The pensioner took it upon himself to organise a walking bus for Balaclava School more than two years ago to share the joy of walking to school with the children and their friends.
"I’ve got 10 grandchildren at the end of the street and I realised one day that four of them were going to the same school in three different cars.
"I thought, ‘this is ridiculous’."
He had a bad back but he knew walking helped, so he decided walking 1km to school and 1km back with the children would kill two birds with one stone.
"That’s why I started. Nothing flash, just absolute necessity."
There was a little bit of resistance from the children at first, but now they refused to travel in a car.
It changed the whole atmosphere of one household.
"I’ve had two parents who’ve said to me ‘our household was chaos in the morning trying to get the child out of bed, trying to get them dressed and breakfasted and school lunch made and off to school on time’.
"Now, they get up, they get their own breakfast, get themselves organised and they’re down to meet their friends on time."
The walking school bus operated every day, rain or shine.
The children waited for Mr Hogg at a pick-up spot every morning and they walked in to school together.
Mr Hogg waited for the children at school and the bus left at 3.05pm everyday.
For his efforts, Mr Hogg became ASB Bank’s Good as Gold recipient of $10,000 last month. From that money, a generous donation was made to Balaclava School.
