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Canterbury grandmother Miriam Spragg found it bittersweet accepting her King’s Service Medal - she had actually nominated her chorus group director, Virginia Humphrey Taylor, whom she thought was far more deserving.
Miriam, 82, a grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of five, was recognised for the more than 25 years she devoted to barbershop singing and music administration in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours.
“It was the Monday after Easter that I got told. I sat there, and I thought, ‘This can't be right’,” she said.
"You had to go back with a yes or no whether you want to accept it. I thought, ‘I can't accept it, Virginia hasn't had one’. In the end, I thought, ‘grow up’.”
She shows The Star the letter she received from Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro confirming her recognition, printed on heavy-stock paper and gold-embossed with the seal of New Zealand at the top.
"One of the things they're quite strict about, not that everybody abides by it, but you're not allowed to tell anybody. And I hadn't — there were times when I was tempted.
"I didn't sleep the night before it was announced publicly. I got up and got the paper, it was probably about five o'clock. Then I thought, ‘What if it's not printed?’
"So I was sitting there at the breakfast bar, and my husband (Bernard Spragg) came out. I just turned the paper around and said, ‘You better read this’.”
Miriam bought a dozen bottles of champagne to celebrate and had a “rolling full house” over the following days.
Her love for barbershop stemmed from her piano lessons as a girl.
Miriam grew up on a farm in Darfield and spent her final two years of secondary school at Christchurch Girls’ High in 1961.
"I learnt the piano from the time I was about eight. I had three brothers ahead of me, and they'd all learnt, so I think it was just expected.
"I was the only one that did any exams. I don't know why, the boys were probably occupied with farm work and didn't have that time.”
Later she started working at BNZ, working her way to branch manager at Rangiora, during which time she became a chorister at the now-demolished St Joseph’s on Vagues Rd in Papanui.
The church choir started the St Joseph’s Light Operatic Society, which caught Miriam’s interest.
"We went and watched one of their shows, Around the World in 80 Days, I think it was. And so we got involved, went in two or three shows."
And they “always find a willing person” to help with designing, sourcing and making costumes. In this case, it was Miriam.
When a committee member of St Joseph’s started talking about a group his wife was involved with, Christchurch City Chorus, Miriam was interested immediately.
“Like a lot of people, we went just to see what it was like and basically never left.
"It wasn't long, and I was the team coordinator running the chorus.”
She says barbershop is about more than singing.
"You don't stand still. We're on risers; we have four steps of risers. And you don't just stand there; you're acting."
It includes “a lot of arm movements and expression, and that's always the hardest bit for a lot of people, probably me”.
The singing is A Capella, meaning there is no backing track, and it has four-part harmony rules.
"It’s a fun craft to be in. We rehearse every week. Then we'll have weekends with coaches that come in, because our goal is to win the competitions.”
Miriam was shoulder-tapped by chorus director Virginia Humphrey Taylor to become team coordinator. She thinks Humphrey Taylor must have seen something in her.
She also became a member of the New Zealand regional management team for Sweet Adelines, an international organisation of women barbershop singers, where she was events manager for seven years.
She helped organise local conventions, catering, finding venues, and negotiating prices for stage sound and lighting.
Miriam has at times been responsible for hand-sewing costumes for up to 140 singers.
She said helping others was something that came naturally to her.
"We were in Kansas, we'd placed fifth, and we had a dinner that night. Our director was handing out the medals to everybody, she hung mine around my neck, and she thanked me for what I'd done.
"All I could think of saying was, ‘If I can, why wouldn't I?’”
Husband Bernard often had to remind her “it’s just a hobby”.
She does not know who nominated her for her King’s Service Medal, but she knows how much Christchurch City Chorus valued her work.
In the end, though, Miriam says a life devoted to music is “a great life”.
It has taken her to competitions in Portland, in the United States, as well as Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Calgary in Canada.
Still, she thinks the highlight of her life in music is yet to come.