NZ Red Cross Honours Joyce and Connie

Fifty years of service to any organisation is an achievement worthy of acknowledgement, and when two women earn that distinction for their voluntary work in the community, it is high honour indeed. Both Joyce Hogg and Connie Taylor have given forty years of their energy and spare time to the NZ Red Cross, and were recently recognised with awards for 50 years of service.

Connie remembers being approached personally to join Red Cross, and she was very pleased at the invitation because, as she explains, “ I was new to Martinborough and didn’t belong to a thing”. She felt it was worthwhile and quickly began to enjoy it. Connie recalls that back then the focus was on “people not money”, and that much of the work was at a very personal level. “When someone was sick they really appreciated a visit and a talk, and a batch of biscuits would go down well”, she says.

Over the years Connie took on vital roles in the organisation. She was the Meals on Wheels coordinator for many years, and was Secretary for an impressive 33 years between 1977 and 2010. These days she has stepped back from such active roles, but is delighted that younger people have come in and are carrying on. As Connie puts it, “ it’s good that something so useful is still going strong”. Looking ahead, Connie says, “I’m over 90 now but I wouldn’t give it up for anything”.

When Joyce was a pupil at Martinborough School, more years ago than she cares to remember, she joined a newly formed Red Cross group together with Thelma Feist, Dawn Hartnell and Barbara Behrent. She remembers one of the teachers asking who would be interested, and, although she maintains she has never been a forceful person, she found herself shouting “Yes, I’ll do it”!
This first experience was followed many years later by a request that Joyce, who was by then a teacher aide at her old school, start a Junior Red Cross group. Although her first reaction was to say “I can’t do it, it’s impossible”, she was persuaded and proved to be extremely good at it. Even now Joyce seems surprised by her own ability to establish and run such a group, yet with 40 to 60 members each year for over two decades, it was clearly a triumph.

Along with running the junior group, Joyce became a member of the Red Cross herself and served as President between 1994 and 2007. Like Connie, Joyce says that the Red Cross was “about people, not money”, and she reflects on the range of services the Martinborough branch was able to support. “After there had been a disaster we used to have appeals for specific things, such as bedding, clothes and so on”, she says, “and there were so many fundraisers like fashion shows, wine tastings, coin trails and concerts”. Meals on Wheels and providing transport and equipment have been long-standing services that continue today.

Joyce and Connie are both regretful that the focus of the Red Cross has changed in recent years. When asked how she sees the future of the organisation, Joyce replies, “ The future is money not time, and that’s where it’s gone wrong”. She feels that “ today people haven’t got the time, or think they haven’t, and it’s easier to pay $10 than spend a morning doing something or helping in person”.

Joyce and Connie are shining examples of the very best in our community. Hardworking, practical, generous with time and energy, and committed to the ideal of helping people in need, these awards are richly deserved.