Western News: May 03, 2016

WESTERN NEWS Tuesday May 3 2016 13
still enjoyable after more than 50 years
27 when I finished that and when
you’re young you could burn the
candle at both ends a bit.
Where did you do your tutoring?
In town, it was called Christchurch
Technical College then
- it has had about three name
changes since then. It was only
one night a week at that stage.
That was about 1969, then me
and another guy started commercial
drain laying. We had a lot of
fun, we did all of the drainage
at QE II which was a monstrous
job, but we just got stuck in and
got on with it. We were young
and wishful, ‘of course we can
bloody well do it.’
Far out, was it only you two
doing the job?
No, we had 10 staff on. We updated
the Kaiapoi sewerage plant
as well. It was physical, hard
work but enjoyable. You were
outside all the time. Sometimes
you wore yourself out, but that’s
just life. We formed a partnership
called Mitchell and Rodgers. You
used to be filthy everyday, but
that’s part of your life and you
hope that you can look back on
your life and have enjoyed it.
How did it feel to receive that
award?
I thought why me? I’d started
in 2005 with just me, with another
tutor joining in 2006 and
another in 2007. We now have
eight, virtually a new tutor every
year. We do work for the Schools
Organisation and Ara managed
apprenticeships in plumbing and
gas fitting. We’ve grown and
grown, I have to ask myself, is
this real?
It’s been an absolutely fantastic
journey building this thing, I
have had some really great support,
and I didn’t do it alone by
any stretch of the imagination.
I’m putting back what I got out
of the industry. The biggest thing
for me is the recognition of offsite
job training.
Having been in the industry
so long, what sort of changes
have you seen?
Basically, when I started there
was a horrendous amount of
lead; it was the material of the
time for waste pipes, sewer pipes
and roof flashings. I only know
of two plumbers who got lead
poisoning. After that, it graduated
to Copper. Copper’s priced
itself out of the market now,
but it’s a marvellous material to
work with. We used to have to
fabricate everything, but now it’s
plastic and made fit for purpose.
The skill sets have changed due
to the change of materials.
And your family has been
supportive for all this time,
tutoring and working?
I could never have done it
without the support of my wife,
Beth, she’s always worked in the
background.
Where did you meet your
wife?
Through one of my cousins,
she was a friend of hers, they
bought us together, many years
ago now but that’s alright. We
went to the pictures, the usual
courting thing, it was different
then than it is today, 6 o’clock
closing, it was the 6 o’clock
swill. We went to dances and the
pictures, things like that, nothing
out of the ordinary.
Where did you grow up?
In Marshland Rd, bottom end,
so I’m not very far from home.
There wasn’t many houses. We
were in one of the houses at the
bottom end. It was still basically
farmlands, was still in the country
then. Shirley Lodge it was
called then, I don’t know what
it’s called now, we were midway
between that and Shirley Rd, but
we still lived in the country.
And where did you go to
school?
Shirley Primary of course,
my great-grandparents on one
side took up land on the side of
Marshland Rd, so it was pretty
family orientated from there.
Every kid’s good at school, I was
just an average kid at school.
I didn’t excel at anything. My
mother would’ve thought I was
outstanding.
Has your passion for plumbing
been passed on to your
kids?
No, I’ve got two daughters and
one grandson who is 32. I used to
take him on work experience, he
enjoyed it, and he could’ve done
it blind, but he said there was
too much to learn. But for the
students, I’ve chosen my path,
I have to sell them the industry.
I have to tell them the pluses
and the fun they’ll have on the
RECOGNITION:
Phillip Mitchell
received the
Graeme Victor
Smith Outstanding
Contribution
to the Industry
Award last
month, at the
New Zealand
Plumbing Awards.
journey. You go to work for fun,
if you don’t enjoy your work, get
another job! I’ve got to be passionate
about the industry.
Not looking at retirement?
Well, I’m only working three
days a week, I treat it as a hobby
now, not a job. I’m going to be 74
in a fortnight, so I guess I’ll have
to sooner or later, but I’m still
enjoying it. You’ve got to look
at it and say ‘well, I better pull
back’. It’s such a privilege to see
it working so well. Me getting the
award was a positive for Ara Institute
of Canterbury, showing
that tutors and support staff are
readily available to keep things
moving forward.