Te Awamutu Courier - July 26th, 2011 - Te Awamutu Online

Golden service rewarded
Firefighter’s wife also honoured
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LONGSERVING volunteer firefighter Grant Mitchell sits next to his wife Lisa and daughters Aimee (right)
and Abby.
Te Awamutu Fire Brigade’s
Gold Star Award Evening, to
celebrate and honour 25 years of
service by Grant Mitchell, was a
real family affair.
Making the award was Don
Hallett, a former Te Awamutu
Chief Fire Officer and past president
of the United Fire Brigades
Association (UFBA). He is also Mr
Mitchell’s uncle.
Seated at the front of the hall
was Mr Mitchell, his wife Lisa and
daughters Aimee and Abby. They
had been piped in through the
largest guard of honour in memory.
Mr Hallett said joining a volunteer
fire brigade is a huge
commitment of time and effort,
with weekly training nights,
special training on some
weekends and a 24 day cover to
answer fire and emergency calls
in the area.
‘‘This requires a special person
to do this for 25 years, and
Grant is one of those people,’’ he
said.
‘‘It is a fact that the fire service
could not operate as it does today
without its volunteers.
‘‘The UFBA Gold Star is the
most coveted award in the service.
Only 6% of people who join
the service carry on to receive it.
‘‘This gold star tonight is the
34th that has been issued to a
member of the Te Awamutu Brigade
in its 98 year history and
number 6767 issued by the UFBA
in its 133 year history.
Before making the presentation,
Mr Hallett recognised the
part that spouses and partners
play in supporting the firefighters
in their role.
Uenuku departing Museum
From page 1.
Before moving to Te
Awamutu Museum,
senior curator Ms Lambert
worked as loans
officer at Te Papa —
part of the team bringing
taonga and objects
into Te Papa for their
exhibitions.
‘‘I didn’t anticipate
the chance to use that
knowledge again on a
project as close to my
heart as this’’.
The last day to visit
Uenuku at Te Awamutu
Museum is Monday,
August 1.
During August a
refurbished exhibition,
including an Uenuku
interpretive zone with
video stories about the
taonga, will be
installed. This will open
to the public on Saturday,
August 27 at 10am.
He said without that support it
would be hard to run a volunteer
brigade — and pointed out that
Lisa Mitchell had performed in
her support role to the highest
level.
Mrs Mitchell, along with other
achievements, received the award
for outstanding contribution from
the Brigade members partner for
three three years running from
2008.
In recognition of her contribution,
Mrs Mitchell was given a
unique honour — a certificate of
appreciation from the UFBA.
Mr hallett also recognised
employers of volunteer firefighters
and the self-employed members
of the brigade, who without
their input, it would be very hard
for them to maintain their cover
for workday fire calls.
Mr Mitchell joined the Te
Awamutu Brigade in April, 1986.
He says his uncle Don told him to.
In the following years he
became involved in all areas of
the Brigade, living in the Station
for nine years and competing with
the Te Awamutu team for six
years. He also ran in a team that
competed in Australia in 1992 and
1996.
Mr Mitchell served on the
Central North Island Sub Association
as president and is now a life
member.
He assisted with training of
brigade members and ran the
high angle rescue team for nine
years.
Another role was as casual
trainer teaching volunteers for
the Bay/Waikato area for 14
years.
He worked in the Hamilton
control room for 10 months in 1998
and after the control room closed
he spent six years at Hamilton
Airport Rescue Fire as a station
officer and training officer,
achieving his National Certificate
in Airport Level 3 and passed his
firefighter D1 exams.
At the same time he remained
a member of the Te Awamutu
Brigade.
In October, 2008 he attended a
station officers course at Whyte
Island, Brisbane, achieving the
position of Senior Station Officer.
Mr Mitchell has since been
employed by the Fire Service as a
Volunteer Support Officer and
regretfully tendered his resignation
as a volunteer firefighter —
although he is still fully involved
with assisting over 300 volunteers
at 14 stations on a professional
basis.
In his spare time over the past
quarter century, Mr Mitchell also
served as a territorial soldier in
the New Zealand Army for 17
years and he was a St John
Volunteer.
During his 25 years with Te
Awamutu Fire Brigade, Mr
Mitchell was present 1434 times —
a 93% turnout, which is a great
record.
Mr Mitchell said it had been a
pleasure to serve his community
in this way — and also honoured
his other family members who are
volunteer firefighters.
He pointed out that between
himself, uncles Don and Frank
Hallett, cousin Peter Hallett and
uncle Russell Percy (Te Puke)
there were four Gold Star holders
and nearly 130 years volunteer
service.
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UNIVERSITY of Auckland Department of Archaeology wood conservator
Dilys Johns assessing Uenuku before he is taken to Wellington.
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