Bay of Plenty JP Association president Colette Hintz (left), Glenis Murray, Bruce Woods, Graeme Hayley, Robin Reid, Robin Blackett, Les Millard, Laurence Young, and Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell.
Bay of Plenty JP Association president Colette Hintz (left), Glenis Murray, Bruce Woods, Graeme Hayley, Robin Reid, Robin Blackett, Les Millard, Laurence Young, and Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell.
They may fall under the radar a little, but when you need them, they are there.
The Bay of Plenty JP Association recently recognised the long service of many of its members, among them Maketū's Glenis Murray and Willie Tapsell (both 30 years) and recently retired Rob Blackett, of Te Puke (42 years).
Rob trained as a pharmacist in Petone where he met his wife, Mary-Alice. He worked in Te Awamutu and Auckland before the opportunity to buy a pharmacy in Murupara presented itself.
It was while in Murupara that he became a JP.
“I did get heavily involved in the community down there,” he says.
One of his more unusual tasks in the role came early on when he had to open a coroner’s court in Murupara.
“We’re not allowed to now. It was interesting, but it wasn’t very pleasant,” he says. “Murupara is 40 minutes’ drive from Rotorua, so it was a long way for a coroner to come.”
It was September 1982 when he became a JP, but within 12 months he and Mary-Alice were on their way to Te Puke to buy, and rename, the pharmacy that would become Blacketts.
Being busy improving the pharmacy left little time for much else in their early years in Te Puke. However, the townsfolk quickly got wind of there being a JP in the pharmacy.
“We were really busy and at the time they didn’t have JP service desk in town — so basically I was the JP services desk,” says Rob. “Sometimes I had three or four people waiting for me to sign [documents] in the pharmacy while I was busy trying to do my work.
“I was very, very fortunate that my wife, who I had met at pharmacy school, was also a pharmacist, so she carried on doing the work while I did the public service of signing these documents.”
It was a busy time.
Rob Blackett receives his certificate from Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell.
“Back in those days a lot of our Indian families were sponsoring their families to come and live in New Zealand and I had to sign a lot of sponsorship papers.”
Rob and Mary-Alice supported local clubs, especially sports clubs and Scouts and Guides, through the business and Rob sat on the inaugural Fairhaven School board of trustees and was involved in the New Zealand Pharmacy Guild, serving as its vice-president.
The creation of a JP service desk in Te Puke eased pressure to a degree.
“But when the [[pharmacy] doors were open, the public could see me there, and they couldn’t see any reason why I couldn’t sign their papers.”
Rob and Mary-Alice sold the pharmacy seven years ago, but Rob continued in his role as a JP.
“I figured I could still offer the service.”
But he now thinks it is time to hand over the mantle.
“We’ve got young grandkids growing up and families and we want to visit them and see them — if I’m not in Te Puke I can’t do my duties.
“I have met some interesting people through my JP work. I’ve never met anyone really famous, but just talking to people, finding out what makes their lives tick.”
He says he would like to encourage people who feel some civic responsibility to do something for the community and make themselves available for the role
“With the service desk, it’s fulfilling but not too demanding. The other thing is the training available now.
“When I first became a JP there was no training at all — just given the manual and thrown in the deep end with a bit of help from the other JPs in the area.”
He also wants to thank those who support the JPs
“That’s the other big thing — the partners of JPs — and I’d like to thank Mary-Alice for all her great support she’s shown me in the 42 years.
Glenis was well known in Maketū where she ran the post office, and was approached to be a JP.
Maketū’s Glenis Murray with her appreciation certificate.
“I laughed when they first came — about eight of them approached me. I thought they were pulling my leg, but they said no and they said they were going to put my name forward,” she says.
At the time she had been running the post office for over 20 years.
“I had a lot to do with people and families so knew everybody — and it was handy instead of them going to Te Puke.”
Although she retired from the post office 18 years ago, she continues to offer JP services.
Residents, she says, tend to just arrive, but others make appointments.
“I don’t know why, but I get people from Katikati and Whakatāne. Some of them say they can’t get anybody. I suppose a lot of JPs are working.”
Recently, she says, there have been a lot of people wanting forms signed relating to withdrawing their KiwiSaver funds.
She says another common task is signing forms for people who have been living overseas.
“I have met some wonderful people,” she says.
Willie was born and raised in Maketū but moved away, first to Wellington and then Tokoroa where he spent 16 years working at Kinleith Mill as a maintenance carpenter.
When he returned to Maketū he became friendly with Norm Bennett.
“He was a JP as well as a marriage celebrant and he tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘how about becoming a JP for Maketū, we never have many for Maketū’.
“I said ‘okay I’ll give it a go’ and he took me through the process and it started from there.”
He says in the early days there was more involvement in the justice system and working with police.
“We had people doing police work, people doing court work, people doing other work — it was good training and was really good actually, and I was meeting a lot of the public as well
“At one stage people thought you were a judge —but I said no way.
A lot of work involved signing statutory declarations, certifying exam results for university entrance applications and signing forms for driver’s licence and passport applications
“I got onto the West Coast JP Association, that was interesting — a real good learning curve down there.
Willie isn’t sure when the time will come to give up.
“I was thinking in the next couple of years I might put away the pen, but you just never know, the pen may never get put away — you just keep going and going and going. And I like meeting people and helping people.”
Willie has been a member of the boards of trustees of both Maketū School and Te Puke High School, was a Maketū centenary celebration committee member, a member of the first Maketū Community Board, and is a member of Whakaue Marae Committee.
