When Napier woman Meg Dawson received a Red Cross New Zealand Distinguished Services Award on Saturday her own thoughts were for the branch from Kaiwaka of which she's been a member more than 40 years.
Surprised when the announcement was made at the organisation's awards night in Wellington, held on Saturday in conjunction with a national conference, she says it must have been because of the branch that she was recognised with the Red Cross medal and certificate.
Where many other branches have closed over the years, Kaiwaka, formed in the rural area north of Bay View in the mid-1950s, is still going, even "now everybody's retired to town".
Still meeting once a month, there are "about 21 members," although in the heyday there was never more than 30-35, she says.
In the almost 60 years the branch has been around, there've been just 104 members, their names embroidered on a table cloth introduced in recent years by now late founding member Lorna Arnold, who served for half a century. On hand now at every gathering, its names include Constance Jessep, now in her 80s and thought to be the last surviving original. It also includes Mrs Dawson's mother, Diana Wareham.