Nelson City Council

Awards ceremony 6 May 2010

Six very deserving Nelsonians were the first recipients of Nelson City Council Community Spirit Awards at the ceremony in the Council Chamber on 6 May 2010. They were chosen from 19 nominations by a judging panel made up of three Councillors and three community representatives.

Each award winner received a certificate, a commemorative booklet, a full size Nelson City flag and a unique piece of local Flame Daisy Art Glass.

The winners are:

Bob Murray, Nelson Railway Society

Nominated by Janine Van Diepen, Rebekah McKenzie, Kerry Neale and Ken Meredith

Making a railway system run like clockwork takes a lot of input, even if that railway is just a few kilometres long. Bob Murray of the Nelson Railway Society has worked alongside the Nelson Community Probation and Psychological Services for the past ten years, providing supervised work for low risk offenders to complete their community work sentences.

Starting at 8am sharp and working through until 4pm every Saturday, Bob can be in charge of up to 15 workers, with smaller groups working on weekdays. Bob’s teams of workers have laid over two kilometres of railway track, cleaning and clearing the line as they go; and they have restored trains and carriages, scraping off rust, cleaning and repainting and achieving the satisfaction that comes with seeing a task through to completion. 

As well as getting the job done, Bob’s workers are gaining in many other ways. They learn good work habits and pick up skills and attitudes that help them to gain employment in the real world to get themselves out of the crime cycle. Bob keeps records on his protégés’ attendance and progress and consults regularly with the probation service.

Bob’s work with the railway and with Founders Park has gone beyond his efforts with community service supervision. In the early 1980s he helped to have St Peter’s Church resited at Founders from Atawhai, he has worked with the Land Transport Agency on the safety audits of the rolling stock and tracks, he has liaised with businesses and Council over funding and has given a lot of pleasure to a whole lot of Nelson children who may not ever have seen a train without the Founders’ railway.

Bob can certainly be said to have helped hundreds of Nelson people to get themselves back on track!

Bryce Buckland, Bird Life on the Grampians

Nominated by Jocelyn Bieleski and Julie McLintock

Bryce Buckland is a veteran of the Lake Rotoiti ‘mainland island’ project, with vast experience in trapping pests such as Rats and Possums so that our native wildlife can make a comeback. He brought his knowledge to town a couple of years ago with the launch of Birdlife on Grampians (B.L.O.G), which now has keen teams of volunteers monitoring traps on a network of tracks above the city.

At a recent count 170 Rats had breathed their last, while the Possum kill was heading for 120. On the positive side of the ledger, Kaka have been spotted on the Gramps, among other signs of increasing birdlife. All this is communicated to members via Bryce's monthly BLOG Spot, aptly named with the acronym of the group.

If Bellbirds could talk, Bryce would have had a whole lot more nominations, but it is not just the birds who are benefiting. Future plantings on the Gramps will have a better chance of survival, and pest weeds species also come under attack from the track checkers. Plus there is a strong sense of community spirit among the volunteers, and they are also getting the health benefits of regular walks on the hilly terrain.

The Grampians form Nelson’s backdrop and provide a feeder for native birds that we’ll see more of in our gardens, thanks to Bryce and his Bloggers.

The Micro-filming Subcommittee of the Friends of Nelson Library

Nominated by Tony Hunter and Dame Alison Roxburgh

For people researching their family history or finding out more about an event from our past, the micro-filmed copies of the Nelson Evening Mail held by the Nelson Library are a wonderful resource.

Starting in 1994 the Micro-filming Subcommittee of the Friends of the Nelson Library has worked to have this resource funded and made available free to library users. Specifically, the papers from 1911 to 1976 have been the responsibility of the subcommittee, which took the job on when the papers were given to the Nelson Provincial Museum in such a dilapidated condition that public access was thought unwise. 

Sub-committee members raised base funding through cake-stalls, garden trails, plant sales and historical evenings, getting the start they needed to start applying for grants. In four years they had an amazing $180,000, enough to invest and to begin the micro-filming, which was completed in 2002.

The Subcommittee has continued to fundraise, and now that regional papers are digitally available through the Papers Past website, they’ve turned their attention to digitising other local resources, using technology to make searching easier and deliver text and photos in more useable format.

The Nelson Historical Society Journals are now online at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre and the tireless subcommittee is fundraising to do the same with the much-loved images of the Nelson Photo News.

While the project has been very much a team effort, special mention must go to Nola Leov who has chaired the subcommittee throughout, and is now stepping down from this role.

Di Cressey

Altrusa International – Nelson, Habitat for Humanity

Nominated by Anne White and Margaret Paul

Di is one of those ‘born and bred’ Nelsonians who has helped to make this place a mecca, not just for sunshine but for its sense of community. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s Di supported her children’s activities by sewing costumes, parent-helping at tree plantings and fundraising for Victory School and the Nelson Swimming Club.

In the ‘80s she chaired the Dial-a-ride service for disabled people,  was a dedicated participant in the Victory School literacy programme for children with learning difficulties and those from different ethnic backgrounds; and she started her long involvement with the Nelson branch of Altrusa International.

Having won Altrusa awards for her service and become the organisation’s representative on the National Council of Women, Di was ready to move on in the ‘90s to apply her skills and community connections to the Altrusa House project at Nelson Hospital. After a huge fundraising effort Altrusa House opened in 1995, offering accommodation for relatives of patients, and since 1996 Di has chaired the committee that runs the house and keeps its grounds tidy. Living close by, Di has gone the extra distance, meeting and greeting guests and making sure the cupboards are kept stocked.

Habitat for Humanity came to Nelson in 1995 and Di was involved from the beginning, serving as secretary and organising sponsorship and donations of time and money. She has helped to support Global Village teams working overseas and has taken a personal interest in the local families as they move into their new Habitat homes.

Currently Di is a committed and active member of Altrusa International Inc of Nelson, Chair of the Altrusa House Trust, an executive member of NCW and a driving force for Habitat for Humanity.

Di Cressey is a leader and a ‘doer’ in her service to the Nelson community.

Graeme Cotton

Launch Warden and Small Craft Safety Advisor

Nominated by Chris Hawkes and Jim Lilley

Small boat owners and swimmers in our region may not realise how fortunate they are to have the services of Graeme Cotton in his behind-the-scenes roles as Launch Warden and Small Craft Safety Advisor for the Nelson City and Tasman District Councils, Safe Boating Advisor for Maritime New Zealand Nelson Region, and Nelson Marina Warden.

Graeme puts in many volunteer hours over weekends, holidays and outside of work. At his own cost he assembles and installs buoys, such as those marking the ‘swimmers only’ area off Tahuna Beach, he puts up maritime safety signs, hands out information on small boat safety and fisheries regulations and is not afraid to front up to those flouting the five knot speed limit within the marina and harbour.

Other tasks Graeme undertakes include securing drifting hazards, meeting with authorities over safety issues and giving freely of his expert advice to groups ranging from the police to water activity clubs such as rowing, kayak and waka-ama. Off the water Graeme puts in many hours at home setting up safety lines and anchors, assembling signs and putting safety packs together.

Graeme is Nelson’s ‘go-to guy’ for all matters of marine safety for national authorities. He has carried out this work for over 30 years, without seeking any payment or even reimbursement for his costs.

Those who meet him, on and off the water, are won over by his friendly manner; even those he has to inform that they are breaking the harbour by-laws, generally give him respect.
His work is of great importance to boaties, swimmers and others who make the most of Nelson’s coastal environment.

Madeline Barrow

Chief Māori Warden for the Top of the South

Nominated by Archdeacon Harvey Ruru and Gary Knowles

Night shift takes its toll, and most people who do it are looking for payment to recompense them for broken sleep. It’s a rare person who volunteers to work the ‘graveyard shift’, but this is what Madeline Barrow has done many many times over the years of her involvement with the Māori Wardens.

As well as helping to keep young people safe on the streets regularly on Friday and Saturday nights, Madeline has helped provide services for large public events, ranging from the visit of the Prince of Wales in 2005 to the biennial Relay for Life and for the youth staying over New Year at the Maitai Camp.

Families and elderly people have had warmer winters, thanks to her efforts in accessing donated firewood and even a dedicated trailer for delivering it. Madeline helps bereaved families, offering home visits and support at Nelson Hospital, including for relatives visiting loved ones at the mortuary.

She has been active in the training of Māori Wardens, and in extending her own capabilities as one of the first Māori Wardens from Nelson to attend the Māori Wardens – Te Puni Kokiri Project training at the Royal NZ Police College. Madeline helped see this project to fruition with the provision of two new Māori Warden vans and up to date communication tools for this region, through the NZ Police and Te Puni Kokiri.

Nelson is a safer place for all thanks to Madeline and her work with and for Māori Wardens.

Triennial awards

Nelson City Council takes the opportunity every three years to recognise and reward our most outstanding residents with the Community Spirit Awards. The most recent awards were made in 2010.

The Community Spirit Awards will only be held every three years, so the calibre of the nominees will be high and the judges’ decision tough.

Criteria

The criteria for the Community Spirit awards are wide open.  Awards will simply be given for outstanding community service in Nelson. So the nominee can work in just one area of the community or across many different fields.