Leading from the front issuu

Association. But Pat had taught me about the need to
think big as well as small. As Alvin Toffler said, “You’ve got
to think about the big things while you’re doing the small
things, so that all the small things go in the right direction”.
The community wanted a place to meet and to act as a
hub for community action and the provision of community
services. In essence, it wanted a ‘community house’.
Following Pat Magill’s lead, we started an action
campaign and wrote to the local council, convincing it
to sell us a surplus house for $10. The housing developers
were persuaded to provide a site for this, and a local
businessman helped move the house onto the site. The
community then used its local resources and volunteer
labour to turn the house into a community facility and
opened “Aorangi”.
Pat supported this Community Association in Rotorua,
and found the resources to completely carpet the
community house. Over the next decade, Aorangi became
a hub for a wide range of services and activities
within the community, including a public health nurse,
Māori language tuition, playgroups, adult education programmes,
youth employment programmes, women’s
camps, holiday and after-school programmes. It brought
the community together and strengthened connections
among its people, giving them a sense of belief in their
own ability to effect change. It exemplified the approach
and values that Pat had developed and utilised so well in
Napier and, in this sense, was a testament to his values
and community leadership.
Several years later, while in Scotland, I worked for the
Scottish Pre-School Association and found that many
women and families in the town where we lived were
also isolated and limited in what they could do. Through
organising womens camps (akin to the Waikaremoana
treks), we built stronger relationships, developed greater
confidence and found new respect for the power of
group action. Pat’s influence was here too.
He has had an enduring influence on me and I have no
doubt that he has influenced hundreds and thousands of
lives in this way. He also made us aware that we should
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only
thing that ever has.” This is a quote by Margaret Mead.
For me, Pat represents all that is good in the world. To
his very bones he has incredible integrity and a powerful
desire to fight for social justice. This drive and passion
has never been lost and I know will stay with him
forever. Pat Magill has emblazoned memories upon my
heart that will never be erased and that will continue to
guide my future.
SHINING A LIGHT
ON SOCIETAL
NEEDS
by ross tanner
I had moved to Wellington from Christchurch to take
up a new job in late 1971. The YMCA movement in New
Zealand was then a federation of local YMCAs, who
each sent delegates to a biennial conference. This conference
then discussed overall strategy for the movement
and made non-binding decisions about direction
and management, including levies to support the work
of a national office.
The biennial conferences elected a President for the
YMCA movement and ratified the appointment of a
Wellington-based national executive committee, which
was responsible for the overall management of the
national structure between biennial meetings. In mid-
1972 I was appointed to the Executive Committee of the
National YMCA, and became its chairman about 1975.
The first biennial conference of the YMCAs that I attended
was held at a conference center in Otaki over
a mid-winter weekend in 1973. That is where I first met
Pat Magill, who was the President of the Napier YMCA.
Pat was to become the National President of the YMCA
at the 1975 conference.
The YMCA movement had traditionally been an organization
that ran gymnastics and sport- related recreation
classes, school holiday camps, basketball, and
summer camps. But there was an increasing realization
that something different was needed to meet the
increasingly complex problems facing young people,
such as crime, substance abuse, family violence and
YMCA Hawke’s Bay: kids aim high.
Napier YMCA transformed and the Downtown Y is born 85