Five outstanding Palmerston North residents presented with Civic Honour Awards

Mayor Grant Smith with the Civic Honour Award recipients (from left) Roy Tankersley, Maryanne Mechen, Stewart Harrex, Steve Stannard and Jill Spicer. Photo / Brendan Lodge Photography

The adjectives were many but perhaps the one that stuck the most was social glue.

The recipients of this year’s Palmerston North Civic Honour Awards were lauded for giving their time and expertise for the benefit of the city and for being social glue.

At the October 25 presentation, Mayor Grant Smith said he was a big fan of the awards, which began in 1988.

Nearly 50 award alumni were present to watch five volunteers join their ranks.

Smith said Palmerston North people do extraordinary things and the quintet had enriched the lives of countless individuals.

Long-serving member of Environment Network Manawatū's management committee Stewart Harrex was praised for championing environmental and social sustainability.

She said the mayor had commented volunteers work quietly in the background, but she had never quietly worked anywhere and did not intend to.

She had harangued the city council for decades but would have got nowhere without its support.

Maryanne Mechen has been the president of the Palmerston North Dance Association since 2008.

She has been on the board of the NZ Performing Arts Competitions Association since 2014. Her brokerage helped ensure the establishment of the National Young Performer Awards in Palmerston North.

She said more often than not dance volunteers talk each other into filling roles and end up doing things they never thought possible. If they are just half good they are never encouraged to leave.

Roy Tankersley was 15 when he played his first pipe organ - at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Palmerston North. He has come full circle as he now looks after the music at the renamed Pathways Presbyterian Church.

He has many musical strings to his volunteering bow, including helping coordinate the Big Sing Regional Festival and serving as a member of Musica Viva Manawatū.

Tankersley said his passion for the organ and its music remains and he is grateful for the honour and the opportunity to continue to serve.

For 15 years, Jill Spicer co-ordinated the Red Cross Annual Book Sale in Palmerston North. The city is full of people willing to help.

Her take-home message was making a difference is a win for the people you help and a win for you, as well.

You could be picking up plastic when you go for a walk so it doesn’t get washed into the sea or you could volunteer with Red Cross.

Steve Stannard launched the UCI-accredited Gravel and Tar cycle race in 2016.

His mother-in-law watches the Tour de France and talks about the wonderful countryside, not the cycling. This got him thinking that when people watch televised cycling events they see the countryside the competitors are racing through.

Showcasing Manawatū was one of the reasons he started Gravel and Tar plus the region is a great place to ride a bike.

Stannard also initiated Gravel and Tar’s La Femme race for female cyclists, offering prize money equal to the men’s event.

Long may the city council’s support continue, he said.

Vanisa Dhiru shared her inspirational story of service and taking opportunities. She has been the chief executive of Volunteering NZ and president of the National Council of Women. Photo / Brendan Lodge Photography

The guest speaker was Vanisa Dhiru, a Wellington-based advocate for equity, inclusion and belonging.

She was born and raised in Palmerston North and attended Freyberg High School.

Her parents owned two grocery shops in Roslyn and Hokowhitu so she always had a summer holiday job, whatever the season.

When she was 25 she went to the village in Gujarat, India, where her father grew up. Listening to her family’s stories helped shape her life of service.

Throughout life, she has followed her heart and taken every opportunity.

Dhiru said she had listened to herself and to anyone who offered positive advice - and worked “bloody hard”.

The recipients were selected by a panel with its decision approved by elected members.

The panel members were Mayor Grant Smith, Deputy Mayor Debi Marshall-Lobb, councillors Lorna Johnson and Rachel Bowen, Caro McArthur (National Council of Women), Nigel Withell (Palmerston North Rotary Club) and Judge Bruce Northwood.