It's not hard to see why Jones is considered a legend. In his humble and gentle manner, he wooed the Rotorua audience who had attended to raise money mainly for Detective Steve Allpress, who is fighting terminal brain cancer.
Although clearly oblivious to a recent campaign by the Rotorua Lakes Council to lure Aucklanders to move to our city, Jones summed us up pretty well.
"We need to move down here to this beautiful part of the world . . . It's such a beautiful place, a tourism and cultural epicentre of New Zealand. I felt it when I walked in the room. Rotorua has to be the love capital of New Zealand."
He wasn't wrong. The crowd at Friday night's event wasn't a sea of corporate bigwigs (although there were a few). It was mainly Rotorua police staff and other members of the community who genuinely give a hoot about our city and the people in it.
Rotorua police have had their share of hard times. Mr Allpress is the ninth Rotorua police staff member to have been diagnosed with cancer in the past five years.
Add to that the fact three staff members were shot at and injured this year in the line of duty.
So nice one Rotorua, about $80,000 has been raised thanks to you. It was a pleasure to witness your generosity.
