Rachel

“I went ice skating one night with a friend of mine, I was studying at the time. And we went ice skating and I met this guy. First thing Jason said to me was ‘What size is your shoe?’ We’ve been married for 16 years, we have three children who are now teenagers. We’re now […]

Patricia

“Since I was about six they put me in dresses. I just didn’t want to get out of them, that’s all. Yes my cousins dressed me up and I enjoyed it. It’s interesting when you look back in life because as I say I’m 80 now. I’ve been in and out over the years. Sydney; […]

Jane

“I grew up in North Canterbury and Waipara. When I was around 10 we moved into the city. I left a community where I felt I belonged, I knew people and they knew me. I moved into this wild city of Christchurch which was quite shocking to me. It seems quite funny now, because I […]

Toby

“I think the events of March 15 and also the earthquakes of 2010 and ‘11 were pretty defining moments for me. We lost our neighbour in the earthquakes. During the mosque attacks we had been sponsoring a muslim family who’d come over from Jordan. For about 18 months prior to that we had built a […]

Michael

I have two daughters. I want them to feel empowered and strong as females in this world. That’s really important to me. It’s actually the feminine energy in this world that will save us. We actually need more males to acknowledge that part of their personality…to start creating balance in the world.

Sanjeewa

“I came to NZ in 2018 for my higher studies in Business Management. Previously I was living in Dubai and Saudi for almost 15 years, so it was a big change for me to come NZ. As you know, working in Saudi, it’s highly busy. I was holding a top retail management position for a […]

Graham and Perrine

We found Halswell to be an absolute haven. Our boundary was with the reserve and our gardens merged together. I think the potential that was in the reserve hit me and our neighbours encouraged us to proceed.

Krissie

“I’m not a person who likes to go on committees; I like to be a doer. I’m somebody who wants to be practical; and to be kind and generous to the people that I’m meeting and interacting with in the community.  I started my “Move it or Lose it” classes for older adults  just after […]

Sue

“I don’t use that term retirement. What does it mean? It conjures up pictures of people just sitting around doing nothing much.  No, I’m a community volunteer. After everything that I’ve been through and you don’t need the chapter and verse,  I can look back on my life with an enormous sense of joy and […]

Beth

“It sounds pretty cliche, but when people asked me what I wanted to do when I was older, I had no idea but I always knew I wanted to help people. I’ve been in hospitality for about 10 years and I’ve seen firsthand how much food wastage there is. When I heard about the free […]