Philanthropist Ted Manson buys historic soldier’s church

An Auckland philanthropist and property investor has saved an under-threat historic city church built nearly a century ago as a memorial to World War I soldiers, NZ Herald reports. Ted Manson (ONZM) bought St David’s Presbyterian Church, also known as the Soldiers’ Memorial Church, which was built in 1927 on Khyber Pass Rd, Grafton. “New Zealand’s living World War I memorial is at grave risk,” the trust had announced before the purchase. “St David’s, the World War I Soldiers’ Memorial Church in Auckland, is under imminent threat from commercial development.”