FRIENDSHIP:WHEN HIS childhood friend Donny asked him to come to her wedding and give her away Aaron Stampa didn't hesitate ? despite being on the other side of the world. "I was just awestruck ? so flattered, so honoured. I just said 'yes, I will be there'. I didn't even thinkof the time, money, distance, time off work?" Aaron Stampa and Donny Jackson were friends from the age of about 10 onward. They lived near each other on No 2 Line, just outside Durie Hill. They used to bike to school together and Aaron would go to her place and help out with the horses on the property. He was male company for her father, who had no sons of his own. After Mr Jackson died, about 10 years ago, young Aaron's friendship with Donny and her mother and sister continued. Donny trained as a teacher, and started going out with another Aaron - Aaron Waters who was manager of Wanganui's Michael Hill Jeweller store. She shifted to Palmerston North and Mr Stampa shifted to Wellington, and then to England. When his old friend rang him about her wedding, he was working for a London bank. "I got a phone call out of the blue, saying her and Aaron Waters were engaged and they were getting married on January 28 and she wanted me to give her away." He was surprised by the request. "It breaks with tradition. Usually a father or an uncle does it. It's a big thing to give someone away, a big honour." He felt confident about it though, because he knew Aaron Waters as a fellow suit wearer around Wanganui, and the two had got on well. He asked for four weeks off work in January, so that he could visit his Wanganui family while in New Zealand. The bank refused, so he resigned and has since found another job. He surprised his family, assembled back at No 2 Line, by appearing unexpectedly on Christmas day. "There were screams, shouts, cheers and tears." And he was at Hanmer Springs on January 28, as promised, to walk down the staircase of and upmarket hotel and give his friend away. "It was just beautiful. Spot on.
