Queen's Birthday Honours: Taranaki's Sydney Kershaw QSM - for service to Māori performing arts

Sydney Kershaw pictured in 2010. Photo / Supplied

A Kaumatua of south Taranaki iwi Ngāti Ruanui is being honoured with a Queen's Service Medal in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours for his role in Māori performing arts.

Sydney Kershaw, 77, has dedicated most of his life to keeping Māori traditions alive through kapa haka and toi whakaari groups.

One of Kershaw's earliest memories of kapa haka was when he was 10 and performed in front of the Queen in Rotorua during the 1953–1954 royal visit.

It's not the only time Kershaw has performed in front of Her Majesty; he performed for the Queen in Scotland in the 1990s.

Kapa haka is lifelong passion that's taken the Patea man throughout New Zealand and around the world.

"My wife and I went to New York with my group, Singapore, Hong Kong, and New Guinea where the Patea team went along with three others groups," he said.

In the 1960s, Kershaw taught kapa haka in the Bay of Islands and had another role as a kapa haka tutor in Wairoa in the 1980s.

The Kaumatua is a founding member of Patea Māori Club and lives in the south Taranaki town with his wife.

In Patea, Kershaw played a role in establishing the South Taranaki Police Advisory Board, providing tikanga advice and support to police to help change the way they deal with Māori.

In his spare time Kershaw volunteers as a minister at Te Hahi Weteriana Methodist Church where he provides services and pastoral care to patients in Hawera and Taranaki base hospitals.

"We start from New Plymouth through to Palmerston North and down to Wellington," Kershaw said.

"I keep very busy."

Having performed for most of his life, Kershaw isn't ready to stop just yet and regularly practises and performs with a kaumatua kapa haka group.

"The golden oldies," Kershaw said.

"We meet each other and have good fun and all the songs we do are from the 1970s back; it's all songs about our tupuna."

The group has previously performed in Wellington for Matariki celebrations.