It started at school in north-east England. Her father volunteered for the local coastguard.
"...Which is how I ended up being the victim on their training exercises."
After leaving school, she joined Rotoract and held a variety of positions, including as president of the local club.
Working for the British Ministry of Defence, she was promoted and moved to London, where she was able to help boys at Epsom College improve their cooking and baking skills.
"I was posted overseas and worked in the Embassy in Brasilia. Between postings, I did a month in the Directorate of Nuclear Policy."
Carolyn then learned she was being posted to New Zealand — famous for its anti-nuclear policy.
"I was posted to the British High Commission in Wellington." It was in Wellington that she met her future husband, Alan, also an English ex-pat.
"We were both posted there," says Alan. "I was with the Air Force and went to Shelley Bay."
They married and moved to Auckland before a brief stint back in the UK. In Auckland, Alan was promoted to Base Warrant Officer at Whenuapai.
Returning to Wellington in 1995, while working full-time in the Ministry of Commerce - later the Ministry of Economic Development - Carolyn began teaching as a Community Education tutor, mainly teaching adults computer skills.
"I still do it," she says. It involves regular trips back to Wellington.
"When Alan said he'd like to retire [...] we looked at various places and settled in Marton."
Since then, Carolyn has been volunteering a lot more.
Alan is a diabetic. "I was diagnosed with Type 2, and Carolyn being Carolyn, [she] wanted to know more about how to manage it," says Alan.
"Rosemary Blair set up a diabetes support group in Marton, so I went along to that," says Carolyn. The meetings sometimes clashed with her teaching in Wellington, but eventually, she and Marion Todd were approached to take over from Rosemary, whose health was ailing.
"Neither of us wanted the job, but neither of us wanted the group to fold." They settled on a job share arrangement so Carolyn could continue her teaching.
The Marton group meets between March and December on the first Saturday of the month at 2pm at Friendship Hall. Anyone interested can call Carolyn on 021 342 524.
"From going to the support group, I thought, well, there's the Whanganui Branch: maybe I need to learn a bit more about that. Marion and I came over to a few of the committee meetings [...] and I stepped forward to be on their committee. Through that, I started going to the Marton Health Network, which is an entity that has been set up to help network any organisation that would provide support to anyone living in the Marton area."
That involvement has meant attending meetings in Whanganui, and potentially in Taihape as well.
Since 2013, Carolyn has been on the Marton Community Committee, lately as chairwoman.
"That is part of the Rangitikei District Council. You are on a committee for three years, for the duration of that triennium for the council. At the moment, we are between committees, so [...] I dropped in nomination forms for setting up a new committee. As part of the Community Committee we get funding, and the small amount of funding that we got has been instrumental in helping put a defibrillator at Friendship Hall."
On a less formal front, Carolyn regularly helps the Marton Croquet Club and Marton Friendship Club. She says she helps them with funding applications.
