Member Story - Ken Collings
I was born before the last war and vividly remember things such as viewing (underneath blackout curtains)
searchlights probing the Auckland sky, and bomb drills at Mount Roskill Primary School.
In 1942 my parents divorced and I and my brother were sent to Dingwall Presbyterian Orphanage. I realise that these days that would be viewed as a terrible thing – breaking a family up and instutionalising them. The experience of all the children in the “home” saw it quite differently. Coming from unstable backgrounds the orphanage gave us all certainty in our lives and a great and wide family. We had fun and were always well treated.
After finishing secondary school I spent time with each of my parents but that didn’t work out. I started work with NAC as a reservations clerk and then joined the National Bank in Te Puke. In those days we operated out of a dry cleaning shop but shortly after I joined the building that is still in the Main Street of Te Puke was built. Te Puke in those days was based on dairy farming – not kiwifruit – and there are still some that say it was better that way. I met and married Pat who was the daughter of a dairy farmer.
After a brief spell in Auckland we shifted to Tauranga and I worked for the Tauranga Harbour Board and later TEMCO the Tauranga Egg Marketing Cooperative. During that time we had three children 2 boys and a girl and I qualified as an accountant. I started a long involvement with education that ranged from School Committees, Secondary Schools Board of Governors to Education Boards
We have never left Tauranga and spent 35 years in our house in 22nd. Avenue. The kids though have gone far and wide and even our 6 grandchildren are all rapidly becoming adults. I have worked at Custom Blend Feeds and Fertilisers and was General Manager with 5 companies in the group and a staff of about 25. I had a term as Head of Business Studies at the Bay of Plenty Polytech and was in in practice with my own firm both in Mount Maunganui and Tauranga. I also chaired the Tauranga Electric Power Board and became a director of TrustPower and am still an elected Trustee of TECT.
These days I seem to spend my time between auditing some 35 not-for-profit organisations, Rotary, and some occasional golf.
searchlights probing the Auckland sky, and bomb drills at Mount Roskill Primary School.In 1942 my parents divorced and I and my brother were sent to Dingwall Presbyterian Orphanage. I realise that these days that would be viewed as a terrible thing – breaking a family up and instutionalising them. The experience of all the children in the “home” saw it quite differently. Coming from unstable backgrounds the orphanage gave us all certainty in our lives and a great and wide family. We had fun and were always well treated.After finishing secondary school I spent time with each of my parents but that didn’t work out. I started work with NAC as a reservations clerk and then joined the National Bank in Te Puke. In those days we operated out of a dry cleaning shop but shortly after I joined the building that is still in the Main Street of Te Puke was built. Te Puke in those days was based on dairy farming – not kiwifruit – and there are still some that say it was better that way. I met and married Pat who was the daughter of a dairy farmer.
After a brief spell in Auckland we shifted to Tauranga and I worked for the Tauranga Harbour Board and later TEMCO the Tauranga Egg Marketing Cooperative. During that time we had three children 2 boys and a girl and I qualified as an accountant. I started a long involvement with education that ranged from School Committees, Secondary Schools Board of Governors to Education Boards
We have never left Tauranga and spent 35 years in our house in 22nd. Avenue. The kids though have gone far and wide and even our 6 grandchildren are all rapidly becoming adults. I have worked at Custom Blend Feeds and Fertilisers and was General Manager with 5 companies in the group and a staff of about 25. I had a term as Head of Business Studies at the Bay of Plenty Polytech and was in in practice with my own firm both in Mount Maunganui and Tauranga. I also chaired the Tauranga Electric Power Board and became a director of TrustPower and am still an elected Trustee of TECT.
These days I seem to spend my time between auditing some 35 not-for-profit organisations, Rotary, and some occasional golf.