He’s the man for the job

Community

10 Apr

**Mike Martin (left) knows his mate Gary Collins has got his back in a tough situation.**

When they talk about top brass they’re probably talking about Gary Collins.

Gary has been offloading his brand of goodness up and down the Taupō District for a couple of decades and is this month’s Harcourt’s Taupō Good Sort.

He was nominated by fellow Taupō Brass Band and Taupō Concert Band stalwart Mike Martin, who has more reasons than most to appreciate Gary and his good work.

Gary stepped into the breach to run the brass band while Mike was in hospital for several months fighting cancer, and again when Mike’s daughter was born 14 weeks premature.

These major events happened end on end for Mike, and now that he is in remission for the cancer and his daughter is bouncing along without lasting effects, he has time to reflect on those who stepped up when it mattered the most.

“The band turns up for a concert and when we turn up the gear is already there, and they just think it magically appears but it is actually Gary behind the scenes turning up an hour before, putting everything where it needs to go. There is no hesitation, it is just, ‘when are we meeting, I’ll bring the ute’.”

Gary clearly loves to lend a hand, and it was a big part of the reason they left the UK 21 years ago.

“When we moved from the UK to New Zealand we said we want to be involved in the community, we want to find somewhere where we are part of what’s going on and so for me, years and years of working hard gives you an opportunity to give back and it is really about the giving back.”

They originally lived at the southern end of Lake Taupō, and back then he was a member of the Omori Rural Fire Brigade and a regular feature on the Omori Fire Truck on Christmas Day delivering presents.

He was “lucky enough” to retire last year but that’s a bit of a loose term for Gary, who immediately used the “spare” time to train as a first responder, and now volunteers for St John Ambulance

“I used to have a day job until this time last year and then I was able to retire. I had been in IT and project management and stuff like that for years and years and years and now it is an opporutnity to be doing more stuff in the community.”

What that means is he can drive the health shuttle between Rotorua and Taupō and, with that trademark reassuring grin and relaxed demeanor, his passengers are always in safe hands.

Good SortCommunity

Kim Manunui

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