our west

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For more information on The Trusts, visit our website www.thetrusts.co.nzor email us at info@thetrusts.co.nz

New Zealand's most acclaimed international wine P4

Maurice Shadbolt Icon of the West P6

Black Salt wins roast meal competition P8

Arena Alive will be a huge day for the kids P9

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The Carnegie organisation includes 400 of the Fortune 500 companies among its clients and says that more than eight million people around the world are involved in training it provides, so its opinion and its awards are valued by even the biggest companies.

Leadership Awards are given to organisations that emphasise engaging and involving their staff as a critical ingredient in achieving their business goals, something that new CEO Simon Wickham has focused on since taking on the role two years ago.

In that time, the organisation has introduced a raft of initiatives to promote the “people” side of its business and increase its connection with the West Auckland community. In total, more than 80% of The Trusts staff have now received training in the art of connecting with people, both internally and with customers.

This has included having Dale Carnegie Training Partners design a world-class customer service training regime for The Trusts staff. This is one of a number of top level, and in some cases, industry leading training programmes designed to achieve business excellence and enable staff to pursue their careers to the highest level.

Staff are integrally involved in The Trusts own business evolution and development. They are encouraged to become “Agents of Change” in assisting the organisation to grow and engage the whole staff in the process. There are also annual Excellence Awards for top performances by staff in all areas and at all levels in the company. Mystery shoppers regularly visit The Trusts liquor stores, bars and restaurants.

These initiatives led, last year, to The Trusts winning top honours for the most improved large workplace, in the national Kenexa survey of New Zealand workplaces. This year they have taken The Trusts to the rarified international heights of a Dale Carnegie Leadership Award.

“I can’t adequately express how proud I am of this achievement,” Simon Wickham said recently, when the award was announced.

“It is a magnificent tribute to our staff; to our Board who have empowered us to invest in staff excellence and to Martha Gibbons, our Manager of People and Culture, who has implemented the programmes that have led us to this award,” he said.

He said that Miss Gibbons’ job title signaled that his organisation had an HR function that recognised that good people lead to good corporate culture.

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The Trusts join giants of world business with international leadership awardThe Trusts has joined some of the giants of world business by winning one of only four prestigious leadership awards given, world-wide, in 2013 by the renowned Dale Carnegie Training Partners organisation.

In taking out its Leadership Award, The Trusts has joined a small and very elite 'alumni' of past winners that includes such companies as Boeing, Wal-Mart, Hearst Newspapers and Adidas.

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It was also a title that Dale Carnegie Training Partners Chairman and CEO, Peter Handal, singled out for favourable mention when he bestowed the award.

“Most people pay at least lip service to the concept that people, staff and customers, are an organisation’s prime asset, but in our case “people” also includes our entire community. We are community owned and so the people in our community are more than staff and customers. They are also owners, and as owners they have expectations that we will run our business in a way of which they approve,” Simon Wickham said.

“It’s one of the of the reasons we don’t sell legal highs for example; and that we have robust systems in place to prevent sales to minors and, why we have a relatively small number of retail liquor stores in order to minimise the kind of community harm that we see in communities where there is virtually a liquor store on every corner.

“Our community also expects that we’ll be a credit to West Auckland and be a good corporate citizen and an employer of choice that offers the people in our community world-class skills within careers, rather than just jobs. Skills that will get you a position anywhere,” he said.

Simon Wickham, Chief Executive and Martha Gibbons, Manager People and

Culture with the prestigious Dale Carnegie Leadership Award

presented by William Farmer

“We simply cannot achieve any of that adequately unless we train our people to be the very best they can be, to see The Trusts as “their organisation” and to see their own success and The Trusts success as one and the same thing; people who acknowledge that achieving excellence for our community is the paramount goal for all of us,” he said.

Mr Wickham paid tribute to Dale Carnegie Training Partners in New Zealand, and it’s CEO William Farmer, for creating the training tools and programmes that The Trusts have used in recent years.

Dale Carnegie Training Partners make just four awards internationally each year, one each in North America, South America, Europe and the Africa, Asia, Australasia, Pacific region. The Trusts was the winner for the latter, making it one of the world's four best workplaces in terms of the way staff are trained and involved.

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Matua Valley, New Zealand's most acclaimed international wine The wheel of fortune came full circle for Matua Valley Wines this year when their 2011 Single Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay was named the Top Chardonnay, and then Champion Wine of the Diamond Jubilee Royal Easter Show and; chief winemaker Nikolai St George was awarded the Royal Agricultural Society Gold Medal as New Zealand Winemaker of the year.

It was the latest pinnacle reached by Matua, said to be New Zealand’s most acclaimed wine company internationally, in the last year and could have only been more fitting if it had come in 2015, 40 years since Matua won their first Gold medal at the 1975 Royal Easter Show. As it is, it comes exactly 40 years since Ross Spence, with wife Adrienne, and his brother Bill founded the original vineyard and winery.

The win capped off an incredible 12 months during which the same wine won the New Zealand Reserve Wine of Show and the New Zealand Champion Chardonnay, at the 2012 Air New Zealand Wine Awards and Matua was named New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year at the International Wines and Spirits Competition in London. In all, at the time of writing, Matua has won 102 awards with 10 trophies and 17 gold medals in the last 12 months.

These are astounding accolades for the winery that first introduced New Zealand to Sauvignon Blanc, the varietal that has done more than any other wine, to put New Zealand at the forefront of world wine producers.

World-class is a status quite unimaginable to most, in those far off days when New Zealand wine was largely dismissed. Unimaginable that is, to all but a small group of tenacious believers like self-proclaimed “Westie” Ross Spence, who had a vision that they could put New Zealand wines on top of the world.

Ross was introduced to Sauvignon while studying in California. On his return to New Zealand he bought a block of land, planted grapes, and was invited by Sir George Fistonich to work with him to develop Villa Maria. Six years later in 1973, he and Adrienne set up Matua Valley and the following year invited his younger brother, Bill, to join the company.

In 1974 they produced their first Sauvignon Blanc, from cuttings taken from the Te Kauwhata Research Station vineyard.

Ross Spence is now retired from Matua Valley - but keeps in touch with the industry as a board member of Sileni Estates. He was also a member of The Trusts commercial board.

In his place as chief winemaker is Nikolai St George whose talent and ability already ranks him among the great winemakers.

Nikolai grew up in the King Country and later studied winemaking and viticulture at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He was been responsible for more than 20 highly successful vintages for different vineyards.

Transferring his talents to Matua he has continued both its reputation for excellence and his own, to the extent that he now ranks as this country’s top winemaker and through the recent award in London, his name is acknowledged around the world. It is a heady mixture that bodes well for the future.

Matua, meanwhile, has become part of Treasury Wine Estates with vineyards in Gisborne, Marlborough and Central Otago and a wide range of internationally renowned wines that help keep New Zealand at the forefront of world wine opinion. But the historic and spiritual heart of the business remains where it started, in West Auckland’s Matua Valley, Waimauku.

Nikolai St George: Winemaker Of The Year

www.beambarlegend.co.nz

Head to your local Trusts liquor store, purchase any of these legendary products; swipe your Plus

Points card & go in the draw to win!

There are four double passes to the Beam Bar Legend Grand Final to be won for the runners up!

2013

Purchase any of these 10 featured products, swipe your Plus Points card & be in to win. Must be 18 years or older to enter. The Beam Bar Legend Competition is held in Auckland on the 21st October 2013. Prizes will be drawn on the 15th October 2013, winners will be notified by phone. Prizes not redeemable for cash. See your local Trusts liquor store staff for terms & conditions.

Plus

Win $5000 worth of travel

and a VIP package to the Beam Bar Legend Grand Final!

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iconswestof the

West Auckland/Waitakere has produced an extraordinary number of extraordinary New Zealanders - men, women, families and companies - who have been unique, outstanding and yes, that much overused word, 'iconic'. We will profile one of them each month.

Maurice Shadbolt - CBE, (Hon) Ph.DThe name Shadbolt has been intertwined with New Zealand history for almost as long as there has been a New Zealand, and with West Auckland for at least half of that time.

A history largely unknown until the late Maurice Shadbolt wrote One of Ben’s in 1993. One of Ben’s traces the longer history of the Shadbolt family from 19th century Britain via transportation to Tasmania to Akaroa, where the family patriarch first settled them and became a pillar of that early colonial settlement. From there the family spread across New Zealand, with three of them becoming major historical figures: Nurse (Rene Mary) Shadbolt who gained fame (or infamy) as a nurse volunteer with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, former student radical Tim “I don’t care where as long as I’m Mayor” Shadbolt and cousin Maurice, one of our literary giants.

All three were closely connected with West Auckland: New Lynn’s Shadbolt Park is named for Nurse Shadbolt; Shadbolt House in Titirangi where Maurice lived and worked for many years, has been preserved as an historical icon; and Tim left his mark as the unlikely but revolutionary Mayor of Waitemata City (before its amalgamation into Waitakere City in 1989).

Maurice's legacy is international. His very first book, 1959's The New Zealanders, won him critical acclaim in Britain where he was living at the time. It was the foundations of a world-wide reputation as a very significant author that grew through the 25 books written over the next 40 or so years until Alzheimer's stole away his once brilliant mind. He died in 2004, aged just 75, leaving a legacy that will not be easily exceeded.

His great standing was acknowledged in the fact that he was one of our most awarded authors and the recipient of the CBE in 1989. Auckland University saluted his contribution to the arts with a Honorary Ph.D in Literature in 1997. In all, Maurice Shadbolt’s work was acknowledged with 18 major awards, a number of them several times. Among others, he won the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award, the James Wattie Award

and the New Zealand Scholarship in Letters three times each and the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship once. He was Otago University’s Robert Burns Fellow and recipient of the Montana New Zealand Book Award.

Shadbolt began his writing career as a journalist on the Auckland Star and then as a documentary writer for the New Zealand Film Unit before going to Europe in 1957 and travelling extensively. His fascination with New Zealand and New Zealanders emerged first in The New Zealanders and was to remain his constant theme throughout his life.

In 1973, one year after producing Strangers and Journeys, Shabolt put his fame and his personal convictions in the service of the protests against French nuclear testing at Mururoa, by sailing to the test zone in the protest vessel Tamure. It was a story he later retold in Danger Zone.

Strangers and Journeys, a complex story of two generations of two families that took him 10 years to write, is considered his magnum opus, but it was his New Zealand Land Wars trilogy that perhaps set him apart as a world-class writer of historical adventure stories. Wilbur Smith put South African history into the minds of a global audience; Shadbolt’s trilogy should do the same for New Zealand’s adventurous past.

Clearly extraordinarily well-researched they tell with vivid authenticity and gentle humour and compassion, the stories of Te Kooti in Poverty Bay, (Season of the Jew), the sad and inevitable incidents leading to the land wars in Taranaki and their aftermath (Monday’s Warriors) and Hone Heke’s uprising in the Bay of Islands (House of Strife).

Shadbolt takes his readers into the New Zealand bush and countryside and sets them down to live alongside the main players, the real life historical people, to hear their hopes and fears, their joys and despairs as their stories unfold. These are the true adventures of the people who helped shape New Zealand and it is unlikely they will ever be surpassed. They deserve to be filmed and brought to a wider audience.

Maurice Shadbolt - Icon of The west

Visit your local Trusts liquor store and look out for Made to Match stands. You can pick up the fea-tured beers and a copy of Al Brown’s recipes.

Great match with zingy

fresh herbs

Pale ales are gre

at all-rounders

for food matchin

g. They’ve

got enough body

and flavour to

stand up to stro

nger flavoured

dishes. Mac’s Sh

ady Pale has

loads of fruity ho

p flavours

that go brilliantly

with the

zingy fresh herbs

in Al’s

Roasted Beef Fill

et with Salsa

Verde – Perfect

for an Italian

Long Lunch!

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Fire extinguishers continue to save property and lives in West AucklandFire extinguishers distributed to every household in West Auckland are continuing to prove their worth, says Laingholm Chief Fire Officer Graeme Booth, citing several recent examples when the extinguishers have helped contain fires and in one case, probably saved lives.

In the most recent example, quick thinking by Laingholm resident Helen Whitehouse contained a fire in her range hood. Graeme Booth says Mrs Whitehouse did exactly the right thing in turning off the electricity supply to the hood and then using the extinguisher to put the fire out. This prompt action resulted in the fire causing very little damage.

This is the third occasion in the Laingholm fire district alone, when one of the extinguishers has been used to help prevent a fire getting any larger, Mr Booth says.

The first involved a kitchen fire in a house off Laingholm Drive. The owner and a neighbour used two extinguishers to stop what would have been a very serious fire. Even then, the kitchen was quite badly damaged.

The second involved several young people rescued from a burning car. The vehicle had left the road and burst into flames after side-swiping a power pole and crashing into a building. With occupants trapped in the vehicle lives might well have been lost, except for the fact that nearby residents were able to use the fire extinguishers to push back the flames until the occupants were dragged free.

The Trusts CEO Simon Wickham says that the extinguishers were one of several life protecting gifts donated to West Auckland households over the last decade made by TTCF and its predecessors with profits from gaming machines in The Trusts West Auckland venues. Others included smoke alarms, first aid kits and self-charging torch-radios. Mr Booth says it is impossible to know how many fires the smoke alarms have warned the occupants of.

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In the July issue of Our West, we told the story of the Selaks Roast Day on 4 August and noted that six of The Trusts restaurants were cooking up a special roast to serve customers on Roast Day. To further enter into the spirit, we decided that there would be a competition to see which of the restaurants had the best roast.

Two judges were chosen from our staff (partly on the size of their appetites) and they munched their way round the venues and marked each roast against criteria that included portion size, flavour and texture, compatibility of ingredients, creativity and practicality and the presentation.

The restaurants were: Icon Restaurant at the Quality Hotel Lincoln Green, whose specialty was roast beef; The Hangar which served roast chicken, Bricklane and Origins each offered their own different recipes for roast lamb, The Marina served roast pork and, Black Salt won the contest with its specialty roast venison.

“It was very difficult to choose between them, they were all excellent, very impressive, and I’m not easily impressed,”a very replete judge Marc Oliver said afterwards.

The public were equally impressed it would seem, from the fact that all the restaurants were well patronised on Roast Day.

In another initiative to ensure alcohol is sold responsibly, especially to young people, The Trusts have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct, to only sell RTDs with an alcohol content less than 8% and; to participate in industry initiatives to tackle binge drinking.

Already leaders in refusing to sell legal highs, and having almost foolproof systems to prevent sales to minors, The Trusts have joined a number of other big players in signing a Voluntary Industry Code that governs not only the alcohol content but also the caffeine content and the way RTDs are marketed. It also includes seeking ways to modify the New Zealand drinking culture.

Signing up to the code means The Trusts will no longer sell (some variants of) their biggest selling brands of RTDs but CEO Simon Wickham says that this “cannot be weighed against doing what we can, to protect young people who are the predominant purchasers of RTDs.”

Signatories agree not to produce or sell RTDs with an alcohol by volume content of more than 7% and caffeine (or equivalent) content greater than acceptable in cola drinks. They also agree not to market RTDs specifically to young drinkers, and not to market the effects of caffeine.

In a stunning exercise of social responsibility, they also agree to: "work proactively to improve the drinking culture in New Zealand and help minimise harmful consumption, through industry funded initiatives."

They also agree to enforce compliance among signatories who were, at the time of writing: The Trusts, Bacardi New Zealand Holdings, Beam Inc, Brown-Forman, Diageo, Hancocks, Independent Liquor, Lion, Moet-Hennessey, Pernod Ricard New Zealand and The Rum Company (NZ).

The Trusts to sell only low alcohol RTDs and help industry address binge drinking

Black Salt a winner in closely contested roast competition

The Hangar’s roast chicken was excellent but the chef was otherwise engaged.

Icon Restaurant’s second placed roast beef is displayed by chef Shannon Hale.

Bricklane chef de partie Sushant Mane lamb roast was placed equal third.

Chef Nick Peraua with The Marina’s equal third placed roast pork.

Origins chef Neilson Toma created another popular lamb roast.

Black Salt commis chef Sam Shepherd with the restaurant’s winning roast venison.

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ENTRYFREE!

28TH SEPTEMBER

COME ON DOWN TO THE TRUSTS ARENA FOR THE BEST KIDS’ EVENT IN AUCKLANDBRING YOUR FRIENDS FOR WHAT PROMISES TO BE A GREAT DAY!

SATURDAY

I am proud to report that, despite the on–going economic conditions and increased competition, 2012/2013 was yet another year of growth for New Zealand’s premier multi-purpose Arena and community asset.

The Trusts Arena is a commercially successful business that is both efficient and economical to run and maintain. It has a low cost structure and a reputation for excellence that enable it to compete successfully for some of the finest events and acts in the world and from the revenue, maintain the venue in as-new condition while subsidising hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of community use each year. This means that adults can hire half of a test quality court for $5 per hour and children for $3. A school can hire the Douglas Track and Field for a sports day, for $150.

For the year June 2013 The Trusts Arena has welcomed over 691,000 visitors through its doors. All here to engage and enjoy our services in either the world class Fitness Centre, or our international standard fields and court facilities. When you consider that 20% of these visitors come from outside of West Auckland it is true to say The Trusts Arena is a regional asset, but with a local focus for our community and our kids.

The number of international visitors reached grew again this year for people attending one or another of the events such as Blondie, Ronan Keating or recently reformed The Cranberries. Events such as these contribute significantly to the regional economy. It is estimated if half of the visitors from outside of Auckland each year stay one night in Auckland, it would equate to approximately $1.9m in tourism spend locally.

I am also able to announce that we have just secured a partnership with New Zealand’s leading provider of recreational services CLM. As part of this partnership we will be offering a number of free “Arena Alive” events at The Trusts Arena during each set of school holidays. With activities ranging from bouncy castles and rides to court sports and entertainment, we’re excited to enter into this new partnership to deliver even more opportunities to our young Westies to help keep them in active enjoyment. CLM will also be offering a range of before and after school programs for children. The first of these Arena Alive days will be held on 28 September, we hope you can come down and join in the activities.

Without the support of our local community, and our fantastic financial supporters each year we simply wouldn’t be able to deliver one of Auckland’s busiest facilities to the community, so please continue to enjoy this wonderful asset we are so proud to have.

From the Trustees and Management team at The Trusts Arena thank you to each and every one of our community who has made this Arena what it is, from the basketball mums and dads to the kids on court, you’re the reason we exist and we are proud to serve you all.

Thank you for sharing this success with us.

Brian Blake Chief Executive

The Trusts Arena - A Year in Review