Suburb's social history explored

Laraine Sole Photo/Stuart Munro

Waverley writer Laraine Sole chose Aramoho's social history around the 1950s for her book because they were becoming the "forgotten years".

Aramoho, the Community on the River, the early years will be launched today and is Ms Sole's second of a series planned to cover Wanganui's suburbs.

The first was Castlecliff, the Community on the Coast.

"Many people have contributed their stories and photographs to make this book an easy but informative read."

The 280 pages contain a lot of photographs which Ms Sole says most readers have probably not been seen before.

"I like to think of my books as launching pads for people to start capturing their own family stories for future generations."

The book starts with the early history of the iwi, then progresses to an overview of the town's history, then goes into specifics.

It is divided into 23 chapters.

Some of those chapters are about Aramoho streets, Jubilee Home, Mitchells Meat Works, hotel and boarding houses, Whitlock's Pickle Factory, Aramoho Tea Gardens, Aramoho Zoo, Anderson's Memorials and the Wanganui Fruit Evaporating Company.

"While people may know the story of the zoo, they are probably less familiar with the two racetracks at Aramoho."

Ms Sole said one of the racetracks was a forerunner to the Grand National in it earliest years - the Aramoho Laundry.

"I think there will be many surprises and wonderful memories for older citizens of Aramoho."

The Aramoho Hotel was chosen as the venue for the launch as it is the oldest continuous-running business in Aramoho.

There is a limited edition of 500 books, with Aramoho Mags and Lotto being the major outlet.

Aramoho, the Community on the River, the early years, is being launched today at 1pm, in the Aramoho Hotel.