Tuesday I had the privilege of farewelling and celebrating the extraordinary life of one special person.

Ian went to the Amuri after I had left in 1963, with Wife Pam where they purchased a rather sadly in need of a restoration, Motor Camp at Hanmer Springs.

They turned it around with hard work and application of talents to the point it was able to be sold to allow the primary focus of Ians Life could be brought to fruition, to purchase a farm. Balcarries in Holmes Bay to the west of Pigeon Bay on Banks Peninsula was that ultimate.

Last Thursday as he was want to do, Ian went back to the farm for another day of pre lamb shearing the ewe flock now under the capable management of son Andrew.
In a place that had become his very real “turangawaewae”, at age 75 Ian suffered a cardiac event and passed before he hit the woolshed floor.

He crammed more into those 75 years than many and the service at the Duvauchelle A & P showgrounds traversed a sample of his life’s achievements.

So much of which in many ways mirrored my own in time frames that missed paths crossing until I moved to Akaroa for the initial 20 years of my retirement where upon joining the Akaroa and Bays Lions club we actually came face to face in an incident of timing. A mere nine years of birth separated our two parallel lives. Yet “The Village” that is so often the truth of new Zealand Life can be littered with incidents that only avoid collision by timing.

My earliest memories were impacted by visits to Pigeon Bay where My late Mum’s extended families settled following arrival to this country from Scotland mid 19th century. Both her Mum and Dad were offspring of two pioneer families and an Uncle who survived a Bush accident near Wanganui, losing a Leg and leaving only a stump upper thigh. That coincided with a quite remarkable connectivity.

The then Owner of “Balcarries” was a Scot , Sir Bruce Stewart who had lost an opposite limb and would pass the unwanted shoe to my Mum’s Uncle Jim.

A second near miss came with the establishment of a Ski Club on Mt St Patrick that commenced operation in 1959, I became a member in 1960.

One recollection is of a working bee at Branch creek to build a shelter shed for a Bulldozer used to open the access road after a snow fall and do maintenance on the zig zag access road.

Richo’s connection to what is now called The Hanmer Ski Area was of much greater moment culminating with his eventual time as President.

One very notable part of that Ski Area development came with the purchase of a dismantled “Poma” ski lift from Ruapehu Alpine Lifts at National Park. The Amuri committee bought it and Richo and an owner of a truck and trailer unit set off to bring it to Hamner.

Now to non skiers, so what. Well the towers and assorted equipment were not a tidy little bundle and when they arrived at Wellington the Load master for Cooks Strait Ferry was rather dubious at allowing the rather untidy load aboard. A suitable distraction was arranged and the problem was suddenly solved. Following arrival on the mainland another minor mechanical problem caused a halt just out of Blenheim when the constabulary became involved. Thankfully for the progress of the pioneers he/they saw reason and accommodation secured in the local cells, with the door open, and on the morrow the cavalcade continued.

That “Poma” lift was installed, running for one kilometer on the Ski Field, by volunteers using skills born of fencing and construction any and all farmers of the day had acquired. A subsequent visit by an executive of the French Alpine Poma Lift company just marveled at what a bunch of practical enthusiasts had achieved by way of installation.

Upon gaining a farm Richo was again an enthusiast, being instrumental in attempting to find solutions to the now still remaining problems around wool which has gone from a profitable basis for carpets to an almost valueless but necessary component of sheep farming on higher rainfall farming lands, where the sale value of stronger wools is almost now a cost, with income very adjacent to costs of shearing. So it was fitting that Richo’s coffin was fabric and flowers were replaced with wool.

All in all a remarkable day in the winter sun at Duvauchelle to celebrate a notable life of contribution to others by one very special man.

RIP Richo your farewell was the measure of your remarkable life, work, generosity, advice and counsel, tourism, farming, community service.

You leave a large gap to be filled. Rest easy old friend.