Di Fairhall: Retired phlebotomist, dedicated quilter and country music fan

October 26th, 2011
By David Armstrong

Some people see community needs and hope someone else will make them happen. Others, like recently superannuated Di Fairhall, just get stuck in and make it happen themselves.

Di and her husband John moved to Motueka about four years ago and in that short time have become involved in the running of several community groups, some of which they helped establish, including the Country Music Club, the Beez Neez leisure marching team, and the Vintage Quilters.

Working through Di's history is a tale of small-town New Zealand - the enjoyment of being close to the outdoors and the freedom of 'doing it yourself'. Although she was born and spent some time living in Christchurch, it was towns like Motueka, Oxford and Renwick with which she mostly identified.

In her early teenage life her family moved to Ashburton for five years. "I have great memories there," she says. "It was safe and you could bike everywhere, there was lots of sport and I made some really close friends."

She attended Ashburton Technical School because the enjoyed the manual subjects like sewing, cooking, art and science. "Those skills have continued on through my life now."

With her dad changing jobs, Di was back in Christchurch aged 15. Hating the few months she had at Christchurch Tech, she left school to get a job in the mail order room at Beaths department store. Then she got an office job at T L Jones, which serviced Otis lifts, and stayed until her first son was born.

"There were five girls in the company and we had lots of hoots with the guys, heaps of practical jokes and so on. It was a great place to be, a great job."

She met John at a dance at the Caledonian Hall (now demolished) and they married. John was driving for Midland Motors and he got the run between Oxford and Christchurch. The family moved to Coopers Creek, just out of Oxford, to live in the company house.

"John lived a lot of his life on Stewart Island and he was the one who introduced me to country life," Di says. "And I love it." Their second son was born there.

A few years later they moved to Edendale near Invercargill, where John bought and ran a contract hedge-cutting business for four years. In that time they had a daughter who became very sick so they were advised to move north for milder weather. A holiday in Marlborough led to some months in the Sounds and then to set up home in Renwick, near Blenheim, where they lived for 30 years.

It was during this time - the early 1980s - that new challenges and opportunities came to the fore. John was an engineer at Montana Wines, and Di did some "serious training" to become a practice nurse for a doctor for nine years. During this time the doctor started what was the first ACC clinic, in Blenheim, and he rented out space in the clinic for other medical specialists. Di worked there for a while on call and her employer suggested she should go to a laboratory and learn how to take blood.

This led to a career as a phlebotomist (the person who takes blood samples for laboratories) starting out at the Wairau Hospital laboratory under the Nelson Marlborough DHB. She helped to set up a mobile laboratory - the first in New Zealand - operating out of an old ambulance.

"I loved that work," she says. Sticking needles in people? "I liked dealing with the people. You were dealing with human beings and sometimes very sick people, frightened people, small children who are absolutely terrified, very sick babies, elderly people with terrible veins. You had to be very mindful of the people you were dealing with. You got up every morning and knew that the day would be a challenge."

Di did this work for about seven years until John retired and she and John decided to move to farm a lifestyle block near Westport. But the laboratory thing never went away and Di managed to get a job at Buller Medical Centre.

"I could see an opening for a laboratory the practice nurses were doing the bloods and sending them to Greymouth," she recalls. "I approached the head of the laboratory at the West Coast DHB about starting one in Westport. He thought it was a great idea." It took two years to get past the hierarchy of the DHB, but in the end she had a new operation to set up as she wished.

"I did that for seven years and cried the day I left. It was my baby and I loved it."

But the lifestyle block was becoming too hard to maintain. "The lifestyle was wonderful, but having to keep the livestock was a bit of a challenge. Also the weather got to me. I hated the rain."

Motueka was their preferred choice. "Probably the weather, plus we'd been here before and knew a lot of people in Nelson, but we didn't want to go into Nelson because we're not city people. The closest place and the nicest place, handy for people to stay and handy to the hills and an easy drive to a city, was here."

Di worked at the Poole Street Surgery for a couple of years before it merged with others to form Greenwood Health. But she has now firmly and officially retired. However, that doesn't mean she hasn't slowed down much.

Di has always played sports, including swimming, tennis and softball, and she loves team sports "because of the camaraderie". When in Renwick she was introduced to leisure marching, which she participated in for 24 years. When she came to Motueka she found there was already a well established leisure marching team, but she saw "the need for another team". One advertisement and several responses later, the Beez Neez marching team came into being.

Quilting has become another of her big loves. "I've sewed from school age, and like smocking and knitting also. But since my introduction to quilting about 10 or 12 years ago, it's become my passion."

She joined the Motueka Quilting Connection and is now vice president and show convenor for large, popular annual show in Upper Moutere.

Because the number in the group is limited to 40, Di and a friend began another small, casual quilting group, the Vintage Quilters, three years ago and now they often get about 20 people coming to fortnightly meetings to learn the art. "We have lots of sharing of the various skills involved."

So she also works voluntarily at the Salvation Army shop one day a week, where she enjoys meeting a wide range of people and making new friends.

Husband John has always played in country rock/crossover bands and is an accomplished pedal steel guitar player, and Di has always supported him in his special interest by going with him to gigs around the country. Although she claims no special musical talent herself, she is now judging acts at country music competitions and compering shows.

The couple are now active members of the Motueka Country Music Club, where John is president and Di the publicity officer. She says music has taken them around New Zealand and to iconic places such as Nashville and New Orleans.

It's a busy weekly schedule for Di now, and much of her home time is spent gardening, making tile mosaics, cooking and entertaining, and keeping frequent contact (thanks to the internet) with her far-flung family which now includes nine grandchildren. And there's one thing not yet done which she wants to do before long is a hot-air balloon flight.

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