Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • Gisborne Herald
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

Sign InSubscribe
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Lawrence Yule: Grateful for a family of nations

By Lawrence Yule
Hawkes Bay Today·
6 Jun, 2016 12:45 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule meeting the Queen at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule meeting the Queen at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

In March of this year while in London for the annual Commonwealth Local Government Forum board meeting, I was invited to attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey.

Later in the day I attended a reception with Her Majesty the Queen, in my role as chairman of the forum.

I, with about 100 others, mixed and mingled until a reception line was formed and Her Majesty and Prince Philip entered the banquet room at Marlborough House.

As a novice at this, I had no expectation of doing anything other than smiling as she walked past. Instead I was identified by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth as she passed by. Remarkably she stopped, I shook her hand and we shared around two minutes of very engaging conversation.

She was knowledgeable about New Zealand, interested in local government and importantly asked about democracy in developing countries. I could not help but be inspired by her dignity, knowledge, work ethic and presence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Next month I will step down from the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) role. This will end my six years as chairman of an organisation that supports local government organisations and councils in the 53 Commonwealth countries.

CLGF is a small organisation of 23 staff across the Commonwealth with headquarters based in London. Its fundamental role is to support developing nations in the Commonwealth in areas of technical support, governance training and economic development, as well as holding more lofty goals such as promoting democracy and gender balance.

This work is funded by the New Zealand, Australian, United Kingdom and Canadian governments, partnered with the likes of European Union and United Nations Development Programme, which Helen Clark heads.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It has been a fascinating experience and I have met all sorts of people from presidents and prime ministers down. The experience has opened my eyes to how lucky we are. Living in Hawke's Bay, it is easy to forget that 40 per cent of the world's population does not have potable drinking water, many towns have no street lights and people drive on dirt tracks, and people in many countries live in daily fear or terrorism.

For the three days I was in Nigeria two years ago, I was not allowed to leave the hotel. Two weeks later, 23 people were killed in a bomb blast one block from the hotel.

While CLGF is a small organisation, it does represent a fundamental value system that comes with belonging to the Commonwealth. The collection of 53 countries with the Queen as their head of state may seem outdated to some, but from my experience it is far from it. For modern first world countries it may appear less relevant but for developing countries it very much resonates, having a connection to something that has stood the test it time, is non-judgmental and is run with political neutrality.

For me, belonging to the Commonwealth is like belonging to a large family. It costs very little to belong and offers an umbrella of like-minded people and values. As we celebrate Queen's Birthday weekend, we should remember that we are part of this important group of countries, led by a remarkable woman. It is far more than just an extra day off work.

Discover more

John Harrison: Bad tenants, not Govt, to blame

31 May 11:56 PM

Dr Deborah Russell: Disclosure a tax haven antidote

02 Jun 06:30 AM

Stuart Nash: Time to ensure healthy fish stocks

03 Jun 01:44 AM

Budget moves shortchange community

06 Jun 10:24 PM

- Lawrence Yule is mayor of Hastings and has announced he will seek re-election in the local government elections later this year.

- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

‘Hidden and quiet’: The libraries raising eyebrows for their internet search histories

22 Feb 04:00 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

‘Borrowed time’: Peter Beckett’s final days in Central America

22 Feb 04:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘Pure heartlessness’: Man laundered $44k, from 22 victims, for scammers based in Kenya

22 Feb 03:00 AM

A taste of NZ luxury at 40,000ft

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

‘Hidden and quiet’: The libraries raising eyebrows for their internet search histories

‘Hidden and quiet’: The libraries raising eyebrows for their internet search histories

22 Feb 04:00 PM

Hastings District libraries reveals the top 10 sites searched-for and blocked.

Premium
‘Borrowed time’: Peter Beckett’s final days in Central America

‘Borrowed time’: Peter Beckett’s final days in Central America

22 Feb 04:00 PM
‘Pure heartlessness’: Man laundered $44k, from 22 victims, for scammers based in Kenya

‘Pure heartlessness’: Man laundered $44k, from 22 victims, for scammers based in Kenya

22 Feb 03:00 AM
Doubts remain over Napier Health Centre overnight service

Doubts remain over Napier Health Centre overnight service

22 Feb 12:04 AM
Property no longer NZ’s golden goose?
sponsored

Property no longer NZ’s golden goose?

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP