Shirley Frater: Champion of the arts, and builder of community networks

August 5th, 2010
By David Armstrong

One of the main driving forces behind Motueka's Arts Council and other art-oriented community groups, Shirley Frater is a firm believer that these groups can help individuals to grow to a fuller potential as well as lift community pride and effort.

Shirley has lived all her 70 years in the Tasman district, and knows what it's been like to have down times as well as deeply satisfying experiences. But it's been her involvement in activities associated with the arts that have often lifted her up and provided optimism for Motueka's future.

Her parents had a coalmine in the Baton/Tapawera area so she was known as the "coalminer's daughter", and the was a whaling captain on her mother's side, so "I come from pretty rough stock", she laughs.

Her father grew up in a ferociously political environment on the West Coast, so talk of arguments on right and wrong was a strong factor in her early life. "My grandfather didn't debate, he argued so we would think up ways to get him wound up."

Later the family went to live in a bush hut at the Pakawau mill near Collingwood, and Shirley missed a lot of schooling at the time.

In 1947 as an eight-year-old she moved to Queen Victoria Street, Motueka, and went to the tiny Hau School for two years. Then came her first life crisis - the Standard 3 move to Parklands School. "It was a pretty traumatic experience for me, going from a wee school with six kids into a class of 30 or 40 children." She failed her first year there and had to repeat.

"That was a big thing that would affect the rest of my life." She didn't understand why she'd failed, but she decided that rather than sulking and getting angry she would put it behind her, move on and try harder. Under a good teacher, she did well and got a Most Improved Student award. "It actually did me good, that experience."

She left school at 15 and worked at Kia Ora dairy and then five years at the Woolworths department store. "I loved that. I learned all about ticket writing, window dressing, cashier, the stationery department. There were lots of things to do and a group of good people, dealing with the public."

Her work ethic, reinforced by the way in which the tobacco industry operated, developed into her present "finish the task" ethic. "That had a big influence on me. That's why I like events and projects, because it's there for a short time and you finish it.

She married Terry, who shared her enjoyment of fishing and the outdoors. They had twin boys, but that turned out to be a traumatic experience for them all, with Shirley's life being on the line for a while because of complications. "I went down the long tunnel and got sent back. You've got more work to do, get on with it," she describes the experience. Four years later she had a third son.

Three boys meant lots of time over the next while involved in rugby, scouting and summer activities. But in 1968 that her interest in wider community involvement was awakened, when she met some people involved in the Play Centre movement. "At that point, a lot of things changed for me. It was a whole new world," she says. "It encouraged parents to develop, as well as the child. If you educated and helped the mother, she helped the family and that in turn helped the community. It was the village mentality of sharing and helping other people through."

Play Centre allowed her to commit to something, do training and courses, and go to regional and national events. She became president of the Nelson Play Centre Association, which led her into new directions.

At the same time, her long-time interest in plants, colour and garden design led her down a parallel path to start the Floral Art Circle in Motueka in 1969 (and still going strong). "That drew some incredibly talented people in and it grew and led on to lots of other things," she says.

Over that period Shirley discovered the value of people networking and exchanging ideas. It was also a good for her to use her management and organising skills.

Add in fundraising for scouts and the South school PTA, organising community events, and seasonal horticultural work when the finances needed a boost, and Shirley was having a busy time. "My husband was very supportive of my range of activities and interests."

Her dedication to floral art extended to working on the national council, gaining her teaching and demonstrating certificates, and helping to set up a unit examination system. "I watched the people learning, their wellbeing and enthusiasm and personal growth, and then seeing what they put back into the community, and I was quietly very proud of that. It was like a ripple effect."

She became national president of the Floral Art Society of NZ in 1983 for two years, during which time she attended the World Association of Flower Arrangers general assembly in Bath, England. She was one of six attending to do a presentation - "a humbling experience" she says.

The 1980s brought a series of other difficult experiences to cope with. She lost one of her twin sons in a car accident just after his 21st birthday, which was devastating. "He nearly died at birth, so to have him for 21 years was wonderful and he brought a lot to our lives." (Well, that's one way of taking a positive from such a tragedy.)

A few weeks, later husband Terry broke his hip, and within the next 18th month three of their parents died. They also gained a daughter-in-law, but their youngest son, an athlete, had his leg amputated. "These things taught me to be thankful and to do something every day, just in case." She often found comfort in the garden, where there was always another thing growing and coming to maturity.

In 1989 she was involved in the formation of the Motueka Arts Council. Then in 1992 she got a position as organiser and coordinator of the Main Street programme (the forerunner of today's Our Town Motueka), tasked with the challenge of lifting the vitality of the shopping precinct. "There were about 16 empty shops, the tobacco industry was in decline, and town was quite rundown," she says. In her five years the town was challenged to find new ways of supporting its residents, many of whom had suffered from the Richardson/Shipley benefits cuts.

"The first thing we did was to stage events to draw people back into town, to value the place and give confidence for businesses to start. We encouraged and expected our businesses to have good customer service, product knowledge and ongoing service. The businesses that did this survived well."

One event that worked well was a photographic exhibition celebrating the end of the tobacco industry in 1995. "It had a massive response. We asked people to get out all their shoeboxes of photos around the industry, and we mounted it as a walking exhibition using shop windows."

For Shirley, events like these showed the power of supportive groups, including children, to create "absolute wonders" and "huge changes". She represented Main Street at an Australian conference and presented a paper on how a community which is suffering from economic hard times or disasters like floods can come together to celebrate something of community value.

Some health problems ended her Main Street involvement, but she moved on to persuading the Arts Council to mount a series of mid-winter workshops, which are still running today. "That was wonderful because I was working with people and tutors who were enthusiastic, and there were so many skills that tutors brought on various topics, and the people were so responsive. I feel very fortunate to have been involved.

"Many of the people who attended have taken those skills a step forward and become partially self employed or developed new hobbies. The funding for that through Creative Communities (TDC) has helped so many projects in Motueka, so I've been a real supporter of that."

Shirley was awarded a Queen's Service Medal in 1998 for services to the community.

Shirley has always been interested photography (she had a Box Brownie camera when the was 16), and recently she's picked up on that again through the Digital Interest Group at SeniorNet. For three years now she's run the annual exhibition as part of the Festival of Lights, which takes about nine months to organise. She's also a member of the Motueka Camera Club.

Nowadays, with four grandchildren and one great grandchild, and a husband who's been "very supportive - he's comfortable with me doing all these things, and sort of sees like it's my responsibility if I burn out, which I have a few times". But her main role today is as a community networker who can help link people to each other and to resources and pass on information.

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