Sport, arts, community: Margaret's a Taupō good sort

Margaret Green (second from right), Harcourts Taupō's Good Sort of the Month for June, has an array of volunteer commitments. She is pictured with Rosie Harvey (left) and Mary-Louise Johns of Harcourts Taupō, and acting Taupō District Mayor Christine Rankin. Photo / Laurilee McMichael

Ten years ago Margaret Green and her husband Nick arrived in Taupō not knowing anyone.

But Margaret wasted no time getting involved in the town, and not only have her volunteer commitments brought her great joy and satisfaction, she's met lots of people along the way.

She's become so indispensable that last week Margaret was named the Harcourts Good Sort of the Month for her many volunteering roles.

Margaret is the volunteer co-ordinator for the Malcolm Flowers Insurances Taupō Winter Festival. She is on the festival organising committee and her specific job is to scout "far and wide" to find the 60 or so volunteers needed to put on a successful festival. Whether it's for just a couple of hours or for several events, Margaret welcomes any help she can get.

"Some [people] just do one thing, which is fine, and some do more. We're still looking for people to help on the Tongariro Domain on Friday and Saturday (July 16 and 17), which is all the free activities for children so we need quite a few people around for supervision."

Margaret runs all the senior tournaments for the Taupō Tennis Club, particularly a large senior tournament that runs in spring and attracts top players from throughout New Zealand. She also is the administrator for Tennis Bay of Plenty, which covers Taupō, Rotorua and Whakatane.

But it's not just tennis. Margaret also volunteers for the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge.

"I take all the [cycle challenge] trust minutes and I volunteer and run the information tent on the day."

With involvement in arts and sport, it's only fitting that Margaret has another string to her bow, this time community. She is a volunteer for Lake Taupō Hospice, working in the Hospice Shop as a team leader (or "a retail queen" as she jokingly puts it). A former physiotherapist by trade, Margaret is also comfortable delivering hospice equipment into people's homes.

Every three months when the New Zealand Blood Service comes to town looking for donors, Margaret is there too, spending an afternoon making cups of tea for the donors.

She is a volunteer teacher of Scottish country dancing with an active country dancing group that meets every Thursday afternoon at St Paul's Union Church.

Why does she do it?

"They're all just such good causes," Margaret says of her involvements. "I just love it."

"I like organising things and I'm comfortable around people so that's what I do. There's so many things and you've just got to work out what you enjoy doing."

Margaret and Nick are both Kiwis, but spent most of their adult lives overseas. They retired to Taupō from Adelaide 10 years ago for the tramping and the fly fishing.

Her community involvement began after she joined a book group. One of the members was on what was then the Erupt Arts Festival Trust and the trust was looking for volunteers. From there, Margaret has met lots of people and thinks living in Taupō has been fabulous. She loves helping out and says it's wonderful that the community groups she's involved with are also receiving recognition for what they do.

She was presented with a bouquet of flowers and a gift basket from Harcourts by acting Taupō District Mayor Christine Rankin, who said volunteers like Margaret quietly made a massive contribution to their community.