Ashburton Courier: February 22, 2024

8 Ashburton
NEWS
Courier, February 22, 2024
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Obituary: Small stature withabig heart
Mid Canterbury lost along­serving and
dedicated volunteer on January 14,
when Jillian Annette Newton, died.
The list of organisationsthe 74­yearold
gave her time to makes for
impressive reading.
Jill was born in Ashburton on May 7,
1949. Apart from living 12 years in
Alexandra, she spent the rest of her life
in Mid Canterbury.
She was twice recognised by the
Ashburton District Council for her
services to the community, with a
district councilCommunity Civic Award
in 2012 and the Mayor's Awardin2019.
Since the early 1970s, Jill was an
ostomate ­someone who has an opening
in theirabdomen, changing the way
waste exits the body.
She spent alifetime volunteering
while dealing with her own health
problems. She had great empathy for
people going through the ostomy
journey and for people who struggled
generally.
Jill held various positions over ahalf
century of involvement in ostomy
associations in Mid Canterbury and
furtherafield.
This included chairingthe Ashburton
branch, aposition she had for almost 21
years, following serving in the roles of
secretary and treasurer.
She was secretary of the South
Canterbury branch for 16 years, vicepresident
of the Asian and South Pacific
Ostomy Association, anational
executive member of the Federation of
the NZ Ostomy Societies for 18 yearsand
the organisations’s national president.
Her national bodyduties included
helping to organise regional and
national meetings and conferences, as
well as advocacy work.
Her dedication to the ostomy societies
led to her attending overseas
conferences,including one in
Frankfurt, Germany.
At the time there was aterrorist
threat, but that didn’t stop Jill goingout
walking.
Ostomates in nearly 25 countries
received amagazine that Jill took on
editing in 2003. It took her about 150
hoursfor each of the magazines that
were producedthree times ayear.
The camps she ran for young
ostomates from 11­ to 20­year­olds were
PROFOUND IMPACT: Volunteer Jill
Newton wastwice recognised by the
Ashburton community for the service
she gave.
fun and helped those livingwith the
condition make the mostoflife.
Jill was amember of the New Zealand
Red Cross.
As well as being abranch member, Jill
wentout with the eveningDistrict
Nurses,providing an extra pair of hands
and support for 34 years until the
programme discontinueddue to Covid.
In the aftermath of the February 22,
2011, Christchurch earthquake, Jill
volunteeredwith Red Cross working in
Christchurch. It wasn’tthe only
earthquake she stepped up to help with.
She respondedasaCivil Defence
volunteeratthe Kaikōura earthquake.
Jill volunteeredfor more than adecade
with Civil Defence and was recognised
last year with along service award.
Her volunteering included work with
St John and the New Zealand Police.
She was avoluntary ambulance officer.
If the police needed to interview a
young person who didn’t have an adult
with them, Jill was aperson they could
call on to provide this support.
Her love of swimming saw her
volunteerasalife guard at the
Ashburton community pool for more
than 30 years.
She describedherself as a‘‘night
owl’’,soperfectly suited to arole with
Community Patrols of New Zealand in
Ashburton Town Watch.
For more than 25 years,Jill assisted
with the patrolling the streets of the
district on weekendnights.
She alsoprovide 10 years’ secretarial
services. In 2022 she received a
commendation for 25 years of service.
Her faith was an important part of
who Jill was, and no doubt sustained her
and gave her comfort through her many
health battles and challenges. She was a
member of the Salvation Army and
worked as the corps office
administrator.
She had been an active participant
when the Salvation Army provided an
emergency caravan to respond to
emergencies, helping the responders
and those impacted by the event with
refreshments.
Alongside this, Jill did many things in
the background to assist with the
running of the church, from filling­in if
the cleaner wasn’t there, to assisting
with the community foodbank when
needed.
Other groups she gave her time to
include as adriver for Presbyterian
Support, member of the Kidney
Foundation, board member of
Neighbourhood Support, executive
member with Victim Support and six
years as support worker with the
organisation, and volunteering at
Ashburton community Christmas
lunches.
Jill was humble natured and very
unassuming about her voluntary work.
She refused to let the challenges of
health obstacles stop her because she
had azest for life.
‘‘Life is for living and I’m living it,’’
was afavourite saying of Jill’s and one
she lived by.
Jill is survived by son Gavin, daughter
Jillian and their families.
­Dellwyn Moylan
BOOST TO RANKS FOR MID CANTERBURY CHOIR
Mid Canterbury Choir has had aboost to
its ranks after holding open rehearsals.
Manager Carol Gunn said the two open
rehearsals, on each of the last two
Monday nights, attracted 12 potential new
members.
Nine were keen to join. They
represented agood mix of tenor, altos and
sopranos.
The number of active choir members
was currently 37, ranging in age from
about 20 to 75, so the new members could
see numbers boosted to 46.
‘‘Singing feeds our souls, we make new
friends, learn new techniques and have a
great time rehearsing and performing.
The open rehearsals have allowed people
to experience this over anight or two and
the choir is excited about the new faces
and voices joining us,’’ Gunn said. ‘‘Our
uniform person will be busy sorting
uniforms for them!
‘‘Men are aprecious commodity for us
but we have eight regular men, and one
more from the newbies.’’
Mid Canterbury Choir will have its first
concert for the year on April 14 at 2pm at
Baring Square Church. It will feature
international organistMartin Setchell,
who will be in Ashburton for the weekend
to dedicate the church’s refurbished
organ.
Application
closing dates
Operationalcosts
(programme or event)
Up to $15,000
22nd March2024
Major Grants Round
Over $20,000
(Phone to discuss priortoapplying)
3rd May 2024
Capital projects
Up to $20,000
26th July2024
Seeour websitefor further informationand to
makeanonline application.
www.comtrust.org.nz
To discussany applications
Phone: 03 687 7360 or 0800 672 287
Email: crm@comtrust.org.nz
2646013
Researchers untangle faults
BYJAMIE MORTON
New Zealand Herald
Researchers have untangledone of
New Zealand’s most complex fault
zones, in agroundbreaking study with
potentialglobal implications for
earthquake science.
Their recently­published findings
reconstruct thousands of years of
activity in the Marlborough Fault
System, which stretches acrossmuch
of the northern South Island.
It linked New Zealand’s two
behemoth, big­risk plate boundary
systems –the AlpineFault and the
Hikurangi Subduction Zone –while
endlessly absorbing local pressure
from “strike­slip” motion, where
rocks at the boundary slipped past
each other.
Over millions of years,rocks within
the system were being transferred
from the Pacific plate to the
Australianplate, as the boundary
itself gradually shifted to the
southeast.
Runningparallel within it lay four
major faults –Wairau, Awatere,
Clarence and Hope –which have been
active for tens of millions of years.
While they’ve been involvedinbig
events in the past –including a7.5
event in 1848 that caused widespread
damage –intriguingly, none were
among the incredible 25 set off by the
2016 massive Kaikoura Earthquake.
Just why, remainedone of the
biggest questions still facing
The Marlborough Fault System ­
linking the Alpine Fault and Hikurangi
Subduction Zone ­stretches across
much of the northern South Island.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
scientists –yet the new findings,
publishedinthe journal Earth and
Planetary Science Letters,have taken
them much closer to understanding
how the system works.
Study author and GNS Science
geologist Dr Russ Van Dissen said
he and colleagues, from the
University of Southern California
and University of Sheffield, wanted
to know whether the plate motion
was always being accommodated in
the same way across the system – or
if it was being shouldered by
individual faults within it, at
different times.
The answer lay within tell­tale
signs of displacement in exposed
river terrace surfaces.
Contrarytolong­held
assumptions, they discovered it had
maintained asteady boundaryslip
rate over the last 12,000 to 14,000
years –allowing the entiresystem to
“keep up” with hundreds of metres
of plate movement.
Moreinterestingly, they found the
faults essentially worked together
to take up this motion, with some
slipping faster than others at
different periods.
“It’s like atrade­off: we might see
one fault speeding up and another
slowing down, but the rate of motion
across the system stays the same,”
Van Dissen said.
The findings raised the need to
consider fault systems as awhole –
and could ultimately help change
what scientists understand about
similar ones overseas, in areas like
SouthernCalifornia.
“Of this type of study, Ithink this
is the first and the best –and it’ll
stay the best for awhile.”
Beyond meregeological curiosity,
the findings had implications for
estimating the region’s earthquake
risk.
“By knowing there’s more
individual variability between
these faults, it can help us forecast
the seismic hazard of the area more
realistically.”