Lindsay Wright is referring to his large involvement in his local community and also the wider Southland district, through the Rural Support Trust.
It was some time after he leased his Wendonside farm, following a challenge with depression in 2005, that he was looking for something to do and saw an advertisement looking for people to set up an adverse events trust.
It suited his availability and desire for connectivity and, a year later, the trust was established. Lindsay ended up being a trustee from 2008 until this year and he also spent three years as Southland chairman and 10 years as co-ordinator.
He enjoyed seeing successful outcomes, whether that was with individual people or during large adverse events and his proudest moment was being invited to join with WellSouth to develop a a mental health workshop for rural people in Otago-Southland.
He delivered the pilot workshop, now known as GoodYarn, in Gore in 2014 and it has spread both nationally and internationally to participants from both rural and urban backgrounds. More than 23,000 people have now attended a GoodYarn workshop and he remained involved in the initiative.
Having had "a few bumps" himself, he had empathy for the pressure that those in rural communities were under. Going from farming to leasing the farm was a big life decision and now, with retiring from the rural support trust, he faced another big change.
Something he had got back into was flying model aircraft, an interest that he had as a teenager. It was his supervising councillor through the rural support trust that asked what he did for relaxation and he realised there was nothing that was not associated with things he was involved in.
So he pulled out an old broken aircraft that he had built when he was 15 and restored it, and discovered how flying model planes was cathartic.
"It made me realise if you’ve got something different, you lose your mind to that," he said.
Lindsay has long been involved with the Riversdale Progress League, Toastmasters and the local RSA and he has played the Last Post on Anzac Day for 30 years, missing about only three occasions.
He quipped how he had to practise for two months leading up to playing one minute of music, as it was the only time of year he did it.
While it was very easy to go on to "something bigger and more important" and drop the local stuff, it was that local stuff that kept you connected and grounded, he said.
Lindsay might have stepped back from the rural support trust, but he still enjoyed watching the transition with new people involved and maintained an interest in it.
He was "still doing stuff" and would keep doing stuff, although he was at the stage that he would prefer to be involved in things without being in charge of them, he said.
— Sally Rae
