Thank you all for your support during the past year and I wish you and yours all the best for the coming festive and holiday season.

During the September school holidays I was with my grandchildren in Farmers at Riccarton and noticed that they were setting up their first Christmas displays. I displayed my best “Scrooge” persona and said “for heavens sake – it’s only September – it’s far too early to think about Christmas”!

Now Christmas is only a few days away and as usual – in spite of the early warnings and the fact that it should never be a surprise – I am running to get everything organised and done in time. Once again I have missed the overseas postage deadline and the Christmas Cards that didn’t get written or sent last year are still in the drawer waiting for some attention.

Maybe next year I will be more organised – or better still – maybe I will ignore most of the commercialism and spending pressures and refocus on what Christmas should be about – Peace, Hope, Joy and Love to everyone regardless of culture, religious beliefs or ethnicity.

Let us hope that 2020 is a memorable year for all the good and positive reasons, and to all of you – have a peaceful and happy Christmas, and a relaxing and refreshing start to the new decade.

New Justices
On the 5th of December the following Justices were sworn in:- Joy Butel, Karen Erkkila, Fiona Frew, Sunita Gautam, Cathy Lum-Webb, Thea Mickell, Martin Peat, Logan Smedley, Ross Sparks and Peter Yearbury.  

Unable to be present was Lynley Sutherland and she will be sworn in along with 9 new appointees in the New Year.

David Petre has transferred in from Palmerston North and Inu Farrar has re-joined the Association and we warmly welcome all the new members.

Retirements
These Justices have recently retired- William Baynes (30), Ralph Ross (31), Alan Orchard (10), Michael Hammersley (45), Diane Dixey (18) Antonia Hill (30), Jane Davison (30), Eileen Whaitiri (25) and Peter Ensor (30) together they have completed 249 years of service to their communities. This is a wonderful achievement and we thank them sincerely for their dedication to the role of Justice of the Peace.

June Russell, JP (retired), Wayne Hart (moved to Australia) and Karaitiana Taiuru have also resigned from the Association and we thank them and wish them well.

Obituaries
Desmond Terence Crowe, JP (Retired) died on the 28th September having completed 23 years’ service when he retired in March 2017.

Lesley Dawn Keast QSM, JP died on the 26th October after 27 years’ service.

Barry John Turner, JP died on the 17 th November 2019 after 25 years’ service. Barry was a former CJPA Councillor and President of the Association 2002-2003. 

We acknowledge their valuable contribution to both the Association and their communities, and extend our heartfelt sympathies to their families.

Long Service Certificates
The Ministry of Justice have recently released more 30 and 40 year Long Service Certificates and we congratulate and thank Alexander Parr (40) Alison Hutton (30), Michael Jones (30) and John Woolcott (30). They are added to the extensive list published in September and an opportunity to present them will be found early in the New Year.

I have been privileged to personally present certificates and badges to some recently retired JPs along with some Long Service certificates and the new 20 year CJPA certificates.

This is a delight for me and an opportunity to say “thank-you” to JPs who tirelessly serve their communities. Please check out the photos on the CJPA website.

Canterbury Association 10 and 20 Year Certificates
The CJPA 20 years’ service certificates have been produced and the first were presented in early November. We will continue to have them available at each CJPA function and 20 year certificates were given to the families of Lesley Keast and Barry Turner at their funerals. It was a fitting way for the Association to recognise both the JPs years of service and their families support of them.

The 10 year certificates will also be available in early 2020 and my hope is that they will have all been presented (collected) by the end of the year. It is a big undertaking with more than 300 members qualifying for a certificate and they collectively represent thousands of years of service. Well done everyone!

102nd Annual General Meeting October 2019
Our Annual Meeting was held in October and went well (in my humble opinion anyway).  Graeme Barber, JP was elected President, Yvonne Palmer QSM, JP Vice President and Neville Brown, JP, Gwen Mitchell, JP, Rod Paton, JP and Adrienne Sears, JP were elected or re-elected as Councillors. Immediate Past President BJ Clark QSM, JP, Treasurer and Life Member Garth Dale, JP and Registrar Ken Shields, JP make up the rest of the CJPA 2019/2020 Council.

We can congratulate ourselves (just a little) on slowly improving the gender imbalance within the Association – new appointees are currently 52% female to 48% male and the Council now has three women members which is the most at any time in our 102 year history.

Pastoral Care of members continues to be a concern and will be a focus for the new Council. You can all play a part by letting me or any Councillor know of members who need assistance. I am always available if you have any concerns, need time out to recover from illness or surgery or are lucky enough to be planning an extended holiday. Please let me know. Your privacy will be protected but we can’t help if we don’t know.

Thank you all for your support during the past year and I wish you and yours all the best for the coming festive and holiday season.

Ken Shields, JP
Registrar