Suzy Cato’s biggest fan: Whanganui teacher cherishes childhood memory

Suzy Cato with Curtis Bunker (right) and his brother Geoffrey in Whanganui in 1995. Photo / Supplied

A photo throwback by legendary children’s entertainer Suzy Cato may just have unearthed a Whanganui music teacher as her greatest fan yet.

Curtis Bunker was 2 years old when he met Cato at Jubilee Stadium, a Whanganui pitstop on one of her many tours.

He and his family had gone along to hear Cato sing the songs they loved from the telly.

They snapped up the chance to have their picture taken with the entertainer.

“I found the photo years ago when I was going through old family photos and I was like, ‘oh, it’s Suzy Cato’.”

An excited Bunker sent Cato the photo, which she later shared on her Facebook page.

The 31-year-old commented on the post, saying it was the best day of his life.

“Looking back, you’re star-struck. That’s the celebrity anyone our age wants to meet,” he told the Chronicle.

Asked if Bunker’s wife minded that meeting Cato as a toddler trumped their wedding day as “the best day ever”, he said: “She knows it’s the best day ever. I have a 9-month-old son, I’m married and everything but mate, Suzy Cato,” he said through laughter.

While the pair have not met in person again, they still formed a friendship because of what Bunker called Cato’s down-to-earth nature.

“She’s the best,” he said.

“I’m a fully-grown man, I’m pretty tattooed and can look intimidating but I know that I’m just going to be in tears meeting her.”

Whanganui Girls' College music teacher Curtis Bunker may be grown up but that doesn't stop him being a Suzy Cato fan.

Bunker hailed 56-year-old Cato as an icon for Kiwi millennials.

Suzy’s World and You and Me cemented the entertainer as one of New Zealand’s most beloved children’s presenters.

“I just always remember after school or before school watching her and just how pivotal she really was for kids my age,” Bunker said.

He credited Cato’s positive influence as the catalyst for his career as a music teacher at Whanganui Girls' College.

“Her impact on me as a child to now is definitely the reason why I am a teacher now.”

And Cato’s lyrical presence 100% led him to become a music teacher, he said.

Bunker penned a letter to Cato at the start of university, telling her how important she had been to him.

He was awed when she wrote back and followed him on Instagram.

“Every now and then I’ll talk to her and ask her how she is ...”

Cato cherishes the connection with her fans, especially those who tuned in around 1990 to start on television’s The Early Bird Show.

Suzy Cato, the quintessential children's TV host.

“It is such an honour to have big kids remembering that special time we used to share through the TV. I love it, it’s amazing,” she said.

Cato still receives “snail mail” from fans once every few months.

“But I get messages, I have people slide into my DMs in such a wonderful, positive way almost daily,” she said.

When Cato started out in Whangārei as one of the country’s youngest female radio announcers, she never imagined her career would influence lives like it has.

“You are honoured that people would associate you and the content you’ve created with the pathway they have taken in life.”

Cato had heard of Suzy’s World encouraging people into the sciences, and You and Me spurring others to become pre-school teachers.

“You just go, woah, that’s amazing,” she said.

Suzy Cato is one of New Zealand's most iconic children's entertainers. Photo / Hagen Hopkins

Cato met hundreds of fans on tours through small-town New Zealand that she and her husband Steve Booth carried out on her way home from filming Me and You in Dunedin.

“I did 50 or 60 fundraisers in one year,” she said. “Meeting real New Zealand – all the mums and dads watching with their child.”

Bunker has two children and is disappointed they are growing up in an era where kids’ entertainers were mostly offshore or not even a real person.

“Suzy would’ve had such a big impact on the lives of kids who had no one.”

Who did those kids have now, Bunker questioned.

“Bluey isn’t the same.”

Cato said reaching audiences in today’s age was challenging.

“It’s harder to be found in all the algorithms of what’s happening overseas and all that.

“Whereas, your options weren’t so great back in the day,” she said.

“You had three channels to choose from and if you wanted children’s content you sat in front of the TV straight after school, and you sat there until the news came on.”

YouTube played a pivotal role in allowing Cato to continue creating children’s content via her channel TreehutTV.