During these past 12 months we have been considering moving into a retirement village, now that we are at the third stage of our lives.
We have lived in Hamilton throughout our 56 years of married life and prefer to remain in this area where we have many friends and general contacts.
Hamilton is centrally placed within New Zealand with easy access to Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga and our beach house at Pauanui. The Cambridge / Auckland expressway, to be completed 2021, is also a bonus when we are travelling to the Auckland Airport.
However, finding the retirement village within the Waikato that suited us was problematic until we saw an advertisement in a local newspaper about the new Country Club that is to be built by the Sanderson Family at Tamahere. We are familiar with this concept having friends who currently live at Bethlehem Shores in Tauranga. So, we immediately swung into action and went out to visit Sandy Turner, the Sales Manager.
Our meeting with Sandy was very positive and reassuring. Within two hours we had selected the plan we wanted and had her place a red sticker on the site of our choice. We then headed off, full of excitement to enjoy four weeks’ holiday in Canada.
When we shared the news with our family who live in Melbourne and Nelson, they were very pleased that we had made this wise decision having considered all the benefits that will be available at Tamahere Country Club.
In the coming years, we are looking forward to spending time with new friends at Tamahere and further travel overseas.[/vc_column_text][us_separator][vc_column_text]Gordon was a mechanical engineer in Hamilton, before being employed by a large concrete company. He worked for 36 years in this industry, responsible for mechanical plant and equipment throughout New Zealand. He has seen numerous changes with the advances in technology.
As a Rotarian since 1976, he has had many opportunities to become involved with youth and community projects; all of which he has thoroughly enjoyed.
Annette has been involved in education for the past 52 years. She was a primary school teacher for 30 years at several schools within the Hamilton area. Her last appointment was as Assistant Principal at Pukete School. In 1997 an International Educational Publishing Company Nelson Cengage Learning in Melbourne, Australia approached her to come out of teaching and to work for them as their Lead Author and Educational Consultant to develop the PM Literacy material for the world market. This material has helped millions of children in classrooms worldwide become literate.
In the 2016 New Year Honours, Annette was awarded the ONZM – Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ‘Services to Children’s Literacy’. In August, last year Annette retired after 22 years at the helm.