Highest honour for Kaitaia stalwart

HIGHEST HONOUR: New Zealand Riding for the Disabled's Volunteer of the Year, Gwenyth Cossey, with national CEO Guy Ockenden at Saturday's presentation.

Volunteer Awareness Week came to a fitting conclusion in Kaitaia on Saturday when one of the stalwarts of Riding for the Disabled, Gwenyth Cossey, received the Tom Atchison Memorial Trophy as the organisation's Volunteer of the Year.

National CEO Guy Ockenden, who travelled from Wellington to make the presentation, said the award was the greatest honour RDA could bestow, and Mrs Cossey was a very worthy recipient.

"All volunteers are special, and all the work they do is valued," he told her, "but you have now joined a very select group of people."

Mrs Cossey had been part of Kaitaia RDA since 1989, and had remained 100 per cent committed to it. Her nomination described her as kind and thoughtful, with a rare ability to organise the volunteers, riders and horses.

A nurse by profession, her attention to detail, her filing system and record-keeping were vital to the organisation, as were her strong equestrian background and the knowledge that she quietly passed on to those around her.

"You know where everything is," Mr Ockenden said.

"You do everything from opening up in the morning to taking the rubbish away."

She had told a newspaper interviewer that she had never anticipated the pleasure she had gained from her involvement, and that she hoped she had made a difference.

"You certainly have," Mr Ockenden added.

Mayor John Carter also congratulated Mrs Cossey.

"There is no question that this country wouldn't survive without volunteers," he said. "People like you are the heartbeat of our community. We are a wonderful nation because of people like you. Thank you on behalf of Kaitaia, the Far North, Northland and New Zealand."

Mrs Cossey was quick to share the honour, however.

"It's really a group thing," she said.

"You cannot do these things on your own."

She had met some incredible people through RDA, and when Chris Timmins came on board the organisation really became a team.

"I was looking for a new direction in my life when I got involved, and I have benefited so much personally," she added.

"It has given me so many wonderful opportunities to meet people."

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The Tom Atchison Award commemorates the Hawke's Bay farmer and father of three horse-mad daughters who saw Riding for the Disabled in the UK, and spent the rest of his life establishing it in New Zealand.

The organisation now comprises 55 groups with 2000 volunteers and at last count 3281 riders.