During World War II when it was feared the city may be bombed some families moved to Bucklands Beach on a semi permanent basis. Other families at the beach then were the Burgesses, the Inders, the Hancocks and the Eliots. About 1942 just after the Japanese entered the war, the wooden bridge at Wharf road was taken down to stop a landing by Japanese. Concrete pillboxes were built at each end of Eastern Beach on the clifftops by Herbert (Pop) Leach, an ex-World War I signaler and local farmer with his sons Bert, Allan and Mick. Metal and concrete was provided by Winstones Ltd, and the material was brought to the sites by the Leach's horse-drawn sledge. The home guard with the help of the regular army set up barbed wire entanglements at local beaches. Because rumours of submarines were rife in 1941, the local home guard platoon had an exercise to walk from Mangere to Bucklands Beach. The Leach's provided accommodation in the old two-story Alfred Buckland homestead.Grey's Folly. p260. Allan LaRoche. Tui Vale 2011. In the 1950s the baby boom at the end of the war saw a growth in the number of children and a bach owned by the Trusdale family was converted into a one-room barbers shop complete with pole, on Wharf Road next to the Community Centre hall. This was known as Bert the Barbers. The barbers was demolished in the early 1960s. It was located where the present plunket rooms are now.
