Mass hunt for missing mum set

Bruce Wills and his family are still bereft of answers after Bruce's mother Fiona Wills went missing on December 9.

A major last push that will double as a combined exercise for dozens of search and rescue personnel and volunteers is being planned for next weekend in an effort to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Te Pohue farming widow Fiona Wills.

Mrs Wills has been missing without trace for more than six weeks since walking out of her family's Trelinnoe Garden Park homestead to feed her chickens barely 50m away about 6pm on December 9.

Son and immediate-past Federated Farmers national president Bruce Wills and his family are bereft of answers and after thousands of man-hours of fruitless searches, including some of the most expert help and information, are open to the possibility still nothing will be resolved.

"But we have to try, one big effort to find mother," he said.

"The feeling is if we find absolutely no clue, people will say there is nothing more we can do. We would announce a memorial service. We just have to move on."

Feeding the chickens was something the 78-year-old alzheimer's sufferer did several times a day, and it was not unusual for her to stray.

But plans put in place by family and her nurses had otherwise found her within a short time, usually on nearby paths of the 12ha heavily grown garden.

Mr Wills said even vastly experienced police officers were forlorn by the almost unprecedented lack of any find in such a search. However, the situation had been put in some context by Ross Gordon, of the Search and Rescue Institute of New Zealand, who pointed out there were about 60 million square metres in the search area.

"Mother must be occupying one or two of them," Mr Wills said.

It is likely more than 100 people will take part next Saturday and Sunday, including Land Search and Rescue team members from Gisborne, Turangi and Wairarapa.

Mr Wills said the family "can't thank everyone enough" for the help, and social aspects of the gathering during the weekend would be one way of thanking them, even if unsuccessful in the focus of the search.