Life not slowing down for Hurunui octogenarian

Hurunui’s Vera Scott (86) has never been afraid of taking risks.

“It’s been a strange journey,” she says of the path that has led her to retirement in Hurunui District. “I have loved this area from day one.”

Today, Vera is giving back to the Hurunui community through volunteering her time and experience in helping to create an age-friendly community in Hurunui - a place where older residents like herself feel heard and seen.

Vera’s connection with Hurunui began in August 1965 when she spent her first night in the district as a young bride in Ken’s family home – about 100 metres from where she lives today. It was a long way from home.

“I was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 1938 and one of my first memories was being taken into a bomb shelter during the war.”

They were not easy years. Following her mother’s death and with her father away, Vera went to live with her grandmother. Rationing and doing without extended long after the war had ended. “I never saw a banana, or orange, or chocolate until 1946.”

Her marriage to Ken, a Kiwi engineer working for David Brown Tractors in Huddersfield, brought her across the seas at the age of 28 to Canterbury, New Zealand, where she and Ken started up their company in clean technology innovation at the height of global fossil fuel dependence.

In 1995, with a resource consent from the Hurunui Council, they built a 30-metre high bio-refinery on their property near Hawarden for the experimental development of Ken’s research in converting biomass from plants and trees under high-pressure steam into fuels such as ethanol and next generation chemicals.

“We were feeding biomass through our demonstration plant under very high pressure – our neighbours noticed the odd loud bang,” Vera remembers.

Ken’s research attracted attention around the world, as well as significant investment. Vera managed the business, including overseeing 14 engineers working on research projects over two sites in Christchurch and the Hurunui, until the age of 70.

“We took the risks,” she says.

Along the way were many ‘firsts’. “We bought our first Apple Macintosh computer in 1984. It was a huge improvement on the MS DOS system.” Vera and Ken paid $9,000 and were among the first in the world to purchase the new personal computer that had just been unveiled.

Hurunui Council’s Community Development Facilitator Vanessa Nelmes says achievements like Vera’s are mirrored across the district. “That wealth of knowledge and experience among Hurunui’s seniors is valuable and we want to benefit from it as we map out the Hurunui Age Friendly Plan.”

Hurunui District Mayor Marie Black says latest Census data released last week shows that those aged over 65 now make up 22.5% of the Hurunui population. “It’s important we ensure our older residents have a voice in local council decisions and are supported to live life to the full in the communities they love.”

Nelmes says a survey is being created in partnership with members of the community like Vera to go out to capture what is important to Hurunui’s older residents against the World Health Organisation’s framework in supporting participation of older residents in community life.

“We have a large population of elderly people,” says Vera. “Hurunui is a lovely place to be, and a lot of our older residents want to be able to stay on in the district.”