Annual newsletter

Christmas letter from the Walker’s in Napier

Usually around January we think about sending out our Christmas letter, so today I am doing it on Christmas eve eve! Isn’t it great to be organised!. But now it is after new year and I haven’t sent out any. O well here is the Low down on the Walker’s this year.

The year started with a high - our 25th Wedding anniversary. We went to Tutukaka and went diving at the poor knights island plus a holiday - it was great.

We have been in Taradale now for 11 years and in many ways this has been our hardest year. At the end of 2008 Brett completed a ½ Iron man event and so was feeling fit but in 2009 he struggled to find motivation to cycle or run. Needing a new goal - we plan to walk the Milford track and Cycle the rail trail in April 2010.

Overall Brett struggled and in October crashed with exhaustion and near burnout - I had a month off and have felt so much better after that. I quit 3 of my 6 extra responsibilities (Chairman of the Tertiary Chaplaincy Trust, chairman of the Presbyterian Campsite Committee, Chairman of the Napier food bank trust (I am still a trustee)) and am looking to end my responsibility early 2010 to the 2 Parishes I am Interim Moderator for (That means Supervising Minister when there is no resident minister.) I am trying to focus just on our church. As I said to our leaders - the trouble with all the extras I had taken on - I enjoyed them and felt like I was making a difference. We have had some good successes at the church during the year. Our monthly family services have taken off, the After school programs have developed in number, the youth group is thriving...

Sue has also had a challenging year (besides keeping me on the straight and narrow). They have been restructuring her work at the International centre at EIT and she often feels like there is too much work to do and not enough time or support to do it. Change always brings tension to a work place and while Sue is keen to see some things change it hasn’t been easy. She continues to enjoy walking the dog and card making and the garden looks amazing (she has green thumbs.) She also enjoys leading the Operation Friendship group here in Napier and helping with Youth Group at church (but is taking some time off YG in 2010) She has some good friends so she is happy. She is often on the phone for hours to her sister or parents in Nelson or friends around the country or here.

We have had 4 home stay students again this year and they have now all gone home for the year so it is just Sue and I and Paul and David. Both boys have flatted together in our house in Dunedin and have been getting on well. We have had Paul (eldest son) home from Dunedin (at Otago University doing some more Computing papers and hopes to do a Post Grad Diploma in Computing at Victoria in 2010) David also returned to University - the first semester he did Accounting via Open Polytechnic and the second he was on campus at Otago. He passed well and loves living in Dunedin. He turned 21 in July and so we had a holiday in Nelson so we could share the event with Him and his grandparents Paul’s hot news is his serious relationship with Mary. She is a University Student originally from Gisborne so they & David travelled up from Dunedin together and her family came down and we met them which is nice. David returns in Early Jan to do some summer school papers and Paul continues to work for me at the Christian Bookshop till mid Feb. The boys have been attending the “Blue Lagoon” church in Dunedin (NEV Presbyterian) and have hosted a home group at their flat. (So at least it gets cleaned once a week!)


Next year we are both looking forward to a year of high excitement and adventure and we wish you all good times, good friends and the blessings of a good God.



Brett & Sue Walker



Contact Details
Brett Walker
16a Rata St Taradale, Napier

Home Email brettjw@orcon.net.nz
Office Email brettjw@xtra.co.nz
Phone HM: (06) 8442256
Office: (06) 8445004
Cell: 027 408 3658

Easter Video - our church

last years News

A New year’s letter
From Brett and Sue Walker

Paul and David have both left to return to Dunedin after more than a week here in Napier so we finally have the time to write our Christmas/New Year letter and catch up with everyone.
In the beginning of 2007 David went to Dunedin and moved into our house in North east Valley along with some flatmates, then later that year in July Paul finished his Computing degree at EIT and moved in with him. This means it is over 18 months since they have been home together (Paul came back for graduation earlier this year). We had Christmas with them in Nelson last year and since then Sue has been to Nelson to meet them in the middle and see her sister and parents.

It has been a big year for Sue’s family as her mother turned 80 and then her parents had their 50th Wedding anniversary. Sue enjoyed her week in Nelson wining and dining and celebrating with them. That holiday came after a rough year at work with various staff tensions in her team. She enjoys working with the international students but the staff dynamics cause a few grey hairs. After 2 weeks off she is not really looking forward to going back if things don’t change soon. It seems to have been a year of surviving for her, keeping our house and her workplace afloat.

Sue still helps with the church youth group and that has gone well and she helps lead one of music groups. She has developed the Operation Friendship program (mixing International students with Kiwi’s in social settings). She has kept up with her card making and scrapbook classes but doesn’t get much time for these outside class times. She has kept fit by taking part in 2 half marathons (Taupo and HB) and enjoying the occasional tramp plus regularly walking the dog - Misty.

Brett had another year with too many responsibilities. He has been the chair of the Tertiary Chaplaincy trust for 5 years and the Campsite committee for 2 years. This year he added the Napier Food Bank! He also bought the Hastings Christian Bookshop at the end of 2007 so has had a whole year as “Company Director.” Actually He is a director of 2 companies as we turned our Dunedin House into a Company to get better tax advantages. The turnover on the bookshop has increased nicely so that we are in danger of making a profit. He mostly only pays the bills and tells the staff they are doing a good job. He does have to work the odd lunch time or Saturday morning especially when we have had a few staff changes. He likes to ensure that there are good books on the shelf not just the fluff that sells (even if that is what keeps the rent paid).


The other highlight in Brett’s year was his decision to do the Taupo Half Ironman triathlon which he did in Mid December. He was un-enthused by just cycling so thought mixing up some swimming and running with the cycling might keep him active. He said the 2 Km swim in lake Taupo was fine (he had to buy a wetsuit to cope with the cold) but he was ready to get out by the end. The cycle was fine (a bit slow as he had been concentrating on finishing the distance rather than going fast) but by the end of the 90km he was ready to get off the bike. Then there was just the small matter of the run to finish. He developed a sore side early on so decided to just walk the 21km and at least then he would finish (a fast walk is not much slower than his running) . He was pleased that there were a few people behind him (not many). The bonus of this was he got a “spot Prize” of a nights accommodation in Wairakei Hotel. As training Sue and Brett had both done a couple of half marathons (21km) and Brett had tried to ride around lake Taupo (160 km - but had pulled out after 120km as he wasn’t coping with the heat and the hills.)

Through this year we have usually had 3-4 International students in our house as Boarders. This year we had a girl (Emily from new Caledonia), and 3 boys. Isao from Japan had been with us for some of 2007. In the first half of the year we had Lucas from Brazil and John from Korea and in the second half Hannes from Germany and Joo also Korean. Marius from Germany arrived just before Christmas and will be here till mid year. It was great when a couple of them called at Christmas as did a few of those who had stayed in earlier years. They seem to like staying here as they have the run of the upstairs. As long as they can cope with Brett’s cooking (Sue follows recipe so her meals don’t have the same “adventure”). Each of these bring a new set of friends and issues so life is full.

So what does the year ahead hold.
First, we had our 25th Anniversary on January 14th and after that we are going to Whangarei to go diving for a special weeks holiday. At the end of that week we have Brett’s Parents 50th Wedding anniversary in Taupo so that will be a special family gathering. David has started working for a computer company in Dunedin selling computers after a year unemployed. He is thinking of doing a paper in accounting. Paul is working for the same company as David but is thinking of re-enrolling at University (possibly Waikato) to do some more advanced programming rather than the work he is doing selling and repairing computers.

Other than that it will be David’s 21st in July. Brett has been at St Columba’s Taradale for 10 years now, and Sue has worked at EIT for 8 yrs. We like being in our house beside the Park were the dog (Misty) keeps guard and Tara (the cat) sleeps away the days.

Best Wishes to you all. We enjoy catching up with people and you can always find a bed at our place if you are passing by.


Brett & Sue Walker
16a Rata St.
Taradale Napier
ph 06 8442256
Email brettjw@orcon.net.nz

Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership

I attended a course at the vision college in Hamilton and enjoyed ,\learning about how to be a leader who can implement change. The best tool was John Kotters 8 steps on leading change.
it is an Easy tool you can apply to any situation. some key steps are create a sense of urgency, gather a guiding coalition...
You can read more on http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm

Brett