2011

The Board was pleased to present the ‘Eastbournes’ 2011 to the Mary Greig Clayton, the Wal Louden , Jill Herman and Ian and Margaret Rankine

Ian and Margaret Rankine – in recognition of services to the Red Cross and Civil Defence.

The Chair noted that the 10th of April 1968, Wahine Day, was a more significant day in the future life of Eastbourne than many know. That day Constable Gordon Hogg made a prophetic declaration. He asked Mr Ian Rankine to become the Local Civil Defence Warden for York Bay and Mrs Margaret Rankine to start Red Cross First Aid Classes. Mrs Rankine said that Constable Hogg’s contribution to Eastbourne was not well recognised but he picked winners that day. Of course Mr and Mrs Rankine, a wonderful unit from their beginnings in 1947 sharing horse riding on the Kapiti Coast and a marriage until Mr Rankine’s death on 5 September 2011, were ideally suited to these roles. Mrs Rankine had been a ‘Red Crosser’ since 1948 and Mr Rankine had a strong interest in radio. Mrs Rankine accepted her role and Mr Rankine assumed responsibility for the local emergency radio service.

Mrs Rankine became a Committee Member on The East Harbour Red Cross in 1954 and was President from 1989 to 1994 and again from 1999 to 2008. She was the local face of the Red Cross, being involved in almost every conceivable Eastbourne activity in formal and informal roles, Welfare Centre preparedness and functioning, First Aid classes, Wharf-to-Wharf Swim, Eastbourne Games, and Meals on Wheels. All recognised by her Life membership and 50 Year Service Award in the New Zealand Red Cross in 2009 and a Hutt Civic Honour for Community Service in 2008. Mrs Rankine has co-ordinated York Bay Civil Defence.

Mr Rankine’s role was more one of loyal support; he was always behind Mrs Rankine but his role with the Civil Defence radio service was outstanding. Every month, until just before his death, he broadcast the monthly radio transmissions. He was also a respected Justice of the Peace and active in setting up the York Bay Residents’ Association in the 1960s.

Mr and Mrs Rankine were long time St Ronan’s parishioners, and of course, Mrs Rankine took Sunday school. It would be no surprise that both retained strong contacts and Board roles with the Secondary Schools they had loved, Queen Margaret College and Scots College, Mr Rankine being a proud Scot! They also shared Rotary in Wellington and Pencarrow with each being a recipient of Paul Harris Fellowships. Their property “Ravenscraig” was a living testament to their love of their Bay and its environment. Mr Rankine loved the bush and the birds to the end. The community has much to thank them for.

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Mary Greig-Clayton in recognition of services to Eastbourne Community and Youth

Ms Horrocks stated that Mrs Mary Greig-Clayton had made a tremendous contribution to the Eastbourne community over many years. Generous with her time, a great networker and organiser, Mrs Greig-Clayton had helped a large number of organisations and been a vibrant presence in Eastbourne. Resident in Eastbourne and the Bays since August 1945 Mrs Greig-Clayton’s community involvement started with the Days Bay and Point Howard play centres and the Days Bay Residents’ Association. Since 1991, as the owner of Harcourt’s Real Estate, Mrs Greig-Clayton has been a generous sponsor of all three local schools, The Eastbourne Community Trust, the Eastbourne Youth Worker’s Trust, the wharf to wharf swim, kindergarten, sports clubs and many events. The yacht club has enjoyed her sponsorship for fifteen years while most community organisations, including the Butterfly Creek Players, have benefited from the Harcourt’s photocopier. Not only is Mrs Greig-Clayton a generous sponsor, where the action is she is sure to be. A Friend of Eastbourne Wharf, she swam the Wharf to Wharf in 1992 and 1993, coming a worthy last and second to last. After this she limited her involvement in this particular activity to sponsorship. Mrs Greig-Clayton has been as generous with her time as with sponsorship. A Justice of the Peace for fifteen years, she has been on the Eastbourne Community Trust since it was set up fifteen years ago. Interested in and supportive of all age groups, Mrs Greig-Clayton was an active member of Plunket and a member of Pencarrow Rotary for twenty years, one of them as president. She is also a Paul Harris Fellow. Mrs Greig-Clayton has been a strong supporter of young people in Eastbourne, particularly through her work with the Eastbourne Youth Worker Trust. Major recent events for which Mrs Greig-Clayton was one of the organizers were the very successful 2010 garden tour run by St Alban’s Church, where she is a member of the vestry, and the Eastbourne dine out for Christchurch in 2011. Rimu Street will not be the same without Mrs Greig-Clayton and her stylish haircut. She is a worthy recipient of an “Eastbourne.”

 

Wal Louden – in recognition of services to our Wharf, Defibrillator Trust, Sport and Environment

Mr Gibbons noted that Mr Wal Louden came to Eastbourne as a five year old when his parents moved in 1947. Growing up in Eastbourne in the 1950s and 1960s, with easy access to bush covered hills, beautiful beaches and a community with strong sporting clubs, created a “Wal Louden” with a real passion for sport and the Eastbourne environment, which is just as strong today as ever it was. In sport Mr Louden has been a Member of the Muritai Yacht Club since 1954 and has made a huge contribution to the Club’s growth and success in running many National and International Regattas through his sheer hard work. In 2003, the Club recognised Mr Louden’s service by making him a Life Member. In 1996 when the Hutt City Council threatened to demolish the Rona Bay Wharf Mr Louden was in the vanguard of Eastbourne Residents who fought for the wharf’s repair and retention. Mr Louden is a Trustee of the Rona Bay Wharf trust. In 1999 Mr Louden was one of a team of residents that persuaded the Fire Service to allow the setting up of “The First Response Trust”. The Trust aimed to have mobile defibrillators to assist heart attack and stroke victims located at access points through the Bays (now there are eight). Mr Louden’s credibility and the high esteem that the Eastbourne community has for him were the reasons the Trust was so successful. It sets the standard for the region – earning The Wellington Free Ambulance inaugural Safer Community Award in 2011. Since 2001 Mr Louden has led a group of volunteer possum trappers that with the assistance of Greater Wellington Regional Council have killed over 750 possums to the benefit of local bird life.  Currently Mr Louden also supports the ECB ECoast programme organising the beach profiling project.

 

Jill Herman in recognition of services to Mothers and Young People

Ms Crawford noted that Mrs Jill Herman and her family moved to Eastbourne from Lower Hutt in early 1988. Her twins were then aged two and Mrs Herman joined various child centred groups in order for her children to enjoy the activities and to meet more local people. This soon developed into becoming involved in the running and management of some of these groups and organisations. She was Secretary of Days Bay Play Centre during these early years in Eastbourne and very involved with running New Mothers’ Support Groups in the Wellington region, particularly in Eastbourne. Ms Crawford first met Mrs Herman when she and a friend ran a New Mothers’ Support Group in Eastbourne in late 1988. At the same time Mrs Herman was a key member in the Hutt Valley Multiple Birth Club which later made her a lifetime member. After the twins started school at Muritai in 1991, her energies and talents were used there as a member of the Board of Trustees for several years during the 1990s particularly on the financial management side. At this time Mrs Herman was also working at Parliament and doing post graduate studies in accounting at Victoria University. After school care was required for the twins. Initially they went to a programme based at St Ronan’s but this eventually folded. Muritai School and the Eastbourne community was in the process of planning to improve and extend the school hall and Mrs Herman ensured that plans included catering for after school care. The facilities were duly built and available, an Incorporated Society was registered, a seeding grant was applied for and granted by Lotto, staff appointed and Eastbourne After School Care began at Muritai School. Mrs Herman was the driver of this service being established in our community and then worked with a management group of parents for several of its initial years. It was a natural partner to the Barnados Child Care Centre which had also been recently established. As always hoped, the operation of after school care is now run as part of Muritai School and still very much appreciated by the children who attend and their parents and caregivers. In 1999 the Herman family lived in The Netherlands while Grant Herman was working there for Shell International. After her return Mrs Herman was an active member of a group Youth Focus Management (YFM) which provided Friday night activities for local youth during the time when the Eastbourne Youth Worker Trust (EYWT) was without a youth worker. YFM and EYWT worked closely together during this period with the YFM continuing to provide an operational role for some time after youth workers were able to be employed again. In the past few years, Mrs Herman’s ongoing voluntary work has not been so Eastbourne based though she is a driver for Okiwi Trust. Mrs Herman gets a lot of pleasure from her voluntary work; it has been very rewarding and brought many wonderful people into her life and strong friendships have been formed. She did not seek recognition such as the one being awarded but will be pleased that the work of local people such as herself is noticed and valued.