24 hours in the life of: John Wilson

BY CLAIRE ALLISON

John Wilson is the general manager of the Community Trust of Mid and South Canterbury; when he's not performing on a stage somewhere.

We're generally out of bed by about 6.45 in the morning. We have our set little routines. My wife Jan does her little bits and pieces, I'll make my lunch, then we swap, and we start greeting each other as we reach the car.

I drop Jan off at Gleniti School, and we're both usually at work by 8, 8.15am.

We've got 25-odd tenants in the building, and I usually clear the mailbox and distribute the mail to the tenants – go around and say good morning to people, as part of the house routines. They're all not-for-profit organisations. The house itself works really really well. There's a great atmosphere, good networking around the place. It just works. So that's always a really nice kick-start to the day.

Sally Marsh, the trust's administration officer, starts work at 9.30am, so I have about an hour when I go through the emails, clear all that sort of rubbish, get rid of the voice mail, then get into the day's work.

I usually have two or three meetings throughout the day, with various not-for-profit groups. But I also have huge amounts of interruptions throughout the day, with the telephone, people dropping in to see me.

It's not just about funding from our trust, it's about helping groups find resources from other funders, better ways of doing things, working as a support person for all sorts of non-profit groups.

A lot of people don't understand it's not just Timaru – it's all of Mid and South Canterbury – Ashburton, Temuka, Methven, the Mackenzie district, Waimate. We try to get around the whole district visiting at least once a year, and try to organise different events that bring people in. There are other ways we can work with groups other than just handing out money.

When I first came here, we had one donation round a year. Now we have six, so it spreads the workload. We finish one donation round and we're already working on the next.

I've got to make sure that the applications are put forward in the best possible way, that the trustees have all the information they need. A big part of the job has to be outside of normal office hours, and in lunchtimes. The people doing it for not-for-profit organisations generally are volunteers, doing it in their own time.

I'll spend quite a bit of time each month talking to groups about what we do, how we go about things. I've just been asked to be a mediator – people get to know you.

My job is to promote the trust and what we can do for the community, and make sure people are aware we are here. Most of my time is spent working with people, working with groups.

Lunch is very floating. Health is dictating that I need to take a break, so I try to get out and take a walk around the block a bit. A lot of my time is spent on the phone at my desk, so it's important that I get out and do the exercise thing.

I try once a week to have lunch with Jan – like today, I'm going up to the school to have half an hour with her. That sort of thing. And we try to catch up after work on a Friday, finish at 4.30pm and go and have a coffee or something like that. Our children have left home, so it's nice to be able to do that ... although they come back most weekends.

There's a lot of work to do in terms of making sure that trustees have got appropriate information for decision-making, and it's not just about making donations – they have an investment portfolio that they are responsible for. Their primary task is making sure that the funds are secure for future generations.

Meetings: they are a means to an end. I don't like them for the sake of meetings. If there's a purpose to a meeting, and it's well run, well organised, and not just a time-wasting exercise, it's worthwhile. One of the things I do is try to help groups streamline their meetings, separate governance and management issues, and those sorts of things.

I'm also a justice of the peace. That's only been for about a year or so. Now that people are starting to know, I have a lot of calls for that service within the building; people coming in off the street, Work and Income send people over.

I'm usually out the door about 5pm, or maybe 4.45pm. My working day is just like a standard working day – but I'm often back at night.

If I have six or seven projects on the go, the busier I am, the better I am. There are always lots of things going on in our lives at any one time and that's with work as well.

I belong to a couple of organisations. I'm a ministerial appointment to the Aoraki Polytechnic Council, and a member of the disability advisory committee of the South Canterbury District Health Board. The polytechnic is just once a month, and the DHB once every two to three months. It keeps me in contact with a wider section of the community. And I'm chairman of the Sustainable South Canterbury Charitable Trust, which runs the Crows Nest.

I'm also vice-president of the South Canterbury Drama League – that's an outside of work hobby. We've been 13 years with the drama league – that's a family thing. Jan is a very good dancer, and has been in two or three dancing shows. Sam's an actor and singer and Jessie is a singer and dancer.

I'm the class clown – I love the Mill Theatre shows, a bit of comedy, a bit of slapstick. I was a giant in Jack and the Beanstalk with the junior drama league, and in another one, I was the Dame in Little Red Riding Hood – the grandmother. It's a way of putting back into the community.

I'm in a band – that's a hoot. It's called Should be Band. We played at Timaru's Got Talent last week. That was a giggle, my first public performance. I've only been in there about four or five months. I have an acoustic 12-string guitar that I haven't played very well for years and years and years. But I like singing. And we play all the sorts of music I love – Neil Young, the Eagles, Rod Stewart – it's just really really good fun. That's Tuesday nights, from 7 til 9. And it's loud. And at the end of the song, we say, "good stuff". And you always walk away and go home with a smile on your face. It's just good.

Jan and I at the moment are in a choir; Di and Murray Cleverley set it up, for Christmas carols. That's every Monday, so that's just another bit of a fun night out.

I've got the bike. I did the Central South Island Charity Bike Ride the first two years, but it's sat in the garage ever since. I've got a stand so I can do it in the garage. So there's no excuse. I'll be back on it and doing a little bit of riding. I quite like bike riding. Jan likes to go out and walk in late spring and early summer months, so we'll go out of an evening and go for a bit of a walk.

I get told I spend too much time on the solitaire on the computer at night. Wednesday nights are my favourite TV nights, Two And A Half Men and The Big Bang Theory and I laugh and laugh and laugh – it's just off the wall stuff. And I'm a big fan of the news.

We built a new house three years ago, and we've got a spa pool, so we enjoy sitting out in the spa at night.

We're both from Dunedin, but Timaru's home now. We've been married 31 years. We got married quite young at teachers' college. Jan's father was an officer in the Territorial Army, and said I could marry his daughter if I joined his army unit because he needed medics. So I said I would, but on the understanding I'd eventually have his job. And I did. I did 17 years with the territorials. I met so many neat people and did so many neat things. I worked for three or four years on the ambulances in Dunedin as part of the training.

I'm involved in lots of other little projects as well, the Joe and Lynette Marsters Appeal, money for a new bike for Johnny Nelson.

I usually hit the sack ... lately it's been early. I'm on a diet – the middle-age spread is now being looked at seriously, so there's a drive to improve the personal health and wellbeing. So that means not picking in between meals, restricting alcohol. And it's had a really positive effect, by 10, 11pm, I'm ready to hit the sack – beforehand, it would have been 11.30, midnight.

There are some really nice aspects to my day – the best are the people I work for and the people I work with. And you've got to be in a job like mine to appreciate how important that bit is.

My mum used to say, you can tell how good a community is by how well it looks after those who can't look after themselves. And Mid and South Canterbury is very strong.

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