Great Raihania Shears convenor and Flaxmere shearing contractor Colin Watson Paul, with the new six-stand shearing board being built for the Hawke's Bay Show. Photo / Doug Laing
Great Raihania Shears convenor and Flaxmere shearing contractor Colin Watson Paul, with the new six-stand shearing board being built for the Hawke's Bay Show. Photo / Doug Laing
A huge chunk of Kiwi grit, ingenuity and determination has come together to build a new six-stand shearing stage for the Hawke’s Bay A and P Show’s Great Raihania Shears next week.
Shears convenor and Flaxmere shearing contractor Colin Watson Paul, who revived shearing competition atthe show in 2004, said there was “zero in the bank”.
However Paul Ward, owner of GCW Engineering and Machinery, decided to “take the risk”, despite the dire finances and less than eight weeks to do a job he reckoned would take “at least 12″.
Farm scene contacts and a “significant contribution” from the Hawke’s Bay A and P Society have seen more than $80,000 raised since the start of September.
“We thought we might have to cover it for a while ourselves, and we might still have to cover a bit,” said Watson Paul.
He was determined to have new facilities with the Shears hosting the next round of a series to find New Zealand’s team at the 2026 Golden Shears World Championships in Masterton.
Uniquely, the staging of the shearing board, catching pens and porthole, is designed in pods, enabling use from one-to-six stands.
All six will be used for the Secondary Schools Challenge on October 23 and the Great Raihania Shears the next day.
But parts or all could be relocated for training, shearing displays, or other competitions, and in any new facilities in the redevelopment of the Tomoana Showgrounds, in Hastings.
They might be shearers, but they're handymen as well. World champions Rowland Smith (left) and John Kirkpatrick (right) helping with extra lighting at a national team selection series using a browed stage and stands at the Great Raihania Shears in 2016. Smith won his title in 2014, and Kirkpatrick won his in 2017.
Watson Paul said the ageing pavilion near the Elwood Rd gate had long passed its use-by date, had only four stands, and had become dangerous for the shearers, but it can still be used for wool handling events.
Na Raihania, descendant of Rimitiriu “The Great” Raihania, who won the world’s first machine shearing competition at the Hawke’s Bay Show in 1902, said the whānau appreciated the shearing committee’s “amazing commitment to holding the show year in and year out”.
“This year promises to be something really special,” he said.
New Hawke’s Bay A and P Society chief executive Hannah Morrah said: “We were happy to contribute a significant sum to help, honour the history of the event, and recognise the talent in this industry in Hawke’s Bay, in the past, now, and in the future”.
At least three world champions will shear at the show, including Hawke’s Bay World champions Rowland Smith (who helped design the new facility) and John Kirkpatrick.
Nathan Stratford, who won the world teams title with Kirkpatrick in 2017, will travel from Southland, as will Riverton shearer Casey Bailey, who sheared for Watson Paul in the Bay in the winter, and who won the national spring title in Waimate on Saturday.
Series leader Toa Henderson, from Northland, Paerata Abraham, of Masterton, and Southland shearer Brett Roberts will be absent at a test match against Australia, in South Australia.
Ward started GCW Engineering and Machinery intending a small part-time operation, and now employs staff. Wife Anna is a fulltime administrator, and mum.
While agricultural machinery modifications repairs are much of the business, he’d never considered half-a-woolshed, until Watson Paul and Smith asked him what could be done, and to make it portable.
“We’ve got some good guys. It should have taken 12 weeks, but weekends, nights - wouldn’t happen without them.”
Show manager Bex Tacon said plans are in place to make the show “fun for everyone,” from the show jumping and other rural events, to the animals, and the fairground carnival run by Mahon’s Amusements and partners.
Gate entry, which was $18 for adults last year, has been cut to $10.
