Dunedin
QSO for services to education and music
A long-standing and family orientated dedication to education and music has resulted in Bruce Aitken (58) becoming a companion of the Queens Service Order.
He has been involved in education and music in the Otago and Southland region for more than 35 years and said none of his work would have been possible without the support of his wife and four children.
All had graduated from the University of Otago and all were church musicians, he said.
"I feel that I've been enormously fortunate over many years for being given the opportunity to serve many institutions."The current master of Knox College, he had been involved with the institution for about 40 years and contributed to the governance of the university for more than 20 years.
His roles included president of the University of Otago Graduates Association and the Court of Convocation as well as being pro-chancellor from 2004 to 2006.
Along with education, a passion for music was evident through his work as the organist and choirmaster at Knox Church, where he established the choirboys' section of the choir, the Peter Warwick Scholarship Trust and the Iona Choir for Girls.
He has been a member of the Royal School of Church Music Otago and Southland branch for more than 25 years, where he has been chairman and director.
He has also directed summer schools, festivals and celebrations.
National bodies have also benefited from his work, as he was a special commissioner of the Royal School of Church Music and a member of its New Zealand council since 1991.
Dunedin
MNZM for services to education
University of Otago Professor Terry Crooks says his MNZM honour reflects many years of educational work, much of it collaborative.
"It's certainly not just an honour for me but for the people that I've worked with," he said.
Prof Crooks (61) is an internationally respected educationist who has been an Otago University staff member for more than 35 years.
He is co-director of the university's educational assessment research unit.
The honour reflected not only the work of professional colleagues at the university and elsewhere but also the strong backing of his wife, Mina, a retired primary school teacher, Prof Crooks said.
He had learned that the best way to communicate with people was through a relatively small number of principles, accompanied by some good examples.
Over the years, his academic career had "changed direction significantly two or three times through fortuitous events".
His honour citation notes he has made a significant contribution to educational research and teaching for more than 35 years and was recognised internationally as an expert in educational assessment and monitoring of student performance.
He was one of the directors and prime developers of the New Zealand national education monitoring project, recognised nationally and internationally, which was being used to assess pupils at years 4 and 8.
He has received several professional honours, including the McKenzie Award for career contributions to educational research.
He was a board member and treasurer of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research and vice-president and president of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education.
Elisabeth May Cunningham
Dunedin
QSM for services to the community
More than three decades of work in the community by Dunedin woman Elisabeth Cunningham has been recognised with a Queen's Service Medal.
Mrs Cunningham, who declined to give her age, was chairwoman of the Lesley Groves Society for 20 years, overseeing the establishment of a day centre and home-support services, the purchase and development of a 60-bed facility on the Wakari Hospital site for elderly and psycho-geriatric patients, the establishment of a unit for young people needing long-term care and the multimillion-dollar upgrade of the rest-home with the addition of a new wing, which was named after her.
She enjoyed community work and said it was a privilege to be able to do it.
"I'm extremely surprised; I was very humbled to think I was considered worthy of the award," Mrs Cunningham saidThe mother of two and grandmother of two was also a member of the strategic planning committee and was active in the development of plans for an upgraded and new hospital and day-care facilities and residential units.
She was a University of Otago council member between 1992 and 2000 and chaired a committee overseeing Cumberland Hall of Residence for seven years.
An Anglican Family Care board member, Mrs Cunningham was also a lay minister and lay canon at St Paul's Cathedral.
For the past 20 years, she had been involved with the National Council of Women and had been a delegate to the Dunedin branch from the Association of Anglican Women for most of that time.
A former teacher, Mrs Cunningham had also been involved with the New Zealand Educational Institute for more than 30 years and was a life member of the Otago branch.
Lester Campbell Flockton
Dunedin
MNZM for services to education and pipe bands
While Lester Flockton is delighted with his MNZM for services to education and pipe bands, he says contributing to an education system which has become the envy of many other nations has been his greatest reward.
Mr Flockton, who declined to give his age, began his career as a teacher and later became a school principal, inspector of schools, and researcher and contributor to professional and governmental bodies on educational policy, curriculum and assessment.
He played a prominent part in the development and introduction to schools of the New Zealand curriculum and was one of the designers of New Zealand's national education monitoring project.
He co-established the Maori Immersion Education Advisory Committee and the Maori Reference Group to guide assessment for Maori pupils.
He is the emeritus director of the University of Otago's educational assessment research unit and the national education monitoring project.
He is also an honorary fellow of the New Zealand Educational Institute, a life member of the New Zealand Principals Federation and of the Otago Primary Principals Association.
Mr Flockton has also been involved with pipe bands as a piper and administrator for many years.
He played in the City of Dunedin Highland Pipe Band where he was a former president and a life member.
He was vice-president of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association for 10 years, the founding director of the association's education group, and led the establishment of a national college of piping and drumming.
He organised many summer schools and instigated the establishment of a piping and drumming curricular and examination system for the award of certificates of music proficiency.
"I'm passionate about the value of good education and it's my hope that everyone makes learning a part of their lifetime diet - no matter what the learning is about."
Francis Patrick Joseph Farry
Queenstown
MNZM for services to rural medicine
Queenstown GP Dr Pat Farry was surprised to be awarded a Queen's Birthday honour for services to rural medicine, because for him it is "just doing your job day to day".
"It came totally out of the blue. Somebody thinks what I've been doing for close to 40 years is worthwhile - that makes you feel good," he said.
Dr Farry (65) has been a general practitioner and involved with medicine in Queenstown for more than 35 years and has been working with education for general practitioners since the 1970s.
He was the regional director of the College of General Practitioners' registrar training programme and was made a distinguished fellow of the college.
He was also involved with the formation of the University of Otago Te Waipounamu Rural Health Unit for the education of rural doctors, founded the Matagouri Club for undergraduate students with an interest in rural medicine, and was the rural medical director for the South Island.
In 2007, he developed the first one-year rural medical immersion programme for medical students in New Zealand.
He was a member of the Southland District Health Board for two terms.
He was chairman of the Education Committee of the New Zealand College of General Practitioners and is a member of the college's education board.
Dr Farry was awarded the Peter Snow Memorial Award in 2008 by the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network.
John William Gilks
Wanaka
MNZM for services to business and the community
Learning he had been nominated for a Queen's Birthday honour was a humbling experience for former Dunedin chartered accountant and Port Otago chairman John Gilks (67), now of Wanaka.
"I was quite taken aback by it really. It was a surprise. I felt very humbled by it and really privileged by it too, to have that honour bestowed," he said.
Mr Gilks was born and bred in Dunedin, attended Otago Boys High School and the University of Otago and became a partner in the firm of Gilks Low and Co.
One of the first engagements he secured was secretary for the Motor Industry of Otago, leading to the formation of Motor Trade Finances in 1971.
Mr Gilks eventually left his practice to become the full-time chief executive of Motor Trade Finances until he left in 1997.
Since leaving MTF, he has held at least 15 directorships, including of the National Bank, Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, Radio Otago and Dunedin City Holdings.
He is deputy chairman of Fisher and Paykel Appliances and four other companies and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a distinguished fellow of the Institute of Directors.
He is also involved with the Dunedin Rhododendron Festival Trust, the Otago Air Ambulance Trust, the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, the advisory board for Otago University, the Angels Upstart Advisory Board and New Zealand Business Mentors.
Mr Gilks said he enjoyed his work and had received great satisfaction out of everything with which he had been involved.
He has owned property in Wanaka for about 30 years and moved, with his wife Laurel, to the town full-time three years ago.
Between them, they have five adult children and eight grandchildren.
Dr Cheung-Tak Hung
Dunedin
MNZM for services to philanthropy and the Chinese community
Dr Cheung-Tak Hung, who has been involved with philanthropy and the Chinese community for more than 20 years, was self-deprecating about being awarded a Queen's Birthday honour.
It was good to give something back to society, but there were "so many people that do so much more", he said.
Hong Kong-born, Dr Hung (55) came to Dunedin to take up a lectureship at the University of Otago in 1983, after completing his doctorate in pharmacy in Scotland.
He now owns Zenith Technology Corporation Ltd.
He has been a member of the Dunedin Chinese Garden Trust for more than 10 years and was instrumental in building relationships with Dunedin's sister city of Shanghai.
He also gave $100,000 to the project.
Dr Hung contributed to the development of Chinese language and culture at Columba College.
He helped establish and foster a sister-school relationship between the college and Datong High School in Shanghai.
He is also a supporter and facilitator of the Columba College Mandarin teaching programme, the first Chinese language programme to be offered in a Dunedin school.
Describing himself as passionate about music and art, Dr Hung has financially supported the Columba College gymnasium building, the Marama Strings Charitable Trust and the Queenstown Violin Summer School.
He is also involved with the Shanghai-Dunedin Friendship Society, the Dunedin Chinese Presbyterian Church, the Otago-Southland Branch of the New Zealand Chinese Association and the Otago Chamber of Commerce.
Leslie Clifford Johnston
Tuatapere
QSM for services to the community
A passion for hunting and tramping has led to many years' involvement in the community for Queen's Service Medal recipient Leslie Johnston.
Mr Johnston (76) has played a key role in many of Tuatapere's community projects for about three decades, but the news of the honour still took him by surprise.
"It's just been something I like doing; that is why I got involved and am still involved."
Mr Johnston started his community involvement in search and rescue and firearm safety.
He has been a firearms safety adviser for the Mountain Safety Council for 30 years.
He was on his sixth term as a member of the Tuatapere community board, but planned for it to be his last, as he wanted to see some "younger blood" get involved, he said.
An elected member of the Hump Track Charitable Trust since its inception in 1995, he had been its treasurer for more than 10 years.
"It was a favourite area of mine and I thought, why be so selfish? Why not let everyone see it?"
A grandfather of 12 and great-grandfather of three, Mr Johnston helped put in 10km of boardwalk, assisted with viaduct restoration and with construction of buildings, taking 12 months out of retirement to work on the project.
More than a decade later, he was still involved in the venture and wanted to be there "until it's really a success", he said.
A highlight of his community service was his year as district governor for the Lions Club International District 202F, Mr Johnston said.
He had been a member of Tuatapere Lions Club for 27 years.
Mr Johnston was a founding member of the Western Southland Deerstalkers Association and Waiau Town and Country Club.
A member of the Tuatapere Bowling Club for 22 years, Mr Johnston had also been its greenkeeper for 15 years and treasurer for 12 years.
Robert Robertson
Queenstown
QSM for services to community as volunteer fire chief
Having dedicated 50 years to serving his community in the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade, former fire chief Robert Robertson was surprised and humbled to be receiving a Queen's Service Medal as part of the Queens Birthday Honours.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would ever get an award like this."
Proudly "born and bred" in Queenstown, Mr Robertson was "talked in to" joining the brigade by Queenstown's former fire chief Tom Luck as "a very young fellow".
"He was another long-serving fire chief, for about 40 years," Mr Robertson (69) said.
He became Queenstown's fire chief in 1986 and still relishes the role.
Being with the brigade had been "like a sport".
He was full of admiration for those who volunteered alongside him, saying they were "mostly very good people . . . [who] always look out for each other".
Mr Robertson has been a member of the Queenstown Fire Brigade competition team for 15 years and has also served on the United Fire Brigades Association conference and competition committees, helping to organise events in Queenstown.
A keen sportsman, he has been involved with rugby around Wakatipu most of his life and also with the Wakatipu Rowing Club, where he was a member of the team which won the New Zealand Lightweight Fours title at a national competition.
In 2005, Mr Robertson was made a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow.
Richard Lyal Stark
Gore
QSM for services to the community
Representing the health interests of more than 85,000 Grey Power members in recent years and decades of community service before that has brought a reward that Dick Stark finds hard to accept. but the long-time campaigner for the rights of the elderly is grateful to those who nominated him.
Mr Stark (76) has been a Grey Power member for more than a decade and is commonly regarded as the face of the organisation in Eastern Southland.
The present Grey Power zone director for Otago and Southland, he also sits as a member of the national federation's board and acts as its nationwide health convener.
He has also sat on various government committees including the Disability Advisory Council and ACC hearing loss reference group.
His citation said he has consistently worked to improve the health 2and wellbeing of the elderly through the improvement of health services including time on the Eastern Southland primary health organisation (PHO).
Mr Stark has also served on the Deep Cove Outdoor Education Trust as a volunteer for 35 years and has been involved with St Andrews Presbyterian Church for more than 20 years, where he has been a deacon.
His earlier community service included roles on the Gore High School board of governors from 1974-85.
A former Gore Lions Club president, in 1971, Mr Stark moved to Gore in 1985 from his farm at Waikoikoi.
When working on the land, he was a member of Federated Farmers and other rural organisations.
He credited his wife of 50 years, Kathleen, as his biggest supporter and most trusted adviser.
