Northland great-great-grandma: You're never too old to learn

Valmai Whyte, 87, and her great-granddaughter RaeRae Hemara, are students of the Maori martial art mau rakau. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Valmai Whyte reckons you're never too old to learn something new — and she should know.

The Northland great-great-grandmother, who turned 87 on Thursday, has just completed her first formal qualification.

Valmai, known as Nan to her classmates, will graduate in March with a level 4 certificate in mau rakau, a Maori martial art, from Te Wananga o Aotearoa.

As the oldest of five siblings, with one more on the way, she had to leave school at the age of 15 to look after the family when her mother fell ill. Later she worked at Middlemore Hospital for 30 years but never had a chance to further her education.

She was inspired to take up study by her great-granddaughter RaeRae Hemara, who has studied at the wananga for the past five years and took the mau rakau course, Tu Taua, in 2015. Valmai completed the same course last year through the Whangarei and Kaikohe campuses.

''I was a bit bored staying at home and I wanted to support my great-granddaughter,'' she said.

With classes once a week and a weekend-long wananga at a different marae around Northland once a month she said the course was ''quite intense''. The marae stays sometimes involved practice until 3am then getting up the next morning at 6am.

RaeRae accompanied her great-grandmother to all her wananga and Valmai went to all of RaeRae's, which meant they had 16 marae stays in one year.

RaeRae said the course had given her great-grandmother, who is not Maori, a much greater appreciation of Maori culture.

''For someone who's never had much to do with Maori culture and who'd never been on a marae, then to do 16 marae in one year . . . She used to be quite closed about Maori things but it's been a real mind-opener for her.''

Her tutor, Paora Glassie of Whangarei, said Valmai was a great example to others that it was never too late to learn.

She couldn't do all the physical activities but was always there to support her great-granddaughter and the other students, despite having to travel long distances to take part in the wananga.

She had become the matriarch of the Tu Taua course where all the students called her Nan, he said.

Valmai grew up in Otahuhu and moved to Northland about 30 years ago. She splits her time between her own home near Kerikeri and RaeRae's home in Moerewa.

Her five children and almost 70 descendants so far, including eight great-great-grandchildren, all have Maori heritage through her first husband.

She was pleased to have done the course but isn't yet sure if she'll do another. She recommended mau rakau to anyone and wished more Maori boys would take it up.

''It would keep them out of trouble and give them something positive to look forward to each week.''