to the challenge, it was going to be an emotional challenge being away from her daughter.

"There's no phones or internet, so for me that's going to be a huge challenge because we're so close.

"We both rely on each other and bounce off each other, so to be away from her is going to be really hard."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Laura feels incredibly lucky to have such supportive friends and family, as she hadn't considered a fundraising event to get herself to Outward Bound.

"This kind of event helps bring people together as well and I'm just lucky for the love and support I do have.

"After all this support I want to prove that I can do something like Outward Bound, not only for myself, but for those who are rallying to help me get there."

Tickets can be purchased by contacting Bronwyn Harman on 021 877 903 or email bron.harman@gmail.com

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'In disbelief': Latest Lotto millionaire bought his ticket minutes before the draw

06 Jun 12:25 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings District Council's Māori ward social media videos

Hawkes Bay Today

Mayor unapologetic in face of backlash at council's Māori ward videos

06 Jun 12:00 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'In disbelief': Latest Lotto millionaire bought his ticket minutes before the draw

'In disbelief': Latest Lotto millionaire bought his ticket minutes before the draw

06 Jun 12:25 AM

If he hadn’t seen the Lotto sign advertising the jackpot, he would have forgotten.

Hastings District Council's Māori ward social media videos

Hastings District Council's Māori ward social media videos

Mayor unapologetic in face of backlash at council's Māori ward videos

Mayor unapologetic in face of backlash at council's Māori ward videos

06 Jun 12:00 AM
Premium
‘Both sides will be hurting’: The build-up to Hawke’s Bay’s biggest school rugby game

‘Both sides will be hurting’: The build-up to Hawke’s Bay’s biggest school rugby game

05 Jun 08:44 PM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP