After a hiatus of two years, due to Covid, Rotary’s Pride of Workmanship and Community Awards returned and the annual Awards Dinner was held recently. Overall, eight awards were given out to community members by Dame Patsy Reddy at the South Wairarapa Working Men’s Club facilities.
It was very gratifying to be able to hold the awards this year and reward members of our community who have excelled in either their work or their volunteering and community spirit.
As a community we are fortunate to have among us people who put others before themselves and invest enormous personal effort into their work and volunteering activities. The recipients are often modest and it is a privilege to be able to acknowledge and recognise their efforts through these Awards
The awards included recipients from the three South Wairarapa towns –
Pride of Workmanship
- Stephen Fennell – Operations Manager at Fresh Choice Greytown
Nominated by Chris Ward, Owner/Operator of Fresh Choice Greytown
- Conor Kershaw – P & K General Store, Martinborough
Nominated by Alastair Sutherland of Pirinoa
- Robert Sankey – Pete’s Joinery & Building Limited
Nominated by Jennifer Muth of Martinborough
Community Awards
- Joanna Baldwin – Featherston Community Centre
Nominated by Paul Mason of Featherston
- Maria Berry – Wairarapa Victim Support
Nominated by Gwen Zittersteijn of Featherston
- Bruce Cole & Shane Atkinson – Joint Nomination
Nominated by Bob Tosswill of Greytown
- May Croft & Peter Croft – Joint Nomination
Nominated by Alastair Sutherland of Pirinoa and Hana Makin of Featherston
- Vivienne O’Reilly –
Nominated by Frank Minehan of Greytown
The evening began with drinks followed by dinner, then Rotary’s Glenis Sutherland introduced Dame Patsy Reddy who was to present each award.
Dame Patsy said that one of the privileges of being Governor General was the opportunities to recognise people who do outstanding work in the community. Volunteers are not looking for recognition but rather follow the principles of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (hospitality and respect).
Rotary President Anne Atkinson gave a short introduction about the award recipient before Dame Patsy awarded each with an engraved shield and a small gift.
Photo caption: Conor and Philippa Kershaw
