Te Awamutu’s Irene Wardlaw with the two prestigious RNZRSA certificates she was presented with last month. Photo: Viv Posselt
It was advice from an older Scottish woman decades ago that led Irene Wardlaw to the military and, by association, to her receiving two prestigious national RSA awards.
The Te Awamutu resident was last month awarded the Royal New Zealand Returned Services Association Gold Star Badge, and the President’s Appreciation Certificate. Both were presented by Cambridge-based national president Tony Hill. Also there was RSA district support manager Tricia Hague, and members of local and regional RSAs.
Irene Wardlaw after receiving her awards. She is pictured with Te Awamutu RSA president Daniel van der Hulst, RNZRSA national president Tony Hill and RSA bugler Doug Rose.
The Gold Star Badge recognises outstanding honorary service at national and/or district level to RSA personnel, complemented by service to the community, while the President’s Appreciation Certificate affirmed Irene’s role as a key part of the nationwide restructuring of the provision of veteran support.
Tony Hill told The News that the latter linked Irene to a new RSA support services strategy started in 2015, known as the ‘Race to Trieste’ project.
Tony Hill
“It has been extremely challenging as the level of change required was immense,” he said. “The result is that all our veterans, including younger contemporary veterans and their families, are now far better supported and advocated for.”
He said Irene has supported veterans and their families for over 26 years, at all hours of day and night. “She is still actively involved in support at all levels of the RSA’s Waikato-King Country/Bay of Plenty district. Irene is a passionate advocate for veteran welfare, ensuring veterans and their families receive the support they are entitled to. She has been a mentor to many new RSA local support advisors and was active in getting support to veterans during the Covid shutdown.”
The last Gold Star recipient in the district was Peter Sparrow in 2022.
Te Awamutu RSA president Daniel van der Hulst described Irene as ‘a force to be reckoned with’, adding that she is one of the first people contacted when a veteran in the community needs support. She knew the buttons to be pushed, the forms to be filled out, whose ear to get into.
“There is no event too small, no gathering of veterans she attends where Irene isn’t asking after people, checking that they have what they need,” he said.
Keen to share her spotlight, Irene thanked the RSA and acknowledged the support she has received through the years.
A Gisborne girl originally, she told The News that while nursing in a maternity annex in Tauranga, she spoke to an older Scotswoman who asked what she wanted to do with her life.
“I said I wanted to travel and her reply was ‘join the forces and you will travel’,” she said. “On the back of that, I joined the nursing corps … went from Trentham to Waiouru where I met my husband, Ross.”
She left the forces when they were engaged, raised a family with her Vietnam veteran and started on her lengthy quest to help all veterans after struggling to access help for Ross’s life-affecting injuries. They both also spent years in the Scouts movement, and Irene was awarded her Silver Tiki award after 21 years with them. They also spent several years successfully running two Cookie Time vans.
Irene’s nursing work, some with people living with intellectual disabilities, gave her wide experience and her grit gave her the fortitude which finally brought them, and many other veterans, the hope of relief.
Now she works with a small team to support and advocate for veterans across one of the largest districts in the country. Being in her seventies isn’t stopping her, but she would like to see more volunteers step up to ensure the area is well covered and that younger veterans are included.
Te Awamutu’s Irene Wardlaw with the two prestigious RNZRSA certificates she was presented with last month. Photo: Viv Posselt
