New Year Honours 2014: Garry Dockary

HONOURED: Garry Dockary cites the camaraderie of the New Zealand Fire Service as one of the reasons he enjoys it. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR HBT134149-04

Garry Dockary's plumber was the first to suggest he join the fire brigade during the construction of his Havelock North home in 1968.

And now after 43 years of service to his local Havelock North fire brigade, he will receive a Queen's Service Medal in recognition of his lifetime of work.

Mr Dockary has played a huge part in the brigade's entry to various national firefighter competitions, such as the United Fire Brigades' Association (UFBA) Waterway and Driver challenges.

"It sort of hasn't really sunk in yet," he told Hawke's Bay Today. "It's good, it's good to be thought about that you have done some good for the community. It's great."

While he continues to judge in the Waterway and Driver challenges, he has also competed in and judged the New South Wales competitions.

He recalls the idea of joining the Fire Service was first suggested to him by his plumber during the build of his home in 1968 - a suggestion he then acted on two years later.

"At the time I said: 'oh yeah, all right', and it just sort of went on from there.

"They're a good bunch of guys down here and we all seem to get on fairly well together," he said of the local Havelock North fire crew. "That's mainly what it is actually - the camaraderie. That is the one good thing about the competition part of it too. You meet a lot of people around and it doesn't matter where you go you seem to run into someone you recognise, either by name or sight."

Mr Dockary has been successful in his years spent competing in various competitions, particularly when he coached the 1993 UFBA national competition winning team in Napier. It was this memory that he cited as one of his "main highlights" during his time with the Fire Service.

Mr Dockary served as a senior firefighter until 2010 and has been a senior operational support member since then. He is currently president of the Gold Star Association.