Evil plot to blow up Santa

The note left by The Joker.

I'd heard that a supervillain is planning to blow up Santa during the Tauranga Trustpower Christmas Parade on Saturday.

Where is Batman when you need him?

Suspecting BOP Film are at it again, I went to find out what's going on at Richard Parker's creative ‘hideout' in Windermere. He was chatting to one of his minions.

"I built this minion just because I wanted to," he smiles. "Out of timber frame, MDF, plastic pipe, polystyrene. It took quite a few hours.”

Although not wanting to be distracted from hunting for the evil Joker, I wondered if the minion will get lonely. No problem as Richard plans to build another one.

We walk through his workshop past giant ice cream tubs, ice cream carts, strange-looking objects and a beach bar for Hawaiian evenings. Richard built them all.

Suddenly around the corner, - a batmobile! Made out of a jet ski?

Richard makes floats at his Black Chilli workshop for the Tauranga Santa parade.

Last year he made Elsa and the Mad Hatter.

"This year I wanted to make one for the boys," says Richard. "I was donated the jet ski shell."

It was written-off and yellow, and took Richard, using limited funds and resources about five months to complete.

"An hour here. An hour there," says Richard. "The biggest problem I've had is there's never been a Batman with a jet ski but of course if Batman was in Tauranga he'd have to have a jet ski. I had to design this from the ground up.”

While we wandered on past two-storey high cylinders, I wondered if he'd heard that The Joker planned to blow up Santa on Saturday.

Richard Parker chatting to his minion.

Unperturbed by diabolical plots, Richard points out how creative people building parade floats need space.

"I build anything," says Richard.

"Props, furniture, shop fittings. Anything really that people want that's somewhat out of the ordinary.”

He seems unaware there's also plenty of room here for the villain to hide out.

Black Chilli, his manufacturing side builds equipment for his other company Elite Event Hire.

I try and focus on the facts while I keep a sharp eye out for evil villains bent on destroying the world.

'Anyone can bring me a design or a photograph,” he says. 'There is a wide variety of what I do.”

Richard in his Black Chilli workshop with two of his creations.

Last year he made the giant Christmas gift boxes down Devonport Road and the Pop Up Park. He also built the giant stamp for the Innovator of the Year award for Woods Creative. Woods had the inspiration and brought him the drawings.

'They asked me - can you make this?” he recalls. 'The more difficult it is the better in some ways. That's my angle on it, I just enjoy designing and making anything.”

Arriving from England 10 years ago, he had a company in the UK that built bespoke furniture, and wanted a change.

'This is a step a little bit further along from that,” he says. 'We would build for corporate customers, big receptions, anything that was a little bit different furniture-wise, that's what we'd do.

'This is probably a bit more interesting, as you don't get big corporates asking for giant snow and batmobiles. It's using the principles you have and adapting them into something else.”

Tauranga is the first place he came to, and he loves it.

'I've had a look around New Zealand, but this is a really, really cool place to be,” he says. 'There's a lot going on and in the ten years I've been here, there's big changes. There's a lot more people here and a huge amount of creativity.

'If I was going to say to somebody in the UK that I'm going to build a batmobile, they would be ‘yeah? oh yeah' but whereas here, people are like, - cool! It's a different attitude. There's an awful lot of creative people here. I don't know whether it's the atmosphere, what it is I don't know, but there's definitely something in New Zealand that allows you to be creative. And you get support for that creativity.”

Richard is now involved in BOP Film.

'I have high hopes for that because I think BOP Film is going to go places,” says Richard. 'Because it is film, a lot of it is fantasy, so a lot of it comes from imagination.”

Anton Steel (BOP Film) with Richard and Jannine Bishop (BOP Film).

We look around imagining the dragons and fantasy creatures of the future. I'm sure the Joker is hiding behind a barrel. He must have been tipped off by now. My imagination is running wild.

'I dread to think what's going to be in here,” says Richard. 'In fact I get people calling in to see what's happening, and they drop off stuff to me to make things out of. There's going to be a lot of interesting work with BOP Film. It's just fortunate that it's all happening at the same time.”

He's looking forward to working with more people, skilled in polystyrene, sculpting, foam coating, lighting, and the artistic side of things.

'I'm interested in animatronics, making things move. I hope we can get some of the local youngsters involved. It could be a dragon, or it could be anything. And I want to take it as far as possible.”

We return to his office. Under the door, there's a note with the words 'I am in Tauranga right now and I heard people talking about the parade on Saturday!! You guys obviously aren't taking me seriously!!! If you insist on having fun then you know what will happen!!”

It's signed ‘The Joker'.

Richard in his workshop.

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