Queen's Birthday honours: John Ransfield

Rotorua's John Ransfield has no idea who nominated him for a Queen's Birthday Honour but he expects to find out soon.

Mr Ransfield, who is of Te Arawa, Tainui, Ngai Tahu, Raukawa, Tuhoe and Ngati Porou descent, has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the New Zealand Police and the community.

He is no stranger to getting recognised for the work he does, having been named the Outdoors New Zealand Outdoors Excellence Volunteer of the Year 2011.

His latest accolade is one he is grateful for and humbled by.

"I feel good, unexpected."

Mr Ransfield, has been a firearms licensing vetter for the New Zealand Police in the Eastern Bay of Plenty for 20 years.

On a voluntary basis he led the implementation of the extremely successful programme, Whakatupato ki te Mau Pu - Safety With Firearms.

He has travelled to remote rural areas at his own expense in the Bay of Plenty, East Coast, Far North and Te Urewera promoting firearms safety and licensing compliance.

He recruits and trains instructors for the programme, which is run in conjunction with the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council, an organisation Mr Ransfield has been involved with for 30 years.

It not only contributes to keeping people safe in the outdoors, but promotes lawful behaviour in communities.

"My ambition is to go all over New Zealand and recruit people that can do the mountain safety work for their own people in their own areas," he said.

Mr Ransfield has been a member of the New Zealand Police Search and Rescue for 30 years and is president of the Rotorua Hunting Club.

He is a member of seven Maori trust boards, two marae trusts and is affiliated to 53 hunting clubs throughout New Zealand.

Mr Ransfield had no idea he was even up for an honour.

"I didn't even know anything about it. It wasn't until I started putting two and two together and I figured out more people knew about it."

However, he was still unsure about who nominated him.