I drive along the Ridgeway most days to and from work and often look up at this little wooded patch of unmarked, yet seemingly accessible land.
I had reason to explore further back in June as I headed to GC5XE5J Tanks with a View, and remember being surprised that there was no cache already in the area.
So a little bit of research showed that this patch of land is, in fact, called Songer Reserve, named after William Songer who was Stoke's first settler.
When Captain Wakefield was killed at the Wairau, Songer (who came to New Zealand as Wakefield's personal attendant) was given the land, around the area where Strawbridge Square now lies, by Reverend C. Torlesse, whose son he mentored in New Zealand, and whose daughter was married to Captain Wakefield. Both the Torlesse family and Songer came from Stoke-by-Nayland in England. The families are also remembered in the names Songer Street and Torlesse Street in Stoke.
William Songer
Songer built a mud cottage in the Strawbridge Square area in 1843 and grew wheat, oats, barley, turnips and potatoes and ran cattle and pigs. He was very community minded, being a member of the Jury, the Education Committee, Agricultural Committee, and was involved with building St Barnabas Church and Stoke School. He was the first superintendant of the local Anglican Sunday school and very involved in a variety of roles at St Barnabas Church. Sadly he had no children, and when his first wife died he married Mrs Mary Hubbard in his 60s, and was 90 when he died in 1904.
In more recent times, Songer Reserve was the scene of a suspected tree theft when a neighbour called foul after a 100 year old redwood tree mysteriously 'disappeared'.
It turns out the 'thieves' were, in fact, council employees quite legitimately removing a wind-fallen tree. You will probably notice where the tree was as you approach the GZ, so take care, especially if you are taking smaller geocachers with you as although the fence that separates the reserve from a rather steep drop to Orchard Stream has now been repaired, the drop is still rather steep.