I am sure I have said before I consider myself particularly blessed with my experience of ‘work’; the organisations, the people and the managers. This includes the various voluntary and community organisations I have belonged to and occasionally held office with.
Just recently there was a small ceremony (well, an informal breakfast really) in the Gallery of Franklin: The Centre. Management of the Gallery was handed to the Auckland City Council and we said farewell to the staff. The issue of whether or not Franklin should be part of the Super City was hotly debated and divided our community. However my colleague trustees of the Franklin Arts, Culture & Learning Trust and staff of the Gallery saw an opportunity to strengthen support for Arts and Culture with professional management, peer support for staff, being part of a much larger network of events; and better funding.
The support of Leisa Siteine, Manager Arts & Culture South, made for one of the most positive, speedy and amicable transitions I have ever experienced. Although it was both an honour to be appointed to the Trust Board by the old Council, and more latterly a privilege to be elected as the chair, it would be easy to now walk away.
However I have a sense of responsibility to ensure there is some kind of broad based arts and culture forum in place to advise and represent the community to our Local Board.
It seemed somewhat ironic that the day after this transfer, and on the day of my birthday, we were celebrating the Matariki festival at the Gallery. In addressing those gathered I noted that sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. Sharing knowledge occurred when people were genuinely interested in helping one another and creating learning. Knowledge is embodied in people gathered in communities and networks.
Matariki is the Maori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Seven Sisters; and what is referred to as the traditional Maori New Year. Traditionally, depending on the visibility of Matariki, the coming season's crop was thought to be determined. The brighter the stars indicated the warmer the season would be and thus a more productive crop. It was also seen as an important time for family to gather and reflect on the past and the future.
Today Matariki means celebrating the unique place in which we live and giving respect to the land we live on.
We are privileged to live in a rural community and feel a responsibility to actively contribute to that community. There are many others who give significantly and we are honoured to count a number as friends. Such people are a constant source of inspiration, modeling genuine interest in other people and the community. Whenever I think I may have done my bit, we hear or read about yet another person whose contribution makes anything I might do appear but a tiny, barely discernable blip on a large and busy radar screen.
A few years ago now, when John and I were busy showing horses we breed, I was approached by the then secretary of the Franklin Agricultural & Pastoral Society to be available for election to their Executive. I was told it would be a way I could contribute to the movement which had provided the opportunity for us to showcase our horses and also ensure its existence on into the future.
I spent a number of years on the Executive working with a variety of Presidents who each made a unique contribution both in hard work and with their particular focus. There were also dedicated and often long serving executive members. Their succession model, with annual performance reviews (called elections), prepared me to ultimately become the President. This came with immediate and direct support of the immediate past president and a patron, himself a long serving member and past president. Both are farmers.
A couple of weekends back, at the annual conference of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, I was privileged to be appointed to their Executive Council. Apart from the appointment being a great honour, with it comes the responsibility to contribute significantly to one of the oldest organisations in this young country and the associated network of 94 A & P Shows.
In the final chapter of his history of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand, ‘Show Biz’ Hugh Treadwell notes those who have been involved in the past, “… are part of the fabric of this important History, and helped to fashion what we have today.” It certainly is an honour and a privilege; however I realise the responsibility as I stand in the shadow of so many great contributors to this unique place in which we live whose interest and lives involved giving respect to the land.
