[Oregonkiwi]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10435360

[Leccy-Lee]

:( Must be something about the name, as i used to live in Hastings UK, and was about the same there. Fancy naming a town after it (if indeed they did?)

[Kim39]

Glad we didn't go there then:yes

Kim

[Nicola]

I live just outside Hastings and can answer the question about the name of the place.

Hastings, Napier and Clive where all named after generals or some such prominent people from the time of the British Empire in India! So Hastings has nothing to do with Hastings in the UK.

Not all of Hastings is as violent as it first seems. There is one suburb of Hastings called Flaxmere, which does have a terrible reputation. In fact I think that is where the Mongrel Mob may have come from. But I have lived in another suburb Havelock North for over a year now and have had no experience at all of teenage violence. In fact I feel a lot safer here than I ever did in the sleepy town we lived in in the UK.