On The Up: Rural Women New Zealand celebrating 100 years of advocacy

Claire Adkins (top left) and Leonora Spark (bottom left) with other members of the RWNZ Fordell Mangamahu branch. Photo / Supplied

For NZME’s On The Up campaign – showcasing stories of inspiration, success, courage and possibilities – Mike Tweed highlights the advocacy Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) gives farming communities nationwide, as the organisation prepares to mark its centenary.

An organisation founded 100 years ago by a Whanganui resident now connects more than 1600 members across the country.

Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) celebrates its centenary in July and continues to be a vital advocate for rural communities.

Committee member and former president of the Fordell-Mangamahu branch, Clare Adkins, said Whanganui woman Florence Polson was the first president of the national organisation.

“Some women accompanied their husbands to Wellington for a Farmers’ Union – now Federated Farmers – conference,“ she said.

“Over afternoon tea, they decided they desperately needed a group to represent them and help rural women all over the country.”

Since then, the organisation had broadened its scope to cover a range of issues, from care packages for those in need to “advocacy aimed at Parliament”, Adkins said.

“The focus has always been on helping women and children living rurally.

“We’ve also had a very long association with helping to fund research on leptospirosis.

“More light needs to be cast on it because it is still around.”

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection usually transmitted by contact with the infected urine of an animal or from contaminated water or mud.

Adkins said the branch was committed to giving bursaries to Year 8 students and their families from rural Whanganui schools.

“That’s to help with the costs of starting high school by way of money for uniforms or technology.

“We fundraise annually and give out $5000 to $8000.”

Leonora Spark is the branch's "eyes and ears on the ground". Photo / NZME

An “amazing conduit” of the branch was rural postie and latest life member Leonora Spark, who was “the eyes and ears on the ground” for the area, Adkins said.

Speaking to NZME last year, Spark said she loved her job – “this is my community”.

“I lived out at Mangamahu for 19 years and in Fordell for eight years.

“I know the people, and I love the contact with everybody.”

Spark said over the past few years, her RWNZ branch helped provide school uniforms and IT equipment for pupils starting at high school.

“Rural families have to shoulder a lot of extra costs with school and school-related activities as there is a huge amount of travel involved to get children to buses, schools and sports facilities,” she said.

Adkins said anyone wanting a face-to-face chat could turn up to the branch’s monthly meetings.

“We have guest speakers every second month, but sometimes, they are just focused on a get-together and a catch-up.

“It’s friendship.”

Country pubs were disappearing and if people weren’t involved in school communities there was “not a lot of glue” in the rural sector compared to days gone by, she said.

“Planting farms with pines or mānuka for the bee industry has also taken people out of the district, and some of the farm jobs that would have been done by a family are now just single guys.

“I think the sheer numbers [in rural areas] has reduced, but, hopefully, we are still a focal point for people to meet.”

Adkins said that in 1940, the Levin branch raised £5000 in a month to fund the construction of a Spitfire plane for the British effort in World War Two.

The plane’s first pilot, LP Griffin, was the son of a Levin branch member.

A group prepare to set off for RWNZ's annual walk in 2021. Photo / NZME

Whanganui business Matthews Roses produced an exclusive rose to celebrate the 100th anniversary of RWNZ.

That had been a four-year process, with 1500 plants now available through her branch or the RWNZ website, Adkins said.

“It’s soft lilac colour and it’s scented. We were very keen on that.”

Next on the Fordell Mangamahu RWNZ calendar is the annual “Walk the World” event, a five-hour hike on April 27.

Adkins said a “good level of fitness and sturdy footwear” were required, along with $15.

“You’ll need a bit of lunch and a Thermos, but that money gives you raffle tickets, afternoon tea, and access to a secret walking location.”

Adkins said the organisation had moved “with the times” and now had a social media presence, website and annual business awards.

She and husband Grant Adkins run a 500ha farm at Okoia, part of which is dedicated to growing pumpkins for their Summer Hill Seeds business.

“For the awards, you don’t have to be a rural woman to apply,” she said.

“You just need to have 50% or more of the control and financial stake.

“It’s a really exciting night and a chance to celebrate women doing creative and inspiring things.”

For more information on the branch’s walk, email Leonora Spark at ljnajspark@gmail.com.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.