I am a semi- retired sheep and beef farmer.
‘Parakau’ the farm on which I live with my family has been in our family since 1943. On January 1st1960 my brother and I purchased ‘Makahiwi’ a central King Country farm and in 1994 we purchased ‘Moanahiwi’ also in the central King Country. ‘Makahiwi’ was sold in January 2019.
Apart from sheep and beef farming I have had a lifelong interest in horses and farm dogs, and I have been involved in one way or another in polocrosse since 1969.
I joined Rotary in 1988, it was one of the first organisations I had belonged to in which the members were not only farmers or rural people, and I have enjoyed meeting and mixing with people with a wide range of occupations and interests. I particularly enjoy the practical’ ‘working bees’. I have been involved in Rotary for 30 plus years now.
For me, the highlight of my time in Rotary was in 2001 when, in my Presidential year, we hosted a fund-raising dinner for the New York Fire Department after the 9/11 attacks. The generosity of people and the amount of money raised was very special.