Sunshine Service stalwarts (from left) Val Hall, Nola Burgess and Nona Aston cut the birthday cake at a high tea held in the Rose Room, Marina Park, to celebrate 40 years of the popular bus service and 15 years of Tairawhiti Positive Ageing Trust.
Sunshine Service stalwarts (from left) Val Hall, Nola Burgess and Nona Aston cut the birthday cake at a high tea held in the Rose Room, Marina Park, to celebrate 40 years of the popular bus service and 15 years of Tairawhiti Positive Ageing Trust.
A high tea with live music and special visitors has marked milestones for two Gisborne organisations.
The Sunshine Service has been providing transport for the elderly and disabled in Gisborne for 40 years and Tairāwhiti Positive Ageing Trust (Tpat) has been advocating for older people for 15 years.
The two organisations celebrated in style with the high tea provided by the Women’s Institute team and guests including Seniors Minister Casey Costello, East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel and Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz.
Sunshine Service management committee chairwoman Barbara Clarke said the service, launched in 1984, travelled more than 50,000km a year.
The seeds of Tpat were planted in 2006 when then-deputy mayor Nona Aston and others held a meeting to discuss the pending growth in seniors across the region.
From that meeting a working group was put in place.
Seniors Minister Casey Costello (left) and Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz enjoy high tea as they celebrate the 40th birthday of the Sunshine Service and the 15th birthday of the Positive Ageing Trust.
The group undertook a wide range of community consultation and, with help from Judy Livingston, the first Tairāwhiti Positive Ageing Strategy was produced in 2009.
The trust was formed that same year and its advocacy and lobbying for older people continues today.
Costello said the group was behind Gisborne becoming part of the Age-Friendly Communities network this month.
She was passionate about seniors in the New Zealand population.
“Every community in our country has these sorts of volunteer and community groups and they would not survive without the older people propping them up.
“In 2022, one in six of the population was over 65. In 2060, one in four will be in that bracket.
“People are living longer and they also need to live well. About 85% of our over-65s are living independently of our health system.
“We want that to continue and to ensure we have the right services delivered to older people so they can live where they want to live.
“The Sunshine Service is one group in this community who have improved the quality of life for so many people,” she said.
Kirkpatrick previously owned a public relations business, and in 2012 raised funds for one of the new Sunshine buses with a cookbook called Feast.
“Organisations like these take away the barriers and change people’s lives,” she said. “We are all proud of your work, where every day you make someone’s day much easier.“
Tangaere-Manuel also acknowledged the many wonderful hours of voluntary work.
Scones, cakes, lamingtons, tea, propriety and civility . . . supporters of the Sunshine Service and the Positive Ageing Trust enjoy high tea to honour milestone years for the two organisations.
Stoltz, who used to be a volunteer driver of the Sunshine bus and is still on the committee, said the invited guests were made up of a huge group of volunteers who were the building blocks and backbone of the community.
“There is a real vibrancy in this room and we are grateful to each and every person here.”
Val Hall, Miriam Swarbrick and Nikki Dever were present when Sunshine was first being talked about in 1982, Clarke said.
“They lobbied, made cakes, sold raffles. They had $200 in the bank when they found the vehicle they wanted.
Hall’s lengthy commitment over 35 years ended in 2017. She was acknowledged with a Queen’s Service Medal for her service.
“Val kept the most amazing records of Sunshine’s activities,” Clarke said.
“The launching of a new van, yet another Sunshine birthday, a parade down the main street, moving to new premises ... there was always a cake to be cut and lots of pictures to be taken.
“Anything that appeared in the Gisborne Herald was carefully cut out.
“The Sunshine crew are always fundraising and recently were unexpectedly left a substantial bequest.”
The money was the start of a dedicated fund with the Sunrise Foundation and it continues to grow.
All the different co-ordinators/managers of Sunshine Service had been special, Clarke said.
Gisborne’s sight-impaired advocate Nola Burgess QSM gave outstanding service from the beginning in a little room at Dunblane rest home and lifecare facility.
“She was often seen walking with Yootha, one of her several faithful guide dogs, when her Sunshine watch was finished for the day.
“For 15 years Nola was the soft caring and helpful voice on the end of the phone and arranging the roster until March 2000.
“Ross Thompson was manager for 22 years. In that time, he saw many volunteers come and go, the van passenger numbers grew and huge numbers of kilometres were travelled.
“Sunshine needed to find a new home — somewhere where the growing fleet of vehicles could be secure,” Clarke said. “The move was made in 2003.“
Sunshine’s office and vehicle compound today is located at the back of the Salvation Army building.
“The next manager was David Dewer, a long-time volunteer who took on the job for two years. He particularly made his mark with his vehicle knowledge and was responsible for sourcing Van 10.”
Van 10 is a new direction for Sunshine. It only requires a driver, has a wheelchair ramp and is designed to pick up individuals and take them to where they want to go without having to be in a van with other clients.
Sunshine’s new manager, Liz Graham, has just started.
The demand for Sunshine’s services continues to increase. Last year the buses travelled 55,317km, up by more than 10,000 on the previous year.
Clarke said the service could not operate without “our amazing volunteers who give their time tirelessly”.
In the early days of the Tairāwhiti Positive Ageing Trust, it delivered workshops on keeping safe, new road rules, grandparents parenting, recognising and coping with abuse, independence and mobility, laws and ageing, and knowing your rights.
Communitywide activities such as Know Your Neighbour events were held.
