Two Waipā residents – Sally Davies of Te Awamutu and Grahame Webber of Cambridge – have been honoured by King Charles III in the New Year’s Honours List released today.
Others with Waipā connections are also on the list including Linda Te Aho of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and Ian Foster from Te Awamutu Rugby Sports & Recreation Club.
See: Waikato list
Sally Davies (Te Awamutu) – the King’s Service Medal – for services to hockey and nursing.
Sally Davies
Sally Davies has volunteered at Te Awamutu Sports Hockey Club (TAHC) since 1990 as a coach and served as the inaugural president until 2007. She was instrumental in establishing hockey under the Te Awamutu Sports banner upon the club’s establishment, having previously been involved as a player for the Rebels club with the Waipa Hockey Association. She has coached teams up to premier grade for TAHC and remains active coaching a present reserve grade side.
She has volunteered as a coach at Te Awamutu Intermediate School since 1982 and is a key driver of intermediate school hockey. She was a player in the New Zealand Masters 50s team in the late 1990s and selects and coaches teams for the AIMS games in Tauranga, also having been involved in fundraising for these events. She was made a Life Member of Te Awamutu Sports Hockey and Waikato Hockey and has received the New Zealand Hockey Service Award. In addition to her hockey volunteering, Davies has been a practice nurse in Te Awamutu since 1978 and was one of the first nurses in New Zealand to specialise in diabetes management.
See: It’s time to go, says Sally
Grahame Webber (Cambridge) – the King’s Service Medal – for services to local government and farming governance.
Grahame Webber
Grahame Webber has contributed to farming and local government in the Waikato region since the 1980s. He was a member of Cambridge Federated Farmers from 1982 to 2020, chaired the Dairy Section of Waikato Federated Farmers from 1989 to 1991, and was director of the New Zealand Dairy Group from 1991 to 1994. He was elected to the Waipā District Council from 2001 to 2022, serving as deputy mayor from 2010 to 2019. He served on numerous council committees, including chairing the Service Delivery Committee, Strategic Planning and Policy Committee, and the Maungatautari Reserve Committee. He served on the Cambridge Community Board from 1998 to 2022 and implemented an annual tour of the urban-based board to visit rural communities to learn of their local issues. He chaired the Sister City Committee with Le Quesnoy in France and Bihoro in Japan from 2007 to 2019. He organised Cambridge delegations to Bihoro, travelling at his own expense, and visits from Bihoro focusing on agriculture, education, health services and local government. He has administered the fund which assists school students with exchanges between the towns. Webber has been a member of regional committees including the Waikato Region Land Transport Committee, the Waikato River and Catchment Committee and the Future Proof Implementation Committee.
The King’s Service Medal (KSM) is awarded for voluntary service to the community or service through elected and appointed office at a local or regional level.
The Medal is of Sterling silver, 36mm in diameter.
Linda Te Aho (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta, Waikato – Hamilton) – to be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit – for services to Māori and legal education.
Linda Te Aho
Associate Professor Linda Te Aho has contributed significantly to legal education at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato. She established the Māori and Indigenous Governance Research Centre at the Faculty and has long served as associate Dean Māori. As an appointed guardian for the co-management of the Waikato River ecosystem in 2012, she was instrumental in developing the vision for the river’s holistic restoration. She was appointed to the Ministerial Advisory Group in 2014 to provide technical advice on proposed reforms to Te Ture Whenua Māori 1993, chairing the group in 2015. She is a technical advisor on Māori legal issues in relation to lands and freshwater for iwi, Crown agencies and government departments.
Her publications, ‘Towards a Rangatiratanga Framework for Governance of Waterways’, and ‘Te Mana o te Wai’ have contributed to debate on proposed reforms to the Resource Management Act. She is a member of the Te Arataura Tribal Executive for Waikato Tainui, and a trustee for Ngāti Koroki Kahukura. She is a member of Ngārimu VC and 28th Māori Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund Board. Associate Professor Te Aho has served as a Director of Tainui Group Holdings, and as a negotiator for Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Treaty Claims.
Te Aho is the daughter of Tioriori (Wally) and Vivienne Papa who raised five children – Ataahua, Linda, Pānia, Rahui and Wiki – from the Pōhara marae not far from Tokoroa. She attended Tokoroa High School and studied law at Auckland University.
See: Tainui: wards are a step in the right direction
Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan paid tribute to the work of her predecessor Jim Mylchreest two years ago for his work on Sanctuary Mountain. They were pictured with Linda Te Aho (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura).
Others with Waipa links include:
How to nominate someone for an award.
Paula Baker (Tamahere) – to be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit – for services to health governance and the community.
A Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) is appointed for achievement or service to the community, usually in a national role.
Paula Baker, 57, has been a trustee of the Braemar Charitable Trust since 2014 and general manager since 2016.
With Braemar Trust, Mrs Baker has championed such initiatives as the charitable surgery programme, providing free surgeries for those in need at Braemar Hospital, and the creation of several training programmes and scholarships for health education.
She has helped drive health equity, including establishing partnerships to provide free dental care to 170 patients regionally.
Paula Baker
She was deputy chair of the New Zealand Dietitians Board from 2016 to 2019. She has served on the boards of Presbyterian Support (Northern), Kerikeri Retirement Village and Community Living Trust in Hamilton from 2017 to 2022.
Her current board memberships include the Alandale Foundation, Waihikurangi Charitable Trust, New Zealand Dental Council and Northern Districts Cricket. She has previously chaired the Hamilton Cricket Association. She was deputy chair of Hospice Waikato and chaired the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee. Baker volunteered for St John through the Friends of the Emergency Department initiative at Waikato Hospital.
Ian Foster (Newstead) – to be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit – for services to rugby.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster, wife Leigh and daughter Michaela watching the action sideline between Hautapu and Hamilton Old Boys at Memorial Park in Cambridge. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Ian Foster, born in Putaruru who played his early rugby in Te Awamutu, was the assistant coach of the All Blacks from 2012 to 2019, before becoming head coach from 2020 until 2023.
As assistant coach, he contributed alongside Sir Steve Hansen, leading the All Blacks to win 93 of their 108 tests across eight years, including a Rugby World Cup (RWC) Gold medal in 2015 and RWC Bronze medal in 2019. As head coach he led the All Blacks to win and retain the Bledisloe Cup, the Freedom Cup, and the Rugby Championship each year from 2020 to 2023, as well as a RWC Silver medal in 2023. During his time as head coach, the All Blacks had a 70 percent win rate.
Prior to his time with the All Blacks, he coached the Waikato-based Chiefs Super Rugby team between 2004 and 2011, placing in the top eight across five years, and reaching the finals in 2004 and 2009. As a player, Mr Foster made 148 appearances in the fly-half position for Waikato and in 28 games for the Chiefs.
Marie Gilpin (Papamoa – formerly Tamahere) – the King’s Service Medal – for services to the community.
Marie Gilpin has been the industrial chaplain for Westpac Bank, Gallaghers Group, and Placemakers in Hamilton.
With the Ministry to Seafarers in Mount Maunganui, Reverend Gilpin provided support to staff, planning and facilitating learning and skills forums, training for staff on stress management, and spiritual care of seafarers in hospital. She is currently in her eleventh year as chaplain to the Mount Maunganui Returned and Services Association, including officiating at ANZAC commemoration services.
She was a member of the Anglican Diocese Discernment Panel in Hamilton, recruiting for clergy and training them for ordination. She was a voluntary social worker for the former Department of Social Welfare in Hamilton for five years, and chaplain for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She organised seminars for those coping with grief for the Cancer Society.
She was appointed to Saint Stephen’s Church in Tamahere and then as vicar at Mount Maunganui. With her husband, she has organised and led a choir for the community, playing the piano and organ for concerts. Rev Gilpin helped established the Neighbourhood Support Group for Mount Maunganui in 2008, helping divide the area into six zones and designating a coordinator for each zone.
Fred Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura – Waiuku) – to be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori art – has been involved in New Zealand art since the 1950s and has contributed to the growth, development and promotion of Māori art nationally and abroad.
Fred Graham removes the korowai from the Le Quesnoy Sculpture he created in Cambridge.
Graham was an art adviser to Māori primary schools throughout Rotorua and Northland. He has been head of the Art Department at various schools throughout the North Island and he has played a key role in inspiring and developing the next generation of artistic talent. He was a pioneer of the Contemporary Māori Art Movement and in 1966 he was a key figure in organising one of the first exhibitions of contemporary Māori painting and sculptures in Hamilton. He has represented New Zealand at many international exhibitions throughout his career, including the 1986 ‘Te Ao Marama’ (‘Seven Māori Artists’) exhibition that toured Australia and a 1992 United States tour showcasing contemporary Māori art. More recently he has exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Since 1996 he has served on the Haerewa Māori Cultural Advisory Group at the Auckland Art Gallery. He mentors young sculptors and artists. He has produced sculptures that are displayed in many New Zealand cities and towns – including in Cambridge where he designed the Le Quesnoy Sculpture unveiled in 2019 to mark the centenary of the 1918 liberation of the French town of Le Quesnoy by Kiwi soldiers – as well as galleries in Seattle, Vancouver and South Korea. Most recently, Graham was commissioned to create sculptures for the new Catholic College in Drury and a roundabout south of Tirau.
Valerie Lissette (Hamilton) – the King’s Service Medal – for services to dance.
Valerie Lissette
Valerie Lissette established the Valerie Lissette School of Dance (VLSD) in Hamilton in 1976 and has taught dance in the Waikato community for 47 years, handing over directorship of the school in 2024.
Lissette expanded the studio from teaching ballet to include jazz, tap, contemporary, and musical theatre for all ages, later including age group classes for pre-schoolers and adults over 55. She has prepared thousands of dancers for Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) ballet examinations and has mentored many who have gone on to successful dance careers nationally and internationally. She was recognised as a Life Member of RAD in 2008. She provided a platform for every student to perform annually in theatrical productions which she directed and produced, organising all aspects from costuming to lighting, choreography and theme. On many occasions the Imperial Russian Ballet requested students from VLSD to join their performances when in Hamilton. In 2016, 36 children performed in ‘The Nutcracker’. Lissette has offered dance classes in the Waikato towns of Cambridge, Tamahere and Te Uku and has personally performed with the Hamilton Operatic Society for more than 20 years.
