Gordon Murray of Ruawai

At 92 years of age, Gordon has been an active member of his community for over 50 years. His long list of achievements began in 1953 when he was the founding member of the Ruawai Fire Brigade which he was involved with for 33 years. He then went on to be the founding member of the Northern Wairoa Car Club in 1956, the founding member of the Otamatea Aero Club in 1965 and the founding member of the Ruawai Lions Club in 1978. In 1990 he formed the first Search and Rescue Air Patrol in New Zealand and then went on to set up a Coastguard unit in the North Kaipara district in 1993. At 77 he suffered unimaginable injuries after being run over by a bus but once recovered he was back at every Coastguard, Aero Club, Lions Club and Fire Brigade meeting and to this day he still regularly attends.

Eric Bettridge of Ruakaka

Eric has been involved with the Marsden Lions Club for over 30 years and through this has helped organise a number of events including the annual Lions auction, the Ruakaka Spring Fair and the Christmas Parade. He is also a Knight of the Blind for his on-going collections for the Foundation for the Blind and a life member of Camp Quality for his outstanding service to helping children with cancer. Every hour of his day is accounted for helping someone else without a second thought, with his catch phrase being “That’s not a problem...we can do that!”

Elisabeth Greaves of Warkworth

Elisabeth, originally from Holland, is a teacher at Wellsford Kindergarten who not only is a wonderful teacher for the children but also provides invaluable support and advice to parents beyond what is asked of her. Celebrating 60 years of Early Childhood teaching this year, Elisabeth is complimented by parents for her wisdom, experience, kind nature and high standards of teaching. She organises an array of wonderful activities for the children including a traditional Dutch Christmas featuring Saint Nicholas and Zwarte Piet, dressing up as the Queen for the Dutch Queen’s birthday, cooking and craft activities, Matariki celebrations and the very popular Pumpkin festival. In addition to her work at the Kindergarten, Elisabeth is also an active and valuable member of her community; she organises dinners, meetings, quilt and cheese making groups and is always the first person to welcome a new person to the community.

Darryl Quirk of Dargaville

Darryl moved to Dargaville in 1975 and has been an active member of the community ever since. The list of organisations she has been involved with is long but includes:
- Peoples Warden at the local Anglican Church for 11 years
- The Mental Health Day Centre
- Arataki Service Centre
- Citizens Advice Bureau
- Instrumental in setting up the Kaipara Budgeting Service
- Assists in the Food Bank
- Chaplain for the Alzheimer’s Group
- Mans the local Save the Children shop
- Member of the Kaipara Abuse Prevention Board and the Whanau Ora Board.

Since her retirement she has worked completely voluntary. She also actively puts her hand up to help those individuals in her community in need by taking them to appointments, weeding their gardens, bringing them baking, plants, books...the list goes on!  

Boy Yates of Kaitaia

At seventy two years old Boy is considered a legend in the Far North for is abilities on the rugby field, chopping and arm wrestling and many more attributes from his youth but also for his amazing community commitment. He is the kaiwhakamana for the Iwi of Ngati Kahu and regularly attends court in Kaitaia and visits inmates at Ngawha Prison. He has improved conditions at the court house and has provided invaluable support for many people at the court and prison. Boy has helped countless other community causes such as getting roads tar sealed around water supplies to improve dust pollution, improving road safety for children walking to/from school and being the driving force behind the Ngati Kahu Trustboard gifting some local land which Boy then made into a community rugby field. In addition to this Boy is recognised in the far North for his ongoing environment endeavours and as a great supporter of the local Marae.